[Sca-cooks] Ukranian greens question?

[Jane Boyko]

Hi all

I thought I would post my response to this list as well.  To provide context a 
response was sent to another list regarding these greens.  The person 
indicated that a relative said that the word natena meant pigweed and then 
the individual went on to state that it was also called lambsquarters.  I 
thought I would do a little bit of research as to me both of these weeds are 
different weeds.  I do not have a diffinitive answer to that.  It doesn't 
surprise me that they are referred to in the same family but the websites I 
provide do make it interesting.  Below is my response.

Hi everyone

I find this conversation on weeds somewhat interesting as I had never heard of 
pigweed being called lambsquarters in my life as they are two distinctly 
different weeds in Ontario.  My Ukrainian grandmother used lambsquarters all 
the time to make a soup that my brothers adored.   Pigsweed was never used to 
feed people.  That being said if the pigs got weeds to eat then they got all 
of the weeds not select ones.   Growing up on a farm with a large garden let 
me learn the names of all common weeds as it was the one chore I detested 
above all others - I hated getting dirty.  

Anyways, for me pigsweed was a dark green weed that when it seeded had a large 
pointy, scratchy, tassle on top.   It's roots were pink.  It was a straight 
weed without a lot of branching and could grow quite high.  Leaves were more 
spherical and pointy.

The lambsquarters on the other hand had quite thin leaves that had many little 
points on them.  There was more moisture in this particular weed.  The leaves 
were a nice shade of green on the top and the back of the leaves and stem 
were a silvery white which could be rubbed away but running your fingers over 
it.  The seeds were tiny little pale green balls - similar to ragweed seeds 
(which had yellow in them) and were two shades of green.  These particular 
weeds had a very spread out root system and it didn't matter if the ground 
was wet or dry.  Very often when pulling them out they broke close to the 
ground and then it was the devil's own time getting the rest of the root out.  
My grandmother only used young tender plants for this soup.  She also made 
sorrel leaf soup.  

I have gone a little further with this thought and looked for some images on 
the web that will better show what I was trying to describe.  The first url 
is what I know of as lambsquarters:

http://www.rce.rutgers.edu/weeds/weed.asp?pname=lambsquarters

The next two urls depict pigsweed:

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/crpsl2/s80.pdf

http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/amare.htm

That being said I saw on two encyclopedia sites listing lambsquarters and 
pigweed in the same family.  So I just called my grandmother to ask her.  She 
told me that the two weeds were different and that natena to her was 
lambsquarters only.  She prepared them the following way:

Pick, wash, blanch and strain the greens.
Fry bacon, onion and garlic until bacon is almost cooked.  Add the greens and 
cook through until tender.
Serve it forth.

My grandmother also told me that her grandmother and great-grandmother 
prepared their greens this way and the her family called them "wolloc" (I 
have no idea how to spell this) but the Ukrainian families on either side of 
hers called this type of greens natena.  My grandmother grew up in Northern 
Manitoba in the Mossy River region which is reasonably close to Dauphin, 
Manitoba home of a major Canadian Ukrainian Festival.

Sorry for the length of this posting.  I just found that the different regions 
of Canada had different names for pretty much the same thing and thought I 
would share what I found out about it.

Marina

On 09/11/04 01:00 pm, Kai D. Kalix wrote:
> Greetings,
> could that be borage? It was used a least in Germany alongside ans istead
> of spinach, and is in appearance as well as in taste very similar, IIRC.
> kai
>
> > Ok, I got this in the email from someone recently, and it's got me
> > scratching my head:
> >
> > "I am Ukrainian ... and I have been pondering this one for years.  My
> > grandmother used to pick a wild plant which she used in cooking ... it
> > was very similar to spinach.  She called it "natena", and she often
> > cooked it with cornmeal and fried onions.  This was long ago, and I
> > never learned what this plant's english name is.  Do you have any idea?
> > I would be so grateful if you have any suggestions."
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> > -- Jadwiga