Is Milkweed A Wild Edible Plant?
How to identify milkweed. Milkweed as the name implies is a weed. Its stem is hollow and doesn't branch. The flowers of common milkweed have five pinkish petals and are star shaped. Milkweed has a milky that drips out when leaves or the stem broken. Hairy underside of leaves. Milkweed has opposite or sometimes whorled leaves. The fruit of the common milkweed is large spindle-shaped, bumpy, and downy.
To eat common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) you must cook it. Never eat it raw. Boil the shoots, flower buds, and pods or blanch them first and then finish cooking by roasting in the oven are in a dish/recipe of your choice.
Harvest young milkweed stems when are young and more succulent and tender. The mature leaves of milkweed while edible are not very tasty and unless you are starving avoid them.
Don't pass over the flowers. Collect mature milkweed flowers when they have just opened. If you can find them when the flowers have a drop of nectar then that is a big bonus. Don't lose that nectar.
Young milkweed pods are tasty until they are 2 inches long. Split open one of the pods ato check for whiteness. If you see brown flecks in the silk, then it is to mature.
Common milkweed is a great survival food but don't think for a second that it is a bland fibrous plant that is only worth eating when starving. Nope, milkweed actually fits in comfortably with the foods you already eat.
