Lambsquarters – Approx 200 Seeds

Also known as pigweed, wild spinach or goosefoot, lambsquarters plants are highly nutritious, packed with vitamins and minerals, including iron, folate, magnesium, phosphorous, vitamin A and C. This edible weed is also high in protein and fiber. The plants are cultivated as a grain or vegetable crop, as well as animal feed in Asia and Africa. Chenopodium album is extensively cultivated and consumed in Northern India as a food crop known as bathua.

Common Names: Common lambsquarters, white goosefoot, lamb’s quarters, melde, wild spinach and fat-hen.

Lamsquarters Culinary Uses

• It can be used just like spinach.
• The leaves can be eaten fresh in salads, juiced, and added to any recipes that call for greens.
• They are best eaten when younger, however; when the leaves mature with age, the flavor can change due to a greater potency of oxalic acids.
• Often the lambsquarter leaves will taste salty and therefore make quite a nutritious salt replacement or addition to dishes.
• Lambsquarter seasoning is made easily by drying the leaves and mixing them with other spices.
• Lambsquarter seeds can be used for sprouts and microgreens.
• Seeds can be eaten raw. They can also be dried and ground,and then used in hot cereals or baked goods.

Lambsquarters Medicinal Benefits

• The plant is used in Ayurvedic Medicine.
• As poultice for insect bites, minor scrapes, injuries, inflammation,  sunburn and for soothing arthritic joint pain.
• A tea of the leaves is beneficial for diarrhea, internal inflammation, stomach aches, and loss of appetite.
• As a wash to heal skin irritations and other external complaints. Soaking the body in bathwater with lambsquarter tea added will support skin health by toning and tightening the tissues.
• The green leaves when eaten in their fresh raw state are particularly beneficial for supporting the healing of anemic blood conditions. The leaves are exceptionally rich in iron and help to increase blood cell count and overall vitality of the circulatory system.
• The roots contain a significant amount of saponin, which creates a natural soapy quality when mashed or beaten, so a cleansing soap can be made from the roots.
• Lambsquarter root tea is can be used as a laxative.

Growing Lambsquarters

Indoor Sowing: Not Recommended.

Direct Sowing: Spring and Summer.

• Lambsquarters do not transplant well, so you should sow the seeds directly into the soil.
• Just scatter the seeds over soil and then mulch lightly with straw or grass clippings.
• Water the bed and keep it moist until the seeds germinate.
• You can thin the seedlings later once they reach 4-6 inches in height.
• The plants require little to no care and they can thrive in almost all conditions.
• They can handle drought well, grow in full sun or partial shade and can do well in both poor and rich soil.
• Store lambs quarter leaves by pressure canning, drying, or blanching and freezing.