Stalking the Wild Stuff

STALKING THE WILD STUFF
By Terry SpragueQuinte Cuisine Cookbook2005

Although I seem to remember the cows on our dairy farm giving thistles a wide berth when grazing, the late Euell Gibbons during his days of grazing actually went to a fair bit of trouble to seek them out. He found the roots especially delicious when boiled for 20 minutes and seasoned with salt and butter. He even made it a point to stalk sow thistles and found the leaves of this plant similar to dandelion greens with a hint of artichoke flavour.
Euell Gibbons became world famous as a forager of wild foods and herbs. To him, the good life was sharing and enjoying nature, and maintaining an environment where natural things could flourish unhampered by man’s carelessness or indifference to the bounty and privilege nature offers us.
I am sure that many readers of his books regarded Euell Gibbons as an expert on edible plants that he had grown up with around his own home in Pennsylvania, and that the plants he spoke of were perhaps unique to his area. But many of the plants of which he so fondly spoke grow right here in eastern Ontario and are ours for the taking. Have you ever tried eating cattails? Or a simmering pot of boiled stinging nettles? After introducing a hiker who had participated on one of my guided walks that I offer each year to the amazing radish quality of ox-eye daisy, she now sprinkles generous amounts of them into her salads each spring for as long as the daisy bears leaves.
Much of our knowledge of edible wild plants was lost when we learned to cultivate the land and harvest crops. In this era of the supermarket few people take advantage of the great store of edible wild plants available to them. But with budget constraints and escalating prices more people are rediscovering the wild foods that are free for the taking.
In addition to wild plants being available within walking distance of your home, they are also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, and are most always healthier than store-bought vegetables. Commercially grown vegetables are bred for size and appearance, and in the process, often the flavour and nutritive value suffer. Add this to the time it takes to process them, ship them and then display them for a few days on the supermarket shelf, it is difficult to determine what nutritive value, if any, has been retained.
Wild vegetables and plants, on the other hand, are usually eaten within a few minutes of harvesting, and therefore, retain much of their original flavour and food value. Although considered an alternative to buying from the supermarket, in some cases a knowledge of edible plants can prove to be a life saver for anyone who becomes hopelessly lost in the woods. But equally important, the harvesting of wild edibles can also be looked upon as being therapeutic, a sense of freedom and self-reliance, and an awareness of your surroundings.
The Peterson Field Guide To Edible Plants lists dozens and dozens of plants commonly recognized as weeds that are delicious when prepared as foods. And the best part is, many of them can be found growing in luxurious greenery in amongst the garden vegetables that we have hoed and nurtured all summer. Pigweed, winter cress, dandelion, creeping Charlie, burdock, milkweed, yarrow, chicory, cinquefoil and mallow – weeds which I chop and hoe with unrelenting fervour in my garden each year are treated in edible wild field guides as gourmet delights. Purslane which responds well to heavy composting each year and covers my garden in a thick, juicy matt, can be eaten as readily as the carrots and lettuce it is trying to choke out. The mildly acid, mucilaginous stems and leaves are excellent added to salads, and contain vitamins A and C, calcium and phosphorous, and are rich in iron. What a sad loss many of us find out now.

Many plants can be made into delicious teas. One of the best can be made from the leaves of wild strawberry. The leaves of gill-over-the-ground, otherwise known as creeping Charlie, makes a very fine tea when steeped for several minutes. There’s plenty of it waiting for the teapot on our lawn. Wild bergamot, sweet goldenrod, coltsfoot, cinquefoil, yarrow and many of the clovers can also be utilized in the same fashion. And beyond that, there is the plethora of berry producing bushes that await our discovery. Few are aware that the seed heads of staghorn sumac can be made into a delicious drink, or a marmalade. I have had both.
Before you go harvesting though, it is best that you pick up a good field guide to verify the identification of the plants you find. Some are poisonous, and one must be careful to avoid poison ivy, baneberry, nightshade and water hemlock. Particularly attractive and tempting is Jimsonweed which grows in waste places and disturbed ground. It is extremely poisonous. I once very foolishly placed my finger which had become moistened with the juice of this plant to my lips and almost instantly was overcome by extreme weakness and dizziness.
Learn to differentiate between the good plants and the bad plants. Then go to work and prepare a feast and gorge yourself with nature’s bounty that is yours for the asking in our area.

Author’s Note:
Quinte Cuisine  – From Garden to Table & Back Again was published by the Canadian Federation of University Women Belleville and District in 2005. The book was dedicated to the memory of Joan Seeley Butler (1925 – 2003), who was the driving force behind both Quinte Cuisine and Quinte Women of Distinction. She saw the interrelationship between gardening and healthful cooking, and convinced the membership to support this project.