Lamb's quarters
Chenopodium album
A goosefoot weed related to quinoa. Young leaves are a spring/summer green. Dusty white bloom on new leaves is normal. Oxalates like spinach.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: fat hen, wild spinach
What it is
A goosefoot weed related to quinoa. Young leaves are a spring/summer green. Dusty white bloom on new leaves is normal. Oxalates like spinach.
Edible portions
- young leaves
- young tips
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. Annual weed worldwide
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Disturbed, rich
- Planting. Volunteers. Thin if you want it tender.
- Harvest. Young tips; older leaves are dusty and coarse.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Cooked like spinach
Nutrition and compounds
- Vitamins (qualitative, well-known associations). vitamin A — not milligram values.
- Minerals (qualitative). magnesium, iron — look up current USDA FoodData Central entries for numbers.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.