This is just a simple recipe to remind us that not everything edible comes from a supermarket. The name of goutweed reveals a lot – it’s generally thought of as a weed that should be rooted up, not as a green leafy vegetable. The young sprouts can be eaten raw, in salads or on sandwiches, but even the leaves that have grown a tad larger are edible, and can be used much like spinach. Goutweed has an interesting aroma, a little salty and a little sharp – delicious in a simple soup like this one.
Wild vegetables should never be picked from road banks or anywhere close to heavy traffic. It’s also important to know exactly what you’re looking for – we were happy to have the advice from Heikki’s mom, who’s been trying to root up the goutweed from her allotment garden for the last few decades!
Here’s what we had in our soup:
- 5 dl goutweed (lightly packed), rinsed and chopped
- 5 dl veggie stock
- 2/3 dl semi-dry white wine (we had Portuguese vinho verde)
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 dl fresh bread crumbs (the insides of a baguette, for example)
- oat cream and chives
I first fried the onion and the garlic in the oil on medium heat for about 12 minutes, until they started to turn golden but not yet brown. Then I added the white wine, and let it come to a brisk boil. I added the veggie stock and goutweed, heated the soup until it was boiling again, and simmered it for one minute. Now, I removed the pot from heat, added the bread crumbs, and used our immersion blender to purée the soup.
After plating the soup, I drizzled our portions with a little oat cream and sprinkled with chives.
Fresh goutweed leaves.
15 Comments
You amaze me every time…I read the wikipedia entry for goutweed, and there’s a list of measures to get rid of it. None of them was “make a delicious soup with it”. They have no idea…
looks too much lke poison ivy. Everyone needs to be very careful. PLEASE.
Gabrielle McD
that’s rad.
i really like learning about what you can eat in the wild.
i’m even more thrilled that you used it to make a soup!
I love the green and red contrast you used there for the picture!
I’ve never heard of goutweed before- I’m going to keep my eyes out for it, though.
Gabrielle – I would never pick a new wild vegetable without having someone knowledgeable to point it to me the first time – I hope everyone does the same!
And thanks everyone for your comments! My favorite wild vegetable is nettle, but goutweed is nicer to pick since it doesn’t sting…
I never heard of this before, I thought it has something to do with curing gout :D
My grandmother always told me that this plant was edible and I always wanted to pick a bunch and cook with it. Thank you so much for this recipe! I need to get out and pick some goutweed this weekend!
Thanks for exposing me to and teaching me about goutweed!
Glad to see I’m not the only Finn who eats goutweed! You can make Fat-Free Vegan’s Gumbo z’Herbes using wild veggies like goutweed, fireweed, nettle and dandelion greens. Fireweed is also nice cooked and eaten as is.
I think I’ll try this soup, but will probably sub some mirin for the white wine, as I usually do because we very rarely have any wine in the house.
Greetings from Pajamäki (from someone who lived near Kallio for 24 years). I’ll definitely have to include a link to this blog when I next update my vegetarian links.
Hi Maija, welcome to our blog! Thanks for all the tips on how to use wild vegetables – there’s so much to learn.
-Anni.
That looks absolutely delicious!!! I wonder if we have any in southern California? I’ll have to look…..I love soup!
I hate goutweed. I crawl around on my hands and knees muttering “stinking bishop” (its other name is bishop’s weed). But now, perhaps I have another use for it. Huh.
Made it today, subbing mirin for white wine and leaving out the bread crumbs and oat cream. Tasty, easy and surely nutritious too (it probably isn’t easy to find the actual nutrition information for goutweed…)
Glad to hear it turned out tasty! I really liked it too. Maybe we’ll try it with mirin too the next time we make it.