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Fat Hen
Edible 
Autumn 
Spring 
Summer
A prolific member of the Amaranthaceae family a crop like quinoa can be obtained by those with time on their hands.
| Hedgerow Type | |
| Common Names | Fat Hen, Lambs Quarters, White Goosefoot |
| Scientific Name | Chenopodium album |
| Season Start | Apr |
| Season End | Oct |
Leaves
Oval to triangular with slightly wavy toothed edges. Blue green on top and sometimes with a hint of red flushing underneath, the leaves also have a silvery sheen or bloom that on close inspection is made up of microscopic, wax like crystals that repel water, this is a good ID for Fat Hen. The leaves become thinner and more angular on the rising flower stem.
Flowers
Spirals of white/green tiny flowers on spikes originating from the leaf base and stem junction appear between June and October.
Habitat
Waste ground, recently disturbed ground, hedgerows, roadsides, around cultivated land and gardens.
Possible Confusion
Other Chenopodiums like Good King Henry, Chenopodium bonus-henricus and Goosefoot, Chenopodium rubrum or a little like Orache, Atriplex prostrata but these are all edible and taste somewhat similar.
Taste
A bit cabbage like.
Frequency
Common, especially around arable fields.
Collecting
The largest stands of Fat Hen can be found around farmers field edges so it is important to check with the farmer that it hasn’t been sprayed with any harmful pesticides, fungisides etc. The leaves can be used fresh in salads or cooked like spinach, they have a cabbage like taste of their own.
The unopened flower buds are just like elongated broccoli and can be treated as such.
The seeds are edible and like quinoa, a closely related plant but the seeds need the thin outer coating removed if possible as it contains saponins which can be quite bitter.
The flowers are edible and always make a salad look better.
Medicinal Uses
Fat Hen is very high in vitamin A, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus and is a good source of protein, trace minerals, B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, iron, and fibre.
The leaves have been used as a poultice to soothe burns.
Other Facts
The seeds of Fat Hen were discovered to be Tollund Mans last meal, he was found in a Danish bog and dated from 400Bc.
Before spinach was introduced to the UK it was commonly used as a green to go with meats.
The seeds of this plant are very like Quinoa which come from a close relative that grows in South America, Chenopodium quinoa.
Fat Hen was used as a fodder crop but when raw is quite high in nitrates and oxalic acid and should not be eaten in large quantities.
28 comments for Fat Hen
Hi… I’m looking for fat hen seeds or plants as mine seems to have disappeared! Any suggestions please?
Hi Amanda, it should be in seed now (September) and can be found round the edges of most farmers fields.
It would be useful to know if it is annual, bi or peren!
Hi Deborah, Fat Hen is an Annual and usually appears in about April and lasts until October.
Late, I know but THANK YOU 🙂 I have seed but haven’t got round to sowing/planting as I want to cultivate for a potassium feed for plants (like comfrey but better). Knowing it’s life cycle helps me stopping it becoming a weed! Thank you again.
I’m interested in the fact that it’s able to be used as a plant feed. Any more information?
To use as a plant feed just leave roughly chopped fat hen, nettles or comfrey or all three in a bucket of water for two weeks which will end up rather smelly but is a great fertilizer.
I have a few of these growing in my greenhouse. They started growing in the greenhouse soil and I thought they were seedlings from old tomatoes from last year and so I nurtured them into pots. Obviously they are not tomatoes but where did they come from.
I’ve had a lot of fat hen seedlings this year, which must have been in the organic compost I bought. If yours have appeared out of the blue, that may be where they came from. I’m nurturing the rogue seedlings alongside my veggies, and I’ll use them as I would spinach.
I nurtured one plant I found growing on an allotment free manure heap. I kept the seeds and others fell on my garden. They came up in spring in great numbers. Also on other parts of my garden so I think more came from farm manure I had spread. I’ve cooked a little and it smells just like spinach. Same make up I suppose.
Do you have specific recipes involving Fat Hen?
I would always say use it moderately as it’s very rich. so good in omelets Dahl..soups etc sorry for late reply.
Dean.
Can fat hen be used for forage for cattle as in preserved silage
Fat Hen is high in nitrates and oxalic acid and should not be eaten raw in large quantities so I would be wary of using it as a fodder crop for cattle.
Does this come in a red/maroon version ?
Fat Hen can have purple/red markings on the leaves and stem so it should be possible that a whole plant could be purple/red.
Red amaranth is very close to day hen
Thank you all for the replies. Why I ask is that I found many burgundy couloirs plant looking very similar to Fat Hen growing in an old walled Monastery garden garden in Somerset and wondered if they were the real deal and perhaps cultivated at one time there
Hi
Is this Tina, would you like to contact me, cousin Sarah. [email protected]
Reading this years later , but you may have come across Magenta Spleen which is also a Chenopodium and is a spectacular purple colour on some of the leaves. But maybe not as only some of the leaves go purple and others are still green…..
So, I’m currently looking at an entire field full!
I know the area was dug over last winter though for what purpose I’m unsure as they seem to have just smoothed it off and re-fenced what used to be a hedgerow they used for machine access.
My question is, should I start picking individual leaves (looong, slooow, booring,) or could I consider the plant more like broccoli, and harvest from near the base of the stem (would take about two minutes to gather enough to last the rest of the year.)
Just use common sense, if there is a large enough amount then taking what’s above ground from some of the plants shouldn’t harm the population.
I pick it like flower stem broccoli…stems’n’all up to (0.5cm) thick…rinse and pan fry 👌🏻
When is the best time to harvest the seed?
Hi all ye fat hen & lambs quarters enthusiasts,,,
i want to buy some seeds , a pound in weight but can only find small amounts in America . As I’m in Devon England that doesn’t really appeal much to me .
i am aware it grows anywhere the ground is recently ploughed and can harvest my own each year by foraging , but i would like, if poss to get a good head start before the , currently at our own doors world wide food shortages & subsequent famines that will surely follow .
We all must now become as non – dependent upon the usual corporations to feed us & all our livestock as possible & become ,( as well as we are able ) as in -dependent , that is to say /write /spell as dependent from with-in as possible & keep improving upon it .
All the best , & please let me know if you are aware of a good source where one might bulk buy such or similar useful potential life saving plants 😎
🙏Nomaske 🙏
My Fat Hen grows new, green leaves, while the older ones develop white markings. Any clue as to why?
I’m not certain as to why it develops the white markings/scales but it is part of the natural development of the plant.
I grow the pink tinged variety, which I know as ‘tree spinach’. I’d never seen it here (UK) but is prolific on my brother’s small holding in Denmark. A very pretty self-seeder and delicious eaten raw or cooked.