Spring Greens Splendor
3 recipes to incorporate the mineral rich and often weedy Spring greens in our day to day
Spring Greens Chimichurri
This is an excellent addition to roasted veggies, eggs and meats. Can also be the base of a salad dressing (just add more oil and acid). You can add some finely chopped red onion or shallot to it for an extra crunch. You can mix with some mayo for a quick spring-y ‘aioli’. I love making different versions of this year round, but Spring is the time when this recipe really shines!
2 cups of mixed fresh spring greens (be sure you’re confident about your plant identification!)
Could include: nettles, dandelion leaves, chickweed, cleavers, plantain, violet, parsley, cilantro, or dill. Make sure everything is well rinsed! You can add all of these greens in raw. The nettles will lose their sting once blended up
4-8 cloves of garlic, peeled. I tend to add a lot of garlic! But I know that’s not for everyone. Do what feels best for you.
Juice of ½ lemon (Could add juice of whole lemon for a more liquidy consistency)
2 tbsp of salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp black pepper
½ cup of EVOO
Optional: red chili flakes or a portion of a fresh jalapeno for extra spice.
Add everything to a blender, food processor or an immersion blender container. Blend until desired consistency (I typically blend for about 30-45 seconds). Taste and add more salt, lemon juice, or EVOO until desired consistency and flavor.
You can keep it in your fridge for up to a week. Or freeze in ice cube and store in the freezer in a Ziploc bag. Just pull a cube or 2 out as you want them.
Grilled asparagus and broccolini tossed with chimichurri
A fresh batch of chimichurri in the sunlight
Chickweed poking up through
the grass (Stellaria media)
Nettle patch (Urtica dioica)
Violets in bloom (Viola sororia)
Inspired by Terra Sylva’s recipe for herbal Gomasio (a traditional Japanese seasoning made with sesame seeds and salt), this is a mineral rich blend of herbs, seeds and salt that can be added as a topping to all kinds of dishes. This is a great addition to savory foods to increase the intake of minerals and offer a nutritive boost. The milk thistle seeds offer extra support to the liver and the sesame seeds offer an addition of healthy fat. Sprinkle some on grains (especially rice bowls), proteins (meats, fish, tofu, eggs), veggies (raw or cooked) and really nice addition to avocado toasts!
This recipe was included in the 2026 Spring Herbshare. Notice the simple proportions of this recipe- this gives you room to sub in other herbs of your choosing. This is a 10 part recipe with 1 part being salt, 2 parts being seeds, and 7 parts being herb- you cant adjust this to your taste or swap in other spring greens too (like violet, plantain, chickweed and so on). Just make sure all of your ingredients are fully dried before mixing. This recipe yields ~2/3rds of a cup. You can halve or double the amounts to get more.
You’ll need something to help breakdown the herbs and seeds for this recipe. I use a coffee grinder that I only use for herbs. A mortar and pestle or a small food processor should work as well. All the of the measurements below reflect the amount added of the broken down ingredient. You want smaller bits so everything is more evenly distributed within the herbal salt mix.
1 tbsp of salt, which ever you prefer
3 tbsp of dried nettle
3 tbsp of seaweed of your choosing. I like wakame or dulse but most any will work.
Make sure the seaweed isn’t already salted
1 tbsp dandelion leaf
1 tbsp sesame seeds (you can toast these and let cool, see note below)
1 tbsp milk thistle seeds
In a medium bowl, add the salt. Then with the coffee grinder (or whatever implement you are using) do a quick few pulses on both the nettle and dandelion leaf. Add to the salt. Next, add the seaweed to the grinder and grind into smaller piece. The seaweed I buy tends to be in large pieces, so I go in batches in order to measure out the 3 tbsp. Next, I like to grind up the milk thistle seeds for about 10 seconds. Check after this and do a few more pulses if you notice the seeds aren’t broken down. If you are using a mortar and pestle, this will take longer. The point is to have the seeds broken up into smaller bits. If you decided to toast your sesame seeds, make sure they have fully cooled down. Once fully cooled or if you skipped the toasting step, add to grinder for a few pulses before adding to the salt mix with the rest of the herbs and milk thistle seeds. Mix everything up and put into an air tight jar.
*I almost always burn the sesame seeds when I go to toast, so I tend to skip this step!
Spring Greens Herbal Salt
Spring Greens Herbal Salt, hopefully this picture helps
you get a sense for the size of each ingredient.
This recipe originally came from Happy Boy Farms (RIP kind of) and is based on my loose memory of it! Super rich and delicious. You can definitely play with this recipe, adding other veggies or choosing to keep things chunky!
¼ cup of EVOO
3-4 potatoes (like Yukon gold) in large cubes
2 yellow onions, rough chop
1 fennel bulb, rough chop
4-6 garlic cloves, rough chop
Opt: 2 leeks, rough chop
1-2tbsp of salt
1tbsp black pepper
Opt: 1 tsp of thyme
½ lb of fresh nettles, woody stems removed, rough chop
6 cups of veggie broth or bone broth, or really any broth you prefer
Lightly warm the EVOO, and add the potatoes, fennel, and alliums. Stir and let soften for about 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper along with nettles and give everything a stir, add thyme if using. Once nettles have wilted a bit add the broth and bring to a light simmer. Let simmer for about 30 minutes until all the veggies have softened. Using a blender or an immersion blender, blend soup until it is a smooth consistency. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon. Add more lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Can serve with some plain yogurt, a drizzle of olive oil, lemon zest, and/or fresh squeezed lemon juice.
