Eating The Ozarks

Redbuds are blooming here in the Ozarks! The beautiful flowers, young seed pods and seeds are edible raw or cooked. Raw the flowers remind me of a sweet pea, which makes sense since they're in the pea family. Nutritionally, the flowers high in Vitamin C and antioxidants. The seeds are 25% protein, 8% fat and full of their own healthful antioxidants. Mature seeds were often roasted by the Natives. I love to toss the raw flowers into salads, baked goods, freeze them in ice cubes and make naturally bright red jelly. The young soft seeds inside pods and leaves are nice additions to any dish that calls for greens.

Happy foraging friends!

It always amazes me how resilient Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) is! Snow piled around… existing.

ID: Like many plants in the mint family, it has a distinctly square stem, often tinted purple, with opposite pairs of leaves that can look almost whorled around the stem (compare it to dead nettle). Both the leaves and the flowers are edible.

Unlike some early spring greens that can be bitter, henbit is mild and approachable. It’s great tossed raw into sandwiches, finely diced into salads, sautéed and added to pesto, or even dropped whole stems and all into pickle brine for a quick snack.

To learn more about invasive plants: head to the Foraging Academy dot org where we have free plant pages and mini courses!