Cleavers aka Goose Grass

[Frnc]

Very common, 12th most common plant in the UK.

Found year round, often growing among long grass, in hedgerows, roadsides, woodland and gardens. Often among/near nettles, which are also edible.

Easy to ID, can't be mistaken for anything else. Has little hairs that act as hooks so it will stick to clothing. Stem is 4 sided/square. Leaves grown in whorls of 6-8 leaves.

Young leaves can be eaten raw, ideally in the spring when the plant is < 6" tall. Or the whole plant can be cooked and eaten. Cooking softens the hooks. Gather before fruits appear.

Claimed to detox the body. Might be good for the liver. You can add boiling water, leave overnight, drain and drink the liquid.

Can use the leaves to clean your hands, but need to test as some people get a skin reaction (contact dermatitis).

When the seeds are hardened you can grind the up and make them into coffee. In fact the plant is a member of the coffee family. It does have caffeine, but not as much as coffee.

[Vitamin c]

So their high in vitamin c , all the best things are but would a bowl full be protein, carbohydrates, fat , from what I can see its not worth the bother.

[jansman]

I feed ‘em to my rabbits and fowls. Easy to find.

[steptoe]

Very common, 12th most common plant in the UK.

Found year round, often growing among long grass, in hedgerows, roadsides, woodland and gardens. Often among/near nettles, which are also edible.

Easy to ID, can't be mistaken for anything else. Has little hairs that act as hooks so it will stick to clothing. Stem is 4 sided/square. Leaves grown in whorls of 6-8 leaves.

Young leaves can be eaten raw, ideally in the spring when the plant is < 6" tall. Or the whole plant can be cooked and eaten. Cooking softens the hooks. Gather before fruits appear.

Claimed to detox the body. Might be good for the liver. You can add boiling water, leave overnight, drain and drink the liquid.

Can use the leaves to clean your hands, but need to test as some people get a skin reaction (contact dermatitis).

When the seeds are hardened you can grind the up and make them into coffee. In fact the plant is a member of the coffee family. It does have caffeine, but not as much as coffee.

From what i remember on war time far mthey collectthem for use in medicine i forget what for but i have a fair few herbal books now so can look it up , thank you for taking he time to put thi info out as it does poke people in to action with things .

I am now expanding our herbal collection and also now gone back to indoor hydro to to get plants started , some say do not try herbal medicine but i say why not try it some of the creams that can be made hmmm far better than the expensive stuff from the shops .

Herbal medicines and food stuff is not a fast fix but if you can get something for nothing why not , i have not tried eating as i call them sticky bud , i use to hate when my german shepard would run in the long grass or woods and run through sticky bud omg the hours spent pcking these out

[Frnc]

So their high in vitamin c , all the best things are but would a bowl full be protein, carbohydrates, fat , from what I can see its not worth the bother.

I'd look on it as more of a salad veg with possible health benefits. For carbs I suggest burdock, pignuts, cat-tail, dandelion, common reed, primrose, silverweed. Mostly it's the roots that have them. Also acorns (need to be processed).
For protein: clover, nettles, cat-tail, dandelion, common reed, fat hen, acorn, burdock. Catching a fish is obviously another option.
Fat: beech mast, dandelion, common reed (a small amount). Catch a fish, bird, rabbit.

[Arzosah]

Thanks for this, Frnc. I think foraging definitely has a place - it won't sustain you, but if our food supply collapsed, and we were stuck with carbs and not much else, the micronutrients in foraged weeds would be a boon.

[Frnc]

Thanks for this, Frnc. I think foraging definitely has a place - it won't sustain you, but if our food supply collapsed, and we were stuck with carbs and not much else, the micronutrients in foraged weeds would be a boon.

For sure, some of these weeds are superfoods in terms of vitamins.

NETTLES
In its peak season, nettle (which Cleavers are often found near) contains up to 25% protein, dry weight, which is high for a leafy green vegetable. Fresh leaves contain approximately 82.4% water, 17.6% dry matter, 5.5% protein, 0.7 to 3.3% fat, and 7.1% carbohydrates. Mature leaves contain about 40% α- linolenic acid, a valuable omega-3 acid. Nettle contains ascorbic acid (vitamin C), riboflavin (vitamin B2), pantothenic acid, vitamin K1[55] and tocopherols (vitamin E).[59] The highest vitamin contents can be found in the leaves. Minerals (Ca, K, Mg, P, Si, S, Cl) and trace elements (Ti, 80 ppm,[57] Mn, Cu, Fe) contents depend mostly on the soil and the season. Carotenoids can be found primarily in the leaves, where different forms of lutein, xanthophyll and carotene are present (Table 2). Some carotenes are precursors of vitamin A (retinol).

[grenfell]

Eaten both. Nettles boiled up seem to be reminiscent of spinnach and the Cleavers taste like cucumber.

[Frnc]

Eaten both. Nettles boiled up seem to be reminiscent of spinnach and the Cleavers taste like cucumber.

Awesome. Gonna try both in the spring. Also I like the idea of a detox from Cleavers. There are loads of claimed medicinal properties of wild edibles, but I've not really got into that yet. My priority is to try to learn ID and edibility of the most abundant ones. I do know that many modern drugs were derived from traditional uses of plants. Often the big pharmaceutical companies took plants from countries to copy the chemicals in them, a pactice now generally banned as it's seen as theft.

[grenfell]

Going back to the nettles , some "recipes" say to boil and eat whereas others suggest boiling , changing the waterv and reboiling. I've only ever gone with the former. The sting from a nettle comes from formic acid ( I think that name is an old one and a different term may be used nowadays) and it is destroyed by heat. Not sure what the changing of water is meant to achieve unless it's to wash out any residual remains of the acid but it seemed largely unnecessary.