Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Sow Thistle along with all the Sow Thistle containing recipes presented on this site, with 7 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Sow Thistle recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Sow Thistle as a major wild food ingredient.

Sow thistle, (also known as hare thistle or hare lettuce) Sonchus asper is an annual plant with spiny leaves and yellow flowers resembling those of the dandelion. The leaves are bluish-green, simple, lanceolate, with wavy and sometimes lobed margins, covered in spines on both the margins and beneath. The base of the leaf surrounds the stem. The plant can reach 180 cm in height and both leaves and stems exude a milky sap when cut.

Sow thistles are common roadside plants, and while native to Eurasia and tropical Africa, they are found almost worldwide in temperate regions. Despite their common name, sow thistles are not true thistles, although are classified in the same family, the Asteraceae.

The plant has traditionally been used as feed for livestock (especially rabbits). The leaves are also edible by humans. Young leaves have a flavour similar to lettuce and are excellent in salads. But older leaves tend to be bitter. However, they can be cooked by washing, adding to a pan with a little water and a knob of butter and cooked until tender (a minute or so). Cooked in this manner they have a flavour similar to chard.