Eat your Weeds!

Why should we eat our weeds? Because they are delicious, they're nutritious, they're too good to waste. And they're free!





This is more than just a recipe book, more than a foraging book. Professional herbalist and best-selling author Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal have both shared their expertise in Eat your Weeds! to give us the fascinating background to these overlooked wild plants, their historic uses, their medicinal benefits today and their culinary delights.





Weeds are amazing beings that we have failed to see and failed to eat. But with these 90 delicious plant-based recipes, that is about to end



Preface and Acknowledgements  7     

Introduction  9 

Alexanders 14

Blackberry 24

Chickweed 38

Cleavers 48

Cresses 58

Daisy & Ox-eye Daisy 62

Dandelion 70

Elder 86

Fat Hen & Orache 100

Ground Elder 114   

Ground Ivy 124   

Hogweed 136

Honey Mushroom 148

Jack by the Hedge 156

Mugwort 166

Nettle 178

Nipplewort 194

Plantain 208

Sorrel 216

Sowthistle 222

Spear Thistle 236

Yarrow 242

References  250     

Index  253     

The Authors  256



Here is the book we've all been waiting for…. with sound advice on which weeds are edible and how to cook with them, this could be a game-changer in the life and work of every gardener beset by pernicious weeds. The 90 recipes using 22 common weeds include ground ivy scones, fan hen empanadas, nettle cake, dandelion flower jam and sorrel pikelets; there must surely be something here to tempt every palate.



The best-selling authors' plant-based cookery book shines a light on these overlooked plants, often dismissed as 'just weeds'. The book encourages the reader to forage for them and to appreciate their flavour in sweet and savoury food, drinks and snacks.



A fascinating background to the historic uses of weeds, their medicinal properties and culinary delights. 90 delicious plant-based recipes that put these wild plants centre stage, including chickweed, ox-eye daisies, hogweed, honey mushroom, nettles and sorrel.



I have been on a number of foraging workshops over the years and have written a book on the use of stinging nettles myself, so I was wondering if this book would teach me much that I hadn't come across already. Well, it certainly did!