# Is grass seed edible?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grass-seed-edible/624681>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 10, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grass-seed-edible/624681 "2012-06-10T03:36:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grass-seed-edible/624681/1 "2012-06-10T03:36:48Z")

</div>

Okay, I figure commercial grass seed might be laced with pesticides and fertilizers and what all. But if you let your grass go to seed, and gathered and threshed it and boiled it up – would it be nutritious for humans?

After all, we eat a ton of ‘grass’ seeds – wheat, rye, barley, triticale, rice, corn, etc. Why not the seeds of lawn type grass?

I was thinking that after the zombie apocalypse we might be able to reap our lawns. 🆒

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grass-seed-edible/624681/2 "2012-06-10T03:48:52Z")

</div>

> [@StarvingButStrong](#):
>
> Okay, I figure commercial grass seed might be laced with pesticides and fertilizers and what all. But if you let your grass go to seed, and gathered and threshed it and boiled it up – would it be nutritious for humans?
> 
> After all, we eat a ton of ‘grass’ seeds – wheat, rye, barley, triticale, rice, corn, etc. Why not the seeds of lawn type grass?
> 
> I was thinking that after the zombie apocalypse we might be able to reap our lawns. 🆒

I think that the other grains have been bred for large size, flavor, and starch content, as well as other traits that make them better for eating and growing.

Your lawn grass grains would probably be edible, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grass-seed-edible/624681/3 "2012-06-10T04:03:18Z")

</div>

Interesting username/question combo.

Yeah, seeds of grasses are edible. The question is whether they provide enough nutrition to make gathering them worthwhile, and for most grasses the answer is no.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grass-seed-edible/624681/4 "2012-06-10T05:01:15Z")

</div>

Ah. You mean in the sense that you’d expend more calories getting the seeds than you’d get from the seed?

Dang.

TANSTAAFL continues to rule.