Don't pull the weeds, put them in the salad

Stop! Before you rip those weeds out of the flower bed and toss them from the garden, think: "Could these go well in the dinner salad? How about in the stew?"

According to Fred Bohman, a respected plant pathologist and one of the early developers of the outdoor survival and rehabilitation programs at Brigham Young University, those "weeds" are really plants that naturally know where to grow and what to do to survive.

They're also nutritious and can not only provide food in a disaster but enhancements to the daily meals.

"We think of weeds as plants you didn't plant. We rip them out when in reality we need them. Don't waste them," Jim Phillips, a survival expert with a provident living website and a loyal following, said in his Tuesday night podcast. (See: Safeharboralliance.com). "Weeds know what to do. They know the soil, the water. They add variety, flavor and nutrition to our diet, and the best thing is, you don't have to do anything to have them grow."

Phillips introduced Bohman who then talked through a list of the most common weeds in the Utah County area and discussed how to cook them, what parts to eat and what nutrients they provide.

"I had a neighbor from Sicily who knew more about plants than any American because he had to depend on them," Bohman said. "The Native Americans spent 16 hours a day eating enough plants to support their body weight. All over the world, I've found people eating what we consider weeds, stuff we're not supposed to eat because it didn't come in a package."

"There's powerful nutrition here," Phillips said.

Bohman said amaranth, cattails and dandelions are good examples of friendly weeds. In ancient times, the Aztecs and Mayans prohibited their enemies from eating amaranth because they thrived on it and became a stronger threat.

Two pounds of seed is enough to grow an acre of amaranth, Bohman said. Then it can be harvested and eaten like spinach, tossed into a salad, etc. It can also be used as a cereal or gruel.

"Plant it once and it'll always grow," he said. "I highly recommend you get to know amaranth. Get a 10-pound can for your food storage but plant it now. Get used to eating it."

Cattails are another weed that taste like a fresh cucumber when the core is eaten or added to a soup or salad. "Just pull it out," Bohman said. "Native Americans harvested cattails as a starch. (He cautioned that since cattails grow in pond water, it's important to wash them well before eating.)