Leafy Weeds You Can Eat-Pigweed
Pigweed
(Amaranthus retroflexus)
Right behind lamb's quarters, in my book anyway, comes pigweed.
Or Amaranth
Its really a great leafy green vegetable that gardeners love to hate
Like lamb's quarters, it is often a garden weed
Pigweed is a coarse, large stemmed plant that has oval to long pointed wavy edges. The leaves are large and often the veins or stems are red colored
The most common pigweed is redroot pigweed.
The root, as well as the stem and leaf veins, are red in color
Pigweed is best steamed or boiled, like spinach, until tender. As the plant is coarse, this takes longer than it does for the more tender spinach, often 15 minutes or more.
You can can pigweed
Pigweed always grows despite heat, drought, or being trampled on by heavy feet
One caution though
Plants growing in areas where farm nitrogen is commonly sprayed on fields or in some western areas, high in nitrates, can accumulate dangerous amounts of nitrates in them. If you live in such an area I'd pass on harvesting pigweed, just to be safe.
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