Foraging Report 10/11/2009

Quite an active week for hearty autumn foraging. Nuts are ready, and we have picked up some black walnuts (Juglans nigra) which are drying in the window. There was a surprise drive-by find of chestnuts--Chinese species (castanea mollissima)--but still roasted and delicious, hoping to head back this week. Hickory nuts are also ready and dropping fast, it is almost difficult to get them before the squirrels do. Shagbark hickories (Carya ovata) tend to have bigger, meatier nuts than shellbark (Carya laciniosa) and pignut (Carya glabra) hickory.

For mushrooms, we needed some advice and went on a tour with Wildman Steve Brill. We found some adorable pear-shaped puffballs, honey mushrooms, and something he refers to as a Reishi mushroom.

One of our favorite wild edibles is at top gathering quality right now, the autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). It grows at the edges of open areas, abundantly along roadways. The silvery foliage is dropping, and the red berries are heavy on the branches. We have made two batches of jam, fruit leather, and purée for the freezer, and will pick more for wine and to freeze whole.

We used our shovels for some ramps (Allium tricoccum) bulbs for cooking, and some sassafras (Sassafras albidum) root for teas. We gathered some garlic mustard (Alliaria petiola) seeds for seasoning, and Lambs quarters (Chenopodium album) greens are still tender enough to eat.

Chestnuts

Someone had recently posted a question on AtlasQuest on a discussion board about chestnuts, about what they look like and if horse chestnuts were edible. I referenced a few books and answered the question, and then decided to go out and get some nuts.

First up, we will look at edible chestnuts. American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is native to North America. Unfortunately, many were devastated by a fungus introduced in the late 1800's from Chinese chestnut trees being imported. It is thought that three billion trees were killed. American chestnut still grows in the northwest, some pockets in Michigan and New Jersey, and throughout Appalachia. Another name for native American chestnuts is chinquapin. It is very difficult to distinguish American chestnut from Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima), and they often hybridize with each other. Both trees have green, sharply toothed leaves, the C. dentata more so than the C. mollissima. The flowers are produced in yellow-white catkins in spring, with a somewhat offensive odor. The nuts are encased in an incredibly spiny burr, that will open to drop the nuts soon before the first frost. Nuts from both trees are edible, although C. dentata is said to be sweeter. One of the few distinguishing characteristics is the twig buds. On C. dentata, the buds are smooth, on C. mollissima the buds are downy. It apppears we found a Chinese tree. The nuts had already released from the burrs, and we could see the ponty end with a hairy tuft and the oblong lighter spot on the other side of the nut. We grabbed a few nuts and brought them home to roast. Before roasting them in a very hot oven at 400°, I scored an "X" on the bottom of each nut to prevent them from exploding. The nut is covered by two skins, the leathery, brown outer hull, and a papery skin under the brown hull. Chestnuts contain very little fat compared to other nuts, and almost have a starchy taste and texture from their high carbohydrate content. You may have had them in stuffing during Thanksgiving. American chestnuts were an important food source for early settlers before the blight. The wood was good for houses and barns. Many animals like deer and turkey also relied on the chestnut. New, blight resistant American chestnuts are being developed, in hopes to re-establish the species, and fill a demand for the nuts.

Next is the horse chestnut (Aesculus). There are some North American species, referred to as "buckeyes", and European species referred to as "horse chestnuts". The leaves are large and palmately divided into 5-7 leaflets. The flowers are showy in spring, arranged in a panicle. They mature into a round, sometimes spiky hull with 1-3 nuts inside, each nut having a large, white scar--the "eye" of a buckeye. There is no hair or tuft on these nuts like the edible nuts. I think we found a European tree(Aesculus hippocastanum), with the spiky hull. This late into October, it was nearly impossible to find any nuts on the ground. Aesculus nuts are poisonous to consume, containing alkaloid saponins and glucosides, although deer can eat them safely. In Europe, the nuts (which are botanically seeds) were used for whitening hemp, flax, silk, and wool. We have heard of an unsporting method of crushing the nuts and placing them in a pond to slightly poison fish into a state of paralysis for easy gathering. The nuts are pretty, but do not eat these! There are several trees at Harkness Park in Waterford, Connecticut, probably planted as ornamentals. The nuts are used to play a game called "Conkers" which involves stringing the nut and swinging at your opponent's nut with the objective of breaking it.

Stamp Out Homelessness Gather, Sumac Recipe - SumacAde

Today we all headed to Rocky Neck State Park for the Stamp Out Homelessness gather hosted by Maire's Facets. The gather also was for Malta Inc. Malta provides food, clothing and toiletries to the homeless as well as providing housing at a transitional living facility consisting of four apartments. The Malta house has assisted multiple families and single men in the past 8 years, including a family of 8, from New Orleans, after the hurricane. Donations were accepted, and additional stamps representing the possible donations were available.

The weather was sunny, but cool in the shade. Robert managed to collect the limited time series--The Twilight Series and the bonuses, too. He also managed to find some boxes that are not located on AQ or LB.org. Gillian and I (Karen) stayed behind at the event, to do PTs, exchanges, event boxes, play and eat from the potluck table. There was a wonderful array of food, I think the potluck is always a good idea. We brought some autumn olive shortbread bars and sumac-ade. I made the bars with some autumn olive jam. I even picked a branch from a nearby bush to show some people what an autumn olive was. After the gather wound up, we drove to Niantic to grab a few boxes at Book Barn, and a few more along the way. We were all tired and hungry again by the time we got home. It was a long, wonderful day.

Sumac grows in the Northeast in large amounts. There are 3 varieties we see most often--staghorn, smooth and dwarf sumac (Rhus typhina, Rhus glabra, and Rhus copallina). They grow as tall shrubs in cleared areas, along highways, and old fields. They are botanically related to cashews and mangoes. The shrubs grow in dense stands and have alternate, feather-compound leaves divided into leaflets. The berry heads ripen to red in July through August. It is best to pick the berry clusters before rain, since rain will wash the lemony ascorbic acid away. Ascorbic acid is just a fancy way of saying vitamin C! Another way to enjoy sumac is eating the shoots. If you can, find a stand that has been cut down and is growing back, or just use the spring growth from older trees. The shoot is cut and if no woody pith is visible, it is tender enough to be peeled and eaten raw. We planted a box in Lebanon called Foraging Sumac, near a stand of smooth sumac. For some photos of sumacs, see Robert's website http://www.photorobg.com/photos/plants/wild%20edible/photo32.html .

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Sumac-Ade makes about 1 gallon

1 gallon room temperature water
about 12 sumac berry clusters
paper coffee filters
1 c. sugar

1. Pour the gallon of water into a large bowl.
2. Add the sumac berry clusters to the water, breaking up the clusters a bit. Mix.
3. Allow the sumac berries to steep for 8 hours, to overnight.
4. Filter the juice through paper coffee filters into a jug to remove the berries, debris, and hairs.
5. Pour about 4 cups of the filtered juice into a saucepan, add the sugar, and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes. Cool.
6. Return the sweetened juice to the gallon, and shake it up. Serve chilled.

Some frustration, some success

Robert went out this morning for a bit of boxing in the Kinne Preserve in Canterbury, but did not have much luck.

I (Karen) went out after Gillian went off to school for some more boxing in Bozrah. It was a great autumn day. My first clue was wrong--steps, not paces--but found the box. Second and third clues were just a mess, no boxes found. Fourth set of clues were OK, box was less than spectacular. Fifth and final set of clues took me to a place I had never been before, but inspired me to plant a new box: Foraging Dandelion. I had been hiking all day with two complete and ready boxes in my backpack just in case I found a good spot for them. Yantic River Park is nothing fancy, but it has a nice, often-mowed lawn with dandelions in it. It is difficult to find dandelions in the deep woods or overgrown fields, so I was ideally looking for an isolated lawn. Yantic River Park has some benches for sitting with a book, picnic tables for lunch, and a grassy area for lounging or tossing a ball. I could not plant too close to the river, since I could see debris in the trees along the river from when the water level gets high from rain or snow melt. This is a very easy walk, short and sweet.

Not too far from home

I (Karen) was busy running errands all morning so I didn't get out until Gillian was home from school. We drove over to the Wequonnoc School in Taftville, not too far from home. There is a box there I wanted to pick up, and we spent some time on the playscape. It is a super stamp from the GAQLBE08. I sent a stamp out this year, but have not heard back from the folks I sent it to in Texas. I carved a crayfish, since they can be foraged in the area from wet places, even from peoples' backyard. I hope they are just a bit busy with life at the moment, and will place it and send me a stamp soon.

After the playing, we drove over to Lowethorpe Meadows in Norwichtown. It is an 18 acre, somewhat secret place we go to for so many edibles. It is right next to The Old Norwichtown Burial Ground, and there are several boxes here placed by Celtic Roots, ampmtmsm, Team New Hampshire, Nomad Indian Saint, and one from us, Foraging Black Raspberry. Lowethorpe Meadows was gifted in 1907 "to be kept as a free open space for the public good, to be unencumbered by dwelling houses, barns, or any nuisance whatever". We come to this place so often, that we just refer to it as "your park", as in "Have you been down to your park to check on the milkweed yet this week?".

Upon first entering the meadow from the UCFS building parking lot on East Town Street, I noticed the garlic mustard had dried and was rapidly dropping seeds. Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a biennial, and it's first season low growth of heart shaped, scalloped dark green leaves makes a zesty spring green for salads and cooking. Crush the leaves to get a wonderful whiff of garlic. The second year, it grows very tall and the greens are too bitter to eat without lots of boiling and water changing, but it produces small black seeds that can be used as a seasoning, and a seed topping for breads and crackers. The seeds are quite pungent when crushed, peppery and mustardy. Some plants with exceptionally large leaves will produce a white taproot that can be dug up and grated like horseradish. Garlic mustard is an invasive species, but it is everywhere, and would be nearly impossible to eradicate. To gather some, grasp the dry stems near the bottom and pull along the main stem upwards, pulling off the branches into your hand. Then rub the branches with your hands, and now you have a handful of seeds and broken dry branches. Then I gently blow the dry stuff away, leaving a small bit of seeds in my hand.


Walking just a few steps farther into the meadow, I spied what I came for--grapes. I am not sure exactly what variety of grapes these are, many grow in the area. Grapes grow abundantly along the edges of woodlands where they can climb trees and grow along the open areas to absorb plenty of sun. Some years are better grape years than others, and I think this happens to be a good year. The leaves are also edible, picked young in the spring they can be stuffed Greek-style. As a child, we also picked the forked tendrils from the vines to suck on, since kids love tangy, sour things. We called those monkey tails. Grapes contain potassium, beta carotene, fructose, tartaric acid, and resveratrol. I got a small pail of them, but could not quite reach the ones higher up, that is a job for Robert.



I wanted to check out an old apple tree growing in the meadow, so Gillian and I walked on. I could see some apples from the path, but would have to bushwack through high grass and blackberry brambles to get to the tree. In the high grass I did happen to spy some orpine (Sedum purpureum) and picked a stem for Gillian to munch on. The leaves are succulent, making a great salad green with a mild taste and crunchy texture. Orpine is closely related to sedums that are cultivated for your garden. The tubers are also edible, with the texture of water chestnuts. Other names for orpine are live-forever, evergreen, everlasting, witch's money bags, and frog's belly. Gillian just calls it good.

Overall, a great day, and I didn't put more than 5 miles on the Jeep. What will we do with these grapes? I don't know yet, there is not really enough for another batch of jelly, yet. Besides, we need sugar and jars! I think we have gone through six cases of jars so far this season with the jellies. These grapes are in great shape, so perhaps wine. We have another source to pick from later this week to add to the bucket. Tomorrow I will make a bread, stuffed with potatoes and vegetarian gravy, topped with garlic mustard seeds. The orpine did not make it home, it was eaten in the car.

Wild Grape Recipe - Grape Jam

After a bit of morning boxing, Karen (that's me) returned home to the smell of wild grapes. We had picked a bag full on Friday, and left the bag sitting on the floor in the kitchen. The bag sat for 2 days, and I think they were starting to ferment. The question was: jelly or wine? I thought they were a bit too buggy for wine, since the fruit is usually not washed before we make a peasant wine. We rely on the natural yeasts present in and on the fruit to sustain fermentation. We add some water and sugar, crush the fruit, and let it sit in the sun for 8 days. Then the fruit pulp is filtered out, and the bubbly juice sits another week or so with an airlock to ferment further. After the airlock stops bubbling, we chill the wine in the refrigerator. We don't cork or bottle it, we drink it up young. So there were lots of spider webs, wormy grapes, dried up grapes, and just plain not nice grapes in the bag. I decided to make jelly.

I used a recipe from Billy Joe Tatum's Wild Foods Field Guide and Cookbook. I washed and stemmed the grapes, them smushed them up and added about a cup of water to the pot. Then I cooked them for 10 minutes, until they were nice and juicy. Then Robert came home from kayaking and helped me run the juicy pulp through our Roma sauce maker and food strainer contraption to get a dark purple, pulpy juice. Then it was jelly making time, and we got 8-1 cup jars. There was a bit of juicy pulp left over, so that is being dried into fruit leather. These wild grape jellies are incredible!



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Wild Grape jelly/jam makes about 8-1c. jars

5 c. pulpy grape juice

1 box powdered pectin

6 1/2c. sugar



1. Place juice in a large pot, and whisk in pectin. Bring to a boil, stirring often.

2. Add all of the sugar at once, bring back to a rollong boil and cook 1 full minute, stirring constantly.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and skim off the foam.

4. Ladle into sterile jelly jars and seal.



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So far the tally for this year's wild food jelly marathon:



Wineberry 6-1c. jars 2-1/2c. jars

Blackberry 15-1c. jars 8-1/2c. jars

Wild black cherry 7-1 c. jars 5-1/2c. jars

Mint 10-1c. jars 7-1/2c. jars

Rosehip jelly 4-1c. jars 3-1/2c. jars

Rosehip marmalade 8-1c. jars 2-1/2c. jars

Beach plum 5-1c. jars 4-1/2c. jars

Autumn olive 8-1c. jars 12-1/2c. jars

Tomato juice 6 pints

Wild grape 8-1c. jars



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For the Letterboxing and Leafpeeping gather on October 17, we are adding a giftbag of a small assortment of homemade jellies and a foraging book to the raffle. I hope it is popular!

Karen

Machimoodus State Park

Karen went out this early morning alone for a bit of letterboxing. I came here about a month ago, found a few boxes, and planted Foraging Wineberry at the vista. I returned today to find a few more boxes, taking a different trail.

This is a fantastic place for letterboxing and foraging alike. It appears to be an old farmstead, with fields, outbuildings, ponds, and plenty of stone walls. For boxers, this presents lots of great hiding places, like old gnarled trees, random boulders, and of course, stone walls. Personally, I don't like stone walls as hiding places for boxes. I don't like moving rocks, and am scared of the bugs that are hiding in the dark spots. This is a good place to bring a dog. The trails are pretty easy--old farm roads along mostly level areas. The exceptions are the trails to the vista. The upper vista trail is easier, taking a slower, more gradual uphill way to the vista. The lower vista trail offers two viewing areas, but the trail to the higher viewing area is pretty hairy for that last couple hundred feet. The view is still a bit obscured by leaves, perhaps we'll come back later in autumn. Several boxers have hidden their treasures here--Mojo612, Flutterby, Donutz716, Hez and Grumpy, Bicko and Sniggles, Butterfly, and now The 3 Foragers.


For foraging, old farms present great environments. Represented are often clear fields, overgrown fields, ponds, roadsides, disturbed areas, deep woods, and possibly old fruit trees still bearing fruit. Machimoodus has an abundance of overgrown fields, ponds, and woods. Right at the driveway entrance is one pond ringed by autumn olive bushes, their berry laden branches bent over and touching the ground. I picked a few, they were pretty good. Along the trail in an overgrown field, I saw milkweed, wild carrots, sweet fern and grapes. There are cattails growing in another pond. There are plenty of white oaks producing acorns, and a few hickory trees, along with a lot of beech. At the vista and along the way on the lower vista are wineberry and black raspberry canes.

I did not gather anything this morning, I was focused on the boxing. It was a gloriously chilly morning, the ponds at Machimoodus misty and the grass quite wet with dew. Overall, a good boxing day, with a nice walk along with the chipmunks and chickadees.

On another note, I stopped at Babcock Pond on my way home to check on the Foraging Water Lily box we had planted there. I had noticed the water level was very low, probably due to the lack of rain lately. I ended up moving the box from the root ball in the water to a 3 sister tree right near to where it was. I removed the "extreme" designation, as the box is now easy to walk to with no watercraft needed.