Comments on: These Lost Crops Were a Likely Staple Food in Indigenous North America

By: Donna Cyr

Donna Cyr — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:35:33 +0000

These crop may seem to have been lost But to my knowledge they have always been used as a food source, I teach edible wild plants for over 45 years and those two plants have always been on the top of the list for a food source. because of the over taking of indigenous people land things changed for the people. We now need to incorporate the so called invasive weeds people thing are weeds and show them how to use them as food . I have been doing this for years. there should be no hunger in the world any where with the wild foods that grow

By: jim

jim — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 04:20:46 +0000

We eat lambsquarters as greens all season long and put some in the freezer. I have saved the seeds but never got around to eating them(the hens did). Must try the seeds in porridge this year.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 00:28:01 +0000

It would have been nice to have the other 3 of the five crops named. It think this article names them.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/01/hunting-for-the-ancient-lost-farms-of-north-america/
besides goosefoot and erect knotweed there is sumpweed/ mars helder, little barley, and mayweed. There are even pictures of each plant. Goosefoot is still used as a food plant. You can eat its seeds and the young green leaves are good as cooked greens. They don’t taste bad fresh either. Goosefoot is also commonly called lambsquarter. It is a common weed and easy to find in my garden. I eat it sometimes for greens haven’t tried the seeds. I have been tossing the dry seed heads in my pastures because my goats like to eat lambsquarter/goosefoot and I am hoping it will reseed there. I had volunteer cherry tomato plant use a large lambsquarter plant (over 6 feet tall) for a trellis.

By: molly

molly — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:18:21 +0000

Since I live on Cape Cod which is currently being overwhelmed by knotweed, how is the indigenous kind different from ‘our’ “Japanese” form and how did they harvest and cook it? Which parts?