eG Foodblog: fifi - Foraging the Texas Gulf Coast

[fifi]

Good morning all. I am going to probably go back for a brief nap but I do need to answer Pan's question.

The hoja santa leaves are eaten. For the tamale pie, they are eaten as part of the dish. They are very tender, not at all like bay leaves and the like. In the case where we use them as a bed for chicken or fish, they are used as a side dish sort of like cooked greens. In Mexico, I understand that they are also used as a wrapper for baking fish.

I wouldn't compare them to file, powdered sassafras leaves. To me, file doesn't really taste like sassafras. Actually, it doesn't taste like much of anything. It is primarily used for its thickening powers, sort of like okra in texture. Hoja Santa actually tastes like root beer and it is not very subtle.

edit to add: I missed part of the question. Hoja Santa isn't related to sassafras at all. It just happens to have safrole in its chemical warfare arsenal against the bugs. Sassafras is a small understory tree and the safrole is found mainly in the bark of the roots. What we do when we find it in the woods is dig the roots to make the tea. As far as I can tell, the whole Hoja Santa plant has the flavor of safrole.

Edited May 18, 2005 by fifi (log)

[handmc]

A very fun blog! That tamale pie looks great. I can't wait for the next adventure.

[johnnyd]

We once got caught, loppers in hand, and made up a story about "Great Aunt Mabel" that was buried beneath it and that it was actually our property that dear Auntie intended us to take advantage of. The cemetary security guard actually bought the story so we have access to the bay tree whenever we want. OK . . . I digress. But if you are going to forage in questionable places, you need to get your act together or get arrested.

Awesome. I like a girl who can think on her feet!

The pie looks delicious. I take it you make and keep your own masa on hand at all times? I tried to make some from a big corn harvest once and failed miserably.

[fifi]

Well, I keep the masa harina on hand at all times. It is useful for breading shrimp and fish. It keeps. You make the masa para tamale by adding lard and chicken broth. Especially around Christmas, I find fresh ground masa at the Fiesta Mart stores for example. We can get it at the big HEBs as well. There is nothing to be gained by trying to make your own IMHO. Nixtamalization (soaking the corn in lime) is messy and a PITA. I let others do it. Also, you can't use our wimpy, insipid sweet corn for masa. It doesn't have enough starch and doesn't even taste like corn from what I can tell. Go to Mexico City and buy an ear of corn from a street vendor in Capultapec Park. Now that is corn.

Breakfast. This is a biscuit with some of the marmalade that my sister made from our "found" calamondin tree. (NOOOO! I didn't make the biscuit. lovebenton0 intimidated me in my biscuit making. I have to get back to that.) The story of the tree is here. So you don't have to read the whole thread, the short version of the story is that my sister spied the tree across an electric line easement, found her way to it and we have been using it ever since. Come to find out, it is a calamondin. Anyway, it makes killer marmalade and anything else orangy for that matter. I have used the salt preserved ones with pork. The juice is very tart. I may get into town this week and see if it has any ripe ones. It puts on about three crops a year. My nephew is requesting that I get some and make some more orange infused vodka. If I do that, I may make some seviche with the juice.

The picture of the biscuit has this odd blue background that is actually a white plate. I think that is because I was sitting out on my balconey and it is reflecting our blue-sky-morning. Someone asked earlier about our weather. Typical temperatures are mid 80s (F) in the day and mid 60s (F) at night. Humid, of course. Every few days we have some whomping good thunderstorms come through. I love thunderstorms.

This is what my balconey looks like in the morning. It is wonderfully shady and cool in the morning. But it does get the western sun that doesn't bode well for my pots of herbs that I am going to get around to one of these days. Yes, that is my beloved Weber Bullet. I am thinking it needs new grates this year.

For your amusement while I get my . . . stuff . . . together for today's adventure, my sister and I did a bit of foraging in Hawaii a couple of years ago. You can read about it here.

edit to add a quote from the Hawaii thread:

As to the nastursiums... My sister and I are long term foragers. I know we found some other stuff but I just don't remember. The passenger in the car has the job of watching what is growing by the side of the road. If something is spotted there is much yelling and exclamation... "STOP! STOP! There is xxxxx growing in that ditch." Never mind that there is a cane truck on your butt. 

edit again to fix the link to the calamondin tree post.

Edited May 18, 2005 by fifi (log)

[Smithy]

For your amusement while I get my . . . stuff . . . together for today's adventure, my sister and I did a bit of foraging in Hawaii a couple of years ago. You can read about it here.

edit to add a quote from the Hawaii thread:

As to the nastursiums... My sister and I are long term foragers. I know we found some other stuff but I just don't remember. The passenger in the car has the job of watching what is growing by the side of the road. If something is spotted there is much yelling and exclamation... "STOP! STOP! There is xxxxx growing in that ditch." Never mind that there is a cane truck on your butt. 

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Your foraging stories so far are not only amusing but inspiring. I'm going to have to point my sister to this thread so she'll stop feeling like a borderline thief on our excursions. Since my parents moved off the ranch and into town, whenever we visit we're off doing our morning walk through town instead of ranchland. It's hardly the same, but we've discovered a number of buildings with Meyer lemons and rosemary and various other herbs planted for ornament's sake. We deduced that they were intended for ornamentation because nobody was collecting those Meyers this winter. We came back with a dozen each, and barely dented the crop. I hadn't thought of a good story, though. I'll have to work on that for the next trip.

[Smithy]

More on our environment: Here is a link to some aerial photos of the area.

South Galveston Bay My place is in the photo fourth from the left, top row.

North Galveston Bay Where I live now is in the Clear Lake area, first and second photos from the left on the bottom row.

I can't figure out where they got the blue color for the water. It ain't blue.

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Those look like satellite photos. They always cheat. It's called "signal processing".

Edited to add: still, they show the flow of sediments beautifully.

Edited May 18, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[Lone Star]

Fifi, I am so glad to see you are blogging from our corner of the world! I am looking forward to learning what kinds of things I can forage for! My office is in the Heights - could that been near to your bay tree?

I love your description of crabbing. It is something every Gulf Coast child needs to learn and you are so right about it being more fun than a trap. It is tricker fooling a crab than you would think!

I do have a question for you. We have a tree in our office yard that we have always thought was purely ornamental. This year it started producing small, orange fruits and we found out that it was a “Loquat” tree. Are they edible?

Can’t wait for the next installment.

[fifi]

Hi there Lone Star. Yes, loquats are edible. They make a rather pleasant jam. We don't have a tree of our own at the present but we do consider that anything hanging outside of a fence is fair game. I can't think of the name of the cemetary where the bay tree is but I think the entrance to it is on Washington. I may be wrong. I will ask my sister.

I was raised in the Heights until I was in the fourth grade. My family had a compound at the end of Oxford street on White Oak bayou. We had to move out when Flood Control came through and "cemented" the bayou. (Gee! That worked well.) The actual property is now under I-10. Along that bayou was some of my first experiences with foraging. Mother and Grandma would have me tag along while we went down to the bayou to gather poke sallit and other herbs. There was a big bay tree on the slope down to the bayou and I was often sent to gather a few leaves for the gumbo or whatever. The bayou water was clear and there were white sand banks. To keep me away from the water, I was always told that there was quicksand there. Back in the 50s there were several horror films about folks being swallowed by quicksand so the deception worked. I do remember my older cousins catching perch in the bayou. Grandma would fry them up. I liked the tails. My dad kept bees there for a while.

[lexy]

What an interesting theme for a foodblog - I'd never even really considered foraging for food. Since I live in a totally different ecozone than you, you probably don't have much specific advice, but I'm wondering how I might go about discovering what local plants are edible. Did you do much research when you started out, or were you working from local knowledge?

[Lone Star]

I love your description of childhood in the Heights. What a lucky girl. It is still beautiful here and I feel fortunate that I spend my work hours with a window on either side of me filled with trees, birds and plants.

That see-ment bayou sure is purty huh?

Have you ever had any “accidents” with foraged food?

I may have to go skulk around that cemetery and find your tree.......

[Smithy]

.... To keep me away from the water, I was always told that there was quicksand there. Back in the 50s there were several horror films about folks being swallowed by quicksand so the deception worked. I do remember my older cousins catching perch in the bayou. Grandma would fry them up. I liked the tails. My dad kept bees there for a while.

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Oh, I'd forgotten those quicksand films. They went into the 60's in California. Our local river was reputed to have quicksand beds, though I never was able to find them. Between the supposed quicksand, the fear of contracting polio from local ditches and ponds, and a reputed abandoned (but not closed) well back of my grandmother's place, we grandchildren never left the house without a full burden of do's, don'ts and worries. Fortunately, none of the fears came to pass (see how effective worrying is? ) and, even more fortunately, we all grew up unafraid anyway.

[therese]

The leaves taste like root beer, or sassafras. The flavor component is safrole. It is supposed to be a carcinogen and true sassafras (the original source of safrole in root beer) was banned from root beer some years ago. I dunno. I have drunk sassafras tea since I was a pup and I am still here.

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You can use safrole to make MDMA, aka Ecstasy. Just in case you were planning a rave as part of this week's blog.

[Kevin72]

I lived in Houston almost half my life and never would have thought of all the things you're foraging, fifi. I'm absolutely fascinated, keep up the great writing!

[mizducky]

As to the nastursiums... My sister and I are long term foragers. I know we found some other stuff but I just don't remember. The passenger in the car has the job of watching what is growing by the side of the road. If something is spotted there is much yelling and exclamation... "STOP! STOP! There is xxxxx growing in that ditch." Never mind that there is a cane truck on your butt. 

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Now, this story reminds me of a friend who liked to make interesting craft tchatchkes out of animal materials (fur, bones, fangs, etc.). So when she went on camping/road trips she scanned the ditches too, only she was looking for roadkill. Somehow I think your road-foraging trip was a bit more, erm, *aesthetically pleasant* than hers.

[Wolfert]

This is just wonderful reading.

[helenjp]

Heh heh, loved the "stop the car and harvest the ditch" story! The problem with building a mental vegetation map of your neighborhood is that it becomes very hard to drive in the dark, when your usual landmarks are not visible!

I'm surprised you're having such a fruitful time in such a built-up area - my neighborhood has undergone a lot of development, and many of my favorite free food spots have disappeared .

My usual dilemma is that I can still find the plant I want, but it's only in exposed and accessible areas which are probably very popular with passing dogs ...ever have that worry?

[fifi]

Well . . . I am back. Today was not all that successful, but then I am still sticking pretty close to home. I am late because I ran into friends and we decided to assuage my dissappointment with a bean burger at Tookies. The picture below shows some typical foraging equipment. In the colander are the scissors and a bottle of bug repellent. More about that later. Also note the shovel and The Snake Stick. My nephew made that for me about 25 years ago. There was this rampant woody plant growing where they lived. He cut it into lengths, stripped the bark, varnished it and drilled a hole for the lanyard. He was about 12 at the time. It is one of my favorite possessions. Various containers and zip bags, my Linda's Fishin' Hat. The hard hat is left over from my previous life. I keep it around in case of hail storms. The cooler is inside the car with cool packs. Another good trick is to freeze bottles of water. As it melts you have water to drink. The one essential tool that is missing is my machete. I can't find it.

. . . . .

My usual dilemma is that I can still find the plant I want, but it's only in exposed and accessible areas which are probably very popular with passing dogs  ...ever have that worry?

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As you might expect, I have a story. In early spring, about the time the bluebonnets show up, we usually go up to my sister's country place in the middle of bluebonnet country. It so happens that at that time of year a couple of foraging possibilities converge for salad. The chickweed is still around, it is a cool season plant, and the dandelions are still nice and tender. The inevitable salad is served. My kids took to calling this seasonal treat "Cat Pee Salad."

I have a bunch of pictures to process and will get as much of that posted as I can before I fall over. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow I will go a bit farther afield and head for the bay.

[fifi]

What an interesting theme for a foodblog - I'd never even really considered foraging for food. Since I live in a totally different ecozone than you, you probably don't have much specific advice, but I'm wondering how I might go about discovering what local plants are edible. Did you do much research when you started out, or were you working from local knowledge?

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To answer your question (although belatedly), lexy, I am not sure how this all started. I grew up with the seafood catching and eating. Then my sister started with the Euell Gibbons books. We had already been into identifying wildflowers for years. There are other books out there now. We also get into conversations with folks that are into such things and pick up a pointer here and there. You also might check with your local Natural History museum and see if they do foraging trips locally. Many do. Googling will bring up some interesting sites. Try "wild food."

[fifi]

. . . . .

Have you ever had any “accidents” with foraged food?

. . . . .

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Not so far, but we are pretty careful. I get kind of suspicious of plants that look like Queen Anne's Lace. Hemlock looks a lot like that. I would hope that everyone knows not to mess with mushrooms if you don't know what you are doing. If in doubt, we leave it alone.

[mizducky]

Well . . . I am back. Today was not all that successful, but then I am still sticking pretty close to home. I am late because I ran into friends and we decided to assuage my dissappointment with a bean burger at Tookies. The picture below shows some typical Foraging equipment. In the colander are the scissors and a bottle of bug repellent. More about that later. Also note the shovel and The Snake Stick. My nephew made that for me about 25 years ago. There was this rampant woody plant growing where they lived. He cut it into lengths, stripped the bark, varnished it and drilled a hole for the lanyard. He was about 12 at the time. It is one of my favorite possessions. Various containers and zip bags, my Linda's Fishin' Hat. The hard hat is left over from my previous life. I keep it around in case of hail storms.  The cooler is inside the car with cool packs. Another good trick is to freeze bottles of water. As it melts you have water to drink. The one essntial tool that is missing is my machete. I can't find it.

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That stick sounds like a wonderful keepsake ... but waitaminnit--snake stick? Like, for fending off snakes?!? YIKES!!! You're a braver woman than I am, Gunga Din!

Although now, with that whole rig in your trunk, I have a mental image of you as Jungle Explorer in pith helmet (okay, hard hat, but it's close), armed with machete, snake stick, and bug repellant, bushwacking your way through the steamy tropical undergrowth ...

[fifi]

. . . . .

You can use safrole to make MDMA, aka Ecstasy. Just in case you were planning a rave as part of this week's blog.

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Years ago, when my sister or I would drive Grandma to Gonzales from the country place, she knew where there was marijuana growing in a ditch. We always had to stop on the way home for her to pick some. (She said it helped her arthritis. ) You can bet we drove the speed limit on the way home.

[mizducky]

. . . . .

You can use safrole to make MDMA, aka Ecstasy. Just in case you were planning a rave as part of this week's blog.

←

Years ago, when my sister or I would drive Grandma to Gonzales from the country place, she knew where there was marijuana growing in a ditch. We always had to stop on the way home for her to pick some. (She said it helped her arthritis. ) You can bet we drove the speed limit on the way home.

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One of the few successful foragings this Extremely Urban Grrl ever took part in was way back in my college days. My friends and I spotted this *huge* pot plant growing blissfully undisturbed in a vacant lot not far from our dorm. We figured somebody must have emptied out their car ashtray there, though we had no idea how it had managed to grow there undisturbed for so long. Needless to say, we disturbed the poor thing right away. And after suitable processing, it succeeded in disturbing us.

[fifi]

Dewberries:

Dewberries are the staple berry in our area. Sometimes you find blackberries but usually a bit further north. We discussed them briefly on this thread and there were similar questions about The Snake Stick.

Well, a snake stick is a long stout stick that you carry with you into dewberry country. That is because dewberry country is also a favorite hang out for the nastier species of our native reptiles. You try to avoid the whacking scenario -- think of the old fat broad in the B.C. comic strip that is always whacking the poor snake (hey, that is kind of like me!) -- by extending the stick ahead of you to warn any lurking reptiles that you are invading their territory. Copperheads are usually cooperative and will exit stage right. Water mocassins are a bit more problematic. They can be rather belligerent and you may have to resort to whacking. Rattlesnakes are pretty stubborn and may just sit there and rattle at you. If that occurs, the best course of action is to find another dewberry bramble.

The snake stick is also handy for pushing the thorny canes out of the way. One of the rules of dewberry production is that the biggest and juiciest berries are always down under the thorniest canes. Of course, this does not work very well and, when you return home with your hoard of berries, the first course of action is to apply alcohol to all of your scratches and apply tweezers to imbedded thorns. You should do this before you get in the shower and scrub vigorously to remove any chiggers that got past the Deep Woods Off.

Only now can you proceed to make that cobbler, jam, or jelly. When you have done that you conclude that it probably wasn't worth the trouble and you vow that you will never do this again. Then spring comes and you see the drifts of white blossoms and declare "Look! Dewberries! It's gonna be a good crop this year."

A few weeks ago, when the brambles were in bloom, I found this patch right across the street. The dewberries are white. The pink and yellow blooms are some lantana gone wild. You spy out your berry patch at this stage. You see the drifts of white and make a mental note. Hope springs eternal.

The blooms are really kind of pretty.

And here we are a few weeks later . . . hopes dashed. The few that are ripe are little nubbins and they are still mostly red. ARG!

So, on to plan B. During bloom time I also spied the grandaddy of all berry patches. I head over there. These are growing in and among some rather youngish tallow trees. I don't expect them to be any riper but the patch is big enough that I may be able to get a small batch to play with. I found it again and hopped out of the car to see what I might have. I am peering into the shade, yep, red berries. Then I saw it! See those three leaved vines? Yep . . . poison ivy! The whole damn patch is infested with the stuff. And here I am standing in a patch of the evil weed.

Of course I didn't have boots on. Of course I had on my Topsiders with no socks. Of course I hightailed it home and bathed my ankles in rubbing alcohol.

There is one more place I know to try that gets more sun. If I can't find any ripe by the end of the blog, I am thinking about picking some red ones, juicing them and making a vinaigrette. I have always wanted to try that.

[fifi]

As a digression, here is something that you may or may not have done as a kid. Mixed in among the dewberries across the street, the ones without the poison ivy, there are some honeysuckle vines.

We used to while away the time sipping up the drop of nectar that is at the bottom of the flower. The technique is to snip off the end of the blossom, grab the bottom of the pistil and pull the pistil through the bottom. It acts as a reamer of sorts and a drop of nectar appears at the end. That is what you sip. It is mildly sweet and actually tastes like honeysuckle smells. The vine itself can be a noxious weed. I have seen areas on the backside of Galveston Island where it has taken over acres. If someone could figure out how to harvest the stuff it would be really interesting. The drop of nectar is on the leaf just under the pistil.

In this same area, I also found some grape vines. I couldn't find any green grapes yet but I will keep an eye on it. I heard about green grape pie on another thread and I have never had it. My sister says that she has made it before but you have to catch them before the seeds really form. This is an example of keeping your eyes open to the possibilities and checking back for new developments.

[fifi]

Elderberries:

I did score some elderberry flowers. These are pretty young and tight yet but Euell Gibbons has a use for these, fritters, so what the heck. They were growing along an old fence line next to the hardware store. I was so glad to find them. Elderberries have been hard to come by this year for some reason. They are really hard to spot until they bloom or have berries because the plant itself looks a lot like a bunch or other plants.

To make the fritters first you cut the flowers off of the larger stems.

Then you make a typical flour/egg/milk batter with some baking powder in it. You can add some sugar and eat them dusted with powdered sugar or serve them with jam. Or you can add salt to the batter for a savory side. The batter should be rather thick. You add just enough batter to the flowers to stick them together.

Drop by spoonfuls into the fryer. I found that 340 degrees F (about 170 C) was about right.

Serve hot. I cut one open so you can see what it looks like on the inside.

So, what does it taste like? Actually, not much. I think it is a texture thing. If I do this again, I would go lighter on the egg. Euell uses 2 eggs to a cup of flour and a half cup of milk. I find it a bit bready. I would also maybe use masa harina instead of flour. I have had the elderberry flower crepes which is what we usually make. For that you need to catch the flowers when they are fully open and ready to drop. You shake them off into a bag, make a rather thin crepe type batter and mix in enough flowers so that the mixture will form a pancake on the griddle. Probably because of the maturity of the flowers, there is more of a flowery flavor. You can also make wine with the flowers. I don't think my dad, the wine maker, ever tried that. I think I know where some more mature specimens are so I may get a chance to make those crepes for you.

Of course, you don't pick all of the flowers. You want to come back later for the berries for a legendary jelly or wine.