June Goodness :-) Cream of Spring Onion Soup

I was researching some recipes for the little newsletter we do for our local farmers market and came across the following on the King Arthur Flour website. I changed a wee bit of wording, but the ingredients are intact. It looks so good I can't wait to try it! Lately we've been doing a lot with wild edible plants. The chickweed/scape recipe from out last post and the talk it was for... If you're looking for a great wild plant cookbook, we've got it!

Wild Foods for Every Table was put together here at The Essential Herbal and has the favorite recipes from readers all over the country.

Cream of Spring Onion SoupAlthough we’re using onions, mushrooms, and spinach, don’t be bound by the parameters of this particular recipe; use it as a base for whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand, can gather in the woods, or can find at the farmers market!
2T butter
1-1/2 C sliced spring onion, scallions, or ramps,
2 C thinly sliced white onions
3-1/2 C sliced mushrooms (domestic or wild—morels if you can find them)
1/4 C King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3 C chicken broth
2 C milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound (3 or 4 C) chopped fresh spinach; if using baby spinach, there’s no need to stem or chop
1/2 C light cream or evaporated milk (optional)
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and sauté the spring onions and mushrooms until the onions are transparent and the liquid from the mushrooms has mostly evaporated.Stir in the flour, and cook gently for several minutes. Stir in the chicken broth or water a little at a time. If you keep stirring, it won’t become lumpy. Add the milk and bring to a boil. The liquid will thicken just a bit. Add salt and pepper to taste, the chopped fresh spinach and cream or evaporated milk if desired. Bring soup to a simmer and serve immediately so it retains its bright green color.

Chickweed

My description of chickweed: The leaves are typically about the size of a pinky fingernail, although in the lushness of spring before they bloom, I've seen them up to an inch long and nearly as wide. Leaves are emerald green and smooth. They grow in sets, across from each other on the stem, and they almost hug the stem at the base of each leaf - not having leaf stems. There are spaces along the stem of about 1 - 1/2" between leaf sets. Shooting out from where the leaves hug the stem, are tiny stems which hold the flowers. These flower stems are almost as thin as horsehair. The flowers are white, about 1/4" across, and each appears to have 10 petals. There are really only 5 though, because each petal is deeply divided. The sepals are longer than the petals. The stem is round, mostly green with a purplish blush sometimes. When you crush it, you can feel the crunchiness of it, but it isn't hollow. Sometimes the stems are a little hairy. The one I am looking at is not. They have a single row of tiny hairs. At each leaf axis, the hair will grow on a different side of the stem, like a spiral. After reaching a height of about 3", the stems grow along the ground, and can be several feet long.

A selection from Wild Foods for Every Table
by Tina Sams of The Essential Herbal
Chickweed Stellaria mediaCaryophyllaceae
by Gail Faith Edwards

Chickweed, bright electric green with those pretty little white star shapedflowers, is one of my all time favorites of the wild edible herbs. Also known as stitchwort or starweed, chickweed is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals including iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, silicon, zinc, phosphorus, potassium, protein, sodium, copper, carotenes, and vitamins B and C! Frequent consumption of fresh chickweed helps strengthen all systems and rebuild vitality. Some people steam it, like spinach, but I prefer it raw. Chickweed is an excellent nourisher for those recovering from an illness or surgery, those dealing with AIDS or a wasting disease, the anemic and the elderly. Chickweed has great healing, cooling, drawing, and dissolving abilities. Try it when you want to bring a boil or pimple to a head, dry up herpes blisters, clean up an infected wound, or extract a splinter. Applied as a poultice, chickweed stops infection by weakening bacteria cell walls.

To use fresh chickweed as a poultice, simply apply the bruised leaves directly, covering the plant matter with a thin layer of gauze or a cabbage leaf. When the plant material gets warm, remove and discard it. Poultice again with fresh chickweed as necessary.

When stung by a bee one summer, my son's lower arm swelled to an alarming size and became very hot to the touch. We poulticed with fresh chickweed and within 20 minutes the swelling and heat were considerably diminished, and by morning, completely gone. Infused oil of chickweed helps heal minor skin irritations, diaper rash, fever blisters, and bug bites. Chickweed also has an excellent reputation for aiding those dealing with eye problems including infections, sties, conjunctivitis (pink eye), and tired, sore, inflamed, irritated eyes.

Chickweed tincture (25-40 drops, 4 times daily), dependably dissolves ovarian cysts and reduces swollen glands. Many American Indians used it as a remedy against cancer. Chickweed's ability to weaken bacteria, combined with its cooling and expectorant actions, makes an awesome ally for those dealing with bronchial problems, chest colds, pneumonia, or asthma. I cook fresh chickweed in boiling water and use a cup of this broth, or 20-40 drops of tincture, at least twice a day. Chickweed's alkalinizing properties benefit those with chronic infections of the bladder and urinary tract, including chronic cystitis. But it may take20-40 drops of tincture daily for at least three months to correct such problems.

Chickweed has been called nature's diet herb. It contains soapy-like substances called saponins which break down fat cells, sometimes with phenomenal results. Chickweed also nourishes and regulates thyroid function and balances the metabolism. Chickweed is a joint-oiler and an excellent choice for those dealing with arthritis, rheumatism, and gout. I find consistent use of the tincture, 20-30 drops three times daily, reduces pain and swelling, inflammation, and itching. Chickweed in the daily diet, eaten fresh by the handful or in salads, helps soothe and heal these conditions, as does the infusion, the tincture, and frequent poultices on the affected area.

You don't have to be ill to benefit from chickweed! Nutritive chickweed is a friend to the healthy that want to stay that way. Chickweed is an abundant weed in some gardens. Around our place, it likes shady damp areas with rich soil. You may find it growing in the pot with your houseplants! Chickweed has small, light green leaves and sprawling stems. It can be gathered anytime it is green and vibrant, before, during, or after the little, white, star-like flowers show. In the winter you can dig it up from under the snow! Chickweed is an annual, so it makes a lot of seeds -enough to feed the songbirds and self-seed readily.I gather fresh chickweed for salads and use only fresh chickweed for poultices, tinctures, vinegars, or infused oils. Dry chickweed has lost most of its medicinal value.

field guides

In the course of the last few weeks, we've been discussing on various lists the desire to identify wild herbs.
This is a subject near and dear to my heart, as I spend many winter evenings poring over field guides and thinking about the plants that will be visited like old friends when spring arrives. By doing this, often when I stumble across a new plant, it feels as if we've already met, as they've crossed my mind so many times.
A few favorites:
Billy Joe Tatum's Wild Foods Field Guide and Cookbook - The illustrations are line drawings that are somehow clearer than photographs. This book helped me find lamb's quarters, even though I'd seen tons of photos. Great recipes, and Billy Joe Tatum has a relationship with plants that I greatly admire. She sees them as friends and approaches them that way.

In the Peterson Field Guides series:
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants by Steven Foster and James A. Duke
Edible Wild Plants by Lee Allen Peterson
These field guides have great photographs, wonderful information, and lots of diagrams and drawings to help learn ways to identify via leaf cut/type, stem shape, fruit, and flower.

Another book with terrific information and good hand drawn illustrations with some photos is the Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs. Too big to be taken into the field, a good one to study over the winter.

Anytime I see used or discounted books on weeds or wildflowers, you can be sure I'll snatch them up.