I typically refer to my food shopping shopping as “foraging” because it fits the “wandering in search of food” definition. I travel from farms to farmers markets gathering whatever they’ve grown. On Saturday, I foraged in the woods and fields for edible wild-growing sustenance.
Despite the rain and chill in the air, more than 50 people (many with children) gathered at Holbrook Farm for a Wild Food Tour with Wildman Steve Brill.
Steve brings a lifetime of knowledge and enthusiasm to the topic (along with his five-year-old daughter Violet).
We found:
Field Garlic or Onion Grass. This smells faintly like an onion. You can chop the blade and the bulb into salads.
Ground Ivy. Take a handful of leaves, steep in boiling water for about 20 minutes and enjoy a minty tea.
Chickweed. Tastes like corn on the cob. Cook for about 15 minutes. Available in the early spring and fall.
Dandelion leaves. Best this time of year and before they flower. Toss in a salad or sauté with garlic and olive oil.
Garlic Mustard. Tastes like horseradish. Use the root, but don’t cook it or you will lose the flavor.
Day lilies. Taste like green beans or Chinese food. Slice up the shoots and sauté them in oil or throw into soups.
Wild Lettuce. Tastes like lettuce. Use like lettuce.
Stinging Nettle. Cut up into bite-sized pieces and sauté until just wilted. These are no longer edible in June.
Burdock. This is last year’s. You want this year’s plant (found at the base of last year’s remains) for the roots which taste like potatoes and artichokes when cooked in a moist heat.
Afterward, we gathered in a hoop house and enjoyed a lunch of our findings along with several cultivated items shared by the Holbrooks.
on Apr 6th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Thanks for posting, the pics look like you had a lot so see/do. I was planning on going, but some family stuff came up so couldn’t make it…. I really do want to try nettle some time soon, I’ve been hearing more and more about it, and have never actually found it before.