Hosta shoots, wrapped with proscuitto and placed on a bed of garlic mustard (Allaria petiolata) pesto. © Ellen Zachos
I’m the first to admit that I’m not a particularly adventurous eater, but after reading Ellen Zachos’ new book Backyard Foraging, I might have to give hostas a try.
“Unlike you, I’m a very adventurous eater,” said Zachos, in a phone interview. She lives in New York City and Pennsylvania, but grew up in New Hampshire in a Greek family that traveled widely and devoured local fare. “I’ve always been interested in different foods.”
Author Ellen Zachos holds a bowl filled with foraged food (moving clockwise): wintergreen leaves, hopniss tubers, black walnuts, silverberries (sweet autumn olives) and canna tubers. © Rob Cardillo
She started foraging in Central Park and other semi-wild and wild places throughout the United States for new foods to try. Her book, Backyard Foraging 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat (paperback, $16.95), published earlier this year by Storey Publishing, is in its second printing. It also features many recipes. (See below for some recipes.)
Foraging all started with a cheese sandwich. One day, a food-foraging friend suggested Zachos stuff garlic mustard in the sandwich she was having for lunch. In one simple gesture, the cheese sandwich was made delicious, she said.
Throughout her book and in person, Zachos repeatedly cautions “no experimenting. If you are not 100 percent sure of what it is, do not put it in your mouth.”
Deep-fried milkweed pods (Asclepias syriaca). What looks like the creamy filling is actually the melted silks inside the milkweed pods. © Ellen Zachos
Even when eating known food you’ve foraged for the first time, Zachos recommends “starting with small quantities. You could have a food allergy to what you’ve foraged just like you might for a strawberry.” Always make sure the forage has not been tainted with any pesticide, too.
Zachos nourishes her appetite for foraged food by reading anything and everything on the topic. “But it’s much more fun to learn from the experts.”
Among the surprises on the foraging menu are hostas, especially the newly emerged leaves of spring, she said.
She thinks foraging is fueled in part by the local, seasonal food movement. “It leads naturally to foraging. You harvest it when it’s just right, perfect and ready to eat, not picked weeks in advance and shipped across country.”
Spicebush berries start out green and turn bright red as they ripen. They can be eaten whole, or grind them for use in cookies, scones and other baked goods. © Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
Zachos said she not interested in survival food. “I like these things because they are delicious, have a fantastic taste and they taste unusual. You can’t walk into a grocery store and buy spicebush berries, which is one delicious berry. You have to find the female (shrub) out in woods.” Follow Zachos’ adventures in foraging at Down and Dirty Gardening.
Update
While working on this article, I visited the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where you can find just about any plant, including spicebush (Lindera benzoin). So, I tried the spicebush berries and they were pretty good. They had a citrusy, tart, tingly taste. I would eat them again and I think they would give a bright, tangy taste to cookies, scones or biscotti and perk up a salad.
Mugwort Soup
Mugwort soup. (C) Ellen Zachos
Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
Olive oil for sautéing
4 cups vegetable broth
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
4 cups tender, young mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) leaves, chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Sauté onion in olive oil until softened.
- Add vegetable broth, potato pieces, and 2 cups chopped mugwort leaves.
- Bring to a boil, and simmer until the potato is soft.
- Add 2 more cups of chopped mugwort leaves and the almond milk, then simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, and let cool, then process until smooth with a food processor or an immersion blender.
The taste is earthy, herbal and green. And if you’re not sure what that means, then why not pick yourself some mugwort and find out.
Spicebush Snickerdoodles
Spicebush snickerdoodles. (C) Ellen Zachos
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 3/8 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Rolling mixture
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoon ground spicebush berries (Lindera benzoin)
Instructions
1. Combine sugar, butter, vanilla and egg and mix well.
2. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
3. Blend well and roll the dough into a ball.
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. Use a small melon baller or other tool to scoop out spheres of dough.
6. Roll the balls the mixture of sugar and ground spicebush berries (Lindera benzoin).
7. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.