Edible daylily flowers (Hemerocallis fulva) by wide eyed lib
The biggest misconception people have about foraging is that it happens in pristine, untouched wilderness. Foraging certainly
can happen in pristine, untouched wilderness (if you can find any), but it definitely doesn't
have to happen there. Foraging can occur anywhere plants grow, provided that pesticides and insecticides aren't being sprayed there.
As I've discussed before, your own lawn is a great place to forage. But your local city park may be an equally great place, provided foraging is legal in your area (and/or you have permission) and the plants aren't sprayed. For instance, directly across the street from where I live is an historical mansion. The grounds around the mansion (about half a small city block) are a city park. Parts of the park are lawn, parts are intentionally planted, and parts are semi-wild.
Today my camera and I took a walk in this park looking for edibles.
(As always, if you're new to foraging and want to give it a try, please read the first diary in the series as well as the linked diary for the full discussion of each plant. For a complete list of all plants covered in the series, click here.)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is just starting to flower. Yarrow is, in my opinion, one of the top 10 most useful medicinal herbs. Learn more about this amazing plant here.
Epazote (Dysphania ambrosioides) is another extremely useful plant. Although epazote has numerous medicinal applications, I mostly use it in Mexican bean dishes and as a slightly bitter herbal tea. Learn more about epazote here.
While the leaves of poor man's pepper (Lepidium virginicum) are no longer at their best, the plentiful seeds pack the greatest peppery punch. Gathered and dried, they'll provide a spicy kick to dishes that's somewhere in between ground black pepper and red pepper flakes in flavor. Learn more about this plant here.
Wild lettuces (Lactuca species) have many leaf shapes, but all of them have white midribs, white latex and a fine line of hairs down the back of each leaf. Learn more about how to identify wild lettuce here.
The seed heads of field garlic (Allium oleraceum) often begin sprouting even before the seeds fall off. These baby onion sprouts make a deliciously pungent addition to salads, soups or stirfries. Learn more about field garlic here.
One of my favorite plants for a trail nibble, yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta) has 5-petaled yellow flowers. The best part of the plant, though, are the seed pods, known in some areas as nanners because they strongly resemble miniature bananas, even growing upside-down as bananas do. All parts of this plant (and other members of this genus) are deliciously lemony. Learn more about wood sorrel here.
A few years back, my local parks department somewhat stupidly decided to plant some lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) in a flower bed in the park. Although I normally leave intentional plantings alone, I make an exception for the lemon balm because it has now taken over huge sections of lawn and several flower beds. Why anyone would plant invasive mints anywhere but in a pot, I'll never know. At least I have an endless supply of lemon balm tea all Spring and Summer long. (The leaves are tasteless when dried, alas.) Learn more about lemon balm here.
Last, but by no means least, my little park is shaded with a few white mulberry trees (Morus alba) and their pink-tinged berries are bursting with sweet juice. Mulberries are rarely found in supermarkets because they ferment so soon after being picked, but the berries grow in such profusion that an enterprising forager can gather a few quarts quite quickly. The trick is not to pick the berries one by one but to comb through the leaves with the fingers of one hand, catching the berries in a container held in the other hand. The ripe berries will practically jump into the container. Learn more about mulberries here.
This diary doesn't even scratch the surface of the bounty available in this postage-stamp park. And this park is hardly unique-- edible plants are everywhere. You just have to get outside and start looking for them.
Helpful foraging resources
If you'd like to learn more about foraging but missed the earlier diaries in the series, you can click
here for the previous 52 installments, and
here for RonV's 4 part mini-series on medicinal plants and how to use them. As always, please feel free to post photos in the comments and I'll do my best to help identify what you've found. (And if you find any errors, let me know.)
"Wildman" Steve Brill's site covers many edibles and includes nice drawings.
"Green" Deane Jordan's site is quite comprehensive and has color photos and stories about many plants.
Green Deane's foraging how-to clips on youtube each cover a single plant in reassuring detail.
Linda Runyon's site features only a few plants but has great deals on her dvd, wild cards and books (check out the package deals in particular).
Steve Brill's book, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places is my primary foraging guide. (Read reviews here, but if you're feeling generous, please buy from Steve's website.)
Linda Runyon's book The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide contains especially detailed information about nutritional content and how to store and preserve wild foods.
Samuel Thayer’s book The Forager's Harvest is perhaps the finest resource out there for the 32 plants covered. The color photos and detailed harvest and preparation information are top-notch. His second book, Nature's Garden, is just as good. For an autographed copy of either book, order from Sam's website.
Steve Brill also offers guided foraging tours in NYC-area parks. Details and contact info are on his website.
Don Wiss’s website is a treasure trove featuring hundreds of photos of common northeastern edibles.
For well-sourced info on the medicinal uses of plants, Plants for a Future is a site I turn to time and time again.
Finally, the USDA plants database is a great place to look up info on all sorts of plants.