Cream of Lambsquarter Soup

Weeds weeds weeds. Our garden is overrun with them right now and we've been busy hoeing and pulling (mostly pulling since things have gotten beyond hoeing), and generally trying to get things under control to give our poor crops a bit of breathing space. But while weeds can seem like our worst enemies at times, it's good to remember they can be some of the tastiest and most nutritious plants in the garden. 

You may remember my passion for eating weeds from this post about the most annoying weed of them all. But I haven't yet written about the queen of weeds yet: lambsquarter.

I've been eating this weed since I was a little girl because my mom was extremely fond of it. It's called chou gras in French, which I used to confuse with foie gras. Not quite the same... but both delicious. I've always preferred it over spinach and other cultivated greens. It has a naturally creamy texture, a rich 'green' taste, and steamed or sautéed with a little butter, it's simply lovely. But not only does it taste great, lambsquarter's nutritional profile is outstanding. It contains more nutrients than spinach and recent studies have even shown it to be capable of blocking the growth of breast cancer cells.

If you also have got more lambsquarter than you know what to do with, try making this delicious cream of lambsquarter soup. 

I promise it will put you on friendlier terms with at least one of your garden weeds. You can find my recipe here on PBS Food. Bon appétit and happy weeding!