The edible wild greens
I have no idea if the wild greens we eat in Greece are common in other countries and if people eat these plants or they think these greens as weeds.
They are no weeds! They are healthy wild greens
I took some photos from the wild greens we collect from plot the last week. Before I post the photos I read a comment in my blog from Bob and when I open his blog I laugh because he had written the same post but for the edible wild greens of Turkey. I think you must read it also.
We usually collect wild greens in spring and autumn when they are fresh and tenderly. We don’t think them as weeds, they are edible and very healthy for us because they have many vitamins.
Mother Earth can feed us...
As you know I live in city far from plot, so when we collect wild greens from plot, we clean them, we boil them, we let them completely dry from water and after we put them in refrigeration. In this way we have wild greens for many days in city. We eat them with olive oil, lemon or/and vinegar and salt.
So let’s see some of the edible wild greens you can find in Greece
1) The first is a native plant in Greece and usually we call it as zochos or zouchia. I try to find the scientific name in taxonomy and I found 2 different plants the prickly goldenfleece (Urospermum picroides) and the Sonchus oleraceus. I must search more but they call the first plant as zoho and the second as wild-zoho in Greek Wikipedia.
Well my mother which collect wild edible greens many years but she has no idea about taxonomy told me that she can find it as “white” or “red”, so as I can understand she collect both plants and call it with same name.
2) The wild lettuce. Sorry no other information for this now,I have only a photo
3) The next well-known wild green is Chicorium intybus, we call it “radiki” in Greece. I already had photos from flower so this time I took photos from leaves and roots.
We eat only the fresh leaves here but as you can understand from my older post in link I wanted to see the roots of this plant.
4) The last edible wild green for today is a hm…. well-known plant. But I am not sure if you know that is edible. We eat it before blossom and it’ s the… poppy. The normal plain poppy you can find in fields.
That’s for today. Greece has many other edible wild greens and you can find them with different names in different parts of country. Also it’s not sure that everybody in Greece eat the same wild greens.
And don’t forget purslane from my older post. It’s also an edible weed. (We don’t have purslane in plot but last week I sow some seeds I had save from my container garden last summer.)
I’ve occasionally eaten a mix like that in Greece and it is interesting to see the different plants that are cooked together. I would never have guessed poppy was edible. I suppose that as long as the leaves are young and tender many unlikely plants can be eaten.
@easygardener I eaten poppies since I was child (mixed with other wild greens) but only the last years i understand that it is the same plant. When I was child I thought it was something else with same name
I wanted to write for another plant also but I didn’t had photo. I think you call it smartweed or nettle. I didn’t know it was edible (neither my parents eat it this plant). But 10 years ago I was living in Western Macedonia for a while and there the older women made a delicious pie with this plant.
I love greens of all kinds and wish I were bolder about picking ‘weeds’ to consume.
Love this blog. Come visit me at BayAreaTendrils, Alice
@Alice Joyce you must know what wild plants you can collect before try to eat them. Here we follow the wisdom of older people about the edible wild plants, we learn from them mostly.
(I’ll visit your blog. It’s pleasure for me to read gardening blogs)
What a beautiful site and such interesting facts! I named my daughter poppy because I love them so much……but didn’t know I could eat them!
Lovely thing to do with nettles……..wash, dry and chop roughly. Heat a splash of olive oil and wilt the nettles for a few minutes, until soft and dark. Remove to a serving dish and quickly over a fast heat fry a finely sliced mild onion and a half handful of coriander seeds. Let the onion get a bit crispy – the finer the slicing the faster the crisping happen. Pour onto the nettles and top with a big scoop of delicious greek yoghurt. Some pitta bread on the side…….mmmmmmmm! enjoy!
Ps Young nettles are best, but if it’s later in the season just pick the top new growth…..and keep gloves on until they are cooked!
My family is from Calabria, Italy where I hear the Greek influence is strong. My grandparents brought plants with them when they immigrated to New York and I grew up eating a dandelion salad that looked like your first photo. Is the first plant a dandelion?
@Mike Bova in first photo it’s a mix of wild greens. It has dandelion but not only dandelion
Usually we collect any edible wild green we can find and boil them together
@Gethin I really have no idea. I don’t know this edible plant in my area. I found this, I hope it will help you.
Kalamata region, here around us, a LOT of wild greens are collected and eaten and I am slowly learning them. Now (March 2010) everyone is collecting wild asparagus and ‘obries’. I love both – not cooked but just picked and popped straight in the mouth !! but I’m not sure what ‘obries’ might otherwise be called – anybody know ?
Many thanks for the link – the photograph is definitely of the plant I’m talking about but there seems to be a bit of confusion about it’s scientific name – it’s NOT as one contributor suggests ‘wild asparagus’ this one I know, and whilst it has similarities…….If I get anything definite on it I will let you know, thanks again for help
Love the Greek “horta”, but haven’t learned it all. What is “aporixcha”. Loved it with “koukyia”. What to tell the kids to buy in Calif.
I’m one of those “weird” americans who is looking for unusual and traditional “old world” greens instead of pink slime fast food. When I describe this desire to my peers, the pressure and disdain is huge. What have americans come to? Makes me sad. I’m growing tong ho, edible chrysanthemum and some stem mustard and stem lettuce this spring. Poppy seeds on the way.
need pictures to identify spring greens found in central/northern ontario.thank to anyone who can supply such
need pictures to identify spring greens found in central/northern ontario.thank to anyone who can supply such
need identification for spring wild green with leaves that resemble citrinella/carrot top/parsley etc.need to know if it is indeed edible.your site is so far very informative T.Y.