Urban herb walk was on Saturday and I made a wild weed pesto for folks to sample. There was even some left over for me to take home and enjoy. There are 9 different plants in this pesto. Technically 13 if we also include the garlic, lemon juice, pine nuts, and olive oil. This pesto includes raspberry, dandelion, plantain, wood sorrel, lamb’s quarters, red clover, nettle, and violet leaves. I gathered them the day before the walk. Also got to discover some fireweed (it’s been on my list to work with for a couple of years now) and St. John’s wort I did not know was there, saw a bluejay, numerous monarch butterflies, and a mouse ran over my foot. All round it was a win.
I wanted to talk during the herb walk about eating wild plants. Aside from the enjoyment of free groceries harvesting weeds and enjoying them as part of our diet improves the diversity of our nutrition. Humans evolved alongside the plants that surround us. It is theorized that our ancestors ate anywhere from 80 to 100 different plants. Meanwhile week in and week out I’m putting the broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and brussel sprouts into the cart. I can’t remember the last time I ate a veggie or fruit that I had never tried before. The best I can say is that I switched to blackberries this week instead of my usual blueberries. We need as many different phytonutrients as we can get. Low dietary diversity has negative consequences for our health – not just our physical health. This is fact. Eating, whenever we can, locally growing weeds and wild plants can make us healthier.
I won’t say I followed a recipe for the pesto. I’ve made it before and I basically make it up as I go along. It was about 4 cups of weeds and I blanched them by pouring boiling water over them and letting them swim for about 5 minutes. I blanched them because of the nettle that I gathered – I wanted to take out the sting. Also cause there is a difference between ground up herb paste and pesto (possibly my own pretensions are the difference but there you go).
Strained the herbs and squeezed out the water. I toasted a 1/4 cup of pine nuts in a frying pan on the stove – they burn quickly so keep an eye on them. Crushed a few cloves of garlic and then put the weeds, the garlic, and the pine nuts in the blender. A steady pulse to mix it all together, drizzle in the olive oil and then when the mixture has the right texture add the juice of 1 lemon. With the exception of the weeds and the olive oil you could leave anything out. I know some folks add cheese to their pesto but I wanted to minimize ingredients in case someone one on the walk had allergies.
The pesto turned out great.
One of the plants from the herb walk and the ancestor of the modern carrot.