Thoughts on Foraging

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erehweslefox

Sous Chef
Joined
May 20, 2016
Messages
578
Location
Hatfield, PA
So from a post from OutRIAArage, I never get that right, tricky to type, I guess I can't complain as my name is a word backwords and a a woodland friend.

So anyone gone out into the woods with a basket? Still trying to persuade Dear Wife that 'crap I got in the woods' is the same as Real Food (tm) from the market.

Wild onions, ramps, wild chives, and of course, mushrooms. Lets talk.
 
Purslane makes a nice salad. I've also cooked up nettles. DH refused to eat either one. A friend had a friend who would give him massive heads of Hen of the Woods, his family refused to eat it, so I got them! They would fill an entire sink. Sadly, the tree where they grew was taken out.
 
Purslane makes a nice salad..

I had to look that one up, but we did have it about, hogweed right?

It is tart and salty, of course sometimes that is what you look for.

Nettles are quite nice, Now the Hen of the Woods, a great find, your poor friends that didn't get to eat that!

If I find a hen of the woods log, I am having a VERY good day, and I go back to it every time it rains.
 
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We also get plenty of wild raspberries around here. And I plan to harvest wild sumac berries this year. I was too late last year, they were dried out and shriveled up by the time I got to them.

Oh, and heavens no, purslane is NOT hogweed! Hogweed causes a bad rash, and is poisonous. Purslane is a succulent, it grows all over.
 
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We also get plenty of wild raspberries around here. And I plan to harvest wild sumac berries this year. I was too late last year, they were dried out and shriveled up by the time I got to them.

Oh, and heavens no, purslane is NOT hogweed! Hogweed causes a bad rash, and is poisonous. Purslane is a succulent, it grows all over.


Purslane:

ImageUploadedByDiscuss Cooking1468870248.768637.jpg
 
My parents, aunts and uncles were immigrants from Armenia. They harvested purslane wherever they could find it to make a dish with yogurt and garlic. I used to love it. Much better than the lame cucumber substitute we got when purslane was unavailable.
 
Looks like hogweed to me. and never caused a rash. looks like little hogweed.

Maybe we don't have the same name for it?

TBS
 
Here along the river, hogweed is a noxious weed, has a flat leaf sort of maple-leaf shaped. Folks are strongly advised not to touch it without gloves, it causes a rash similar to poison ivy. We also call it cow parsnip here.

Ya learn something new here every day! I had no idea purslane was also known as little hogweed!
 
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My parents, aunts and uncles were immigrants from Armenia. They harvested purslane wherever they could find it to make a dish with yogurt and garlic. I used to love it. Much better than the lame cucumber substitute we got when purslane was unavailable.


I have plenty to share! It seems to like to grow in my vegetable garden containers and in my brick sidewalk. Very prolific.
 
Ya learn something new here every day! I had no idea purslane was also known as little hogweed!

Um yeah, I like purslane, call it little hogweed, did not know about BIG AWFUL POISON hogweed.

serious, you guys aren't gonna tell me dandelion greens are poison, are you?
 
We don't have it as noxious plant, and big hogweed sounds like a pain in the arse to deal with.

OK, have hunted ramps or haven't? When I can find them they are my favorite pokemon, um cooking ingredient.
 
I think ramps are around here somewhere, haven't found any, but I haven't looked. Morels are a big deal around here, but I haven't found any of them yet either.
 
Not since the 70's! :ermm::ohmy::LOL:

We used to pick wild asparagus, Daylily buds and blossoms, watercress, cowslips, cattail shoots, nuts, berries, apples, etc...

Still much good information available on the internet from Euell Gibbons, James Churchill, Kim Williams and the folks at The Mother Earth News.
 
This has been an interesting read. Not much to forage out here in the desert, unfortunately. :ermm: I was up in NoCal recently and was amazed at all the wild blackberry bushes up there. :yum:
 
Theres a guy, out by me, who offers foraging hikes every weekend from early spring to late fall. Usually covers parts of Connecticut, Long Island, even Central Park in NYC. I think he has a cook book too consisting of wild ingredients.

http://wildmanstevebrill.com

We did it a few years back. Definitely an eccentric fellow ( not in a bad way, just what you stereotypcially may expect from someone who gives foraging tours).

I learned a few things from him, that I still look for to this day.

Autumn Olives, which are a berry that thrives around here. Not great, but when Im riding my bike for miles , its a nice little snack I pass along the way. Also, there was this plant that grows near the beach that the leaves can be used like bay leaves ( I forgot what it is called). And a bunch of mushrooms, sea weed, wild onions, ramps , sorrel and other things as well.

I personally don't feel comfortable enough on my own knowing what is good not.

A few years back, I bought some ramps online. The plants came and were so fresh and healthy, that I decided to plant a few to see what would happen. Luckily, the plants actually took, and now I have ramps every spring. I pick them sparingly to allow them to populate .
 
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