PlantFiles: Lamb's-Quarters, White Goosefoot, Fat Hen, Wild Spinach
Chenopodium album

This thing takes over my yard every year.. I'm not a big veggie eater (sorry, more carnivorous than herbavorus) so I'm not going to be eating them. Death to them all! (on a different note, to the person who stated that it's poisonous to cattle,sheep,horses, etc - so isn't avocados & chocolate. Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop eating those!)

Many people find this edible wild plant to be an annoying weed. But that's to be expected from people who are not interested in edible wild plants. For those that prefer to grow wildflowers and edible wild plants, it’s very welcome in the garden.

"Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide" by Elias and Dykeman has this to say about Lamb's-Quarters:

"Harvest: Pick young leafy stems to 25 cm (10 in) tall or tender growing tips of older plants. Gather abundant seeds in autumn by rubbing fruiting spikes into paper bag and winnow away chaff.

Preparation: A superlative green vegetable, lacking strong flavor and high in Vitamins A and C. Use leafy stems alone in salad or mix with stronger greens. For potherb, use large quantity of greens because cooking greatly diminishes bulk. Boil young leafy stems in small quantity of water about 5 minutes until tender. Add butter, salt, and pepper or sauce of 1/4 cup diced onion, 4 slices of crisp bacon chopped fine, 1/4 cup vinegar, salt, and pepper, simmered gently. Use same sauce on raw greens as salad dressing. Soften seeds by boiling, crush, grind in food mill or blender. This produces nutritious black flour, good mixed with wheat flour for pancakes and muffins.

Poisonous look-alikes: Species of Chenopodium that have bad odor and taste can be somewhat toxic."

"Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America" by Fernald & Kinsey says:

"The common Pigweed, so familiar in rich garden soil, in barnyards, and similar habitats, has always been a popular potherb; under the more appetizing name, Lamb's-Quarters, highly prized by European peoples.

In spite of a spendthrift American prejudice against it because it is so common, the Pigweed, which annually appears in all good garden soils, is really one of the most valuable, though promptly destroyed crops of the garden before the planted vegetables are in season. Cooked and eaten like spinach, the tender shoots and leaves are often called delicious, and nearly everyone who tries it, unprejudiced by the knowledge that it is an every-day weed, is enthusiastic...

...In cooking, Pigweed reduces considerably in bulk and it is necessary to gather two or three times the bulk that is wanted when cooked. The fresh leaves readily shed water but, as soon as steamed, lose this peculiarity. The boiled Pigweed is a comparatively dry potherb and it is particularly good if mixed with Dock-greens which are unusually wet or mucilaginous.

The seeds of Pigweeds can be gathered in great quantities and they were largely used by the American Indians as a source of bread or in gruel. They are very hard and slippery, inclined to jump and bounce while being ground; and, although they may be ground dry, we have found it advantageous to boil them for a couple of hours, then to mash, and then dry the mass before grinding. The flour and bread are very dark-colored on account of the black seed-coats but of good flavor and highly nutritious, tasting somewhat like buckwheat but with the characteristic "mousey" flavor distinctive of this group of plants."

Positive
I pluck this up as I find it and use it in "green smoothies".

Negative
It grows everywhere you don't want it to unfortunately which is annoying to most people :-)

II just found out that this is what was growing between one of my other plants indoors. My friend gave me seeds from the dollar store. I was surprised when they germinated. Now I have this 3 foot little "herb weed". I potted her separately so she would not bother the other plants. She is raised organically so I gave her leaves a try. Yep .. they are good. I was a little nervous at first but after that I kept popping them. Poor thing, it was a happy growing plant now I am looking at like food. It probably wants to run now :) And in case you are wondering, yes like my profile says I grow everything indoors. She is indoors. Matter of fact in my office window. She is healthy and very happy. At least until I finish eating her up.

Poisonous? Yeah, right...

*QUOTED* Edibility and Preparation : An excellent pot herb. Stems and leaves can be cooked like spinach or used in salads when young and tender. When freezing for storage blanch first. The small dark seeds can be ground an dused for flour. Harvest them by rubbing a husk between your hand. This seperates the chaff, then winnow.
*QUOTED*

Supporting 'woolylam,' I first read about this in a book on wild edibles. I find it just as tasty and tender for cooking as spinach, and it plants itself. I take a few cuttings until it starts to shoot up. More than about knee high it does get very hard to pull out, and by end of summer can be 5 feet and produce lots of seed.

This is the worst weed in my gardens, other than grass. I would never plant this intentionally, recommend anyone planting it or have anything to do with it.

It spreads every where, when you pull them up, you just find hundreds more in another place.

A very common weed of horticulture. Native to Europe. ..sorry.

Way more of these plants show up in my garden than I can get rid of. They seem to produce a vast amount of viable seed that can lay dormant for extended periods of time.

As stated, the leaves can be eaten, but I rate it with some of the other wild greens, such as Pokeweed.....far more trouble than the food benefits. They aren't that tasty...they are just edible...and lots of stuff falls in that category.

I'll pull mine out, plant something like a tasty mustard or spinach if I want a green veggie.

Same here (invasive). I pick more of these little guys out of my front cutting garden every spring and summer than I can count. Wish I had a nickel for each one!

It's an invasive weed here. . wish I had a nickel for all the ones I've irradicated through the years. . .

While I don't recommend anyone consuming anything if they have a doubt about it, the Cornell Univ warnings re: poisonous effects of certain plants have to be taken in the context of modern agricultural practices.

When allowed to graze freely, and have choice, animals instinctively avoid certain plants, or eat only judicious amounts of them. When animals are not free-range and passively receive bales of fodder which may have large amounts of such weeds, they consume it indiscriminately and can fall ill.

We would not be here discussing this -- our ancestors would not have survived eating such plants -- if they are so harmful to humans. It is only in the past 100 years that such plants are treated as noxious weeds, subjecting them and our environment to even more poisonous chemicals.
Human consumption is fairly low, but we should learn the traditional ways of preparing these foods, as by trial and error humans figured out safe ways of consuming foods, which science is only now coming to understand.

This plant is listed in the Cornell Poisonous Plants Collection as poisonous to "cattle, horses, humans, sheep, swine" so you might want to stop eating it.

Originally my comment would have been negative, but after finding this weed was edible I have enjoyed pulling it and popping it in my mouth. It still is everywhere in my garden, but I have learned that it thrives way better than some other greens and has no bitter taste (when young). If you can't beat them, join them. :)

This is another agressive plant in the midwest. It can be used as a pot-herb when the leaves are young. It is said it is a good spinach substitute or can be used in salads. It has a long tap root and is difficult to pull out.