04/05/2025
Nobel Prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling believed vitamin C wasn’t just a nutrient—but a cornerstone of radiant health.
He championed high-dose vitamin C as a way to support the immune system, reduce inflammation, and even protect against chronic disease.
While his ideas stirred controversy, they sparked a powerful shift: That nutrition could be foundational medicine, And that something as simple as vitamin C could ripple into deep healing.
Today, his work still inspires herbalists and foragers of wild vitality—reminding us that food, plants, and health are forever intertwined.
We often think of vitamin C as a winter ally—supporting us through colds and dark days with citrus and fire cider.
But nature offers a second wave of this vital nutrient— not in fruit, but in the first wild greens of spring.
It’s not just about immunity anymore.
It’s about movement, renewal, and light.
As the snow melts and the earth softens, nature begins offering us these first wild medicines—tender greens bursting with life, flavor, and nourishment.
Among them is that surprising gift: vitamin C. Not just the citrus kind, but deep, wild, living vitamin C—woven into the leaves of plants growing right at our feet.
These early arrivals don’t just wake up the land—they wake up the body, stirring movement, cleansing, and vitality after a long winter rest.
Here’s a look at some of spring’s most generous wild allies and the vitamin C they carry within.
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
Approximately 300–333 mg / 100g
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Approximately 90–120 mg / 100g
Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album)
Approximately 80–110 mg / 100g
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
Approximately 150 mg / 100g
Cleavers (Galium aparine)
Approximately 45–60 mg / 100g
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
Approximately 20–35 mg / 100g
And so many more!
While we’ve celebrated their bursts of vitamin C, these wild greens offer so much more—minerals that rebuild, bitters that awaken, and energy that moves winter’s weight from our bodies and minds. In every bright leaf and tender stem, spring whispers renewal.
To forage in spring is to sip the season’s cleansing light.
To taste vitality rising underfoot!
