Risking a major jinx, I believe the Dreaded Winter is behind us. I am not kidding myself that I have spring to look forward to -- we will just get deluge after deluge, then it will be hot and humid. Apparently, that is now spring. But things are starting to pop up. GREEN things (gasp). And this is the time I pull out my old faithful, new-to-me copy of Stalking the Wild Asparagus. My original copy - purchased when I was a freshman in college (no, not the original edition, thank you, but darn close) - had been held together with tape, then packing tape, then duct tape. It finally bit the dust when a cat knocked it off the bookshelf and the pages went their own individual ways. I love this book. For me, it makes every spring and summer a great adventure - trying to identify wild food.
Thanks to Carolyn Renee at
Krazo Acres, a blogger that I follow, I am now on the lookout for Henbit. I also have my secret morel patch that I am hoping is still there next month. And there are so many other wonderful groceries on Mother Nature's shelves that I haven't yet tried.
What is your favorite go-to book on foraging for wild foods? What treasures have you come across?
8 comments:
I have yet do do much foraging, we've only done blueberries and of course we have a huge ramp festival in the Blue Ridge Mts that is a fun annual event all about ramps and bluegrass music LOL....
Erin - Ramps! I had forgotten about ramps! I also have found a nice patch of those as well. Oooh, good eatin' this spring! A ramp and Bluegrass festival? Can anything be more fun than that? I doubt it...
I bought a book on Amazon on wild edibles in western PA. What a let down. I paid big bucks and all the illustrations are pencil drawings. Now how can I identify something from a pencil drawing? And I am out everyday looking for those stupid morels. Everything is right, the temperature, the moisture, their favorite growing places. Why can't I find them?
Jane - Bummer! I paid more than $2.95 for Euell, but not much more - and it's got line drawings as well. That really calls for a good deal of imagination on our parts, doesn't it? Not sure if this will make you feel better, but I happen to have walked by this spot almost twice a day for over 3 years before I spotted them. They seem to take their own sweet time.
I swear, there is some sort of blogger-mind-meld going on here.....I just pulled out the exact same book last night!!!
Technically, I'm a bit late for the spring greens, but I just LOVE that book! Found it at a library book sale years ago and it now sits on the shelf of honor on my cookbook rack.
Hey Sue -
Next time you are up for a forage - give me a call. Would love to go hunting...
CR - Yes, we are all on the same wave-length. I am hoping to go foraging this weekend.
Melanie - A romp through the ramps? I'll call you!
Well, I've gotta be the old poop and say foraging for wild food has never appealed to me. I have enough trouble with my garden and other organically grown foods we manage to round up! Having said that, my dear hubby is very interested in wild foods and we have a couple of Euell's books that he has devoured. Sadly, he's just never had enough free time to actually learn what is available up here. Probably not as much as in other more hospitable parts of the country. But kudos to any of you who have the urge and success at harvesting "free" food! It is interesting, I'll concede.
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