I initially fulfilled chickweed under an evergreen hedge in Bloemfontein, South Africa. It should have been springtime because cold, winter-dry city, since the chickweed was lavish, plentiful, and tender. It smelled fresh and felt cool as I gathered it as a green reward for our bantam hen and guinea pigs in your home. I was 5 years of ages, at loose while my mom played tennis on the court hemmed by the hedge. Quick forward a couple of years, and throughout 2 hemispheres, and I am gathering chickweed once again– this time, to feed human beings. The small plant is quickly squashed underfoot, however it is an embarassment to squash or eliminate such great food (likewise enjoyed by bees). It is an engaging green veggie, and tastes effervescently of spring.
Photography by Marie Viljoen
Dom Perignon most likely never ever actually stated that he was consuming the stars when he took a sip of fortunately carbonated Champagne. That was an early example of marketing spin. However that spin would benefit the lowly lawnweed, Stellaria media The chickweed genus is called for stars (stella = star), and the tender edible is fantastic with constellations of them in early spring. It’s small, five-petaled flowers assist recognize the plant, whose leaves taste like the fragrance of freshly-shucked cornsilk, a taste that is essential and flexible.
Where I reside in Brooklyn, New york city’s USDA Zone 7 (- ish, thanks to city microclimates), chickweed can look like early in the year as February. In milder, wet areas, it is a winter season weed, many noticeable in cool, damp seasons. The Eurasian native, now in your home all over the world, avoids heat and humidity. Often, in a cool, moist fall, it will come back briefly.
Early in the season chickweed’s practice is prostrate and thick.
Completely sun chickweed tends to stay mat-like, however in shade the plants can mature to 12 pliant inches high if they have adequate wetness. By mid-spring those stems are lankier, the leaves are smaller sized, paler, and more spaced out, and its practice is specified more by massive seed pills (cherished by birds), instead of flowers.
I feel abundant whenever I gather chickweed. It’s the uncommon leafy green with striking taste, and it feels odd and fortunate to be collecting totally free what might cost considerable quantities at green markets (and sometimes, it does, when it satisfies a farmer with insight).