Garlic Mustard Recipe - Garlic Mustard Seed Dressing

In the early summer, the garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) goes to seed. That is a great time to do some invasive weed control while out foraging by gathering the large quantities of seeds the plant produces. These seeds that drop now will over-winter and form the basal rosettes in the very early spring next year. Garlic mustard will form dense clusters of plants, making it relatively easy to gather the seeds. Look for the light brown stalks, topped with skinny fingers that are the dry seed pods.

The seeds are black, comma-shaped and about 1/8" long. By pulling along the dry, brittle stems and along the seed pods, the seeds will fall into your hands or a waiting bucket. Many seeds will fall to the ground, but you should not feel like you are spreading the garlic mustard, since otherwise ALL of the seeds would have fallen to the ground and spread the plant naturally.

If bits of the dry seed pods fall into the bucket, it is no problem. We take 2 large bowls or buckets, and pass the seeds between the two with a high pour to winnow out the much lighter seed pods, dust, and debris. Then we spread the mostly clean seeds on a sheetpan to dry further for a few days. We keep them stored in a glass jar to use for topping breads, adding to bagels, adding to curries like mustard seeds, to make mustard, and to make a dressing.

Garlic Mustard Seed Dressing                              makes about 2 c. dressing

1 1/2 T dijon mustard, or prepared garlic mustard-mustard

1/2 lemon with rind, diced and seeds removed

3 shallots or 4 ramps bulbs

6 T honey

pinch cayenne

pinch white pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1 c. olive oil

6 T rice vinegar

1 T garlic mustard seeds

1. In a hot oven or over coals, roast the shallots or ramps bulbs until soft and charred. Cool.

2. Place the dijon or garlic mustard-mustard, diced lemon, and roasted shallots or ramps in a blender. Blend until smooth.

3. Add honey, cayenne, white pepper, salt, and pulse quickly.
4. Slowly pour in the oil with the blender on, and pour in the vinegar. Add the garlic mustard seeds with a final pulse. Store the dressing in the refrigerator, shaking before using.

Wild Blueberry Recipe - Wild Blueberry Jam

It takes a whole lot of time to gather wild blueberries in quantities large enough to make a single batch of thick, dark, sweet jam. We visited 3 different sites to pick enough, and the jam is worth the effort. I like it spread on scones and bread with butter. Wild blueberries are not quite as juicy as cultivated ones, and this jam is loaded with skins, making a very chunky product. I also always try to use low-sugar pectin. I like to taste the real fruit, but I also like to make sure the jam or jelly sets, since we put so much labor into gathering the berries.

Wild Blueberry Jam             makes about 8- 8 oz jars

6 1/2 c. washed, stemmed, crushed wild blueberries
3/4 c. water
4 1/2 c. sugar
1 box low-sugar Sure-Jell pectin

1. Wash, remove stems, and crush the blueberries by hand or with a potato masher in a large pot. There will be very little juice. Add 3/4 c. water to the berries.
2. Mix 1/4 c. of the sugar with the pectin in a bowl. Add to the crushed berries and bring to a rolling boil, stirring often.
3.  Add all of the remaining sugar at once, stirring to dissolve. Bring the jam back to a boil, and cook 1 minute.
4. Ladle into sterilized jars, seal, boil 10 minutes in a water bath to seal. Cool.

Foraging Edible Sumacs

staghorn stem

staghorn berries

There are 3 varieties of edible sumac in our area of New England--staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and dwarf sumac (Rhus copallina). Staghorn sumac twigs are covered in soft hairs, similar to a young deer's antlers, and the berries are very hairy. Smooth sumac has a purplish midrib between the toothed leaflets, and smooth twigs. Their berry clusters are usually larger and the berries are smooth. Dwarf sumacs have a winged rib between each mostly toothless leaflet and small, darker berry clusters. The berries are pink, red or dark red when ripe, but are not edible as-is, since there is no juicy flesh like traditional berries. It is the ascorbic acid, malic acid, gallic acid, and tannic acid on the outside of the hard berries that you want to use a a tart flavoring agent in spice mixes and beverages.

UPDATE: There is no oxalic acid on the berries. Thanks to Mike Krebill for clearing that up.

Edible sumacs are botanically related to cashews and mangoes, so those with allergies to them should also avoid sumacs. Edible sumacs are also related to poison sumac (Rhus vernix), which has drooping, white berry clusters and shiny leaves. Poison sumac can produce rashes and itching in people with a sensitivity, and should be learned so you can avoid it. We don't often encounter poison sumac, as it prefers a wetter environment than the edible sumacs, like swamps.

smooth sumac leaf

dwarf sumac leaf

Sumacs grow as tall shrubs in cleared areas, along highways, and old fields. The shrubs grow in dense stands and have alternate, feather-compound leaves divided into leaflets. When cut, the plant exudes a white latex. We have noticed that the three varieties ripen at different times, with staghorn berries turning red in July, smooth sumac berries ripening in August, and dwarf sumac berries ripening in September and October. It is important to gather the berry heads when fully ripe, and before it rains since the rain will wash away the tart flavors. We check for ripeness by simply licking a cluster, or rubbing a wet finger in the berry cluster and tasting our finger. Many berry clusters can be gathered and dried in a paper bag, then stored in airtight containers for use throughout the year.



A tart, pink, lemony drink can be made from the ripe berry heads. Soak 5-8 ripe berry clusters in 8 c. room temperature water, crushing the clusters in your hands. It is important to NOT use hot or boiling water, as it will dissipate the acids. Allow the berry heads to soak for a few hours, and then drain the liquid through a fine cheesecloth or coffee filter to remove the hairs and other debris. Smooth sumac usually makes the darkest pink drinkand staghorn sumac makes the most sour drink. Add sugar or honey to taste, and chill the sumac-ade. A stronger concentrate can be made by soaking more berries in the same water, and the concentrate can be frozen in ice cube trays to add to your glass of water instead of a lemon. We have also used the concentrate as an acid substitute in jellies, and similarly to lemons in sumac meringue pie.

smooth sumac berries

The berries of the smooth sumac can be gathered to make a spice mixture used in the Middle East known as za'atar. The berries are ground with a mortar and pestle with oregano, salt, toasted sesame seeds and thyme. The spice can be added to meats or brushed onto pita breads. Robert also like to chew on the new spring shoots of sumac that are tender and green. They are peeled and cut to make sure the tough center has not developed and eaten raw.

Here's a link of Russ Cohen discussing sumac late last autumn.

smooth sumac ripe berry heads

Wild Blueberry Recipe - Sweet Stuffed Rolls

Tiny wild blueberries (genus Vaccinium) take quite an effort to gather in quantity. The bushes may be a few inches off the ground or taller than our heads. Each bush also presents many variations in leaf shape and size, and the quantity of berries is different between bushes. The berries ripen in stages, so you may have to return several times. Wild blueberries tend to grow in very poor, acidic soil, or abandoned open fields where other shrubs are staring to take over. Here is a recipe for a sweet, yeasted roll stuffed with blueberry filling. The roll is soft and scented with vanilla seeds. The recipe makes about 18, and they did not last a day in our house between the three of us.

Sweet Blueberry Stuffed Rolls              makes about 18

Filling:
1 1/2 c. wild blueberries, washed
2 T water
2 T sugar
2 T cornstarch mixed with more water to make a slurry

Dough:
1 tsp. yeast
1/2 c. milk, warmed to 110°
2 c. flour
3 T sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
7 T cold butter, cubed

1 egg, beaten

1. To make the filling place the blueberries, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
2. To make the slurry, mix the cornstarch with about 4 T water to make an opaque liquid. Pour this slowly into the berries, stirring constantly. Add just enough to thicken the filling, you will not need it all. Allow the filling to cool to room temperature.
3. To make the dough sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and let it sit for 5 minutes.
4. In a stand mixer bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt and vanilla together with the paddle. Add the cold butter cubes and mix until crumbly. Add the milk and mix until a dough forms.
5. Change the paddle for the dough hook, and knead the dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
6. Heat the oven to 325° and line a sheetpan with parchment paper.
7. Roll half the dough into a rectangle about 1/4" thick and about 5" x 16". Scoop about 1 T of filling onto the dough in small scoops down the center of the dough the long way, leaving about an inch between the portions. Egg wash the edges of the dough and between the filling portions, and fold it over in half. Cut between the filling portions, to make a small ravioli shaped roll. Press the cut edges with a fork to seal. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
8. Egg wash the tops and cut some small slits in each roll. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until browned.
9. When the rolls have cooled, you can glaze them or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Foraging Report 07/11/2011

Summer is truly here, New England style. The days are hot and muggy, humidity is high, and we are all living with sunburns. We have been spending the last two weeks or so hiking as little as possible to avoid the heat, but spending time at the beaches. The beach roses (Rosa rugosa) are blooming as they will for the rest of the summer. Robert gathered some of the hard, green hips to make a sweet/sour pickle and it turned out great. The early summer has a bit of a foraging lull for us, as the spring greens have all toughened, and the summer berries and fruits are not ripe yet.

The mulberries have gone by, but we did get some black (Morus nigra) and white (Morus alba) berries to eat and I made a ricotta cheese tart with them. I made a second tart with some black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) for the Fourth of July holiday.

We have been finding plenty of wild blueberries (genus Vaccinium) in several locations. They don't all ripen at once, so we are able to return in a few days for a second picking. We picked enough to make a small batch of thick, pulpy jam, pancakes, and I made about 2 dozen small, stuffed sweet rolls filled with wild blueberries. We are not really concerned about identifying the exact species, as there are many and they will hybridize with each other. In one location, the variations of bush size, leaf size, leaf shape, berry size, and berry abundance is high between the bushes. We just look for the identifying crown on the berry, and I break a few open to view the seeds. Wild blueberries have many, tiny seeds, while huckleberries have 10 larger seeds arranged in a ring. Huckleberries will ripen in a few weeks, and are solid green right now.

The last two Sundays we attended the Coventry Regional Farmer's Market. On the 3rd, there was a foodswap that I participated in. I brought some rose petal syrup, milkweed bud capers, violet jelly, and other assorted jams that I successfully swapped for some sangria, a potholder and trivet, BBQ sauce, salsa, pickles, and s'mores kit. All food at a foodswap must be homemade and there is a frenzy of bargaining at swap time. After the swap, we attended an herbal weed walk in the market, identifying the medicinal and herbal uses of wild weeds. Our knowledge of the medicinal uses of many "weeds" is still small, and we are always learning. On July 10th the market was having a Fungus Festival, and the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society was in the central tent identifying mushrooms and giving walks on the property. Robert found some cinnabar-red chanterelles (Cantharellus cinnabarinus) and a tasty bolete (Boletus nobilis). He cooked them up in a pan with some butter and salt, and ate them by themselves. We hope to join the CVMS as members, and attend more of their walks and functions.

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. **

Mulberry Recipe - Black and White Mulberry Ricotta Tart

Both the black mulberries (Morus nigra) and the white mulberries (Morus alba) have ripened. From a heavily laden tree, we can pick gallons of berries by spreading a tarp under the branches and shaking the tree. The black mulberries are already on their way past, so we missed our opportunity to make some jam this year. Using the Roma food strainer, we can remove the stems and seeds with little effort to make a sweet, smooth jam. Instead, Robert started a gallon of wine with the ugliest but ripest berries. I picked out enough nice ones to add to this tart, along with some white mulberries.

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

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

White mulberries