Curly Dock is edible

I was looking at photos of common weeds on Google. It is not easy to identify weeds there---to compare the photos to what I have growing in my yard---because so many of the photos are small. Curly dock was easy, though, because of the photos of its flowers, and it turns out that Curly Dock is not only edible, but quite nutricious with regard to vitamins A and C. I believe there was a book written years ago called "Eat The Weeds." I know dandelion, when left UNsprayed and when picked young, is supposed to be quite edible and nutritionally beneficial, and I'm sure there are other weeds one can not only dig out of the lawn or flower bed, but also eat!

I don't have my camera with me just now, or I'd put a photo or two with this post. If anyone wants to see what Curly Dock looks like, just go to Google Images and put Curly Dock in the search box.

Would you like me to pick some and send it to you? Let me know how it tastes ;- )

I have a few that pop up in the unmowed portion of my lawn.

Thanks, Joepye. I have all I need. Be adventurous and try some yourself! :+) (Be sure to choose a young plant to try. Old ones may be tough and bitter---not sure.)

I like to think of myself as adventerous, but when it comes to eating curly dock or dandilions ... I will leave that to people much more adventuresome than I am... I have thought that the stalks on curly dock remind me of asparagus and I wondered if you could make something out of them.

I remember a thread where some one had posted pictures of various dandilions and we discussed which ones we thought would taste good.

I have eaten violet flower petals. They are a nice garnish to a salad and tasted like they smell - violet. Not bad.

Anyone remember the Seinfeld episode where Neuman spits out salad greens:
"Vile weeds!"

This message was edited Jun 13, 2006 3:55 PM

Heh-heh! In "Stalking the Wild Asparagus," the author said that one can eat young milkweed by twice boiling it and pouring off the water. NOT the young milkweed I recently picked! You want to talk about BITTER? THAT young milkweed was BITTER!!! I do remember one time when I was in my twenties, traveling across the country with a friend, that we picked some young milkweed and boiled it a couple of times and poured off the water, and that it actually was edible. Don't know what happened this last time, but it was SO BAD I am not willing to try again---and THAT is THE reason so many Monarch butterflies and their caterpillars live life unmolested! :+)

I have taste milkweed and it is VERY bitter. I never boiled it or anything. I had picked leaves (to feed to my babies) and then wiped sweat off my lip and got a good taste... yuck!

After tasting it raw - I doubt I could bare to try it even boiled a few times.

Plantago is supposed to be edible; some say good. If that were marketable around here, I could buy DG and make it VVsgarden.com and give Dave a well-deserved rest. 'Course, then there'd be just one big long forum on viburnums. Hmmm...

Hemerocallis, the wonderful orange ditch lily, has edible (peppery) flowers that look great in a salad. They'd dress up any plain old Taraxacum, Rumex, or Asclepias bowl of greens.