Common Milkweed also known as the butterfly flower is a native plant to the eastern part of the United States and I am so happy to have found some just miles from my home. Common Milkweed is a new plant for me, as I have just identified and learned about it over the past week. It seems that once I learn about a plant, I start to see it everywhere.
I came across a blog post from Three Lily Provisions on Common Milkweed and was on a mission to find some. And little did I know, that when Matt and I set out to hike on the morning of July 4th, we’d come across a grove of them, in perfect flower.
Whenever we go out for a hike/walk, we are always prepared with a few small paper bags in case we choose to harvest wild plants. Luckily, we came across a LARGE patch of flowering milkweed as we always harvest sustainably. We know how important the flowers and plants are to the butterflies, bees, bugs and other creatures of the forest.
We harvested just a few flower heads and when I got home, I started to preserve them immediately. I choose to pickle the milkweed flowers – something I have never pickled before but hey, why not!
If you have common milkweed in your yard, or can harvest, give this recipe a try.
(I used coriander seeds instead of mustard seeds)
