The First Weeds Are The First Harvest- Chickweed Soup Recipe

Happy New Year!

the weather here in the west of Ireland has been unusually mild, which is great in some respects; I can look forward to inhaling the sweet fragrance of Daphne bholua flowers in the next few days, the gorse bushes are about to flower and I can soon enjoy some sweet gorse flower cordial, about 2 months earlier than last year! The downside of the mildness is that weeds keep growing, some have not stopped at all. One that has kept a year round presence in our garden is Stellaria media, known as chickweed or mouse eared chickweed. Luckily it is a tasty plant that can be made into a delicious soup or included in a pesto. So the year’s first weeding session can also be this years first harvest!

Chickweed, Stellaria media, is an annual weed which can germinate at any time of year. Its botanical name refers to the starry white flowers that are produced at the ends of the lush green growth. Chickweed often grows in abundance in recently disturbed ground, the seeds are stimulated into growth by light. So when you have done a hard days work getting the flower beds all neat and tidy or sown some vegetable seeds in a carefully prepared seed bed, the first thing you can expect to see is a fresh crop of chickweed starting into growth.

Every one of its flowers is self fertile and each seed pod can produce 2500 seeds. These seeds can lie dormant in the soil for up to four years. When growing well they can re-seed within 6 weeks of germinating. Chickweeds foliage is rampant and can easily swamp out slower growing seedlings and young plants.

Chickweed is easy to remove by hand or by hoeing in dry weather. Disturbance of the soil does however encourage a new batch of seeds to grow. A troublesome weed for all gardeners, so what better way to exact your revenge than to eat it, turn it into to lunch or dinner and make a nice soup, it is easy.

Only collect chickweed from ground that has not been treated with weed killers, never collect from busy roadsides or  public places. Make sure you know the plant you collect is definitely chickweed, if you are not sure, never take a chance!

CHICKWEED SOUP RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

1. •1 Medium onion
2. •2 Small potatoes
3. •1 Litre of chicken or vegetable stock
4. •2 Good handfulls of chickweed  pulled from the garden, only use fresh green growth which has not flowered.
5. •Water
6. •A good knob of butter and some olive oil
7. •Salt and Black pepper

Preparation

1. 1.Peel and finely dice the onion
2. 2.Peel and finely dice the potatoes
3. 3.Remove big stalks from the chickweed and wash well

Cooking

1. Melt the butter in some olive oil in a large saucepan
2. Saute the onion until soft and golden but do not let it burn.
3. Add the diced potatoes and stir in the oil for a couple of minutes.
4. Add a little water, enough to cover the potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are soft.
5. Then add the chicken stock and cook until it is boiling.

   

6. Throw in the chickweed leaves and simmer for about ten minutes.

   

7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Remove pan from the heat and use a hand blender to blend the soup.

Now serve and enjoy.