Wild and wonderful summer salad

By Sari Huhtala

Take a trip on the wild side this summer and create what could very well be the world’s most nutritional salad by adding in all the edible flora your yard and garden has been blessed with from Mother Nature, along with flavourful herbs and vegetable tops.

Forget about the ho-hum leaf lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad and be bold – create a salad that counts!
To make your salad, start with one or two base greens, hopefully from your garden. I love arugula for its bile-producing bitter taste that revs up your digestive juices. Kale is also my go-to green.

Then begin adding in what seems like everything but the kitchen sink!

This year the carrots in my garden have been dancing with the nutritional powerhouse weed purslane, along with liver-protecting wood sorrel – the clover-like green that produces heart-shaped leaves in your yard and garden. These two power weeds have become perfect additions to my salads.

You can create incredible flavour profiles by adding in edible wilds, like the tanginess of wood sorrel and the citrusy crunch of purslane. Young dandelion leaves provide a touch of bitterness to the salad, and the mild earthiness of lambs quarters, aka poor man’s spinach, adds an awesome injection of vitamin K into your salad. While you’re at it, toss in some cholesterol-lowering red clover leaves just for kicks.

Don’t forget about some of the nutritional veggie leaves that are readily available for your salad. Add the peppery taste of radish leaves, the earthy and mustardy tones of cabbage leaves, broccoli leaves and turnip leaves, along with the refreshing taste of carrot tops to your salad.

I grow the lovely perennial lovage, so its strong celery-like taste adds a burst of flavour to salads.

Add chopped celery leaves, green onions, chives, parsley, tons of fresh mint and basil, fresh thyme and oregano if you have them growing in your garden. Basically, everything goes!

If you’re growing nasturtiums, pop in some of those peppery leaves, and reserve the flowers for a splash of colour to top off the salad once you’ve added dressing and tossed it.

Below are to simple salad dressing ideas that work well with a wild salad.

Honey Dijon salad dressing

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp raw honey

Homemade Italian salad dressing

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup white balsamic vinegar or white wine condiment
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning (you can make your own by combining basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, marjoram and rosemary)

Happy wild salad making!

Sari Huhtala is the creator, publisher and editor of Alive and Fit Magazine, which was created in 2007.  She has over 25 years of experience in journalism and over 15 years of experience as a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor, and is a holistic chef, offering holistic cooking and edible wilds workshop, and My Farmacy workshops. She is an organic farmer, wild-crafter and grandmother, who has spent over 20 years navigating a holistic, healthy path for her family. Reach her at friends@thelaughingforest.ca