When most people make a salad they generally include lettuce, but these days the cost of lettuce and other vegetables is hard to believe. Persistent high inflation due to failed central bank policies (MMT, QE, ultra-low rates) means that we will all have to learn to be more thrifty and resourceful. Sri Lanka’s economy has already completely collapsed, while Zimbabwe is abandoning its own currency and using gold and silver as legal tender, no doubt harbingers of trouble for other poor, indebted nations.

A new era of conflict also means globalism is rapidly being replaced by regionalism. Citizens will be increasingly reliant on local communities, informal networks and their own effort to transform backyards and other urban spaces into productive gardens. If you are skeptical about how effective this can be then look up Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden’s project.

Nevertheless, there are, plenty of alternatives to iceberg lettuce and some of them are found growing as common weeds around the local neighbourhood for free. They include purslane, chickweed, fat hen, chickweed, sheep sorrel, sow thistle, cat’s ear, dandelion and warrigal greens. Though little appreciated today, all these nutritious weeds have been eaten by people for millennia.

Some of these weeds can be eaten as a vegetable when steamed and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, but overcooking is to be avoided. In fact, the vitamin pioneer Dr Robert McCarrison once lamented that, in the diet of the English of the early 20^th century, green vegetables were scarce and ‘often cooked to the point of almost complete extraction of their vitamin-content and salts.’¹ This is of course an enduring problem; however, if the greens are grown at home or purchased with organic certification, the mineral-rich water can be saved and drunk as a tonic.

Rocket (Eruca sativa) is an annual plant from the Mediterranean region with many-lobed leaves and pungent seeds similar to mustard. It is easy to grow in a vegetable garden, reaching to about a metre in height, with white cross-shaped flowers. Rocket is rich in vitamin C and was therefore once used as an antiscorbutic, which means it protects against scurvy. The leaf also contains omega-3 fatty acids just like purslane, as well as potassium, calcium, vitamin A, folate and vitamin K. Furthermore, Dioscorides tells us from almost two thousand years ago that rocket is a diuretic herb and a good digestive for stimulating the bowels.²

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is usually found growing around footpaths and on hard, stony ground. It forms a dense cover and can be recognised by its succulent leaves, red stems and small yellow flowers. The leaves make a delicious addition to a salad and contain many valuable nutrients, including omega-3, vitamins A, C and E, flavonoids, magnesium, selenium and iron. Of course care should be taken not to collect it where the council sprays with herbicide.

Dandelion leaf (Taraxacum officinale) is a herb that can also be picked wild in urban places. The leaves are bitter and when included in a salad give it a strong accent, the bitterness activating the liver and contributing to the benefits of the herb’s nutritional profile. While people today are not generally used to eating such bitter plants, an effort should nevertheless be made to vary the palate so that benefit can be obtained from their tonic properties. Dandelion leaves are also a useful diuretic for stimulating the cleansing of the urinary system, as with nettle.

Nettle (Urtica dioica) is an easily identifiable herb because of its sting. It is as a nutritive-tonic because the leaves are rich in minerals (magnesium, calcium, iron, silica), chlorophyll, fatty acids (omega-3,6,9), vitamins (C, E,K), carotenoids (lutein, β-carotene, zeaxanthin, lycopene) and protein. It was traditionally used as a spring cleanser in the form of a tea because of its diuretic activity, but we can also use it as an iron tonic when steamed whole like spinach or made into a nettle pie.

Cat’s ear, otherwise known as false dandelion (Hypochaeris radicata), is another nuisance weed for gardeners with tidy lawns. It forms a circular base of furry leaves from which rises a flower spike that has a forked stem with two or more golden heads similar to dandelion. The leaves of this unappealing plant can be eaten raw in salads or cooked as a vegetable, as they are in Greece. The tap root can also be dug up, roasted and ground just like dandelion root and chicory, in order to make a coffee substitute.

Sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) is another invasive weed in Australia that is little appreciated due to the nuisance it causes on farms. It is a delicate plant with hollow stems and long irregular leaves which are eaten much like endives, and therefore carries the potential for commercial cropping. The sow thistle was in fact valued by many people including the Australian Aboriginals and Africans,³ while the ancients held it in high esteem because they considered it to have similar medicinal properties to dandelion.⁴

Fat hen (Chenopodium album) is another common weed that spoils crops around the world, but the only place where it is a valued vegetable is India. The seeds are used to make a nutritious meal just like chia seed because they are rich in B-vitamins, vitamin A, calcium and potassium. Fat hen was once used as a vegetable in England to replace spinach, where it was called Good King Henry. The larger stems were cut and cooked in place of asparagus. It was also used in Europe as a poultice to cure sores, while the roots were given to sheep to cure cough.⁴

Warrigal greens (Tetragonia tetragonioides) are also called New Zealand spinach, Botany Bay greens or Cook’s cabbage because Captain Cook used this plant to prevent scurvy. It is found in coastal districts where it likes the sand, and also inland river flats. The botanist Joseph Banks took it back to England in 1772,  and because of this, it has the distinction of being one of the few Australian weeds that have been introduced overseas.⁵ The succulent young leaves resemble spinach and the plants are collected at the end of summer through to autumn. Warrigal greens are a native in Japan as well, where they are also eaten as a vegetable.

Sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella) is a small, inconspicuous plant with sword-shaped leaves. You see it in the nature strip or fields only when it produces flower stems and seeds that have a reddish colour. It contains citric, malic, oxalic and prussic acid, making it a tangy addition to salads. It is also diuretic in activity and has long been used for treating cases of kidney disease, while more generally, it helps rid the body of metabolic wastes and protects against cancer. Furthermore, sheep sorrel is a strong antioxidant and is rich in vitamin C.

Chickweed (Stellaria media) is a delicate, inconspicuous herb that you find growing about the shady parts of the garden amongst the other weeds. It is the colour of grass with small, white, star-shaped flowers and slender green stems. We call it ‘herbal-cortisone’ because of its anti-inflammatory activity and use it for rashes, sore throats and inflamed eyes just like chamomile.

The standard dressing for greens in the Mediterranean is lemon juice and olive oil, and olive oil has many established benefits as part of a traditional diet.⁶ A lemon tree is easy to cultivate in a sunny corner of the yard and will produce an endless supply of lemons to use in the kitchen, or for bartering with the neighbours. The Aboriginals had their own native citrus called finger lime (Microcitrus australasica) which can be used in much the same way.

This is only a selection of edible garden plants to be found in the urban environment, but it should be obvious that we can vary and transform our diet with just a little extra effort. In doing this we also reap the additional reward that these functional foods bring as protectors and fortifiers of our health, and reduce our reliance on palliative drugs to manage chronic ill-health. This overlooked potential means that common weeds and greens can be worth their weight in gold.

Special:

If you would like to know more about medicinal herbs and wholefoods an A-Z eBook is available comprised of essays with references from the current medical evidence-base. Many of these essays are also available free on this website in abridged form…more