Good King Henry

Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus), also called Poor-man’s Asparagus, is most easily described as a perennial spinach.

It has been grown as a vegetable in cottage gardens for hundreds of years, although today it’s been largely forgotten as an edible plant and is more often considered a weed.

Where It Grows

Good King Henry is native to much of central and southern Europe and is hardy to -20 C (zone 5 in the UK and USDA zones 3-9). It can produce well even in shade, making it an excellent addition to an edible forest garden.

Why We Like It

• The leaves make a good spinach when cooked. Cooking destroys the oxalic acid in the raw leaves, although for younger leaves it’s enough to steam them for a few minutes.
• The young shoots can be harvested until early summer and eaten just like asparagus. From Plants for a Future: “When grown on good soil, the shoots can be as thick as a pencil. When about 12cm long, they are cut just under the ground, peeled and used like asparagus”
• The flower buds are considered to be a gourmet food and are cooked and eaten like broccoli, though the harvesting takes some effort because of the small size.
• The seeds can be ground and mixed with flour when making bread. It’s easily harvested, but as Plants for a Future says “it should be soaked in water overnight and thoroughly rinsed before it is used in order to remove any saponins”.
• The plant is known to have been used medicinally as a mild laxative and vermifuge. A poultice of the leaves has been used to cleanse and heal chronic sores, boils and abscesses.
• It makes a decent ground cover plant, planting it in 30cm spacings.
• Gold and green dyes can be obtained from the plant.

Where To Get It

North America

Restoration Seeds

Europe

Agroforestry Research Trust (seedlings / seeds)
The Organic Gardening Catalogue (seeds)

Learn More

Plants for a Future
Temperate Climate Permaculture

Cover photo: Enrico Blasutto, CC BY-SA