Chickweed Flavor Newsletter
Spring, sprang, Stellaria has sprung: chickweed is bouncing out all over!
Chickweed Gremolata Pizza


Chickweed
Young chickweed leaves and stems are unquestionably verdant (read: green!). Their flavor is bright, light, and pleasantly vegetal without being grassy. Compared to grocery greens, chickweed is most closely flavored like pea shots, but with a silkier texture and less toothsome bite. Later in Spring, some foragers prefer to consume only the tender tips of chickweed as the stems can become long or stringy. Even so, this whimsical plant makes an excellent salad green throughout the season. They can also provide a milder alternative for eaters who find herbs like fresh parsley too assertive (perhaps a chickweed tabbouleh?). Use chickweed as you would any tender shoot or leafy herb in your kitchen.
I don’t usually focus on the botanical names of plants here, but this one is so beautiful, that I often use it in place of the common name: Stellaria. You may notice it tangled amongst other greens like miner’s lettuce, wood sorrel, or cleavers, reaching around stalks and edging its way between blooms. It can be invasive in some regions, so feel free to eat the greens in fistfuls. If you don’t forage yourself, you may have luck asking your local farmer or gardener if they have any growing among their crops.
When you search for chickweed recipes, you’ll mostly find them used raw in salads and blended into pestos and dips. The choices may seem homogenous, but that’s because the green is so agreeable, there’s no need to transform it with added techniques or flavors. We featured chickweed pesto in this short documentary from Foraged with Anne-Marie Bilella and myself. Blog searches revealed some unusual spreads, like an umami Chickweed Spread from Edible Alaska, and something called ‘chummus.’ The raw greens also make an excellent smoothie, and I’d be remiss not to mention Alan Bergo’s stunning Chickweed Veggie Bowl.
If you’re stuck on where to start, I’d recommend pairings with peppery vegetables, like in this salad with carrots and radishes, or adding them into a mix of greens like mizuna or baby mustards. This week’s recipe, Chickweed Gremolata Pizza, riffs on that idea by serving them along the alliaceous bite of freshly fried garlic chips - and gently wilting the leaves in a warm garlicky oil makes their verdant flavor pop.


Find the Flavor
Find Chickweed
✓ Wild all over North America
✓ Buy chickweed online from foragers on Foraged
✓ Ask a farmer at your local Spring farmer’s market
Find Chickweed Products
✓ Dried Chickweed from Mountain Rose Herbs
✓ Chickweed tincture from Mirror Mirror Tea + Alchemy
✓ Chickweed Soap from Mushroom Per Diem
✓ Chickweed salve from Herbfriend on Etsy
References & Resources
Native American Ethnobotany Database Stellaria Entries
Grow Forage Cook Ferment’s Chickweed article
The Foraged Foodie’s Chickweed article
Forager Chef’s Chickweed article
I want to hear from everyone - have you cooked with Chickweed before? Any thoughts on the recipe? What ingredients do you want to hear about next?