Lamb's Quarter Uses

From NarratingLandscapes

by Julia Ostertag

The leaves and young shoots may be eaten as a leaf vegetable, either steamed in its entirety, or cooked like spinach. Each plant produces tens of thousands of black seeds. These are high in protein, vitamin A, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. Quinoa is a closely related species which is grown specifically for its seeds.

Archaeologists analysing carbonized plant remains found in storage pits and ovens at iron age and Roman sites in Europe have found its seeds mixed with conventional grains and even inside the stomachs of Danish bog bodies. It remains arguable whether the weed was included in the diet deliberately.

As the common names suggest, it is also used as food (both the leaves and the seeds) for chickens, hens and other poultry. However, the nitrates in the plant can be converted very efficiently to nitrites in the rumen of cattle, leading to changes in haemoglobin and reducing the ruminants' oxygen binding capacity (this can also be problematic for humans, therefore, it is not suggested that large quantities be consumed).

From: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenopodium_album

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