Foraging with "Wildman" Steve Brill - VIDEO

Robert and Gillian took a tour with "Wildman" Steve Brill in Cornwall, CT off a spur of the Appalachian Trail. While the trail was steep, Robert was able to film this segment about the Wildman discussing black birch (Betula lenta) along the way.

Milkweed Flowers and Butterflies

Monarch caterpillar

We were out picking some more milkweed flower buds in a large, open field filled with milkweed plants (Asclepias syariaca) when we noticed all the butterflies on the open flowers. Milkweed plants will flower in stages, and most plants will have tight flower bud clusters, loose clusters, and fully opened flower clusters on the same stalk. Butterflies are constantly on the move, so Robert had a hard time getting them to "pose" for a picture. We saw some Monarchs, and more caterpillars, and others I don't know the names of. Anyone who can help with these butterfly names and ID?

I think it was orange with the wings open

The little orange one in the right corner

A very large butterfly

Fast and pretty

Milkweed Recipe - Milkweed Flowerbud Capers

We picked slightly looser flowerbud clusters from common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) plants to try to make a caper-like condiment. If you read the ingredients list on a jar of capers, it is mostly salt and vinegar. I looked up some recipes, and adapted them to make one 8 oz. jar of milkweed capers. They are a bit heavy on the vinegar, but tender and tasty.  Robert tried a different recipe, using garlic cloves and a salt brine only, and let the flowerbuds lacto-ferment. Both produced a great little condiment with strong flavors that we can use all year. We store them in the fridge. The capers can be served with some smoked salmon, some rich paté, or cooked into a piccata sauce.

Vinegar Milkweed "Capers"                       makes 1-8 oz. jar

Brine:
2 Tbsp. salt
1 c. water
1 c. milkweed flower buds

Vinegar pickling juice:
1/2 c. white wine vinegar
1/4 c. water
2 tsp sugar
2 bay laurel leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme

1. Wash the milkweed flower buds to remove insects. Boil them for 2 minutes, shock in ice water, and squeeze to remove excess water. Pack them into an 8 oz. canning jar.
2. Make the salt brine by bringing the water and salt to a boil. Pour the hot brine over the flower buds. Cover the jar and let it sit at room temperature for 3 days.
3. Drain the salt brine from the jar. Make the vinegar pickling juice by boiling the vinegar with the sugar, bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Pour the hot vinegar over the flower buds and allow to cool.
4. Cover the jar and refrigerate for 3 days. The capers are ready to use, keep refrigerated.

Lacto-fermented Milkweed "Capers"                            makes 1-8 oz. jar

1 c. milkweed flower buds
1 c. water
1 Tbsp.  salt

1. Wash the milkweed buds, boil them for 2 minutes, shock in ice water, squeeze to remove excess water,  and pack them into an 8 oz. canning jar.
2. Mix the water and salt together, mixing until the salt is dissolved. Pour the brine over the flower buds and cover.
3. Allow the buds to ferment at room temperature for 6-7 days. The liquid will appear to bubble out, so keep the jar on a plate. Keep the buds submerged at all times, using a weighted lid inside the jar, otherwise mold will be produced.
4. Taste, and store in the refrigerator in the brine.

Foraging Report 06/19/2011

While the growing season is still late, the edibles are finally coming in. We had gathered tightly closed milkweed clusters to cook with all week, adding them to a quiche, soup, making "capers" from the buds, and vegetable stir-fry. The flowers are opening now, and the smell is lovely. Blanche Derby has mentioned she eats the flowers raw from the plants, and we have heard of people frying the flowers in tempura batter. Our Monarch caterpillar has gorged himself on fresh milkweed leaves all week, and made his chrysalis. We hope to see the butterfly emerge in 10 days or so.

Along the seashore we gathered petals from the roses (Rosa Rugosa) to make into a highly fragranced sugar syrup to add to drinks. The color is a pretty dark pink, and the flavor is as strong as the fragrance. Robert also picked some of the green rosehips to try a pickle. We have some pretty pink rose petal wine bubbling away in a gallon jug, we hope to drink it next spring.

Cattails (Typha latifolia) are sending up their flower spikes, and they are easy to gather in abundance from a marshy area. Gillian loves to eat the flower spikes boiled and topped with butter. I pinch off the pulp from the male part of the flower and use it in recipes like griddle cakes and chowder. The flavor is similar to corn.

We were finally able to find some wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) in quantity, and made 2 small jars of jam. The flavor and fragrance of wild strawberries is so much stronger than what you can buy at the grocery store, but it takes a very long time to pick a lot. Some of the tiny berries are the size of peas. Robert also gathered some elderberry flowers (Sambucus nigra) to make syrup and crepes. The bushes are heavy with flowers, and it is easy to spot the large, white clusters from across a field.

Wildman

We ended our week with a walk with "Wildman" Steve Brill out in Cornwall, CT. The walk was along a spur in the Appalchian Trail, and was very steep. He talked about partridge berries, burdock, garlic mustard, spice bush, low bush blueberries, black birch, and others. We were familiar with most of the plants he talked about, but learned sweet cicely (genus Osmorhiza) and common parsnip (Pastinica sativa). Robert brought home a large Reishi mushroom to dry for tea. Video coming soon!

Cattail Recipe - Cattail Flower Griddle Cake

So may parts of cattails (Typha latifolia) are edible. The early shoots are edible as a vegetable in early spring. Pull apart the leaves when they are about 2' tall to get to the tender heart, and eat it like bamboo shoots, chopped raw in salads, and pickled lightly. The flavor is very similar to cucumber. Cattail flowers are a good source of bright yellow pollen in late spring in southeastern Connecticut. We gather and sift the pollen and use it as a nutritious supplement in baking throughout the year.

Gillian and the sheathed flower spikes

This is an easy recipe using the pulp from the cattail  flower spike in mid-spring. When we gather them, the flower spike is still sheathed in a single leaf. We cut the flower spike and bring it home to peel, but be aware that there are usually lots of tiny black beetles hiding inside the leaf, so peel them outside. I then pinch the darker green male portion of the flower along the stem, and the pulp flakes off easily. I cannot get much off the female flower, so I don't bother. I can still boil up the female flower and let Gillian chew on it like cattail-on-the-cob. For this particular batch we had some glasswort (Salicornia) from the seashore on hand, and I added it for a salty crunch. We served these like appetizers, with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Removing the male yellow-green pulp from the spike

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

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

Cattail flower stalk; male portion
on top, female portion on the bottom

Cattail Video with Blanche Derby

Foraging Cattails

Common cattail (Typha latifolia) and narrow leaf cattail (Typha augustifolia) are easy to identify and easy to eat wild edibles, and produce some of our favorite edibles--pollen, the early "hearts", and the flower spike pulp. Cattails grow in open marshy areas, along slow moving rivers, in some tidal marshes, and shallow ponds. They prefer full sun and mucky ground. The sword-like leaves grow from the base of the rhizome beneath the mud, to about 4-8' tall. A very early shoot is edible, gathered by cutting it from the rhizome. The heart of the leaves is edible in early spring before the flower stalks grow. The flower stalk is produced from the center of each leaf cluster, and it contains both the male and female flower parts. The immature flower stalk can be collected to cook and eat like corn-on-the-cob. As it's protective leaf unfurls, the upper male flower produces the pollen that will fertilize the lower female part which will develop into the brown, hot dog-on-a-stick seed head most people are familiar with. The dried hot dog makes great tinder for fires. Late in the autumn through winter and in very early spring, the rhizome can be gathered and processed as a source of starch.

The excessive rain this spring has prevented us from gathering the hearts. Either it is raining too much all day, or all the extra rain yesterday flooded the swamp and we can't reach the cattails because of the high water. All we own are knee-high rubber boots, perhaps a purchase of chest-high waders is in our future. The hearts are gathered by grabbing the outer leaves of each leaf cluster, and pulling them away from the center. Then we firmly grasp the center leaves and give it a pull, and it releases easily from the rhizome. The lower 4-6 inches of the leaves are white and very tender with a taste similar to cucumber. They are easily added to salads and pickled, but Gillian like them best raw. We'll have to wait until next year to get more.

Gillian holding unpeeled flower stalks

Already the flower stalks are up, and we have been able to cut some and bring them home. The protective leaf is peeled, and we boil up the male and female flower parts like corn. The female part is usually lighter green, and does not produce much food, but the darker male part produces an abundant pulp. We also remove this pulp raw and use it in recipes like chowder and griddle cakes. The taste is similar to corn.

If the flowers are allowed to mature, the male parts produce large amounts of pollen. We gather the pollen by using a gallon jug with a hole cut into the side. Robert bends the pollen-laden flower stalk into the hole, and shakes it around. The plastic jug holds most of the pollen inside, although some always escapes and Robert comes home covered in yellow dust. Then we sift the pollen once in a metal sieve to remove debris, then again through a tea strainer to remove bugs and flower bits. The pollen is then spread out on a sheetpan and left to dry, and we store it in the freezer in a glass jar. We add the pollen as a nutritional and flavor boost to pancakes, biscuits, and in yogurt and oatmeal all year.

Cattail Pollen pancakes with wild strawberry compote

We have not tried gathering the rhizomes to make a starch, but may try it later this fall. We read about digging the rhizomes from the mud and peeling them to expose the center core. Then the cores are pulled apart and washed with water to separate the starch from the tough fibers. The water is allowed to sit, as the starch will settle to the bottom and can be dried for use like flour. Samuel Thayer gives a great description in his book "The Forager's Harvest" of how to process flour from cattail rhizomes. We also recorded Blanche Derby talking about cattails in a video.