Wild Spring Edibles | VISITvortex | MAGAZINE

Nutritious Foods Can Be... Wild

If you relish hiking through Hudson Valley’s vast forests and trails, you may want to scavenge for wild and unique indigenous plants. It’s amazing how these “free for the taking” edibles can provide flavor to savor and up-the-ante on your culinary skills. Not only can you satiate your appetite for beautiful local scenery, but you can please the palate with the nutritious and delicious hidden treasures nature offers.

These plants are plentiful in fields or forests from the end of March till the end of May:

Fiddleheads: This is a delicacy available for a short period of time in April and May. However, if you are winter-trekking, look for last season’s flattened fern fronds under leaves. After the snow is gone these are the areas where fiddleheads will sprout—waiting to be picked and sautОed. A quick dig in leaves around the base of the fronds will reveal the sprouts almost ready to spring back to life. Forage for tightly curled infant fiddleheads in early spring before they mature and get tough and bitter.

Wood Violets: One can find the most common violet in the Hudson Valley during April. But many do not know they are edible. Tender, young leaves can be used raw in salads with other greens to spice up the slightly bland violet leaf flavor. They can also be cooked like spinach, combining them with Wild Onions and Garlic Mustard leaves to add a flavorful punch. The flowers are edible as well and adding these vivid purple floral heads—along with Redbud blossoms, Dandelion heads, and Mustard Flower buds to a salad—adds a colorful touch. Violets and flower buds also add embellishment on elaborate desserts.

SALSIFY aka Purple Goatsbeard:
Called Oyster Plant in produce markets, this strong, carrot-like taproot with milky sap has an oyster-like flavor when cooked. Although more bland it does have a touch of sweetness. The young shoots and young leaves of purple salsify can also be cooked or eaten raw. They, typically, have few upright branches and their leaves are grass-like. The flower color varies and a wild relative in our area is called yellow goatsbeard. Looking much like a tall and larger version of a dandelion, it has the same uses as the purple variety.

Solomon’s Seal: Before the leaves unfurl, the young shoots of this common member of the Lily family can be cooked like asparagus. To harvest, brush off the dry leaves and debris from around the stem while still in the ground. Now give a light tug to see which direction the root is pointing into the ground. With your hand or a small digging tool, burrow under the area where the root should be and lift out with the plant attached. Not growing too deeply makes it easy to remove from the soil—but tugging only on the stem will break it off at the “seal”. If you only want shoots, just pull them off without the root. These rhizomes or tubers are edible and must be boiled in successive pots of water to take away bitterness.

Wintergreen: Also called Teaberry, Checkerberry, or Boxberry and hidden under dried leaves, a forager can easily locate tiny clusters of these growing on the Valley’s forest floors. The red berries are edible and noticeably taste like wintergreen. The leaves can be dried and brewed for tea, or chewed for flavor—disposing of the remnants. The classic wintergreen flavor and fragrance is caused by the presence of methyl salicylate.

The berries are great in salads and lamb dishes and add color and flavor to any dish. However, eaten plain they are a bit dry.

Cattails: In late May, Cattails have already grown three to four feet high, although they haven’t produced their well-defined leaves nor their later-season characteristic brown cylindrical vegetation. That makes this the optimum time to harvest the heart of the plant. Just fold the two largest leaves away and grasp the remaining leaves as low as you can reach and give a firm, steady tug. The inner leaves should pull out revealing 4 to 8 inches of white at the bottom. Only the solid middle is what you need—so peel off any outer layers. After peeling, the long stalks vary in thickness at each “bamboo-like” joint. Breathe in your harvest’s essence and be delighted with a fresh-smelling combination of celery and cucumber.

Now that you’ll be heading out foraging, you’ll save money, add some local spice to your culinary skills, and get some good clean fresh-air exercise while surrounded by the Valley’s unsurpassable beauty. Quite a lot of benefits from a woodland treasure hunt, wouldn’t you say?

Check out the next issue of VISITvortex for summertime forest foraging finds.

Consult with a reputable field guide or other resource before eating anything you find in the woods. It’s best to start with easily identified plants and those away from busy roadways and other areas that may have a negative effect on soil, groundwater, and air. It is also advisable to connect with groups such as “Farm Catskills,” a grassroots organization focusing on keeping the region “a working landscape.” This group is a collaboration and consortium of regional farmers, restaurateurs, and other concerned citizens—from homeowners to local government officials.