Wild Foods

Last spring Zig and I suddenly caught the morel mushroom bug and started hunting them in earnest. We cajoled everyone we knew to give up their secret spots—but the hints we were given ended in disappointment—and we just knew those in the know were snickering behind our backs. After all, with the cost of morels and their great desirability who is going to tell you of his own mushroom sanctuary?

However, I did purchase a guidebook of sorts, “Abundantly Wild” by Teresa Marrone which deals with collecting and cooking wild edibles in the Upper Midwest. I had sort of forgotten about the book until we went driving last Sunday—going nowhere in particular—and I decided to take it along. Well, I was dumbstruck. There are free edible foods growing wild everywhere and I never knew it!

For instance, did you know that you can use almost all of the cattail for food? And those day lilies that grow everywhere this time of year—I was amazed that they are edible. In our area (the Upper Midwest), during summer months, the following common plants can be foraged and fixed into delicious dishes: (Well, I haven’t tried them all, but they sound delicious.)
Cattail flowering heads and pollen, chamomile flowers, chicken of the woods mushrooms, dandelion flowers and roots, day lily flowers, gooseberries, lamb’s quarters, mulberries, plantain, prickly pear pads and fruits, purslane, ramp bulbs, raspberries and black raspberries, red clover flowers, wild rose flowers, sheep sorrel, stinging nettle (tender new growth), strawberries, blueberries, cauliflower mushrooms, wild cherries and chokecherries, crabapples, currants, elderberry fruits, wild grapes, ground cherries, hazelnuts, huckleberries, maypops, nannyberries, oyster mushrooms, wild plums, puffballs, serviceberries and sumac berries.

In the guidelines for foraging, the following cautions are given: If you can’t positively identify it, don’t taste it, and certainly don’t eat it. Also remember that just because a plant has edible parts doesn’t mean that the whole plant is edible. Actually, I highly recommend that if you decide to try foraging for wild plant edibles, you take along a guidebook such as “Abundantly Wild.”

Cattails

Known as “nature’s grocery store,” the cattail provides a variety of foods throughout the year. Right now, the head is covered in golden pollen which can be used like flour and lends color and flavor to baked goods. To harvest the pollen, gently bend a stalk over a plastic bucket and knock the head against the inside walls of the bucket to dislodge the pollen. On average, you’ll need to harvest pollen from 40 cattails to get ½ cup. Don’t wait too long, as the pollen remains for only a few days and a good rain or wind could remove it. Not all plants in a cattail stand ripen at the same time, however, so the harvest can last a couple of weeks. On our drive, there were many cattails covered with pollen and others that will be soon. You can add sifted cattail pollen to muffins, quick breads, pancakes, etc. You may substitute cattail pollen for up to one-quarter of the measure of white flour in the recipe.

Summer Sunshine Muffins

12 regular muffins or 24 mini-muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sifted cattail pollen
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup sunflower nuts
1 cup milk
1 egg
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. honey

Heat oven to 425 deg. Spray muffin pans with nonstick spray; set aside. Sift flour, pollen, sugar, baking powder and salt together into mixing bowl. Add sunflower nuts; stir to combine. In smaller bowl, combine milk, egg and melted butter; beat with fork to mix well. Pour milk mixture, all at once, into flour mixture. Stir with wooden spoon until just barely mixed, about 15 strokes; batter should still be lumpy. Spoon into prepared muffin cups. Place on center rack of oven; immediately reduce heat to 375 deg. F. Bake for 15 minutes for regular-sized muffins, 10 minutes for minis; right at end of this baking period, heat honey in microwave to make it free flowing. Remove muffin pans from oven. Quickly brush muffin tops with honey. Return pans to oven, rotating position so that the part of the pan that was in the front of the oven is now in the back. Bake until toothpick comes out almost clean, with a few crumbs, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes then turn out onto cooling rack. Serve warm.

If you aren’t this adventurous, but would like to try some native, homegrown foods and also cull some of those pesky zucchinis from your garden—here’s a really fun recipe.

Squash Blossoms Rellenos

16 large squash blossoms
2 fresh or pickled jalapeno chilies
6 ounces mild white cheese, coarsely grated
2 Tbsp. pine nuts
16 small sprigs cilantro (optional)
3 eggs, separated
Pinch each of salt and cream of tartar
1 cup flour
2 cups oil

Open the squash blossoms and pinch out the stamens. Wash and gently pat dry with paper towel. Roast and peel the chili and cut into 16 slivers. Stuff each squash blossom with grated cheese, a few pine nuts, a sliver of chili and a sprig of cilantro. Prepare batter: Beat the egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until stiff but not dry. Beat the yolks in small bowl. Whisk a quarter of the whites into the yolk mixture and gently fold back into the remaining whites. Heat the oil in a heavy pan to 375 degrees. Dip each stuffed squash blossom in flour, shake off the excess and dip it into the egg mixture. Fry the blossoms in hot oil until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels. Serve with salsa or vinaigrette.