Wild Spinach Seeds
My enthusiasm for wild spinach (also called ‘goosefoot’ and ‘lambsquarters’…which I’ve already written about and, consequently, plan to side-step an identification recap here and now) successfully ventures past its greens. The entire plant, with each new facet and manifestation, is generous in its spread, growth and wide spectrum of nutrients. While the greens are well-known and easily accessible throughout many of the warmer months, the seeds~ which mature in late fall in an equally abundant fashion~ are much less likely to land a spot out on the table; literally and figuratively…
If you let a mess of wild spinach plants continue to grow and mature in your yard, you’ll eventually walk out to discover hundreds of thousands of seeds. Amazing! Like amaranth and quinoa, the tiny black seeds (encased in plant material) are rich in protein and contain a small amount of oil. You can cut the seed branches off (I like to wait until they are dry and brown on the plant before harvesting, but you can let them dry after cutting, as well) and save the entire dry seed branches for later use…or you can take the time to separate all of the little seeds from the branch (easiest by simply rubbing them between your palm and letting the seeds fall into a container or onto wax paper). If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can even separate all of the tiny black seeds from the surrounding chaff—which is indigestible and claimed by some to lack the same taste appeal as the black seeds, alone.
After harvesting and soaking (all seeds are more easily digested after soaking/sprouting), you can toss the seeds into smoothies and shakes…cook them into a morning porridge (in the same way that you would prepare quinoa), grind them into a more coarse meal for a different textured porridge (the whole seed doesn’t soften well when boiled whole, so grinding offers a fairly different ‘hot cereal experience’), or grind them even more finely~ flour-like consistency~ to be mixed with other flours for a variety of baked goods.
Goosefoot Gruel
Basic recipe (serves 4-6)
- 1 cup quinoa
- ¼ cup wild spinach (goosefoot) seeds
- 2 ½ cups water
- dash of sea salt
Combine all above ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes (or until tender).
The fantastic thing about the above basic blend is that it can be easily added to for a variety of wonderful breakfast flavors…
A few fun ones to try:
- Apple Pie~ add in almonds, diced dried or fresh apples, raisins, vanilla and cinnamon
- Berry & Flax~ add in 3 tablespoons of blueberries (fresh or dried), 3 tablespoons of cranberries (dried), vanilla stevia or honey to taste, top with 1-2 tablespoons of ground flax seed.
- Raisin Spice~ add in ¼ cup of raisins, vanilla stevia or honey/maple syrup (to taste), cinnamon and nutmeg (to taste).
- Maple Walnut~ add in ½ cup of chopped walnuts and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup.
- Peaches & Cream~ cook the above seeds in seed or nut milk of choice (I enjoy using coconut or hemp milk), then add in ½ cup diced fresh peaches and cinnamon and vanilla stevia to taste.
Enjoy!!!
