Thursday, April 14, 2011

Foraging

Back when A. and I were living in our crappy basement apartment in Albany, I went through a brief period of interest in foraging. For wild food in the woods, that is, not, like, dumpster diving. It probably started when I found a copy of Stalking the Wild Asparagus in a used bookstore or something. Or maybe it started when A. found a huge patch of ramps in the state forest where he used to hunt. We dug a bunch up, brought them home, and made ramp and potato soup. It was delicious, and a tradition was born. We've dug ramps every year since.

We also tried fiddlehead ferns, which we found very bitter. And wild oregano grew around that same state forest, so that was useful. But the ramps have remained the only foraged food we always go out to gather.

This year, it occurred to me that I had never tried dandelion greens. Did you know that almost every part of a dandelion is edible? Yup. Even the root. I'm not that hard up for a coffee substitute, so no thanks on the root, but I thought it might be nice to have some greens long before anything in the garden is ready to harvest.

It took awhile to harvest even a modest amount of dandelion greens. Turns out, most of our dandelions, while incredibly numerous, are pretty small. So I had to cut A LOT to get about three cups of uncooked greens. Not that it mattered, as I was just wandering around after Cubby with my scissors and canvas bag. He inspected rocks and tried to eat dirt, I cut dandelion greens. A good time all around.

Now, dandelion greens--like all greens--are really, really dirty. They grow close to the ground and their leaves trap dirt, so they have to be washed at least a couple of times. Also like all other greens, they cook down to nothing. I elected to skip blanching the greens--which a lot of people do to reduce the bitterness--so that we could try their full flavor this first time. So I just sauteed them in olive oil with some garlic until they were wilted, and then I added some balsamic vinegar, salt, and butter.

I ended up with about 3/4 of a cup of greens. They were, um, bitter. IMAGINE THAT. A little too bitter for my tastes, but the MiL* loved them, A. thought they were pretty good, and even Cubby ate some.

I should probably be embarrassed that my toddler will eat things I can't stand. He'll even eat liver. Ew. Then again, he also tries to eat dirt, so he's not exactly a great gourmet.

ANYWAY.

So, the lessons here: Bitterness isn't always a bad thing, next time I will blanch the greens before sauteeing them, and yes, there will be a next time for dandelion green foraging.

* Today is the MiL's birthday. Feel free to wish her many happy returns of the day in the comments. Or, you know, just wish her a happy birthday if you don't want to be all formal-like.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

happy birthday to the MiL....hip hip
hooray!!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear MiL,
Happy Birthday to youououuuou!

I don't now of these many happy returns of the day Kristin speaks of. I am rarely formal. ;) Beth

word verification-noplas-no big deal

Anonymous said...

Kristen,
Back in the "Martha" heydey, she touted them as great in salads. We went out to this very exclusive restaurant one day and ordered a salad...lo and behold it had dandelion leaves in it. Yuck! The taste was bad enough, not to mention the nasty texture of them. You would think that at $30 and entree, they could have done a little better than weeds in the salad.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, MIL!!

Rae said...

I still haven't tried dandelions, though goodness knows we have lots of them. As for foraging, LJ and I go out every fall and hunt chanterelles, also keeping an eye out for sparassis crispa, though we've only ever found one. Very very tasty!

Happy birthday to the MiL!

Drew @ Willpower Is For Fat People said...

Should we all stand around and clap and sing a non-copyright birthday song while looking bored, embarrassed and pissed off? Or would you rather save that for dinner out tonight?


Word verification: outso -- Japanese slang for uncool

Sara said...

Happy birthday, MiL! Hope it's a great one!

me again said...

To the MiL.........HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
And........no dandelion wine??

Alicia said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Daisy said...

Happy Birthday MIL! May you have many more.

Marcy said...

Many happy returns to the MIL!!

The dandelion greens have always seemed to me not worth the effort when the ramps are so easy and so good so many ways...

http://ontwoacresintown.blogspot.com/2010/04/good-year-for-ramps.html

Phoo-D said...

Happy Birthday MiL! I hope that you get cake today. =)

FinnyKnits said...

Happy Birthday, MiL! I hope *someone* is making you that awesome peanut butter cake.

tami bami wami said...

ohhhh Happy burpday to the mil happy burpday to the mil happy burpday to the mil. LOL

Tekumalla Krishna Murthy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tekumalla Krishna Murthy said...

Birthday greetings to Mil...

I have gone through the post and it is really interesting. Could you please share your experience about dandelion greens?

Also, lemme know your views on my article "Fools Day vs Labours Day"..

http://bit.ly/fv8uWJ

Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother said...

Awe, your very own spam comment. That's so cute.

Sophie said...

First I read your post, and then a link to this popped up on my Facebook page:

http://www.berkshirefarmandtable.com/wildthings/

I'm in WA, so no idea where it is in relation to you, though. :)
I grew up eating the occasional meal of dandelions and nettles, in addition to morels and various other wild mushrooms. Plus, living near the beach, there were of course clams, oysters (ick), various sea weeds, and plenty of fish. Foraging is satisfying on so many levels...it pleases something primitive in us, I think.

Word verification--ousper: a whisper that is intentionally loud enough to be overheard.