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FORAGER | CHEF

Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Milkweed Buds

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Edible Milkweed Buds

Note: This post only covers the edible buds of common milkweed. For a full tutorial and breakdown of every edible part of the plant I know, please refer to my Guide to Milkweed. 

Milkweed buds have become one of my favorite summer vegetables. They’re beautiful to look at, and watching their transformation from bud to flower has changed my thoughts about what qualifies as a vegetable in general.

These will grow on roadsides and in forest clearings and open areas in parks. Even though they will fruit like crazy along busy roadsides, resist the temptation to pick since they’re been exposed to toxins and things you probably don’t want to ingest.

Edible Milkweed Buds

The entire top of the plant can be cooked like a small vegetable, stem and all. Typically I trim most of the leaves before cooking though.

You want the small, tight green buds here, they’re better eating and not as loose as when they start to turn purple and prepare to flower. Some people only pick the buds too, and that’s fine, but the entire cluster of buds, stems and leaves are edible, and can be cooked like a vegetable (see above), just remember to leave a few of the buds around for the monarch butterflies.

Edible Milkweed Buds

An edible transformation. Buds lengthen, turn purple, and eventually become flowers. Each stage of the flower buds life has fun eating potential.

You’ll only have a week or two to gather these each year before they start to flower, but the flowers can be eaten as well, snipped like chives from the bud, I like using them as a fun savory garnish lately on fish or poultry, but their perfume is so strong and fruity they can even be soaked in simple syrup to make a cordial for drinks or a fun wildflower sorbet, there’s plenty of possibilities.

Edible Milkweed Flowers

The flowers have a strong, sweet perfume.

When dreaming up things and flavors to pair with milkweed, I think of the flavor of green beans and asparagus, and I use it wherever I’d use either of them. Simple preparations are the best here, you just want to cook them, season them to taste with salt and throw them on a plate, don’t make things too complicated, just let them be what they are, maybe with a touch of lemon and butter.

Halibut With White Bean Puree, Chickweed, Milkweed, and Flowers

A good example of how I use these. Halibut with milkweed buds and flowers, white bean puree, brown butter, capers, and wild greens. Note that milkweed buds are an addition to a dish, along with other vegetables, and that I’m not serving a pile of them.

Safety

One thing hotly debated with milkweed is if they should be boiled before cooking or not. I vote not to boil. In my mind, if you boil a milkweed bud, especially in multiple changes of water like some authors claim is necessary for safety, you might as well just throw them in the trash as you’re going to have a mushy pile of off-green muck.

But, if you want to serve these to others, you need to make sure your guests have eaten them before, and blanching, not extended or repeated boiling, is how I would do that. I’ll outline a method at the bottom of the post.

Personally, I prefer to steam them quickly until cooked, or warm a little butter in a pan, throw the buds in raw, cook them until they’re hot throughout, season to taste with salt and add them to a dish. Make sure they’re cooked, and, again, don’t eat tons of them if you haven’t before.

If you’re worried about safety, I’ll tell you that I’ve had no problems with eating modest amounts of milkweed buds every year when they’re in season, I’ve had one friend say he got a small amount of indigestion after eating a large amount once, but you can get indigestion from eating too much ice cream too.

Here’s a simple, but exact recipe you can use to get the hang of cooking these. They need nothing more than butter, a sprinkle of your favorite salt, and a touch of lemon.

Steamed wild Milkweed Buds
Print Recipe
5 from 5 votes

Steamed Milkweed Buds

Prep Time10 mins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Milkweed

Ingredients

  • Milkweed buds
  • Kosher Salt
  • Salted butter or Good tasting oil, such as extra virgin olive
  • Water for steaming
  • Fresh lemon wedges for serving

Instructions

  • Bring a pot of water with a steamer insert to a boil. Meanwhile, clean some milkweed buds, and inspect them for insects. You can leave them attached to the tender growing tip, or remove them and enjoy in ball form.
  • When the water is boiling, turn the heat down to a brisk simmer, add a few handfuls of milkweed buds, and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the milkweed buds immediately to a plate, and serve with oil, drawn butter, or fresh lemon and crunchy salt at the table.
Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Blanched Milkweed Buds

Quickly blanched and shocked milkweed buds are probably the best way to try them if you've never had them before, just to make sure they sit ok with you.
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time5 mins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Milkweed

Ingredients

  • Milkweed Buds
  • Water
  • Salt

Instructions

  • Bring a pot of water large enough to accomodate your milkweed buds to a boil. Add the milkweed and cook for 30 seconds, then remove to an ice bath, cool, then remove to a towel to weep the water they've soaked up.
  • From here, the milkweed buds can be refrigerated and cooked later, or cooked like you would any other vegetable.

More 

Forager’s Guide to Milkweed

Related

Previous Post: « Reflections On The Boundary Waters
Next Post: Classic Chanterelle Omelet With Fines Herbes »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Asim Kumar Parai

    March 31, 2019 at 3:12 am

    Is the Taste of milkweed buds ,bitter as neem or Corolla?

    Reply
    • Coop

      July 3, 2021 at 9:29 am

      I’ve been eating milkweed buds since I was a kid more than 60 years ago. No, they have absolutely no bitterness, and Alan is right, they don’t need multiple treatments with boiling water, just blanch once and then use in a recipe. If you think you have milkweed buds but they taste bitter, my advice is throw them out because you probably have something toxic like dogbane. I too have read multiple descriptions of the necessity of “getting rid of the toxic bitterness”, but I can guarantee you, it ain’t so. Milkweed buds aren’t bitter even when raw, although I don’t recommend eating them raw. Just another example of people copying and pasting one person’s original mistake.

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        July 3, 2021 at 11:48 am

        Exactly! Lots of old field guides will say they’re bitter or something like that, and it just isn’t true. Often prejudices like that come about from colonial perspectives of native foods, too.

        Reply
  2. Hans Toby

    June 5, 2021 at 9:33 am

    5 stars
    Great page, thanks. Very attractive and informative.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 5, 2021 at 9:49 am

      Thanks Hans.

      Reply
  3. Kathy

    June 20, 2021 at 1:04 pm

    What is the nutritional value?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 20, 2021 at 4:54 pm

      The nutritional value is, good. Milkweed is a traditional human food, and widely used by indigenous peoples. What could be more nutritious than the diet humans have consumed since the dawn of time? Sorry I’m not a nutritionist-I don’t pretend to be.

      Reply
  4. Finn

    July 11, 2021 at 8:18 am

    5 stars
    Thank you! I came upon your page searching for info on edible milkweed . Fantastic, informative and encouraging.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      July 11, 2021 at 1:49 pm

      Thanks Finn.

      Reply
  5. John

    June 28, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    5 stars
    Tried them for the first time, just blanch and right to plate with salt and a little butter. Kind of had a similar taste like asparagus but more faint. Had fun picking them, and cooking them. I used them as a side of elk spaghettis and it was perfect.
    Thanks for sharing!
    John

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 29, 2022 at 10:05 am

      Glad you liked them John. I just ate a bunch last night.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Forager|Chef – Birch Bolete-Parmesan Soup, with Summer Vegetables says:
    September 12, 2013 at 5:15 am

    […] These pair well with cheese, and will readily soak up a broth when cooked in one, just like broccoli. See my post on them HERE. […]

    Reply
  2. Wild Spring Raabs says:
    May 27, 2014 at 7:20 am

    […] far these are the only raabs I’ve found besides that from the milkweed, which is slightly different; more like a puffy outer-space broccoli floret, that isn’t at […]

    Reply

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
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Alan Bergo
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with @jesseroes TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with 
@jesseroesler and crew @campwandawega
📸 @misterberndt 

#staffmeal #brisket #meatsweats #naptime
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