Photo Collage - Black Locust

Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is native to the Appalachian Mountain area, and is considered an invasive tree in other places. It grows quickly, and often in clusters, crowding out native vegetation and aggressively invading fields.  The bark of older Black Locust trees is grey and deeply furrowed. The tree can grow up to 100 feet tall, and the trunk is usually crooked. The wood is very strong and rot resistant, often used in posts. The leaves are compound with 7 to 21 oval, smooth edged leaflets. On smaller trees, a pair of thorns grow at the leaf axils. For about only one week in mid-spring, the white flower clusters droop from the trees, making the entire tree appear white. Each flower in the cluster has a yellow spot on its top petal, and the flowers look like pea blossoms. They are crispy when picked, and can be refrigerated or even frozen for later use. They are most fragrant right before opening, or within a day or so. If the blossoms are browned or falling to the ground, it is too late to pick them. The roots of the trees alter the nitrogen content of the soil. Most parts of the tree are toxic, causing digestive system problems. In late summer the tree produces flat, green seedpods that looks like beans containing flat seeds. It is only the flowers that we gather and consume.



The best way to eat the blossoms is raw from the tree, and the taste of the raw flowers is sweet like fresh peas.  Use them in a salad, or stir them into hot oatmeal. We remove the flowers from the brownish-green cluster stem and add them to pancakes and doughnut batter, or add them to an egg custard. Robert makes a sweet drink with the flowers steeped in water, honey, and lemon juice. Last year we made a peasant wine with the blossoms, and it is fantastic--floral, mostly dry, and wonderfully clarified. We have also made some black locust flower jelly and some flower-scented sugar. Robert also made a black locust blossom syrup, which we mix with seltzer for a bubbly non-alcoholic cocktail. The blossoms attract lots of bees and ants, and the trees will seem to "hum" with activity as you walk past one in mid-spring.

Kids and Wild Food Foraging

Yummy Wild Carrots!

Gnawing on knotweed

Gillian tasting maple sap

Given the opportunity, kids love to be out in the woods or in a field, searching for bugs and sticks, flowers and rocks. Showing them that you can eat some of those plants should not be scary, but fun. With a little caution, and plenty of encouragement, the kids will be able to positively identify many common and safe wild edibles. With simple explanations and repetition, children will absorb information without realizing they are learning something, they will just think that eating stuff outside is cool.

Wildman and Gillian

Gillian has always come out foraging with us. When she was small, we had her in the hiking backpack. Now she is seven years old and while she may sometimes be cranky about walking, she still comes with us every time. She can identify many wild edibles with confidence, and has several favorites like wintergreen leaves, dandelion flowers, lemony wood sorrel, cattail shoots, and every berry available. For five years now, we have taken tours with Wildman Steve Brill, and his daughter Violet often accompanies him. She is just a little bit older than Gillian, and that girl really knows her stuff! Wildman is working on a foraging book aimed at parents and kids, possibly an app too.

Black raspberries

Some of the best edibles to teach are the obvious ones without poisonous look-alikes. Berries like blackberries and wineberries are widespread and sweet, great first edibles. There are many different species, like dewberries, Himalayan blackberries, black raspberries, and more regional ones like salmonberries and loganberries. All are edible and tasty to different degrees. While most berry canes have thorns, picking them is generally easy and large quantities can be harvested. Freshly picked blackberries on a bowl of breakfast oatmeal taste way better than any store bought ones.

Gillian with some cattail-on-the-cob

Cattails are another good edible for kids, since the taste is mild and there is always the potential of getting muddy and wet. Gillian loves to eat the heart of the cattail shoots in the spring. It is tender and tastes a lot like raw cucumber, and relatively easy to gather even for a kid. Once you find a stand of cattails about 2' high, you pull apart the outer leaves, grasp the few leaves in the center, and give them a tug. The "heart" will pop out, and the bottom 4" or so is white and the part you want to eat raw. Another great part of the cattail comes later in spring, when the flower stalks come up. They will still be sheathed in one leaf, but are easy to cut from the plant. We then pull the leaf off, check for bugs, and boil up the flower spike and eat it like corn on the cob. The male portion of the flower is the upper section and has much more pulp than the female portion on the bottom of the flower spike, and can be used in a pancake batter and soup.

Edible flowers are another fun food for kids. Popping off the big, yellow heads of dandelions and munching on the flower petals is great fun, and the kids can't seem to get enough. Violets are pretty and edible, and the taste is very mild. Lilacs are more fragrant, but still pretty flavorless, it is the thrill of eating a flower that will keep children happy. Black locust flowers are actually tasty, with a flavor and crunch similar to raw peas. Adding colorful edible flowers to a salad will instantly make it more appealing to any kid.

Sulphur shelf

Gillian is also really good at spotting mushrooms, probably due to her closeness to the forest floor. All mushrooms should be cooked before consuming them, so she knows to never put any mushroom in her mouth. She has a favorite wild mushroom (sulphur shelf) to eat, and can identify several other species already. We used to have a monetary incentive of a quarter for every mushroom she spots, and while it helped fill our basket, it also quickly emptied our pockets. We still try to make mushroom hunting fun by bringing a magnifying glass with us to examine some of the fungi we find. Get your kids outside, and show them a few cool mushrooms, even if they are not edible.

Gillian's puffball

Wild Ginger Identified

There are some wild edibles that we read about long before we find them. We have an ever-changing wishlist of plants we want to find, photograph, and taste in different stages of growth and in different seasons. Wild ginger is a plant we had unknowingly encountered in the past, admiring it for its unusual flower and pretty foliage. Upon becoming interested in the edible and medicinal properties of ginger, we have had a difficult time finding it in our immediate area. We finally got a tip on where to find large patches of wild ginger, and looked for it this weekend while in the western side of Connecticut. Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) is not closely related to commercial ginger, but the flavor and aroma are similar, and the rhizome can be used in the same ways as commercial ginger. Wild ginger is found in moist, shady forests from southeastern Canada into the mountain regions of Georgia, along the east coast of the United States, and as far west as the Dakotas. The rhizomes like undisturbed, rich soil and can be dug from spring to autumn.

Wild ginger is a native herbaceous perennial that spreads through its rhizomes underground. Colonies of ginger will carpet the forest floor in dense patches. The pretty, heart-shaped leaves are 4"-7" wide, reach up to 12" tall, and grow in pairs. They rise directly from the rhizome on fuzzy leafstalks, and the leaf is dark green on top and lighter green on the underside. The leaves are veined and completely soft and fuzzy. Because of the handsome appearance of the foliage, wild ginger makes a good addition to a shady, moist area of your yard as native landscaping.

In April and May, a flower grows on a short stem from the crotch of each paired leafstalk. It is an unusual and beautiful bloom, often hidden beneath the leaves and laying against the ground. The color of the petal-like lobes is a dark maroon, or purplish-brown, and the interior of the flower is cream colored. Even the exterior of the flower and the curled back lobes are softly fuzzy like the leaf stems and leaves. The flower grows close to the ground because it is pollinated by ants. Often, you will have to clear away forest debris and leaves to find the flower. A fleshy, six-celled fruit will develop later in the spring.

The rhizome of wild ginger is what is gathered and eaten, and used for medicinal purposes. It often grows just beneath the top of the soil and is easy to dig. Collect just a small percentage, less than 10%, of the roots from a patch to assure the health of the colony. The rhizomes are branched and covered with many smaller roots, connecting much of a patch together. They are about the thickness of a pencil and brittle, snapping apart easily. The aroma is fragrant and spicy, and the rhizome can be prepared in many ways, using greater quantities than commercial ginger since the flavor of wild ginger is more subtle. It can be dried and powdered, candied, and used grated in recipes. Medicinally, wild ginger is used to settle an upset stomach and to alleviate gas, nausea, and fevers. Wild ginger has antibiotic and antifungal properties, and was used by Native American tribes as a seasoning and medicine.

Photo Collage - Flowers of Edibles, Edible Flowers

Color! That was my first thought when I saw this photo collage that Robert put together. Then I remarked that that was a lot of photos, and told me there were even more that he had not included. These are photos of two things - flowers of edible fruits and berries, or flowers that are edible themselves. 

Some of these blossoms fall into both categories, like roses that are fragrant and have edible petals and produce vitamin C packed, fleshy hips, and the flowers of the milkweed that are great as capers and eventually turn into the edible seed pods to stuff with cheese and bake. Some blooms are from a more medicinal flower, like the mullein or St. John's Wort. Most are the flowers of berries and fruits: wineberries, may apple, wild plums, wild blueberries, elderberries, wild strawberries, and autumn olives. There are even a few from plants that we dig for their roots, like evening primrose, field garlic, trout lily, dandelion, and Solomon's Seal. Finally, we have the lovely lilacs that can be candied, the black locust clusters that are great deep fried in batter, linden bracts for aromatic tea, red clover that's a sweet, nectar-filled trail nibble, and delicate violets that can be used in syrups and jelly.

Photo Collage - Dandelion

The humble dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a naturalized invader from Europe that is found all over North America and Canada in hayfields, pastures, lawns, parks, empty lots and other disturbed areas. It is  an herbaceous perennial that grows all of its leaves from a basal rosette. Each leaf stalk has a lighter green midrib, and the leaf is often deeply lobed with tips that point back towards the base of the leaf. Flower stalks are hollow tubes, sometimes smooth and sometimes covered with a fine fuzzy wool. Each flower stalk carries a single composite flower head composed of many ray florets, forming the familiar yellow flower that dots the landscape. Shortly after blooming, often the next day, the white, fluffy head of seeds is formed. Each seed is attached to a pappus of fine hairs that works like a parachute to catch winds and disperse the seeds over wide areas. The taproot of dandelion is fleshy and long, becoming woody with age. It is difficult to eradicate dandelions from a lawn because the taproot is difficult to dig up in one piece, often breaking and still managing to grow back. All parts of dandelion exude a white sap when broken or cut.

Dandelion greens are a common food in Italy and France, and we can find them in our local grocery stores alongside the other leafy greens like kale and mustards. There is always a bit of bitterness associated with dandelion greens, but that level of bitterness can vary with climate, time of year, and habitat of the plant. Robert gathers the greens only in the early spring before the dandelions flower, or in the late fall. He gets them from a meadow next to a seasonally flooding river that receives full sun, and quickly boils them to wilt the greens and store them in the freezer for later use, adds them raw to salads, and cooks them in recipes calling for greens. As he will pick about 5 gallons of greens at a time and boil them in a big pot of water, he is then left with a big pot of dandelion tea filled with vitamins, minerals and iron, that he sweetens and chills to drink. When the flowers appear, we pick them in abundance to use the yellow petals in jelly, wine, and added to breads and muffins. Gillian will powder her face with pollen as she munches the flower heads fresh from the field. Robert digs the roots in the autumn to dry slowly in the oven and powder in the coffee grinder, then uses the powder as a coffee substitute. The smell of the roasting roots is similar to chocolate, and the "coffee" is bitter, but really good dressed up with sweetener and cream. Dandelions are versatile, common, and one of our favorite free, organic, and wild foods.

In two weeks, we are taking a little road trip to the Dandelion Festival in Ohio. We are looking forward to sampling some dandelion-filled foods, some music, crafts, and fun for kids. We  ordered the cookbook that Breitenbach Wine Cellars produces in collaboration with the Festival, and it is filled with fun recipes using the greens, flowers and roots.

Ramps Recipe - Ramps Langos

Carpet of ramps

Ramps (Allium tricoccum) season is just beginning to reach its peak, and we are able to pick grocery bags full of the aromatic green leaves in less than half an hour. Over the weekend, we ran across some limp and undersized ramps at Whole Foods, selling for $14.99/lb, which must have included the cost of shipping them from California. With the amount that are readily found here, locally, in Connecticut, it is quite a shame to see things like that in a store that supposedly promotes sustainable and local food.

Next comes the cleaning, chopping, and preserving of the leaves, along with many meals featuring ramps. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and breads have been enhanced by some form of ramps in our house since we have been foraging. Most of the leaves we pick will be sliced thinly and frozen, tightly packed in plastic containers to use all year. Some leaves will be dehydrated and powdered for adding to doughs and soup bases. Some more raw leaves will be pureed into pesto, and some just pureed with oil and frozen. The few bulbs that were pulled up by accident will be pickled to last in the fridge for a year. Lots of fresh leaves will be eaten in the next three weeks or so, until they can't be picked fresh anymore this season.

Sticky dough balls, bright green!

Langos (pronounced lon-gosh) is a Hungarian version of fried dough. The dough is made with starchy potatoes and fries up super crisp. Traditional toppings are sour cream, shredded smoked cheese, and a pungent sauce made from shredded garlic, vinegar, and salt. This is street food at its finest, served piping hot from the fryer on some paper, eaten standing up without utensils. The dough is incredibly sticky to work with, and it can be tempting to add too much flour. Each langos is shaped more by patting out the disk rather than rolling it before dropping it in the hot oil. I added some ramps leaves that were pureed in the food processor with a bit of olive oil for smoothness to the traditional dough, and Robert made the topping with finely chopped leaves and stems instead of garlic for more ramp-y goodness.

Fresh from the hot oil, resting on paper towels

Ramps Langos                                                    makes about 8- 8" disks

2 russet potatoes
1 tsp. instant dry yeast
1/4 c. warm milk
1/2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp pureed ramps leaves
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

oil for deep frying
sour cream
shredded smoked cheese
ramps sauce

1. Peel, cook, and run the potatoes through a ricer to get lump-free mashed potatoes. Cool to room temperature.
2. In a mixer bowl, add the potatoes, yeast, warm milk, sugar, pureed ramps, flour, and salt. Mix with the dough hook until a sticky ball forms. Let the dough rest, covered, for 1 hour.
3. Punch down the dough and place it on a well-floured cutting board. Divide the dough into 8 pieces.
4. Heat about 1" of oil in a pot to 350°F.
5. Flatten out a piece of dough into a circle about 8" around and only about 1/4" thick. Gently place the dough in the hot oil, pressing down the center with some tongs as it starts to fry. Fry until browned, about 30 seconds, and flip the dough over, frying the other side another 30 seconds, or until browned. The langos will puff up quite a bit.
6. Drain the langos on some paper towels briefly, and serve topped with sour cream, shredded cheese, and the ramps sauce condiment.

Ramps Sauce


2 Tbsp finely chopped ramps stems and leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water
2 Tbsp white vinegar

1. Very finely chop the ramps stems and leaves, almost into a paste. Place it in a bowl and sprinkle the salt on top, letting it rest for 20 minutes.
2. Add the water and the vinegar and stir. This is a very watery and loose condiment, meant to soak into the langos. Spoon over the hot langos, depending on taste.

Photo Collage - Garlic Mustard

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) might be one of the first wild edibles we tried a few years ago. It is incredibly abundant her in southern New England, and highly invasive. The flavor is indeed garlicky with a hint of hot mustard, with a bit of bitterness in the leaves at different stages of growth. Garlic mustard is a biennial herbaceous plant, meaning it does not produce flowers and seeds until its second season. Beginning in late fall, and early spring, the first year's growth of kidney-shaped leaves is produced in a basal rosette from a white taproot. These leaves are a bit tough and best suited for pestos and a recipe where they are chopped and cooked for awhile. The second year is when the flower stalk is produced, and the stalk bears triangular-shaped leaves that are more tender, but also more pungent. The flower clusters look a little bit like broccoli and the tiny white flowers are edible, with a hot bite. Shortly after the flowers pass, long seed pods called siliques grow, turning from green to brown. The seeds fall in mid-summer, leaving behind the dry, brown plant stalks.


The entire plant is edible to certain degrees. The white taproot from the first year basal rosette can be dug and grated like horseradish, or chewed raw for a sinus-stimulant! The leaves can be gathered to use like other greens in normal recipes, like a roulade, ravioli filling, or greens-stuffed bread. Using the garlicky and spicy flavor of the leaves to enhance food is done by adding the greens to a more neutral recipe like hummus, or an already spicy felafel. Some find the slight bitterness unpleasant, and that can be lessened by boiling the greens in two changes of water before using the greens. We like to eat the top 4" or so of the flower stalks, stripped of the leaves and stems, and boiled like pasta. We also like to eat the immature, green seed pods with some butter and salt. The seeds can be gathered quite easily in quantity, and we use them in a spicy mustard and dressings, and sprinkled on bread.