foraging, wild food, wild edibles, wild food recipes, eat weeds, wild edible plants photography, forage wild food, fungi, foraging family, wild mushrooms, wild mushroom recipes, mushroom photography, eat invasive plants, wild mushroom hunting
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| Staghorn sumac |
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| Golden chanterelles |
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| Wineberries |
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| Assorted Summer Boletes |
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| Daylily |
As the warmer temperatures and longer days of spring unfold, many tender, young edible shoots, plants, flowers, and even a few fungi awaken a forager’s senses and delight. Learn how to identify, sustainably harvest, and prepare the wild foods of spring, from invasive bamboo shoots to the lemony tang of fresh wood sorrel, including some of the early edible fungi of the season. In this 2+hour ramble we will explore the verges, forests, and fields to find edibles. Educational handouts provided. This site is mainly for teaching, not actual harvesting in large quantities, so we suggest bringing a notebook and pen for taking notes, camera for taking photos, and your curiosity!
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| Yellow morels |
The 3 Foragers have been studying, photographing, and eating wild foods since 2005, and have given over 150 educational walks, lectures, and private classes for libraries, land trusts, nature centers, summer camps, and garden clubs since 2016.
Walk will take place May 7 at 10:00am in Simsbury, CT.
Contact The 3 Foragers directly at kraczewski@comcast.net for exact location and payment information, reservation required. Class is $20 per person 16 and older, free for younger children. Minimum of 15 people needed for the class to happen, maximum of 30 people.
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| Japanese knotweed |
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| Japanese knotweed shoots |
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| Yellow rocket |
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| Yellow morels and asparagus |
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| Morels and garlic mustard |
Spring mushrooming in Connecticut and southern New England in general can be a little slow. Soil and air temperatures fluctuate seasonally, and rain can be sporadic. The "season" can begin as early as April, and generally runs through mid-June. While there are many small bumps on logs and dried polypores to examine, there are relatively few species of edibles (at least compared to the species in summer and autumn) to be found in the spring. It should also be noted that there is a scale of edibility to recognize: choice or great edibles, edible (I prefer to think of them as simply non-toxic at this level; cook them up with butter and salt, and all you will taste will be butter and salt. An "edible" designated mushroom has no real interesting flavor or texture that sets it apart from a basic white button grocery store mushroom), and non edible (whether due to toxins or texture).
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| Mica caps |
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| Deer mushroom |
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| Platterfull mushroom |
And why bother with less-than-desirable mushrooms when there are a number of very good to choice mushrooms to be found?
Morels (Morchella sp.) are the spring edible that many seek, but is not nearly as plentiful here as it is in the mid-west, Appalachian region, and on the west coast after burns. They have a pitted cap, a lighter colored stem, and are hollow. Depending on species, the cap can be attached or attached at the mid-pint, or attached at the top of the inside of the cap. Depending on species, they can be delicate and small 1-2" or chunkier and taller at 3"-5". There is still ongoing DNA studies being done on identifying morels, so their binomials are changing.
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| Morchella dimunutiva |
Morchella americana 
Morchella punctipes
Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) can be found in spring; indeed all winter if it has been mild enough. The spring oysters tend to have light brown caps, and the yellow oysters (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) will soon be invading our geographic area after spreading throughout the mid-west. Oysters are gilled and grow from dead or nearly-dead hardwood, and can be cultivated at home. They offer very good flavor and texture when sauteed, grilled, or roasted. Wine caps (Stropharia rugosoannulata) are another gilled, saprobic mushroom, but are found growing in wood chips of the cooler spring and autumn months, and can also be cultivated at home. The caps can be burgundy but that color can fade; there is also a lighter variety that has a yellowish cap to begin with. There is often a large cog-wheel like ring on the stem, and the gills start off pale grey maturing to dark purplish grey. Wine caps are meaty mushrooms and have a stronger flavor that works well stuffed and baked, grilled, or cooked into risotto.
Oyster mushroom 
Wine caps
Two polypores that can be collected
while still young and tender are the dryad's saddle (Cerioporus squamosus) and
the chicken (Laetiporus sulphureus). Both are saprobic, growing from wood, and
will become tough and inedible with age. Dryad's saddle has an excellent crisp
texture and a stronger flavor than most mushrooms; making it ideal for pickling
or using in strongly flavored dishes. There are fine tufts of hairs on the caps
and the pore surface smells like watermelon rind or cucumber. Chicken mushrooms
don't taste exactly like chicken; it is more the texture of a prime specimen
will strongly mimic the texture of chicken when cooked well. They can take on
any cooking method and any flavors--poaching, frying, sauteing, baking, mincing
or grinding, simple bread crumb coating, BBQ spices and sauce, poultry
seasoning, ginger and garlic aromatics, and any marinade. Chicken mushroom is a
wonderful meat substitute for a vegetarian meal.
Dryad's saddle 
Chicken mushroom
Finally, another spring mushroom
worth hunting is the wood ear mushroom (Auricularia "americana"
group). True wood ears are in binomial flux, and the name will change. Wood
ears grow on wood, are gelatinous in texture, and have a fine coating of fuzzy
hairs on one side. Not all brown jellies are "wood ears," many are
from the genus Exidia but are still equally edible. Wood ears themselves don't
have a lot of flavor, but provide an interesting textural contrast when added
to soups and stir fries. They dehydrate and reconstitute well in water.
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| Wood ears |
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| NOT woods ears, but Exidia crenulata brown jelly |
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| Soup made with nettle greens, spinach, and ramps greens, with topu croutons |
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| Potato and morel hash with a side of sauteed garlic mustard greens |
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| Irish boxty made with morels and ramps greens |
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| Flaxseed braided breads stuffed with potatoes and ramps greens |
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| Chinese flower steamed buns with chopped ramps greens |
