Milkweed Plant Dinner | 乳草 (馬利勒) 晚餐

Milkweed is the type of weed you can eat most of the year.  We can go after the shoots in April, flower buds and young leaves in June, the fragrant flowers in July, and the seed pods in late August.  All parts are so tasty that you will wonder why no people decide to farm milkweed to sell.

Collecting milkweed at a park in the heat wave.

I learnt to eat milkweed from a person I knew through Instagram a year ago.  She is a herbalist and also a forager.  Somehow she saw a photo of a milkweed pod I posted on Instagram to ask if anyone knew if it was edible.  She sent a private message to me with a long story of how her people back home in Brazil consider milkweed as a common type of vegetable.  The message also came with the elaborate recipes she enjoyed cooking.

I started to message this lady here and there to talk about different foraging plants we learn in two different countries.  I never knew that you could make a friend to share the same hobby just like that.  Though, I of course did not go to try milkweed just because she said it was safe.  Eating the wrong plant can be fetal.

Milkweed buds and flowers.  Flowers are fragrant and taste very sweet when eaten raw.

Since then, I did lots of research on this plant.  I meant, really a lot, in both English and Chinese.  Half of the information says milkweed was poisonous, but the other half was saying it is edible.  I was confused.

Later, I started to ask around and eventually I found a person who knew this plant well.  Then, I looked up a few reliable foraging guide books before I gave it a try.  I still remember the feeling when I tried the first small milkweed seed pod - part of me was excited about this new found, but the other part of me was so terrified that I would have food poisoning.  I think it is kind of the feeling when people eat puffer fish sashimi.

Milkweed buds taste like asparagus after they are cooked.  The flowers taste sweet and floral, and are slightly stronger than rose in my opinion.  The seed pods also taste very similar to asparagus to me but with a different texture.

Long story short, now milkweed has become one of the wild edible plants I enjoy the most.  But to be clear, I've only cooked it for my husband and myself thus far, and I've never fed it to my little boy. I am still learning this plant and am not sure how the little body can digest it.

Below are the recipes I usually prepare with milkweed in the summer time.  I hope you enjoy it.

Pickled Milkweed Buds

INGREDIENTS:

1-2 Flower Buds

2 tablespoons White Wine Vinegar

2 tablespoons Water

1 teaspoon Sugar

pinch of Sea Salt

DIRECTRION:

1. Combine all ingredients together.  Leave it in the fridge over night before use.

Blanched Milkweed

INGREDIENTS:

Milkweed Buds (Both green and red are fine)

Water

Salt

DIRECTION:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Add milkweed buds.  Boil them until slightly soft; about 2 minutes. Drain well.

For the balsamic rib Recipe, please go to One Pot Sticky Balsamic Rosemary Ribs