Compared to the start of our Real Food Challenge, getting local food is a breeze this time of year. How much more local can you get than your own backyard? Spring is good for items like ramps and morels. Summer in our region has quite a few beauties to look out for. If you don’t have immediate access to wild foods ask around. Sometimes people are happy to share their sources. If you find a source of wild food be sure that it’s not on private property before harvesting. If in doubt, ask the owner for permission.
Disclosure: Please note that I am not an herbalist or a doctor and trying any new and/or wild foods should be done with caution. I highly suggest having an experienced someone help you forage until you are comfortable with your own knowledge. Just like other foods, wild foods can cause allergic reactions and even death in some instances. Please proceed with caution.
wild blackberries
Wild berries are a must! Blackberries and raspberries are starting to come in here. I picked my first ripe blackberries yesterday. I’ll be hitting the hillside every few days throughout June and deep into July to get bucketfuls. For what? Oh, let’s see – there’s cobbler, buckles, sorbet, syrups, jams, and my favorite, wine. Whatever’s left gets frozen for fruity toppings for pancakes and smoothies later in the year.
sassafras
Sassafras grows like mad on our property. The roots can be used to make tea, root beer, candy, and jelly. It can even be used to make mead and wine! (See a connection here?) Sassafras was at one point completely banned because it was linked to cancer in lab rats. If you ask my opinion anything can cause cancer when given in such large doses. Even if you don’t feel like consuming sassafras I recommend at least picking off a leaf or two just to smell the amazing fragrance!
Chickasaw plums
Fruit trees are a glorious source of nommy goodness. Down here we’ve got Chickasaw Plums which are a very small fruit in comparison to the cultivated or imported types. What are they good for? Jam and … can you guess? Yep! Wine!
dandelion
While springtime is fabulous for dandelion green salads, in late spring and summer I like to pick the flowers to reserve for tea, jelly, and you got it: wine.
sumac berries
Last but not least is the Sumac family. Not to be confused with Poison Sumac, these trees can grow upwards around 30 feet and have brilliant red berry cones that ripen in early to mid summer. You know they’re ripe when you can touch the outside of the berries and get a tart flavor. Note that if you are allergic to cashews or mangoes to avoid the sumac tree. Native Americans use the sumac to make a type of lemonade. The fruit contains high levels of citric acid giving it a tart flavor. Native Americans also used a brew to treat blisters and sunburns. I have yet to try either of these recipes. I wonder if it can be used for wine?
What kind of wild edibles do you look for this time of year?
Jennifer can be found at Unearthing this Life where she snarfs and blargs about her life in the country with a Kid and Hubby.
I am impatiently waiting for our blackberries to ripen. We are a bit farther north than you in Indiana. I’m expecting our berries in a week or so.
This year my husband has been interested in making wine. He’s been making beer for several years now and is ready to spread his spirit making wings.
I’m interested to try the sumac. We do have a lot of that around here.
I have found quite a few interesting articles about sumac online. Some history about its uses can be found here: http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/87/87-4/Sam_Thayer.html
Apparently it can also be dried and used as a spice for middle eastern cuisine. And here I’ve been sitting on pods and pods of extra sumac for years!
We’re a tiny bit behind you; our black raspberries are only turning the littlest bit pink this week. However, this will be a fantastic year for b.raspberries and blackberries, due to the large amounts of rain we’ve had this month. Berries are my favorite thing to forage.
Methinks you have a one-track wine, er I mean, mind…
Wild black raspberries are ripening here and we munch them down so fast I am lucky to have some for jelly and cobbler. Has ome this morning on waffles!
Too funny! I made my first batches of wine last year and loved the process. They made wonderful holiday gifts and tasted so much better than I ever expected.
Our wild edibles (asparagus) are past for now (I’m not counting the dandelions I guess). Looking forward to raspberries, plums, mint and apples later this summer.
Sounds like you make good use of all the wild foods around you.
-Brenda
Wine. It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
So, how do you tell the difference between edible and poison sumac? I have sumac growing in my yard. One of my favorite books is Ewell Gibbons’ “Stalking the wild asparagus”. He managed to feed his family during the depression on foraged wild edibles. He describes a camping trip he and his wife took with another couple in which they lived off foraged food for a week,and one of the women gained 5 lb.
Poison sumac looks completely different from the other sumacs. In fact, it’s in a different genus altogether. The edibles have erect red, or reddish brown clusters of berries whereas poison sumac berries are creamy colored and fall loosely in strands. The difference is extremely easy to notice.
You’re not the first person to suggest “Stalking the Wild Asparagus”. I’ll have to put that on my reading list!
I’ve often wondered where northern peoples got citric acid before citrus fruits started being imported. So there’s one answer. Now the question becomes why in the world there aren’t sumac products available commercially?
I made lemonade from sumac a number of years ago. As I recall, the berries have little pricklies all over them. I don’t recall them being a bother though. It was good. But my then-nursing son get a nasty rash! Likely from the high levels of citric acid. I’ve not made it since.
I second Tree’s Euell Gibbons recommendation. I found his Stalking the Wild Herbs at a Barnes & Noble back in the mid-90s. It is a fabulous read and really inspired me to learn about edible wild plants. I’d love to get my hands on his other books.
Thanks for the great post!