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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2012 18:38:02 GMT
I'm afraid that us urban dwellers do not get much of a chance to forage, but when I lived in the country in my youth, and also when I would visit my grandparents and other family members in Lorraine, it's amazing how much food was just there for the picking.
In the deep south of the United States, we had blackberries, mulberries, huckleberries, pecans that you could find growing wild.
Eastern France was even more of a treasure trove with all sorts of mushrooms, hazelnuts, wild strawberries, rhubarb, dandelion, and plenty of things that I am forgetting.
I have only mentioned plant items, because in both places there are lots of critters to eat as well, which did not require a weapon to get.
Do you supplement your diet with anything you can just pick up for free?
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 2, 2012 8:45:05 GMT
Nettles, water cress (in Europe). Not sure I ever tried collecting wild strawberries, they're so tiny.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2012 10:36:52 GMT
Ah yes, nettles -- I could even harvest some in Paris, but I have never eaten them. Everybody raves about the soup.
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 2, 2012 10:54:32 GMT
We used to just blanche them, then pick off the leaves and prepare them in one way or another. Water cress needs to be washed if they come out of streams running though fields. Or else you've got all the fertilizer run off on them.
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Post by rikita on Jul 8, 2012 8:52:22 GMT
wild strawberries might be tiny, but they are so much tastier than the big ones...
when i was a kid we would often collect various berries in the forest. and occasionally eat nettles, or dandelion salad. mushrooms of course were common then and are still common now (where my dad has his small holiday house there are a lot of nice mushroom spots in the forest). my dad was also very much into wild garlic (for making pesto, mainly) a while ago...
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Post by auntieannie on Aug 11, 2012 20:16:45 GMT
has any of you cooked with serrated wrack? I see it can be used as thickening agent and also hear it turn into some kind of jelly if added to hot water. but before I play with my little jar of ground serrated wrack, I thought I'd ask if you had any experience with it?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2012 20:43:47 GMT
I don't know what serrated wrack is but the name does not make my mouth water.  |
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Post by auntieannie on Aug 11, 2012 21:06:23 GMT
it is a type of seaweed.
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Post by auntieannie on Aug 11, 2012 21:08:27 GMT
have to agree about the name, though! scientific name is "fucus serratus"
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 11, 2012 21:46:00 GMT
 The Latin name sounds like that anti-rape device that's been posted all over facebook!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2012 1:46:15 GMT
This was going to be a bumper crop year for elderberries but they all got shredded to pieces by the hurricane winds. I'm hoping there are some sheltered spots that I can find some remnants of some. I had my jam jars all ready to go.  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2013 16:20:28 GMT
Our new housemate and I harvested a huge basket of fresh oyster mushrooms last evening.
Sauteed them in butter and served them along side some fresh trout filets accompanied by a fresh spinach salad.
Delicious!!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 8, 2013 16:45:06 GMT
*mouth hangs open in awe*
Are oyster mushrooms the kind that grow on the sides of trees? Who is the mica mico myc mushroom expert -- you or the housemate? And where oh where in a city did you find these jewels?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2013 17:19:02 GMT
Yes, they grow on dead hardwood tree stumps. In this case some downed trees from Hurricane Katrina in the neighborhood.
They sprout up after a rainy spell if the temperatures are right, and, in this case the conditions were.
It was our housemate who scoped them out and surprised me with a basket full last evening.
T. my husband, is not a huge fan of mushrooms, and was wary, but, L. and I quickly went to sauteeing a couple of handfuls of them toute suite!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2014 17:33:32 GMT
Scored another batch of oyster mushrooms yesterday and am going to attempt to make a mushroom bread pudding I got a recipe for from a friend.
I have a couple of day old baguettes that should do just fine.
We'll see how it turns out.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2014 17:53:12 GMT
On the curb in front of my apartment building every morning, there are several crates of rotten fruit and vegetables, which I presume that the 'Istanbul Oriental' grocery store next door dumps there, since they probably think it is a much better place than in front of their own store. If I were penniless, I could easily fulfil all of my vegetal dietary needs by going through the items in those crates. In fact, I am often tempted to do so just out of principle, but then I think about the people who really need to eat that stuff when I can afford the 'pretty' items, so I don't touch it. Oh, but I could make wonderful vegetable soup or fruit smoothies with that stuff...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2014 18:28:15 GMT
For a long time after they opened Whole Pay Check Food Company here used to have a dumpster that was full of very edible,seemingly fresh,albeit slightly bruised produce. A number of people I knew, mostly younger adventurous and resourseful types would hit it up on a regular basis until the store put a halt to that by putting a locked lid on top of it.
It seemed (s) such a waste of perfectly serviceable victuals and makes me abhor the store even more despite their "liberal, healthy, community resourceful"
enterprise.
God, I hate that place.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2015 10:59:25 GMT
I'm going out this a.m. to pick dewberries up on the levee in my secret spot.
I fancy baking a pie with them.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2015 15:58:55 GMT
Gorgeous. None of our berries are ready yet. I had never heard of dewberries, but I found out it is similar to our trailing blackberry (rubus ursinus) which is in flower now.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2015 17:56:16 GMT
I really have to remember to walk around with a knife and a plastic bag in my pocket, because my desire for a dandelion salad increases every day.
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The Latin name sounds like that anti-rape device that's been posted all over facebook!