Spring Edibles - Greens and Mushrooms

After the cold winter the spring greens and shoots are a bit slow to emerge. We find ourselves turning our faces up towards the sun on the nice days, warming our cheeks. Looking down at the ground for signs of life is second nature for us as we take short walks along muddy trails, and we are even taking note of the swelling buds of the trees. Not long now before we begin another year of enjoying our scavenger hunt for edible plants and fungi, where the prizes are delicious!

 Those pesky yard onions, Allium vineale! Use them like chives, in potato salad, on baked potatoes, in a savory quick bread, in soups, grill the small bulbs until they sweeten, just use them up!

Hairy bittercress, Cardamine hirisuta, a small plant in the mustard family. The leaves and flowers are peppery and bright in salads.

 Ostrich fern fiddleheads, Matteuccia struthiopteris, are the only species of fern fiddleheads we eat. They are growing more scarce in our area of southern New England due to habitat loss, so we only collect enough for a single meal each season. Further north into eastern Canada, they thrive in the wide open river floodplains. Sustainability is key- only collect half of the fiddles per crown, and never more than you need.

Tender and mild chickweed, Stellaria media. These have been out for awhile, ad they'll be good eating until it gets too warm and they go leggy. Eat raw and add to smoothies, or add last minute to soups to keep the green color.
 

Common daylily shoots, Hemerocallis fulva. Sautee these with a toucg of sesame oil and soy sauce for a quick side dish of greens. The tubers are good to collect in spring as well, and we can look forward to the edible flower buds, flowers, and wilted flowers later in the season.
 

Stinging nettle shoots, Urtica species, packed full of iron. These are my personal spring tonic, and we collect them for soups and to add to smoothies raw, dry some for a seasoning powder, and dry some for tisanes.

Dryad's saddle mushrooms, Cerioporus squamosus, a wood rotting polypore of spring that can be delicious when collected young. Look for them on big, old maples and make sure your knife cuts through them easily, otherwise it will be too tough for the plate. They are well flavored with just a sautee and a touch of salt, but meaty enough to stand up to stronger spices like Korean gochujang.
 

Invasive garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, showing the start of the second year's growth almost ready to set up a flower stalk, plus first year's growth of sprouts from the many seeds this plant produces. Eat it all--greens, leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, sprouts.
 

Ramps greens, Allium tricoccum. Collect sustainably--one leaf per plant, don't dig the bulbs! A pungent burst of garlic and onions in a chlorophyll filled green leaf, intense flavor for all dishes and a puree that keeps in the freezer for use all year.
 

Yellow rocket, Barbarea vulgaris, another member of the mustard family. Spring is when the greens are tender, and the flower heads cook up like broccoli rabe. A touch bitter, but a good green for cooking.

Japanese Knotweed Cooking and Recipes

Strawberry-Knotweed Bavarian

The flavor of Japanese knotweed is often compared to rhubarb or tart green apples, but it also has an earthy, green flavor as well. In our experiences, people either really like it or really dislike it based on the preparation. We tend to use it in sweeter recipes like cakes, jelly, or syrups, but we also use it in savory recipes like pickles, grilled with a miso marinade, or raw in a summer roll.

Knotweed sliced thinly and eaten raw in summer rolls

Japanese knotweed is a really invasive perennial plant that spreads through aggressive underground rhizomes. It looks similar to bamboo because it has a hollow stem and joints that form cross walls inside the stem, but knotweed is not related to true bamboo. The shoots emerge looking a bit like asparagus before the leaves start to unfurl, and will be green but deeply mottled or spotted with red. It can grow up to 12 feet tall or more, and will have multiple branches along the main stalk. The leaves of different species can appear slightly different; some are shaped like an elongated heart, while others are shaped like the blade of a shovel with a straight back edge. In the late summer, pretty sprays of white flowers emerge, a great source of food for bees. Once pollinated, knotweed produces winged seeds that may persist through the winter. The dried stalks will also last through the winter and it is one of the easiest ways of finding a patch of shoots by looking for the skeletons of last year's knotweed.

Sweet banana bread with Japanese knotweed added

The season to harvest Japanese knotweed shoots in southern New England typically lasts about two weeks when the shoots are less than 10"-12" tall. Once the shoots start to branch out and the leaves have all unfurled, the stem becomes quite tough and woody--not suitable as food. When the knotweed in the southern portion of Connecticut gets too tall, we can start driving north to find shorter shoots to collect and cook. Knotweed doesn't freeze well when raw, but can be dehydrated to make a tart infusion to drink, or can be stewed with sugar and frozen in measured portions for later use in recipes. It can also be salted and preserved but will need to be rinsed and soaked to use in recipes. Flavored syrup and jelly made from knotweed will last all year until spring comes around again to start cooking with fresh knotweed.

Knotweed jelly

Besides using Japanese knotweed shoots as food, the rhizomes are used medicinally as they are high in resveratrol. Knotweed may also be useful in treating Lyme disease by fighting off the Lyme spirochetes and providing anti-inflammatory support for the body. We even use the older, dry parts of knotweed to make biodegradable straws or for use as chopsticks when hiking or camping and we forgot utensils. As kids know, the hollow segments of the dried knotweed stalks also make excellent blowguns, but don't tell mom I showed them!

Knotweed muffins

To find many of our Japanese knotweed recipes click HERE.

Raw Japanese knotweed in a spicy coconut-red curry sauce

When very tender, knotweed can be eaten like a crunchy vegetable

Knotweed syrup

 

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Pudding Cake

After we made the Japanese knotweed syrup, we started thinking about what else we could use it for besides flavoring soda, drizzling over ice cream, and pouring over pancakes. Taking inspiration from maple syrup, we adapted the Maple Pudding Cake recipe to make Japanese Knotweed Pudding Cake, a self-saucing dessert.

I'll readily admit that this recipe looks weird when making it, pouring the syrup mixture over the top of the batter really is correct, it will cook its way to the bottom and thicken up nicely into the "pudding" layer. While you can use larger knotweed to make the syrup, try to harvest smaller, more tender shoots under 12" tall for the cake batter.

Japanese Knotweed Pudding Cake                 makes one 8" square pan or 9" pie pan

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 c. milk, coconut milk, almond milk, or soy milk
1 c. sliced Japanese knotweed, leaves and tips removed
1 c. Japanese knotweed syrup
1 c. water
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil

1. Heat the oven to 350º F for a metal pan, or 325ºF for a glass pan. Grease the pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1/2 c. sugar, salt, and baking powder and blend well. Mix in the milk or milk substitute, and stir just until combined, fold in the chopped knotweed.
3. Press the batter into the prepared baking pan.
4. Combine the Japanese knotweed syrup, water, 3 Tbsp. sugar, and butter or coconut oil in a saucepan, and heat just until the butter melts. Pour over the batter--it will look weird, do not stir it!
5. Bake 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the top has browned slightly.
6. Allow the cake to cool, the syrup mixture will now have sunk to the bottom and thickened, and should be scooped up with the cake to serve.

 

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Japanese Knotweed Syrup

Spring has sprung and Japanese knotweed season is upon us here in southeastern Connecticut. We furiously gathered huge baskets of shoots that were less than 12" tall, the optimum height before the stalks start toughening up and getting woody. Most was made into fruit leather, which keeps very well once vacuum packed, several batches of jelly were made, more was stewed to keep in the freezer for making muffins and quickbreads, and some was eaten raw with cream cheese and raisins!

Why yes, that IS a biodegradable straw made from last year's knotweed stalks!

Robert made some tasty Japanese knotweed syrup, to which he then adds some carbonated water or canned seltzer for a fizzy, pink drink. The ascorbic acid powder is something we order from a vitamin company in bulk and add it to our syrups to keep them fresh and from crystallizing. It is basically vitamin C in powder form, adding a slightly sour taste to the syrup.

Japanese Knotweed Syrup        makes about 4 cups of syrup

2 1/4 c. water
3 1/2 c. sugar
2 c. chopped knotweed, leaves and tips removed
3 Tbsp. ascorbic acid powder

1. In a saucepot, heat the water to boiling and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves and turn off the heat.
2. Add the chopped knotweed to the hot syrup, and cover. Allow the syrup to steep for 24 hours.
3. Filter out the knotweed with a mesh sieve, and filter again through a coffee filter to remove all the debris.
4. Remove 1 cup of the pink syrup, and warm it in a small saucepot. Add the ascorbic acid powder, stirring to dissolve it. Pour this back into the rest of the syrup and stir. Store in air tight containers at room temperature for 3-6 months.

Japanese Knotweed for Eating and Playing

Japanese knotweed at the ideal size for recipes

We have conflicting feelings about one of the most abundant invasive plants in the Northeast, Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica, syn Polygonum cuspidatum). Yes, it is edible when it first comes up in the spring, and purportedly it has all kinds of medicinal properties, but is its potential edibility blinding some people to the fact it is also terribly invasive? I cringe all the time when I see people wish knotweed grew in their area! We have witnessed many native habitats taken over by a mono-stand of impenetrable knotweed forests, all to the detriment of diversity and a healthy ecosystem. Invasive plants like Japanese knotweed are successful because they seed prolifically, grow faster and earlier than native plants thereby cutting off sunlight for the smaller, slower-growing plants, and invasives tend to alter the soil making it undesirable for the native plant populations. While we would never advocate for the CT DEEP's suggestions of poisoning and spraying populations of invasive plants, we also feel we shouldn't gloss over the destructive nature of Japanese knotweed for romanticized versions of wild edible plants.

The history of the introduction of Japanese knotweed to North America  plus some identifying information can be found in the Wild Edible Notebook, a monthly e-publication put out by Wild Food Girl for a nominal subscription fee. We were very happy to contribute to the April 2015 edition.

Japanese Knotweed Recipe Roundup 

Over the years, we have come up with several recipes to eat the spring shoots of knotweed, trying not to present them as an ideal solution to the invasive plant problem, but rather as an alternative to spraying or ignoring your local knotweed sources. Eat the Invasives! But also remember to curb their spread by harvesting responsibly and properly disposing of any plant material that may take the opportunity to root and spread further.

We have started collecting some of the dried, smaller hollow stems of knotweed to use as biodegradable straws. They are not completely impervious to getting wet over hours of being immersed, but are useful when sipping drinks around the house, and kids get a real kick out of wild-crafting with natural items they can find and manipulate on their own. Gillian has even crafted a blow-dart gun with the hollow tubes, using the larger lower stalks for the "gun" by cutting off the joints at both ends, and making the "dart" from smaller diameter stalks that are have the closed joints at both ends to provide air resistance when blown out of the "gun" tube. Involving your kids in the hunt for wild foods can be fun for them, even if they are just fooling around while you do all the dirty work of harvesting. Sword fights with dried knotweed stalks are always fun, and the hollow tubes can be cut down to use as small bowls and vessels while building fairy houses.

Lots of potential straws here, as well as building material for kids and their imaginations

Eat the knotweed, play with the knotweed, but don't spread the knotweed.

Japanese Knotweed Recipe Roundup

It's coming . . . Japanese knotweed season! The winter season is still lingering here in southern New England, but early spring greens and shoots should start peeking up soon. Japanese knotweed is one of the invasive plants that naturalists dislike, but foragers can collect in great amounts without worrying about the plant population. When collecting, try not to accidentally discard any rhizomes of knotweed; it has amazing regenerative powers and the ability to spread quickly, especially near waterways.

Here's a line-up of past recipes we have made using Japanese knotweed. And here's looking forward to testing out a few new ones!

Japanese Knotweed Fruit Leather

Knotweed Muffins/Quick Bread

Knotweed Summer Rolls Appetizers

Japanese Knotweed Jelly

Knotweed Peasant Wine

Japanese Knotweed Cold Dessert Soup

Knotweed Tapioca

Knotweed Dessert Squares

Japanese Knotweed Syrup 

Knotweed Pudding Cake

Ants on a Japanese knotweed log, with cream cheese

Salted knotweed in the traditional Japanese manner, will preserve the crunch for a year

Spring Foraging for Early Greens

Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta), one of the earliest spring greens

Foraging is very popular right now. I find myself on Facebook quite often, reading through post after post of people just discovering the shoots and greens of spring and asking what they can do with the bounty. I see seasoned foragers promoting new books, and posting really simple uses for the edibles that are found right now. I thought I would do a round up of previous posts I have made about the early wild foods of spring, instead of rehashing what I have written before.
Click on the link below to view the post.

Hairy Bittercress:

Hairy Bittercress Identified 

Hairy Bittercress Recipe - Yogurt Bittercress Dressing

Wild Onions/Yard Onions: 

 

Field Garlic, or Yard Onions Identified 

 

Field Garlic Recipe - Cottage Cheese & Field Garlic Bread 

 

Can I Eat Those Onions in My Yard?

Chickweed:

Chickweed Recipe - Creamy Chickweed Dressing

Japanese knotweed:

Japanese Knotweed Identified

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Fruit Leather

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Muffins

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Summer Rolls

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Jelly

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Wine

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Dessert Bars

 

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Cold Dessert Soup

 

Japanese Knotweed Video with Russ Cohen

Violets:

 

Violets

 

Violet Recipe - Violet Jelly

Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Fruit Leather

Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) is one of our most prolific invasive plants, it spreads by producing copious winged seeds in the fall and through underground rhizomes. Colonies of knotweed advance and can puncture up through the pavement in the spring, making them especially hated by public works employees who will try to cut down the stalks and poison the heck out of the plant. When gathering some knotweed shoots in the spring for consumption, try to get them from untreated areas and away from roadsides. They should also be picked before they are 12" tall; when they are still thick and have not unfurled too many leaves is the best time. To eat them raw, we prefer to peel the stalks, which can be difficult since the stalk is hollow like bamboo. When they are younger, the stalks are thicker and the peel comes off rather easily with a knife or potato peeler. For this fruit leather recipe, you can use smaller unpeeled stalks, or peel the larger ones with a stringier skin. Since we purchased a better blender, we can make this fruit leather without the peeling step.

Peeled knotweed stalks

The color is not particularly appetizing, olive green, but the flavor is similar to sour apples, without any of the knotweed's typical vegetal qualities. Our daughter, Gillian, really enjoys this snack and we had trouble keeping her away from the fruit leather long enough to take a picture. I tried two different methods of drying the fruit leather: the oven and the dehydrator. We have a cheap 1990's Ronco dehydrator that works just fine, using the fruit leather plastic tray. I then tried spreading the puree on parchment in the Ronco and it worked, but was a little more brittle. Then I spread some puree very thickly on some silicone baking mats on a sheetpan in the oven and it worked, but took the longest to dry. Once I removed it form the drying surface, I just rolled them up to store them in some glass jars.

Update: We finally saved enough money to purchase a good Excalibur dehydrator. This recipe makes enough puree to fill 2-12" square trays lined with the silicone liners. I use the fruit leather setting, about 130º F until the leather has darkened and dried. The old Ronco still works too!

This recipe is available in our book, available Spring 2016.

http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/book/?GCOI=60239108626260&

Pile of knotweed peels