Fabulous Time at the Foraging and Feasting Workshop at Frick Park

Yesterday at Frick Park we had a fabulous time at our Fall  Foraging and Feasting Workshop! Fourteen lovely people plus one adorable baby joined us as we took a walk around the park discussing edible and medicinal uses of common plants, then foraged wild greens, flowers, and herbs to add to our lunch. We made our own wild herbal butters (we used vegan butter) by mixing plants like wood sorrel, goldenrod flowers, smartweed flowers, ground ivy, Asiatic dayflowers, and herbs growing at the center: basil, chives, rosemary, thyme, mint (each participant got to choose their own combination!)

Then they cooked their own bread over a fire:

 

...while I added the wild greens and herbs to our delicious vegan White Bean Potato Lentil Soup:

I added goldenrod leaves, dayflower leaves, wood sorrel leaves, chives, rosemary, and the rest of the goldenrod flowers that we harvested for the butter. The beauty of a soup like this (or any soup which has "spinach" as an ingredient) is that instead of the spinach, you can add any wild greens that are in season. I'll include the recipe below.

It was such a fantastic day! Some of the plants (and mushrooms) we saw and discussed were:

Edible/Herbal Plants:

• Wild Carrot/Queen Anne's Lace (Use caution! has poison look alikes including Poison Hemlock, Water Hemlock, and White Snakeroot)
• Boneset (Use with the utmost of caution! Poison look-alike is White Snakeroot)
• Goldenrod
• Wood sorrel
• Plantain (Plantago major)
• Lambs Quarters
• Purslane
• Ground Ivy/Creeping Charlie
• Broad-leaf dock leaves and seeds
• Mugwort
• Asiatic Dayflower
• Smartweed
• Deadnettle
• Acorns
• Black Walnut

Edible/Herbal Mushrooms included:

• Turkey tail
• Various boletes
• Various polypores
• Aborted entoloma

Poisonous/Non-edible/Allergen Plants Included:

• White snakeroot (poison)
• Pokeweed/Pokeberries (poison, though earliest shoots are edible in spring, properly prepared)
• Ragweed (common allergen)

We identified and discussed various trees:

• Black Walnut
• Oaks, distinguishing white oaks from red/black
• Tulip poplar

Herbs growing at center:

• Thyme
• Basil
• Chocolate Mint
• Rosemary
• Chives

As you can see we had a busy day of discovery, fun, learning, and feasting!

Recipe for White Bean Potato Soup: (gluten-free, oil-free, vegan)

I will tell you the ingredients I used, but I was cooking for 20 people, so I won't share the amounts! You'll have to use your judgment when making the soup. It is a thick creamy soup though, so don't skimp on the beans and potatoes!

I used an instantpot and dried beans for this recipe, cooking the (unsoaked) beans first for about 45 minutes, then adding the rest of the ingredients and cooking for 15 more. I added the red lentils with the vegetables for the second cooking, since they do not take as long to cook as white beans and chickpeas. You can use canned beans, in any combination, even choosing to use all white beans. I'll share a secret: I only added the chickpeas and red lentils because I ran out of white beans. But the red lentils really added a lot to the soup, and took the flavor to the next level, so if you have them, I would recommend using them.

Ingredients:

• white beans, I used dry, you can use canned
• chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), I used dry, you can use canned
• red lentils (dry)
• onion (I used red onion because it's what I had)
• garlic
• celery
• carrot
• Better Than Bouillon, seasoned vegetable base
• Potatoes (I used yellow because it's what I had, you can use any kind)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Seasonal wild greens, herbs, and flowers of your choosing! We used: goldenrod leaves and flowers, smartweed greens, Asiatic dayflower greens, wood sorrel, deadnettle, lambsquarters

Directions:

1. In an instant pot/pressure cooker: cook white beans and chickpeas for 45 minutes on high pressure. If you don't have an instant pot, you can use canned beans or soak the beans overnight and cook on stove for half an hour before adding other ingredients.
2. Add all other ingredients except wild greens with just enough water to cover. Cook 15 more minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker, cook until potatoes and carrots are soft.
3. When finished cooking, use a potato masher to mash enough of the beans and potatoes to make the soup nice and creamy.
4. Add the wild greens, herbs, and flowers while soup is still hot. Cook at least 5 more minutes until greens are wilted.
5. Season to taste.
6. ENJOY!

Please join me on patreon where I will be adding slides and information of all the wild plants we saw over the next few weeks.

Hope you are enjoying the fall!

~ Melissa

Recipe: Dandelion Tea Cake

Dandelions! Dandelion flowers aren't as bitter as the green leaves, and they are easier to harvest and use than the root. I like to put dandelion flower petals (I remove the green collar, see below) in all kinds of batter: pancake, scone, cookie, you name it! 

Last year my daughter and I made this delicious Dandelion Tea Cake: it's a sweet bread, like zucchini bread but with dandelion flowers. We made ours gluten-free and dairy-free...and it was delicious! 

Perfect served with honey and tea.

The first step is to gather lots of dandelion flowers.
Next, remove and compost the green collar, saving the yellow flower petals, until you have 1 1/2 cups.

Then, gather your ingredients and put it all together.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups buckwheat flour (I ground buckwheat grouts in a coffee grinder)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups dandelion petals
• 1 mashed banana with drizzle olive oil (I used in place of 1/4 c veg oil)
• 1/2 c maple syrup
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/3 cup cashew milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 400 F
2.  mix dry and wet ingredients separately (dandelion petals with dry ingredients) then mix together
3. Pour into oiled loaf pan. bake 25 minutes on 400 F
4. turn down to 350 F and bake 20 more minutes.

Purslane Is Up! Gandhi's Kachumber Salad

Purslane is coming up! This healthy "weed" is delicious and versatile. It's high in Omega 3 fatty acids (unusual for a green plant) and is wonderful simply tossed into salad or eaten right out of the garden (where it's likely growing as a weed) or off the trail. Another great thing about purslane - it's here until fall. Enjoy the following information and recipe saved from the old blog!

One of Gandhi's favorite foods was a weed: purslane! He urged his followers to learn about wild plants and eat the weeds that grow around them as a way of empowering the people. In honor of Gandhi and purslane, I created this delicious Indian spice inspired salad: Purslane Kachumber Salad. I've used a spice blend called "Chaat Masala," which is available in Indian grocery stores and is largely dried mango, salt, cumin and other spices. If you don't have access to this spice, you can substitute cumin, coriander and cardamon (amounts below) or leave the spices out entirely. This salad is delicious with just salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil.

Purslane Kachumber Salad

Ingredients:

• Purslane, leaves pulled off and stem chopped (we are using both the leaves and chopped stems in this recipe)
• 1 - 2 Tbsp red onion, chopped (as much or little as you like, to taste)
• 1 cucumber, chopped
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala (optional, see above note. can substitute 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp coriander, 1/8 tsp cardamon or omit spices entirely.)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Whisk lemon juice and spices (if using) together, and add olive oil. Whisk until mixed well.

In separate bowl, mix purslane leaves and stems, tomatoes, cucumber and onion.

Top with dressing, add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix well and enjoy!

~ Melissa Sokulski

Wild Mushroom Soup

This is a great time of year: Morel Mushrooms! And while you are out looking for morels, you may find some gorgeous dryad saddles, growing on dead wood. Here is a delicious, vegan "creamy" wild mushroom soup that incorporates both (but you can really use ANY mushrooms in this soup!)

This  amazing vegan "cream" of mushroom soup...and the mushrooms are MORELS and DRYAD'S SADDLES! It doesn't get better than this!

Vegan Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

vegan, gluten-free, soy-free

In a pot with water, boil:

• 3 potatoes, peeled, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 5 button mushrooms (optional)
• salt
• pepper
• paprika

Boil until POTATOES and CARROTS are tender. Remove from heat.

Add 1/4 cup raw CASHEWS or cashew pieces and blend well. (We used our vitamix, but any blender should be fine.)

In a pan with olive oil:

saute chopped MORELS with salt.

In another pan with olive oil:

saute chopped DRYAD'S SADDLE with salt.

(I sauteed in them in two separate pans because later in the season dryad's can become bitter, and in case this had happened, I didn't want to ruin the batch of morels!!! But they were just fine.)

Return now creamy broth to pot and adjust seasonings: SALT, PEPPER, PAPRIKA  to taste.

Add sauteed mushrooms and enjoy.

PLEASE MAKE 100% CERTAIN OF IDENTITY OF ALL WILD MUSHROOMS USED!

~ Melissa

Food Under Foot

Let's Make Dandelion Tea Cake

Originally called "Dandelion Bread," I changed the name of the recipe to Dandelion Tea Cake, because this is much more cake-like than bread-like (think Zucchini Bread.)

The original recipe is from the Food Storage and Survival Blog.

I altered it a bit to make it gluten-free, dairy-free and practically oil-free.

First you'll need to gather a lot of dandelion flowers, which shouldn't be too hard this time of year! Then pinch off the green underpart and toss the yellow petals into a bowl. It's ok if there is a bit of green here and there, but the greens are bitter, so the more you can remove the better.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups buckwheat flour (I ground buckwheat grouts in a coffee grinder)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups dandelion petals
• 1 mashed banana with drizzle olive oil (I used in place of 1/4 c veg oil)
• 1/2 c maple syrup
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/3 cup cashew milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit.
2. Mix dry ingredients, including dandelion petals, into bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl, then combine with dry ingredients.
4. Pour into oiled loaf pan.
5. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes, then turn down heat to 350 and bake 20 more minutes.

Delicious served warm with tea. I boiled the extra dandelion flowers (greens and all) into a tea, to which I added a little honey.

I ate it plain, but it is also good topped with honey or butter.

Tea Time!!!

Happy Foraging!

~ Melissa Sokulski

Food Under Foot

Juicing Japanese Knotweed

Today we found another big patch of Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum, or Fallopia japonica) in our neighborhood, and we decided to try juicing it!

Here is a closer picture of the shoot coming up out of the ground. You'll notice the many joints (poly = many, gonum = knees) along the stalk.

We stripped the heart shaped leaves from the stalk, which is the part we wanted to juice. The stalk is mottled, or speckled with red, and hollow:

The stalks can be peeled, which is definitely recommended if you are eating it raw, or even preparing it by steaming. The outer part is very stringy and tough.

Since we were putting them though a juicer, though, we did not peel all the stalks. Here they are in the sink being washed:

Here is Ella juicing them:

The result was a vibrant green tart tasting juice. It would have been fine to drink on it's own, but we added some juiced apples. Though the apples we added were red (gala, I believe) the result tasted exactly like juice from Granny Smiths - very delicious!

Japanese Knotweed contains resveratrol, which is a beneficial nutrient for the heart and brain. Resveratrol is what makes drinking red wine beneficial, though there is more resveratrol in Japanese Knotweed than red wine. The resveratrol supplements are usually made using Japanese Knotweed. The concentration is highest in the roots, but is still present in the stalk.

People have also begun using Japanese Knotweed as prevention and/or treatment for Lyme's disease. For more information on this check out Stephen Herrod Buhner's book Healing Lyme, which you can find, along with other information about Japanese Knotweed and Lyme disease, at his website, Buhner Healing Lyme.

Now is the time to harvest Japanese Knotweed, if you are interested in steaming, munching on, or juicing the stalks! Best to get them as young shoots, before they become tough and woody, which will be in about a month.

Enjoy!

~ Melissa Sokulski