Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 256, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1915 — Edible Weeds. [ARTICLE]

Edible Weeds.

Dandelion is a great liver medicine, but can be taken in greens and salads instead of from a bottle and with better results. Instead of giving the children molasses and sulphur in spring why not let them eat plenty of young onions? Good bread and butter with onions for the school luncheon Is much better for the child than pie and cake. By eating cabbage and cauli flower later on we can supply the system with sulphur. How many housewives make use of the milkweed as an edible vegetable? The flavor of the cooked milkweed is almost like asparagus, and it Is said to be a nuitrittous food, a cleanser of the system and a perfect tonic for the kidneys. The milkweed should De cooked when about a foot high, as it becomes tough and is not of good flavor after th 6 blossoms appear. The young tender leaves can be used in salad. Cook this weed like asparagus and serve with either butter or cream sauce. Sour dock is another troubiesonle weed but makes a very palatable dish of greens. Mustard is another outcast that the farmer must fight, but there is no better-flavored greens than young mustard. Lamb’s quarter is an other common weed that is a nourishing food. Cook young horseradish leaves with any kind of greens and you will have a spicy flavor that is very tempting. The young plants of the wild nettle are sometimes cooked. One does not like the flavor at first but qan learn to eat it. The purslane growing In most gardens is an excellent material for greens. In the springtime we need something to tone up the Jaded appetite, also to cleanse the digestive tract and purify the blood. On the farm one need not resort to drugs but make use or our the wild nettle arc sometimes cooked health to all who partake of them. Besides the medicinal quality of weeds they contain more mineral matter and valuable nutritious qualities than some of our vegetables.