Lamb's quarters

Chenopodium album · Leafy green

40 pairings

Lamb's quarters (Chenopodium album), also called fat hen, white goosefoot, wild spinach, Indian bathua and one of the Mexican quelites, is a fast-growing annual leafy green of the amaranth family, foraged and cultivated on every inhabited continent. Its soft, diamond-shaped leaves — dusted with a fine mealy white bloom underneath — cook down like a richer, earthier spinach, and it is one of the most widely eaten wild greens on earth.

Picking a good onedrag

Springy, matt green, floury beneathYellow, limp, slimy at the cut

Shop freshThe all-rounder: blanched and drained, then saag or paratha.Everyday best

Leaf and bloomGreen, the floury bloom rubbed thin

Shoot tipsSoft in the hand, tips still lifting

Stems and cut endsCut ends drying, stems still snap

Smell at the leafGreen and neutral, almost nothing

What to look for, from springy, matt green, floury beneath to yellow, limp, slimy at the cut.

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 4× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90-98%

About 90-98%, the general range for cold-stored vegetables - there is no figure for this leaf alone. It is nearly all water and limps in bare fridge air.

Airflow

Bagged, not bare

Measured on bathua: bagged at 5 C it lost 2.0% of its vitamin C in a day against 4.4% left bare, and 5.7% against 7.1% by day two. Bag it, never leave it loose.

Preparing