Milkweed Soup Tasting

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(past pick) In Stalking the Wild Asparagus, Euell Gibbons opines that the unopened flower buds of milkweed can be cooked and eaten like broccoli and young pods can be cooked and eaten like okra, but he doesn't say a word about milkweed soup. You can try it, though, in the Gibbons tradition of wild eating, at this drop-in tasting. The milkweed is grown in Olbrich’s Indigenous Garden, which is full of plants important to Native foodways.

Thursday, July 7, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. in the Herb Garden

You're invited to stop by the Indigenous Garden, located inside the Herb Garden, on Thursday, July 7 for free samples of milkweed soup and good conversation! The unopened flower buds of common milkweed, known as mahic (ma-HEE-nch) in the Ho-Chunk language, are a celebrated wild food that marks the beginning of summer. Olbrich's interns have been busy harvesting plump milkweed buds to use in the recipe. The buds are soaked in salted water before cooking or freezing, and made into a delicious brothy soup with tiny dumplings.

Not able to attend the tasting? Make your own milkweed soup! Here's our own simple recipe you can try out at home.