Low-growing plant with small oval leaves and tiny white star-shaped flowers. Tender, mild-flavored, spinach-adjacent. Per 100g: significant iron (6-8mg — comparable to spinach), calcium (150mg — comparable to dairy), significant vitamin C (35mg), and a complete profile of B vitamins including folate. One of the highest mineral wild greens available. Can be eaten raw (mild, spinach-like) or cooked briefly like spinach.
Available free through foraging in lawns, gardens, and disturbed ground across North America — available from early spring as one of the first green plants. No purchase required. A free wild mineral source.
Chickweed represents one of the most nutritionally complete wild greens — providing the iron-calcium-vitamin C combination simultaneously in a single plant. The co-presence of vitamin C with the high iron content in the same plant is a nutritional synergy: the vitamin C in chickweed (35mg/100g) enhances absorption of the plant iron (non-heme Fe³⁺ → Fe²⁺ via vitamin C reduction). This iron-vitamin C combination in one food is unusual — most iron-rich plant foods are low in vitamin C, and the combination is why pairing iron foods with vitamin C sources is recommended. Chickweed delivers both in a single wild green. For the lactose-intolerant majority of the APEX community (approximately 70-80% of Black Americans have some degree of lactase deficiency), wild greens like chickweed that provide calcium (150mg/100g — the same as a small glass of milk) from a non-dairy source are particularly relevant.
Use young spring chickweed — the most tender, before flowering (flowering plants are still safe but slightly more fibrous). Raw: toss in salads as you would arugula or baby spinach. In sandwiches. As a garnish. Cooked: wilt briefly in a hot pan (30 seconds — it wilts like watercress). Sauté with garlic + olive oil. In spring green soups and egg dishes. IMPORTANT: do not confuse with look-alikes — chickweed has a distinctive single line of fine hairs running down one side of the stem (a reliable identifying feature).
Free, no account needed to ask.