161 replies to this topic

[Mallet]

My foraging experience is pretty limited [standard berries (cloud-, blue-, rasp-, straw-) and some mushrooms (chanterelles and lobster mushrooms)]. I would love to learn more: does anyone have comments on Euell Gibbons' other books, Stalking the Healthful Herbs and Stalking the Blue-eyed Scallop?

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

I figured this question would fit best in this topic, rather than starting a separate one.

I think I have a bunch of purslane growing in my veggie garden (let it go a bit, and just got down to weeding it today).

Could someone confirm my identification?

If this is purslane, any thoughts/recipes for what to do with it (I found some stuff on the web, but mostly mixed in with other things, not on its own--which is how I'd like to prepare it. Best to leave it raw? Cook it? Best seasonings to pair with it?

Thanks much!

Here's the pic:


Edited to embed image

Edited by Anna Friedman Herlihy, 03 August 2007 - 03:51 PM.

[binkyboots]

foraging in scotland, it really is a huge larder

wild strawberries (rarely found these days) and wild raspberries (though these suffer from maggots often.)

wild garlic (ramps I think) in season are delcious and grow like weeds, they can be found almost everywhere.

jack by the hedge, another garlicky leaf, but milder than ramps and good for soups.

blaeberries, tiny wild blueberries that grown on exposed bits of hillside, this year is going to be a great crop, the weather (though bad for us humans) has been great for blaeberries.

brambles, yum, my favourite, but I think this may be a bad year for them unless the rain lets up over the next couple of months.

elderflowers and elderberries, one for fritters and drinks, the other is for jams, jellies and cough syrups.

rowanberries, great, these (once you shoo the clinging spiders off) make a pinky red jelly that is good with lamb or venison. it's a bumper crop this year, and they're so red!

rosehips, for rosehip syrup (full of vitamin c) or rosehip spread, like a fruit butter and delicious on toast.

crabapples, for jelly

I dont know enough about mushrooms so I leave them be... yes puffballs are recognisable, but I rarely see them these days.

beech nuts can be eaten, but it takes a lot of foraging to get very many! tasty though.

chickweed is great in salads, also dandelion greens. young nettles for soups, or beer/wine making.

we never look for shellfish, partly because our family isnt keen on fishy things, partly because our local shores are very polluted.

since we recently moved to an area which is populated by ancient beech forests on nice soil we are thinking of training one of our dogs (a spaniel with a busy nose and a huge appetite) to hunt for truffles.

Edited by binkyboots, 04 August 2007 - 03:43 AM.

[Magictofu]

Many spring greens will also start growing: garlic mustard, milkweed, nettle, etc.

And let's not forget cat tail shoots!

[Mallet]

I don't have very much experience foraging for anything (except chanterelles, which are so plentiful in NB that no skill/effort is required save the ability to withstand the onslaught of mosquitoes). It's something that I've always wanted to learn more about, though. What's a good starting point?

[sp1187]

I don't have very much experience foraging for anything (except chanterelles, which are so plentiful in NB that no skill/effort is required save the ability to withstand the onslaught of mosquitoes). It's something that I've always wanted to learn more about, though. What's a good starting point?

best thing is to look for a local club and go with someone who know's what's what.

this book is a very good source of info on identification:

Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field-to-kitchen Guide

Amazon.com

[Magictofu]

I completely missed your question about foraging. I think the best starting point are berries, but you know most of them already.

For mushrooms: morels, chanterelles and ceps are easy and extremely good with wild game (which after all is the main topic here). I have heard that many hunters pick them while walking the woods for game.

For wild veggies, fiddleheads are easy and abundant but the season is about to end where you live. Milkweeds are also easy and so are cattails.

There are numerous books available to help you with these and I believe you should always double check every plant or fungi in one or more books before eating it. Good books will identify dangerous look alike.

[Magictofu]

Here's something I always wondered. Do a lot of people forage for seaweeds? Are there books or other reference on the subject?

[Peter the eater]

Here's something I always wondered. Do a lot of people forage for seaweeds? Are there books or other reference on the subject?

I found this one at my library. It's not very good, there must be something better out there. I suspect it's an almost lost art.

[kayb]

Scuppernongs -- wild white muscadines. There is no better jelly. Looks like apple, tastes sort of grape-y. And wild blackberries; smaller and tarter and much more blackberry-y than the cultivated variety. Incredible with sweetened creme fraiche, over shortbread.

Does fishing count? My very favorite is bream. I can eat a half-dozen fresh-caught, pan-fried ones, about 3/4 of a pound whole, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 pound dressed (including bone).

[judiu]

Here's something I always wondered. Do a lot of people forage for seaweeds? Are there books or other reference on the subject?

Maxine, see if you can find Stalking the Blue-eyed Scallop by Euell Gibbons. It's all about foraging at the beach or shore.

[kitchensqueen]

This thread has made me really excited that it's spring time again.

For me as well, morels are the holy grail of foraging. Finding ramps, wild blackberries, persimmons and nuts are all also at the top of my list.

It's been awhile since I've been out foraging though - living in such an urban area I find it challenging. Does anyone have any tips or know of any urban foragers in Chicago?

[Magictofu]

kitchensqueen, in an urban setting the key is to find places where the soil is not too contaminated. Then you can easily get green veggies like edible weeds. Some are surprisingly delicious.

I recently picked a bucket of milkweed shoots and these were incredibly good and reminiscent of asparagus.

As for morels and ramps, I guess you might have to get away from the city. That being said, agricultural land that has been abandoned for a few decades and were poplars are often growing are common around my city and prime hunting grounds for morels.

[kitchensqueen]

Magictofu, thanks for the tips on where to find morels - when I was a kid we always searched for them in forests, but I never paid any attention to the type of trees.

And I had no idea that milkweed shoots are edible! I would assume at the very youngest stage? What's the best way to prepare them?

[Magictofu]

Magictofu, thanks for the tips on where to find morels - when I was a kid we always searched for them in forests, but I never paid any attention to the type of trees.

And I had no idea that milkweed shoots are edible! I would assume at the very youngest stage? What's the best way to prepare them?

For morels, blacks tend to grow in forested areas, especially on disturbed ground (e.g. forest fires) while yellows grow under poplar and elm trees. At least around here.

You can pick the shoot when they are between 1 and 3 inches long. You then need to blanch and shock them at least once (I was told that they can be bitter in some regions and that people need to blanch them 3-4 times... here once is enough). Then I just gently saute them in butter and add salt. My guess is that you can probably prepare them as you would asparagus.

[Marmish]

In Chicago, look for Nance Klehm, who leads foraging groups and does classes, etc. Never taken one, though, but her name comes up all the time.

[kitchensqueen]

A group is just what I need. Time to google Nance Klehm; thanks for the tip Marmish.

[Marmish]

A group is just what I need. Time to google Nance Klehm; thanks for the tip Marmish.

No problem. There's another group that meets further west. Naperville-ish maybe? My friend went once. If you are out that way, or would travel out there, I can ask her about it. College of DuPage has a horticulture program and lots of community programs. Might be another place to check.

[bague25]

For those in Brussels, Belgium. Slow Food has a foraging + cooking class on Sunday 24.

http://www.karikol.b...p.php?article10

[Magictofu]

I went morel picking this morning and came back home with about 60 mushrooms. Not bad for a 2 hour leisurely walk in the woods. With work and a 2 years old toddler I don't go mushroom picking as often as before and I tend to forage around home. These morels were all picked within the city limits. If you like foraging for food, there are probably many options available to you near you... even in Chicago.

[Lady T]

I'm still finding dandelion greens (pre-flower) young enough to use in salads, but the season's nearly over by me.

I ain't telling where my favorite raspberry and blackberry brambles are. Some damnfool government agency'll mow them down if I do, I'm convinced.

My fave mulberry bushes are all on private property which belongs to people who are only too happy to have me show up with a bedsheet, take the fruit away, and come back with jam.

[melamed]

Here is a comprehensive list of wild edible plants in Texas http://houstonwilded...s.blogspot.com/,

[heidih]

The wild fennel in the canyons is providing a nice bed for baked chicken, fish and pork.

The loquats on public property (but hidden away) are really flavorful this year. I think the lack of rain concentrated their flavor.

The mulberries and blackberries (still mostly green) are also a little sparse due to lack of rain, but the ones near flowing water in the bottom of the canyons will do just fine.

[Magictofu]

I went out today and the only thing I found was a small cluster of oyster mushrooms. Half of them had worms (unusual for oysters around here).

We are in the peak of the morel season so I'll probably try my luck again this week.

[Mallet]

I was gone on conferences during what I thought was the core of morel season. I'm assuming it's all done now? In between trips, I was in Toronto with some friends and we found 4 morels growing on the lawn! It was my first time eating fresh morels and they were delicious.

I also discovered wild leeks this year (although I didn't forage them myself). They are my new favourite spring green. They seem to significantly enhance everything from sandwiches to stirfys!

[Meanderer]

I figured this question would fit best in this topic, rather than starting a separate one.

I think I have a bunch of purslane growing in my veggie garden (let it go a bit, and just got down to weeding it today).

Could someone confirm my identification?

If this is purslane, any thoughts/recipes for what to do with it (I found some stuff on the web, but mostly mixed in with other things, not on its own--which is how I'd like to prepare it. Best to leave it raw? Cook it? Best seasonings to pair with it?

Thanks much!

Here's the pic:


Edited to embed image

I wish I had looked in on this topic a couple of years ago. Yes, that appears to be purslane and, if you let it go to seed in 2007, you can probably now feed everyone who ever posted on this site with your crop because it produces a horrendous amount of seeds per plant. I have been fighting purslane in my garden for nearly two decades now but I do enjoy nibbling on it raw once in a while. I've never cooked it but I have been tempted to rent a flamethrower and barbecue it right there in the garden. I don't know how the seed might be harvested but I understand it can be used as a sort of flour.

[Magictofu]

I was gone on conferences during what I thought was the core of morel season. I'm assuming it's all done now? In between trips, I was in Toronto with some friends and we found 4 morels growing on the lawn! It was my first time eating fresh morels and they were delicious.

I also discovered wild leeks this year (although I didn't forage them myself). They are my new favourite spring green. They seem to significantly enhance everything from sandwiches to stirfys!

It's not too late for morels but we're getting to the end of the season now. Those you should find now will be big and yellow... very easy to spot.

How did you cook your morels?

[Peter the eater]

. . . we found 4 morels growing on the lawn!

That adds a whole new dimension to foraging.

There are many things right under our noses that are perfectly delicious. I grew up battling dandelions with no idea how good they can be, and clover too. I've never seen a morel on my lawn but I get tons of wild strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.

I could probably survive a year living off my lawn, longer if I include the mammals.

[Mallet]

It was a great find to be sure (they say chance favours the prepared mind, and I have been thinking of morels an awful lot). I simply sautéed them with butter, salt and pepper. They were delicious and what I especially noticed was their meaty texture and quality. One thing was that there was a lot of grit left in them. I initially didn't want to soak them or run them under running water, but I think that will be necessary in the future.

[Tri2Cook]

Dandelion greens, fiddleheads, cattail shoots, oxeye daisy buds, milkweed pods, assorted mushrooms, assorted edible flowers and evergreen parts, blueberries (the most abundant wild crop here if you know where to look), raspberries, strawberries (takes a lot of foraging, they're few and far between but they're out there), pincherries and chokecherries. I don't have a lot of time for foraging these days but I try to get out and gather at least a little of everything when it's in season.