“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
A.A. Milne
Identification: Pineapple weed, also known as wild chamomile, and disc mayweed, is an annual plant that freely re-seeds itself. Green-yellow cone-shaped flowerheads with no petals appear from March to September. The crushed flowers smell like pineapple. Leaves have a feathery, fern-like appearance and a pineapple-chamomile scent when crushed.
Edibility: Pineapple weed flowers and leaves are edible, raw or cooked.
Medicinal uses: Pineapple weed has been used medicinally to relieve upset stomachs, menstrual pain, fever, to fight infections, treat intestinal worms and as a sedative, similar to German or Roman chamomile.
Food uses: flowers and leaves can be eaten raw as a trail nibble or in salads. Fresh or dried it can be brewed into a tea. It can be made into syrups, jelly/jam – either by itself or mixed with other flowers/herbs/fruits, liqueurs, or even ice cream or salsa! I have also seen it used to flavor apple jelly or as a potherb, fermented in honey or mixed into chicken salad. The uses are really only limited to your imagination!
How to harvest: Whole plant can be harvested from the base or flower heads can be pinched off.
Other uses: pineapple weed tea is one gardener’s first choice for getting rid of cutworms in his vegetable garden. A great, natural solution for a good vegetable crop!
Notes: With its pleasant, fruity flavor and lack of bitterness, pineapple weed is one of the easiest wild herbs to cook with for beginning foragers. It also doesn’t have any toxic look-alikes, which makes it very beginner friendly. Some people say it tastes like sunshine. It mixes very well with mint.
Pineapple Weed Recipes:
Pineapple Weed Syrup
Cover pineapple weed flower heads with water and simmer for 6 minutes. You can then either allow it to continue to infuse overnight or strain immediately. Measure the infusion and for every cup of liquid, add one cup of sugar. Combine the infusion and sugar and heat slowly while stirring until the sugar dissolves. You can use this syrup in drinks or as a salad dressing or drizzle it over desserts.
Pineapple Weed Lemonade
Make a pineapple weed tea (using just the flowers will give the strongest infusion) and then add pineapple weed syrup to taste. Add some fresh squeezed lemon juice. You can also just add fresh, squeezed pineapple weed flowers to your favorite lemonade recipe.
Pineapple Weed Custard
*Recipe adopted from Backyard Forager
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup cleaned pineapple weed flowers and leaves
- 1 extra large egg
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- a pinch of salt
Preheat your oven to 325F.
Combine the milk and pineapple weed in a saucepan and gradually bring the milk to a simmer, whisking to prevent scorching. Allow the milk to barely simmer for five minutes (whisking all the time), then remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let the pineapple weed steep for 30 minutes.
Strain off the solids, pressing down on them to release every possible drop of liquid. Compost the pineapple weed, then pour the infused milk through a fine strainer (like a yogurt strainer or gold coffee filter) to remove any solids that may have snuck through the first strainer.
Whisk the egg, then combine it with the infused milk, sugar, and salt – be thorough but gentle. A heavy hand creates air bubbles in the mixture, and when the air bubbles bake, the result is a rough, cratered surface on the top of your custard. It still tastes great, but it isn’t pretty.
Pour your custard into individual dishes, then place those dishes in a large baking pan and fill the pan with hot water until it reaches halfway up the custard dishes. The water moderates the heat of the oven, and both custards and flans have more delicate textures when they bake gently.
Bake your custards for 30 – 50 minutes, depending on the size of your dishes. The custards should be jiggly, but a knife inserted in the center should come out clean.
Remove the dishes from the hot water bath, and let them cool on the counter for about an hour. Then cover the dishes and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. Top your custard with a few tablespoons of pineapple weed simple syrup, for an extra blast of unbuyable, foraged flavor.
Pineapple weed is one of our favorite wildflowers to see in the spring. My son grazes on them when we are out and about on the farm and I love the sweet pineapple scent on the breeze from the big patches that grow all over our property. They are very easy to start from seeds. If anyone wants seeds, feel free to reach out. I would be happy to share the bounty!
Tell me in the comments if you have tried anything with pineapple weed!
Radiant Roots 
Leave a comment and let me know what you think!