2009-04-13

Foraging?

Was just reading a couple of folks on Twitter who have been foraging. Sounds like fun. Better than Central Market. Better than Whole Foods. Even better than the farmers' market, yes? But how does one learn to separate the food from the poison? No Recipes replies, in two parts: "go at least once with someone who knows what they're doing and take photos and notes," and "ramps look similar to toxic lily-of-the-valley, but they have a distinct garlic smell that the toxic ones don't have." Um, yeah, just what I was afraid of.

Anyway, dear readers, has any one of you in the Dallas area ever foraged? Care to give me some pointers? Or do you know of any resources that I can call up? Thanks.

2 comments:

  1. I would never go and do this by myself. With my luck I'd say, "ooh--giant tarragon!" and then end up with Oleander Stew. Not good. I know there's that guy in NYC who takes folks foraging in NYC, but I don't recall his name. Wildman someone-or-other.

    I think Marc from No Recipes has been around the block a few times and has lived to tell the tale, but I am in No Way ready for going it alone.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is very easy. You can learn from books. I did and feasted profusely on fiddleheads,chickweed,nettles,sorrel,milkweeed shoots,dandelion greens,mouse ears,sorrel,wild leeks,cress and in fields there is nothing better than steamed fresh lambs quarters,young oner ones.Many old timers in rural areas know the weeds and wild plants. Some First Nations, too. Most areas and horticulture clubs host plant walks.Universityies and botannical society's do too. Most places now have an herbalist who should be able to help identify. There aren't that many poisonous plants and you get a vibe from them to stay away.

    ReplyDelete

You can use basic HTML tags, such as <i>, <b>, <a>, etc.