Winter Cress (Barbaria vulgaris) Edible.
This is one of the few plants that will grow and be edible through the summer but can also be green and edible throughout the winter! Perhaps the greatest thing is that these plants can grow a few feet tall, making them stick out from the snow and easier to find!
When I first came across Winter Cress I thought it was field mustard. The flowers look very very similar. The way they branches are stemmed are wider spread. The best and true way to identify this plant is by its leafs. You will notice how the leaves are differently shaped and more lobed than wild mustard. The leaves will be a dark green and waxy. It grows in moist waste areas and flowers in April-August.
You can use the green leafs in salads, as cooked greens or vegetables.
According to Peterson Field Guide “Edible Wild Plants Easter/Central North America” by Lee Allen Peterson:
“The young leaves form dense rosettes during warm spells in late winter; picked while the nights are still frosty, they are excellent added to salads or cooked like spinach. As the weather warms up the leaves become too bitter, they should be boiled in 2 or 3 changes of water. The tight clusters of flowerbuds that appear after the leaves become too bitter to use can be boiled for 5 min. in 2 changes of water and served like broccoli”
The season most appropriate to pick this wild tasty green is for the leaves being in winter to early spring and for the flower buds being spring.
The plant will stay alive through the winter and is a great way to get vegetation into your diet after everything has turned brown.
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