3 Common Edible Plants

June 26, 2013, by Ken Jorgustin

One of the most common edible plants, the dandelion, can be eaten in its entirety. There are many edible plants, many of them common, all you need to know is what they are and how to identify them. These three edible plants are easily identifiable as they are common…

Dandelions

Sure, it’s an obnoxious weed on your lawn, but when you’re out in the wild this little plant can save your life.

The entire plant is edible- roots, leaves, and flower. Eat the leaves while they’re still young; mature leaves taste bitter. If you do decide to eat the mature leaves, boil them first to remove their bitter taste. Boil the roots before eating as well. You can drink the water you boiled the roots in as a tea and use the flower as a garnish for your dandelion salad.

It should go without saying, but if you suspect they’ve been treated with pesticide or other such chemical… leave it alone.

Cattails

Cattails are usually found near the edges of freshwater wetlands. Cattails were a staple in the diet of many Native American tribes. Most of a cattail is edible.

First, no other plants in their mature stage look like the cattail, so it is difficult to misidentify. Younger plants can be misidentified with three toxic ones so always look for last year’s classic growth to confirm you have found cattails. Cattail are oval at the base, not flatish. They are also very mild tasting and without much aroma meaning if what you think you’ve got is a cattail and it is strongly flavored and or aromatic — not counting the smell of mud — you’ve got the wrong plant.

The young cob-like tips of the plant are edible as is the white bottom of the stalk, spurs off the main roots and spaghetti like rootlets off the main roots. The flower heads in spring can be husked like corn and boiled. The brown-orange heads can be eaten raw or dried into flour in the summer. In the fall, the horn-shaped corms (the sproutings of next years’ plants) can be eaten raw or roasted.

You can boil or eat raw the rootstock, or rhizomes, of the plant. The rootstock is usually found underground. Make sure to wash it off. The best part of the stem is near the bottom where the plant is mainly white. Either boil or eat the stem raw. Boil the leaves like you would spinach. The corn dog-looking female flower spike can be broken off and eaten like corn on the cob in the early summer when the plant is first developing. It actually has a corn-like taste to it.

Clovers

Lucky you-clovers are actually edible. And they’re found just about everywhere there’s an open grassy area. Clover is one of the most famous of weeds, commonly sharing space with grass in lawns.

Clover is viewed by many as having folkloric and religious symbolism, but it can also be viewed as a food! You can eat clovers raw, but they taste better boiled. The leaves, flowers, seeds, and roots of clovers are all edible.

The young leaves, taken before the plant flowers, can be eaten raw in salads. As the plant matures, cooking the leaves is recommended. The dried leaves are said to add a slightly vanilla-like flavor to baked goods.

The roots should be eaten cooked.

The flowers and seeds are the parts of the clover that are of greatest interest to most foragers. The flowers are used raw in salads as well as sauteed, stir-fried, or fried as fritters. They are also popular for making teas and wines.

The flowers and seeds can be dried and ground into a flour.

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