Our Joy of Foraging

Mushroom (and coconut!) hunting on vacation in Hawaii with Dr. Don Hemmes

Wildman Steve Brill,
educator

Our evolution in foraging for wild foods is still ongoing. I am happy to state that our current joy comes from being in the fields and woods with full baskets and camera while we seek out wild favorites and discover new fungi and plants. We truly enjoy tasting new flavors and researching new-to-us plants, while honing our identification skills regarding mushrooms during the different seasons. Participating in forays with experienced mushroom hunters and skilled identifiers is something we look forward to every week during the mushroom hunting season from May until November, and we continue to read books and review photos during the cold winter months. Hiking and learning from experienced naturalists and wild food educators is still an activity we actively seek out, traveling many miles and even finding folks to learn from while we vacation in tropical areas. Learning, experiencing, and tasting the natural, wild world around us is something that we feel wonderful participating in, and we are both becoming more comfortable in our skills as we begin to share our knowledge with groups of interested people at public events.

Invasive garlic mustard

Native and abundant sassafras root

Two of our focuses are sustainable harvest of native plants and possible control of invasive species of plants through consumption. We are careful to research the wild edibles we hunt to make sure they are not endangered or threatened species, we take only small portions of a population of plants for our own use, and harvest conscientiously by using the renewable plant parts like berries, leaves, or stems. Digging of roots and therefore killing a plant is not an activity we do often, unless we have a specific need for the roots and the plant population is healthy and able to sustain itself with the loss of a few individuals. The identification and eating of invasive, non-native species of plants is a newer focus of ours. Many of our recipes use invasive plants as their main ingredient and we try to make finding, identifying, and consuming these invaders less daunting and delicious. As a small family of two adults and one child who forage only for ourselves, our personal impact on our environment is low, but we aim to share the ideas and knowledge of sustainable harvest with others that we teach. Foraging wild plants for profit is an activity that we do not advocate or support, and the commercialization of foraging has become a mild concern. Foraging for personal use is an activity we enjoy as a family, along with sharing our experiences with others.

Foray table with Connecticut Valley Mycological Society

Russ Cohen, educator

Blanche Derby, educator

We are fortunate that we have the time, income, and desire to spend on wild food foraging and education. Sharing the experiences, travels, and interactions with other educators with our daughter is another joy we experience through our foraging activities, hoping she will learn while having fun. We are also fortunate to have found so many wild food and fungi mentors, teachers, and friends. I cannot stress enough the importance of learning about wild edible plants and mushrooms from experienced teachers, face to face. While I prefer to read a book, and Robert prefers to learn by watching videos, we both benefit greatly by learning from actual people in the field. You may end up spending lots of money and time on travel to find your local educators, but it is always worth it, in my opinion. Traveling, camping, and recreating with like-minded friends makes the learning even more fun. Our silly hobby of eating weeds keeps growing into a learning and sharing based lifestyle, where we are continually immersing ourselves some of the things we like to do the most: eating wild foods, hunting mushrooms with friends, seeking out new wild flavors and adventures while traveling, and sharing our knowledge with others.

Fungi hunting with Terry, Bill, Noah, and Walt

Early Spring Foraging Tour with "Wildman" Steve Brill

Gillian walking with the Wildman

2012 marks the fourth year we have taken tours with "Wildman" Steve Brill. He takes the trip into Connecticut a few times throughout the year, mostly to the western edges of the state in Redding or Danbury, to give his wild food tours. His daughter is just a bit older than Gillian, and they get along well. We are still learning new wild edibles, and Wildman enjoys showing us something new. The tour we took on Saturday, March 10 was at Tarrywile Park in Danbury, and it was also Wildman's birthday! The News Times of Danbury was there to do a story in the local paper, and the article included a photograph of Gillian sampling a day lily.

This was the earliest time of year that we have ever taken a tour. It has been a rather mild winter, and spring is creeping in early this season. Wildman has been putting up teasers on Facebook all week about what plants he had been finding in Central Park in New York City, like wood sorrel, hairy bittercress, and dandelions. It might be a bit colder over here in southeastern Connecticut, because the dandelions in our area are not up at all. So far, we have been tapping maple trees for sap and making syrup.

Day lily shoots

Day lily tubers

The first new edible he showed us was day lily (Hemerocallis fulva). We both knew that the shoots, tubers, and flowers of the day lily were edible, we just had not tried them yet. The shoots were up at Tarrywile, and He gave some to Gillian and me to taste. They were quite tender, and mild like green beans. Robert dug some tubers for us to eat at home. It appeared that the deer liked eating the shoots as well, as we saw many nibbled  down to the ground.

Hairy bittercress

The second new edible we learned was hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta), a fantastic green plant for salads. I had seen the information about this plant on his app, but had never come across it out on my own. It was a lot smaller than I had pictured, but the taste is fantastically fresh and lightly peppery, very similar to a watercress. It was growing in a micro-climate created by a building insulating the soil and providing extra moisture in the form of rain run-off. We will look for this plant to make some salads, dressings, and add to soups.

Wildman Steve Brill

After the tour we were invited to a friend's house for Steve's birthday dinner. Joe and Kathy are wild food super-enthusiasts, and also members of two mushroom clubs, CVMS and COMA. The Indian-themed feast they prepared featured a Chicken Mushroom Masala, made with chicken mushrooms (Laetiporus sulphureus) and tofu, and a brilliant assortment of chutneys and dips for papadum crackers. We humbly contributed a plum jam, and ramps and roasted garlic jam to the dip lineup. The dinner was fantastic, and Gillian and Violet spent a couple hours cracking black walnuts on Joe's fancy nut crackers as snacks. It was the perfect end to a great day of playing for the two girls, and learning for all of us.

Mushrooms in Hawaii

Our vacation in Hawaii took us through several different habitats: beach, open fields, alpine environments, lava fields, wet forests, and dry forests. After many roadside stops and a few off-trail hikes, we were surprised that we did not encounter more mushrooms. So many of the places we explored were wet and filled with decaying plant matter, we expected to find many mushrooms. Perhaps we were too dazzled by the myriad of fruits to spend a lot of time looking for mushrooms.

I did read that most of the mushrooms in Hawaii are wood decayers and recent introductions with building materials and imported plants. I also stumbled on plenty of information about hunting for "magic" hallucinogenic mushrooms on cow pies in the fields on Maui. There is one book dedicated to the mushrooms of Hawaii, but it would be a pricey addition to our library. Robert did photograph a few mushrooms, and I suppose we have an incentive to return to the islands to search for more fungi.

These clusters of mushrooms were found at a higher elevation in a wet forest on Maui, in Poli Poli Springs Park. They were growing in disturbed dirt under casuarina pines (Casuarina equestifolia). They made a spore print on the tops of some of the mushrooms, and it was a very dark, olive green. The flesh did not bruise at all when cut, gills were decurrent,  no ring or volva present.

This small mushroom (less than 1" high) was found in a wet forest on Maui, growing from the moss and trail under many strawberry guavas (Psidium cattleianum) and blue gums (Eucalyptus globulus). The stem is very thin, brittle and hollow and has a very small ring. The cap is covered in dark scales.








These were also found in a wet forest on Maui growing from mossy mud. The gills appear to be very slightly decurrent, no ring visible. There appears to be a white, fuzzy "foot" or mycelial down at the base of the stem.

This white, fleshy mushroom was growing in a wet forest in dirt under eucalyptus trees. Gills were attached, and the stipe was shaggy but I don't believe a ring was present. The base of the stem was bulbous with mycelial strands. This was a sturdy mushroom, about 3" tall.








These last three were all growing on wood. One is a jelly, one appears similar to a gilled oyster, and the third is a polypore shelf. Any identification suggestions are welcome!

Resources: Identifying Wild Edible Plants in Hawaii

When the weather in Connecticut is cold and dreary, we like to head out to someplace warm and lush. Robert and I are not luxury-seeking travelers, looking for pristine beaches with personal butlers and jacuzzis. We like to rough it a bit, and find some small, out-of-the-way lunch joints and hidden paths, meander without schedules through forests and play on secluded beaches without umbrellas and chairs. Foraging on vacation is just a perk for us, visiting tropical islands with new environments and finding fruits and trees we would never encounter at home. It is difficult to prepare for what we might find, but we did find some resources to help.

After taking the long, winding sunrise drive up to the volcano on Maui, we stopped at the station of the Haleakala National Park to warm our chilled bones. We picked up a souvenir, and saw a book on the shelf called "A Pocket Guide to Hawaii's Plants and Shrubs" by H. Douglas Pratt that we grabbed. The pictures are a bit small and the information is limited, but this is a good starting point to identifying many of the trees and shrubs on Hawaii. It is arranged by environment from the high alpine hillsides of the volcanoes down through the wet forests and onto the beaches. There is not really a lot of information on edibility, but this book provides the Latin names and I was able to use the Latin names to look up more extensive information on each plant. The book is small in size (13cm x 18cm x .5cm), which makes it convenient to carry. This is also a reasonably priced pocket guide. I referenced the pictures in this book many times in the two weeks we were in Hawaii, and is proved useful immediately after we bought it as I recognized the edible 'ohelo 'ai or Nene berry (Vaccinium reticulatum) growing on the alpine lava flows of Haleakala.

We visited the Kokee Visitor Center on Kauai and found a second useful guide, "A Hiker's Guide to Trailside Plants in Hawaii" by John B. Hall. This is another light, small guide(13cm x 20cm x 1cm) that is convenient to carry. It contains a bit more information, as it covers greens, herbaceous plants and vines in addition to shrubs and trees. This book also discusses the invasive nature of many of the plants you would find while hiking along the many trails in the wilderness. Again, the pictures are small and the plants are arranged by environment. The descriptions and histories of the plants are much longer in this book, but there is still minimal information on the edibility of the plants so you will still have to do additional research. This book is very helpful with the vines in the wet forests, which are incredibly abundant and beautiful.

Matt Kirk

The best resource we found was a human guide that we found by chance. Kauai Nature School runs educational programs for children and adults about wilderness skills, nature tours, and nature connection and appreciation programs. We chose to take a private tour with Matt Kirk to a site along the shore of Kauai that we would have never found on our own. In a very short walk, he showed us some edible flowers and herbs, how to eat tropical almonds and sprouted coconuts, and helped pry some opihi limpets from the rocks at the beach so I could eat them raw. This is the kind of tour we were looking for, and would recommend it to anyone who wanted a personal experience with the wild edibles of Hawaii. This vacation was a fantastic introduction for us to the wild food adventures and experiences we can look forward to in the future.

Tropical almonds: from green to opened

Book Review - Wild Berries and Fruits: Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan

We own several great books about foraging and mushrooming, and are often asked which are our favorites. I will try to spend the non-productive winter months reviewing some of these great resources, and making recommendations. Most of these books are available on Amazon, some are available directly from the author as signed copies, some from the publisher, and many we get used from Alibris.

This is the book I reach for most often when presented with a ripe berry or fruit I am unfamiliar with. It covers a 3-state region in the upper midwest, but many of the fruits and berries found there are also found here in southern New England. This is my book of choice because of how it is organized: by the color of the berry or fruit. This simple, visual way of putting the book together makes for fast reference, and the overall small dimensions (4 1/2" x 6") of the book make it easy to carry out into the field.

Wild Berries and Fruits: Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan  by Teresa Marrone


The identification process starts with the berry or fruit color, easily referenced and arranged by colors on a tab in the upper, left corner of each page. Other icons along the top of the text page include type of plant (is it a shrub, a tender leafy plant, a vine), how the leaves are arranged (whorled, alternate, opposite), the season when the berry or fruit is ripe, and a small map of distribution. The text then goes on to describe the habitat, growth, leaves, fruit, and season for the specimen, along with some look-a-likes and additional notes. The entire right page is a color photo of the plant, usually including leaves and ripe fruit, sometimes including a small, inset photo of the unripe fruit. Common and Latin names are given for each specimen. As a forager, the most important piece of information is the edibility of the fruit or berry, and that is clearly noted with an additional band next to the color tab indicating whether the specimen is edible, not edible, delicious, or toxic.

leaves, stems, flowers

As an example, let's look at the strawberry pages. You find yourself a small, red berry out in a sunny field at your feet. Using the book, you start by looking in the red section, looking at the colored tabs on the upper left page. Use the large, color photos on the right page to find a plant that looks like the plant in front of you. Now use the clearly written text to verify the plant. The leaves section will describe coarsely toothed trifolate leaves on the end of a long fuzzy stem. The fruit section describes a heart-shaped fruit, and some of the visual differences between two different species of strawberry that may have been found. Check to see that your seasonal ripeness matches with what is described, and observe the habitat the plant is growing in. Read about any possible look-a-likes in the compare section, and read the additional notes that may describe the flavor of the strawberry. Also notice the additional band on the upper left corner, denoting that the wild strawberry is delicious. Using the additional ID information in the fruit section, I can positively identify the strawberries we found and photographed as Fragaria virginiana. Yum!

fruit

Also in this book is the useful introduction in the front. The terms used in the book are described, such as types of fruit (berries, drupes, pommes) and how the fruits are arranged (raceme, cluster, umbel). A calendar is included that shows when each fruit or berry is ripe. There is also an excellent desciption on how to use the book, taking you through all of the steps to identify and verify a plant. At the back of the book is a glossary of the botanical terms used throughout the book, an alphabetical index of the fruits and berries, and two pages of additional resources, such as websites and books.

Teresa Marrone has written several comparable books for 2 other geographical regions: Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, and for Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Depending on where you are located, you may be able to get a book better suited to your region. Teresa Marrone has also written several books on cooking with the berries and fruits of those geographical regions, along with books on cooking other wild edibles, game cooking, using a slow cooker, and camp cooking. A biography of her and her work can be found here.

Meeting Another Forager

It can be so rewarding to meet another wild food aficionado and talk shop, even more interesting to meet a published forager on a cross-country book tour. Let's add a gourmet dinner out at a nice restaurant made with local, fresh wild food that you have foraged for the restaurant, and the evening is complete. On October 2, 2011 we lived this reality when we chatted and dined with Hank Shaw, author of Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast and his website Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. The dinner was held at La Laiterie in Providence, Rhode Island, and it consisted of passed appetisers and four courses, each containing at least one item we had foraged and contributed to the evening.

Hank is originally from New Jersey, and spent his summers on Block Island. He currently lives in Northern California, where the produce is different, the ocean is different, but foraging for wild food is still a passion. His book is broken into three main sections: plants, fishing, and hunting. There are recipes throughout, along with lovely personal stories and memories. We generally don't have time to fish, and Robert and Gillian are vegetarian anyway so we also don't hunt. I have accepted gifts of venison, and may consider taking up bow hunting in the future. The section of the book we found most interesting was on the wild plants, especially the seaside edibles like beach peas, glasswort, and rocket. He also goes over other plants like dandelion, nettles, sassafras, and elderberries. This is not a guidebook for foraging wild edibles, but a complete story of the experiences and passions of an avid outdoorsman and forager.

I had contacted the chef of Farmstead & La Laiterie about possibly foraging for this dinner, and Matt Jennings was very enthusiastic. He and Beau Vestal cooked up a fantastic menu, including Hank's requested quahogs in honor of his Block Island memories. We provided autumn olives, chestnuts, black trumpets, spicebush berries, rosehips, ramps bulbs, and glasswort. Some of the items were unexpectedly difficult to gather, due to Tropical Storm Irene that just passed through and devastated the coastal areas we use to gather several items. The dry summer also limited our ability to forage for wild grapes and autumn olives. We did manage to find enough for the dinner, but will have to wait until next year to forage them for ourselves.  Robert was unable to photograph the dishes, as the restaurant was rather dimly lit for ambiance, but I will say that everything was divine. My favorites include the candied spicebush berry, and the swordfish belly with the rosehip purée. Robert had an altered menu, with seaweed salad in place of the terrine, and white cheddar grits and hen of the woods mushroom sautée in place of the guinea hen. Both Hank and Matt Jennings reminded the diners that this was a unique feast, never to be replicated since the foods we ate that night were foraged that week from this geographic area, and cooked by wild food lovers and enthusiasts. It was wonderful! Here is a copy of the menu for the evening:

farmstead & la laiterie

presents 

The Forgotten Feast

A Wild, Sourced Dinner

Reception

Wild Mushroom Toasts, Moses Sleeper Cheese, Preserved Lemon Mostarda

"Boar ta della" Sandwiches with Olive, Wild Juniper, and Celery Relish

Chicken-Fried Chicken of the Woods, Waffle Strip, Bourbon Vinegar

Rhode Island Quahog Clambake Stuffies

Course 1 - Pasture & Knoll

Connecticut Pheasant Terrine & Rhode Island Rabbit Mousseline

spicy ale mustard, Concord grapes, American chestnut bread

Course 2 - Coast and Shoreline

Wild Spiced Swordfish Belly

rosehip purée, smoked ham ans sea lettuce dashi, periwinkles and sea beans

Coarse 3 - Woodlands & Forest

"The Hen" Pan Roasted Guinea Hen

hen of the woods, wild rice, pickled autumn olives & ramp bulb, egg yolk, horseradish powder

Course 4 - Sweet and Savory

Selection of Three New England Farmhouse Cheeses

candied nuts and spicebush berry

or

Peppergrass Ice Cream

warm, salted sassafras caramel sauce and biscotti

Our evening out was filled with warm conversations, delicious food, and a lovely display of mushrooms by the resturant's usual mushroom forager. Matt Jennings was interested in an ongoing relationship with us in regards to wild edibles, and we are considering it. This past year was such an unexpected loss for many of our favorite edibles due to the weather and climate, it makes us wary to make promises that we could not keep and obligation that we could not fullfill . We will have to see what the next season brings.

Mushrooms Identified - Scaly Vase Chanterelle, Berkeley's Polypore, Old Man of the Woods

Here are some mushrooms we have identified through many guidebooks and with the generous knowledge of Connecticut Valley Mycological Society. We see so many mushrooms that are difficult to identify on our own, so we joined the CVMS to learn techniques and proper ways to gather, identify, and possibly consume wild mushrooms. Robert has photographed several mushrooms, and we try to take spore prints for further confirmation.

Here is a partial list of the books we use:

Mushrooms of Northeast North America: Midwest to New England by George Barron
The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms
Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America: A Field to Kitchen Guide by David W. Fischer
Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora

Scaly Vase Chanterelle cluster

Young scaly vase chanterelles

Gomphus floccosus is also known as Wooly Chanterelle, or Scaly Vase Chanterelle. We came across a small group of them at the Salmon River State Forest. It is a funnel-shaped mushroom that tends to grow on the ground in coniferous or mixed coniferous and deciduous forests throughout North America. It fruits from early summer through midfall, and we found it in mid-July. The top is 2"-6" wide, orange fading to yellow-orange, and depressed but soon becoming hollow and sunken like a funnel. The top also has cottony or woolly scales. The underside is creamy-colored and is wrinkled or veined all along the stalk. The flesh is white and fibrous. Spore print is ochre, but we did not gather or print this mushroom. It's edibility is questionable, with many reports of nausea and abdominal pain, so we will avoid eating it.

Gillian holding the Berkeley's polypore

Berkeley's underside and white spores

Bondarzewia berkeleyi is commonly known as Berkeley's polypore. We found this one growing from some tree roots in Salem, CT. It grows in the Northern US and Canada, to Louisiana and Texas from July to October. It has the appearance of several overlapping creamy-white to grey fans growing from a single base. When very young, it looks like white fingers, but specimens can get very large, up to 3 feet across. The undersides of the caps is white with circular to angular pores. The spore print we took was white. It toughens and becomes bitter with age, so we trimmed the outer 1/2" from the edges for a meal. Edibility is based upon the age of the mushroom.

Old Man of the Woods, underside

Cut, staining to red

Strobilomyces floccopus is known as Old Man of the Woods for it's shaggy, unkept appearance. We found a specimen in Groton, CT and saw several more that had been found at Salmon River SF. It grows on the ground in mixed hardwood and coniferous forests from July to October. The cushion-shaped cap is 1"-6" across and is covered with dry, shaggy scales. The underside of the cap is white or grey, becoming darker with age, with large pores and tubes. The flesh is white, but slowly stains red then black when cut. The spore print we took was black. Our mushroom was a bit old, so we did not try it. Younger specimens are edible, although not particularly desirable.

Old Man of the Woods topside and spore print

Gear Review: Gerber Machete Pro

You might not think a family of 3 foragers needs a machete, but it turns out we do. Sometimes a giant puffball mushroom (Calvatia gigantea) is off trail in the brush, or we are picking gallons of wineberries (Rubus phoenicolasius) in a forest of thorns and it would be great to bushwack our way out without bleeding to death. I happened to be browsing through Outdoor Blogger Network where our blog is a member, and I saw the chance to review some gear, including knives and a machete. I signed up for the chance, won, and waited for our new machete to arrive, checking the mail eagerly for several weeks.

This machete is a Gerber Gator Machete Pro. Included with the machete is a nylon sheath which can be carried on a belt and also has a small pocket for the included mini sharpening stone. The machete is really solid and well balanced, weighing 18 oz. The handle has a comfortable grip and an included lanyard to wrap around your wrist to prevent slipping. The end of the blade is extended and curved, with a sharp edge on the inside of the curve. Overall, the machete is 16.5" long, 10.5" is the blade. It is made from high carbon steel, covered with a black protective coating.

Robert and I both used the machete in several jobs. We chopped brush and small shrubs to make paths more passable with the main edge. He chopped down a small black birch tree with ease, it took less than a minute to go through a 3" tree. Chopping overhead branches is also easy. The factory edge is adequate, but we are having it sharpened further by a professional. Robert sees other possible uses while camping such as chopping kindling.

The curved section of the machete is really good for several applications. With a swift upwards motion, I can debranch small trees, or even something tender but spiny like a common thistle (genus Cirsium). The curved blade also worked fantastically to remove the inner bark from a black birch (Betula lenta) so we could remove the cambium layer to make a refreshing wintergreen flavored drink. Later in the season, I can use the curved edge to cut through berry canes to access the center of a patch. It seems reasonable to say the curved inner edge is better for precision cutting, while the main edge is great for chopping like a standard axe or machete.

**The following review is our honest opinion, we received the Gerber Gator Machete Pro free of charge and agreed  to provide a review in exchange.  The 3 Foragers is not sponsored by or associated with Gerber and are accepting no other compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for this review. **