Edible weeds are on the menu in the home garden

DESIGNER weeds are being cultivated alongside garden herbs and vegetables to add some spice to fancy dishes.

Edon Abbot

DESIGNER weeds are being cultivated alongside garden herbs and vegetables to add some spice to fancy dishes.

Magill Estate chef Emma Shearer is helping Edon Abbot, 11, and her mum, Margy, forage for unusual foods in backyard gardens.

Chickweed, dandelions, pretty three-corner leeks (or wild garlic), which look like snowdrops, violet and nasturtium flowers and leaves, mallow, stinging nettles and milk thistle command respect in the Abbot family's backyard.

The family, operators of AMJ Produce, has access to abundant leafy greens, but love the sense of adventure in foraging in their otherwise manicured Glenunga yard.

"It's fun, and some of these weeds are really hot items right now," said Ms Abbot, who regularly supplies baby weeds and wild greens  including nettles, chickweed and purslane  to restaurants around Adelaide.

Ms Shearer is helping the Abbots identify the best garden "produce", using foraging experience gained at the Magill Estate fine dining restaurant, due to reopen in 2013 following renovations.

Ms Abbot said: "It's incredible how many weeds we usually pull and dump can actually go into summer dishes for lovely new flavours."

Her research also shows most of these weeds carry significant health benefits. "Make sure no fertiliser or spray has been used in the area and check online to make sure they are edible."

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