Title: Edible Weeds
Presenter: Trevor
Episode: 5
Date: 30/3/2014

Weeds are the biggest pain in the garden, but not all weeds are bad news. A few years back a chef in California started doing something man-kind had been doing for thousands of years; he started foraging through street verges, vacant blocks, bushland and bringing weeds back to the restaurant..Sounds like something strange and exotic?  You might be able to do the same in your own back yard.

• Lemon balm is common in many gardens. It is magnificent in salads, stir fry’s or as a flavoring with meats like chicken and pork and even better with fish and seafood.
• Another weed that is a nightmare for some people is Portulaca. It is known to smother garden beds, and if you dig it out it drops seeds and even a leaf will drop roots and start growing a whole new plant! But, if you take fish oil tablets, this plant could take on a whole new meaning. Portulaca is one of the highest sources of Omega 3 fatty acids of any plant in water or on land, and you can add it to salads and stir-frys.
• A weed sometimes mistakenly called the deadly nightshade is actually known correctly as the blackberry or huckleberry nightshade. It was introduced during the gold rush as a vegetable, but the Greeks were using it as a skin tonic for common diseases 2000 years ago.
• Nasturitums, cress, dandelions and even stinging nettles all make great additions to salads, and have health and nutritional benefits.