Wild Food Girl

Foraging the wild for plants and stuff to eat.

  • Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Notebook
  • Contact
  • Calendar
  • Links

Wild Edible Picnic

April 25, 2014 By Erica M. Davis 2 Comments

A stop for a look around by the reservoir on our way home.
A stop for a look around by the reservoir on our way home.

The season’s change is upon us, even here at 10,000 feet in the Colorado high country. The snow has started to melt away, leaving the detritus of last year’s tourist season in its wake—the bottles and bits of paper and crumpled, dirty cloths and tons upon tons of dog leavings. But there are also green things emerging from under the blackened snow drifts; the promise of foraging season is nigh.

We celebrated with a car picnic, which I dreamed up to get Gregg out of the house, as he is now in week four of his mandated six weeks on crutches after his second knee surgery, or our third consecutive knee surgery as a couple, depending how you look at it.

That morning I whizzed around the kitchen to whip up some food to pack along, aiming to use up as many of the wild ingredients, both fresh and preserved, as I had on hand, since I am still, if somewhat lazily, under the spell of spring cleaning. Then we took a happy drive in the sun to the north end of the county, me reading aloud selections from Richard Mabey’s Weeds (2010), Gregg checking out the spring scene around us and announcing each vista one after the other—a kayaker kayaking, a fisherman fishing, a tall eagle’s nest, a person on horseback, baby cows. Then we camped out alongside the river and had a look around at the first signs of spring’s emergence at 8,000 feet—once in a very small, crutched radius, and the second time a longer but faster solo mission by yours truly while my better half napped—before retiring to the Vanagon, whom we call Myrtle after Gregg’s late grandmother, for the honorary unfolding of her picnic table for the first time this season.

Among the dishes I set out was a pasta salad, the piece I worked hardest on, and a wild garlic-onion cream cheese spread, which though super easy I thought I’d messed up, but over which Gregg went absolutely gaga regardless.

The pasta salad uses a lot of wild plants, some domesticated by my friend Butter, for flavoring. It also uses up (finally!) that jar of pickled wild asparagus spears I made last summer following an online recipe that turned out too spicy and too sweet for my taste. I was excited to find a use for it, as I had begun to think the time had come to waste that asparagus once and for all. I even used some of the brine in place of vinegar in the salad. The pasta salad turned out great. I liked it enough to eat the leftovers for breakfast and lunch on a single day:

A fun spring cleaning creation--pasta salad with pickled asparagus and assorted wild herbs.
A fun spring cleaning creation–pasta salad with pickled wild asparagus,  assorted wild herbs, and queso cotija.

Pasta Salad with Pickled Asparagus & Wild Stuff

Ingredients:

Small shell macaroni
Olive oil
Wild oregano (Monarda fistulosa) greens
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota, or “QAL”) greens
Wild garlic-onion* (Allium sp.)
Tomatoes
Green peppers
Chopped bits of pickled wild asparagus
Pickled wild asparagus brine
Parmesan/Romano grated cheese mix
Queso cotija (Mexican dry cheese)

Instructions:

  1. Boil macaroni, drain, and cool.
  2. Mix in oil to desired noodle lubrication, a couple spoonfuls or more of pickled asparagus brine, and grated Parmesan/Romano cheese to taste.
  3. Finely chop and add the fresh herbs—wild oregano, QAL greens (which are like parsley), and a bunch of wild onion bulbs and greens.*
  4. Chop and add peppers, tomatoes, and pickled asparagus.
  5. Crumble in a generous amount of queso cotija, mix, chill, and serve.

Wild onion cream cheese spread, simple but very tasty.
Wild onion cream cheese spread, simple but very tasty.

Wild Onion Cream Cheese Spread

Although he liked the pasta salad, by far Gregg’s favorite finger food of the trip was the wild garlic-onion cream cheese spread, which I served with pretzels. It was simpler than simple, though I feared I’d overdone the kefir—a home-fermented milk that I use in place of sour cream. But instead it had Gregg exclaiming things like “Fresh wild onions are the best wild onions!” with touchingly honest enthusiasm.

Ingredients:

1 package cream cheese
More than 1 cup of finely chopped wild onion bulbs and greens (Allium sp.)*
Kefir or sour cream

Instructions:

  1. Mix together to desired creaminess.
  2. Serve with pretzels or crackers.

*NOTE: In some regions there is concern about the over-harvest of wild Allium species, such as ramps or wild leeks, particularly by commercial collectors. New England forager Russ Cohen, who has observed damage to wild leek patches in Massachusetts from large scale digging, comments: “I encourage this sustainable harvesting method for ramps: pick only one leaf/plant, leave the remaining leaf or leaves attached to the bulb, and leave the bulb in the ground. That way you (and others) can return to the same ramp patch year after year without harming it or its habitat.” I include this comment to encourage foragers to look critically at their ramp or wild onion patches, especially those who return year after year to the same patch, to take stock before taking action. If there is a concern, these recipes should work well with greens alone.

CAUTION: Some wild onions have toxic lookalikes, among them death camas (Zigadenus sp.), which can share the same habitat, especially here in Colorado where I live. Queen Anne’s Lace has a deadly lookalike too, poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). So make certain you have the right plant, and it is safe, before eating.

Filed Under: edible Tagged With: Allium, Colorado, Denver, foraging, Monarda fistulosa, Queen Anne's lace, recipes, Rocky Mountains, wild asparagus, wild leek, wild onion, wild oregano

Comments

  1. Butter says

    April 25, 2014 at 9:59 pm

    That allium dip looks so good. I like the look of the pictures with the recipes. I don’t know what you’ve done different with the layout (if anything), but it strikes me as different and very nice.

  2. Wild Food Girl says

    April 25, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    Green underlines. Thanks B

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook Fun!

Wild Food Girl

2 months ago

Wild Food Girl

Another edible plant I found on my road trip through Utah was red barberry (Berberis haematocarpa syn. Mahonia haematocarpa). It has holly-like, tough leaves with spines on the points—features I am most familiar with in the related, low-growing Oregon grape (Mahonia repens), whose tart, powder-blue berries I enjoy. But this high-desert-loving red barberry is a shrub bearing big, sweet/tart, fruity red berries. It was growing on a dry hilltop amidst pinyon pines (Pinus edulis) and juniper, where it stood out because of all the fruit it bore. I gathered a small sample to study and nibble, but I look forward to collecting enough for a jam or jelly next time I make this lovely plant’s acquaintance! ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

Wild Food Girl

2 months ago

Wild Food Girl

I took myself on a solo road trip to Nevada last week, and I’m so happy I did! I have been studying pinyon pines, primarily our local two-needle pinyon (Pinus edulis), but I wanted to check out the singleleaf pinyons (P. monophylla) of the Great Basin too. They are having a mast year there, so the trees and ground were covered with pinyon nuts of many colors, shapes, and sizes. Even better, when I pulled into the campground I met a nice Navajo couple up from Arizona to do the same, so we camped and harvested pinyons together for a couple days.

It is a Navajo belief that if you shake the trees, early winter will come—so we just gathered from the ground, talking and telling stories to pass the time. I am embarrassed to say it took some work to keep up with my new 65 and 70-year-old friends, who could go for 6 hours straight. But I learned so much—how they winnowed out the blanks, and roasted and salted pinyon nuts to perfection, not to mention other things like how various other plants are used for medicine, food, and utility, and how to make ash bread and fry bread and nixtamalize corn with juniper ash.

I am counting my blessings for such a wonderful and unexpected experience with new friends—and of course, all the pinyones I’m stuffing my face with right now.
... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

Wild Food Girl

2 months ago

Wild Food Girl

Here is a neat plant I found for the first time on my cross-country trip last week—purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata). I first read about this plant in Kelly Kindscher’s book, Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie. Then Sam Thayer chose it to grace the cover of his latest book, Incredible Wild Edibles (2017), and of course included a very useful account.

This relative of common mallow (Malva neglecta) is also low-growing with leaves that are similarly structured, but more deeply lobed. It is also known as “prairie winecups” for its pretty flowers, which I was glad to find too.The green parts and flowers are edible, as is the taproot. Sadly, I didn’t find a place to dig any purple poppy mallow on my trip. The first place I found it had only a couple specimens, and this native perennial should only be dug where there is a healthy population, preferable one that needs thinning, Sam writes. The second spot had a decent-sized population in the mowed grass along an Arby’s parking lot, but I didn’t think Arby’s would love it if I dug up their lawn. So, next time!

Sam shows eastern Colorado as the starting point (headed east) for this Great Plains species, but I didn’t find any in Colorado. The two populations I found were in central Nebraska. These are often cultivated as landscaping plants too.
... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

Posts

  • The delicious ‘wild wonderberry’
  • Eating nodding thistle stalks
  • Spring is Japanese knotweed season
  • Best dandelion soup ever
  • Samuel Thayer’s new book ‘Incredible Wild Edibles’
  • Three pennycress mustard recipes
  • Forgotten rhubarb of the old west
  • Narrow dock in mushroom sauce
  • Eating chicory greens
  • Elm samaras are edible, gourmet
  • Hank Shaw’s Latest: A Cookbook for Deer, Elk, Antelope, Moose & More
  • Everything You Need to Know about Colorado Acorns
  • Land Caviar from Kochia Seeds
  • Fruity Sipping Vinegars from Repurposed Berry Mash
  • Wild Tarragon in the Weeds
  • Shasta Daisy & Dandelion Greens with Yucca Antipasto
  • A Tale of Four Daisies
  • Katrina Blair’s Wild Wisdom of Weeds
  • You’re My Candytuft
  • A Summer for Wintercress
  • A Patterns Method for Wild Food: Thomas Elpel’s Foraging the Mountain West
  • Fun with Wild Waterleaf
  • Don’t Forget the Tumble Mustard
  • Snowboarding, Nettles, & Jerusalem Artichoke Bouyah
  • Northeast Seaweed Farming & Foraging: A Chat with Charles Yarish
  • Sprouting Flour with Quinoa’s Wild Kin
  • Seaweeding the Eastern Shoreline
  • A Fall for Thick, Rosy Hips
  • Fruiting Forward
  • Dina Falconi’s Foraging & Feasting
  • Dad’s Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup
  • Lambs’ Quarters Pesto with Sunflower Seeds
  • Colorado High Country Blueberries are a Go
  • Eat Your Ornamentals: Backyard Foraging with Ellen Zachos
  • Hawks Wings Mushrooms – Free Download
  • Leaves of Three, Strawberry!
  • Wild Greens & Potato Pie with Kochia
  • Wilted Wild Greens with Lemon & Chive Flower
  • Tumbleweed Salad
  • Orache is a Wild Favorite
  • Wild Edible Picnic
  • Spring Cleaning with Fruit Leather
  • Florida Herbal Conference Starts February 28
  • Low Cost Meal—Beans & Dried Dock
  • Practical Herbs by Henriette Kress
  • Wild Edible Notebook—October release!
  • Stuffballs on the Menu
  • Old Places, New Head Spaces
  • Whistling Suillus
  • Antelope Liver Pâtés

Recipes

Best dandelion soup ever

Three pennycress mustard recipes

Shasta Daisy & Dandelion Greens with Yucca Antipasto

Dad’s Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup

Lambs’ Quarters Pesto with Sunflower Seeds

Archives

Comments

  • Erica M. Davis on Three pennycress mustard recipes
  • Erica M. Davis on Albatrellus Confluens Conference
  • Erica M. Davis on Eating chicory greens
  • tammie on Three pennycress mustard recipes
  • Making the Mushroom Anthotype Part III - Gavin Lyons Photography on Albatrellus Confluens Conference

Email-list-advert

Free Issues, Samples, & Periodic Updates

If you would like a free issue of the Wild Edible Notebook in PDF form, join the email list! One of these days I'll write with news, updates, or freebies as they become available, and you can unsubscribe any time. Joining the email list takes 2 seconds. Fill your info into the fields below and click "Subscribe."

Copyright © 2019 · Wild Food Girl · Thanks for Reading!