In season through

Native range:

Kochia (sometimes incorrectly called "ragweed") is our less famous tumbleweed relative. This common weed is little-known summer delicacy when cooked, with a unique flavor compared to grape leaves, olive oil, or nori.

Kochia is widespread and easy to find. It grows in the bosque, gardens, sidewalk cracks and alleyways. It prefers disturbed soil and is often found growing with tumbleweeds and goatheads and seasonally swapping places with khardal.

Kochia needs to be thoroughly cooked to be palatable and safe to eat. Boil it briefly or fry the heck out of it (10+ minutes). When fully cooked, it changes color and will become soft if boiled, crispy if fried. If it still tastes bitter, it's undercooked.

Plants can be fibrous. To harvest, gently strip off leaves and small stems. If a stem breaks off easily, it will be soft and good eating. If a stem requires being roughly torn off, it will be fibrous and stringy. Blending in a food processor after boiling can further reduce fibrousness.

Kochia gets twiggy (but not thorny) as it sets seed. Its tiny green flowers can be stripped from the stems for cooking like those of its relative quelites.

Kochia is a hyperaccumulator of lead. Avoid harvesting it near roads or gas stations.

When young, kochia is easily confused with our native purple aster (Dieteria canescens), especially when small. Look closely at leaf edges to differentiate them. Kochia leaves are also slightly fuzzy.

In its native China and Japan, its cultivated for food and as an ornamental, and seeds are also eaten. Kochia was introduced to the US as an ornamental around 1900. Unfortunately, its food use isn't widely known in the US despite the plant's abundance in the Western arid regions.

Like its relatives amaranth and tumbleweed, kochia uses C4 photosynthesis, allowing it to grow more quickly and with less water than other plants.