Wild Foraging in April

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I just did my third Edible Weeds class with Melany Vorass through Sustainable Burien. There are still lots of greens to be foraged, though as many of them start to flower the leaves become a bit less palatable. While April is too early for berries around here, there were a surprising amount of edible plants that we found on our short walk at this urban park. Some of my photos didn't turn out so great, so please use this information in combination with Google or Wikipedia to find out how to more thoroughly identify these plants. Pfaf.org is another website where you can obtain info on plant edibility. Also, check out my previous post on edible foraging in February.

Melany demonstrates how to remove the "hula skirts" from horsetail stems. This papery layer must be removed from the stalks before they are safe to eat. Younger plants, before they branch out, contain less silica and are safer.

A stalk of horsetail with a few "skirts" removed.

Horsetail (Equisetum) also called "scourbrush", can be used to scrub dishes as well as burnish wood and polish metal. These plants are just a bit too mature to eat. The leaves around it are salmonberry, which can be eaten like spinach.

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) flowers, leaves, and berries are all delicious.

Dandelions (Taraxacum) are edible in their entirety. The midrib of the leaves is a bit bitter and can be easily removed. Use the leaves in salads or smoothies, toss the flowers in salads or fritters, or make a batch of dandelion wine! The roots can be roasted and brewed like coffee.

Bedstraw (Galium) is a bit bristly, but somehow succulent and tender at the same time. My kids call it "cat tongue" because of its scratchy surface, and they eat it straight out of the garden. I've used it in salads and smoothies. When it matures, you will find horrible bristly seeds stuck to your pants, socks, shoelaces, and to your cat.

This is shotweed (Cardamine hirsuta). This is not a great photo of it, but most people would recognize it as the weed that shoots its seeds everywhere when you barely brush it with your hand. The leaves taste like watercress, but they diminish in size as the plant flowers and diverts its energy to making seeds.

The young leaves of a maple tree (Acer) are such a treat! Just pick and eat, they are so good. Also, I recently read that any type of maple can be tapped for syrup.

Poisonous: Buttercup (Ranunculus)... nothing about this plant is edible. I am in the process of removing it from the shady parts of my yard, where it has been taking over.

Catsear (Hypochaeris radicata) flowers are similar to dandelion, but the stalk is solid, while the dandelion flower has a hollow stem, and of course the leaves are covered in fuzz, while dandelions have smooth leaves. They are also slower to to to seed than a dandelion.

Nipplewort (Lapsana) has edible leaves. The leaves change shape dramatically as the plant forms its flower, going from this rounded heart shape to pointed spear shaped leaves on the flower stalk.

Sow thistle (Sonchus) is a bit rough around the edges, but no real thorns. It has thick succulent, edible leaves.

Full frontal shot of sow thistle. You can see some nearly mature shotweed seeds on the left, and some glossy beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) leaves on the lower right.

April is a bit late for harvesting rosehips (Rosa)... and this is a pretty lousy picture of them ;) Collect anytime after the first frost, and store in freezer for later use. Remove seeds through a strainer before using the fruit. Rosehips are super high in vitamin C.

Pink and white clovers (Trifolium) are edible, both the flowers and leaves, raw or cooked.

Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) makes a delicious, tender salad green.

Dock (Rumex crispus) leaves, and their seeds later in summer, are edible. The seeds can be used in baking to replace up to 1/4 of whatever grains you're using. The have a husk which is a bit tough and impossible to remove, but it incorporates fine into bread or crackers. New leaves, still tightly curled inside a sheath, can be used like asparagus after removing their sheath. My rabbits devour this nutritious plant.

Don't eat this plant. Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) is reported to be both toxic and medicinal.

And of course, our favorite this year, stinging nettles (Urtica dioica). We've been living off these lovely leaves for months, in our green smoothies, and in the winter we enjoy them in an infusion. They are delicious and tender, once you get past that pesky sting (click here for my smoothie recipe and here for the nettle tea).

I'm linking an Amazon ad below to Melany's book on eating weeds. If you use my ad link to make a purchase, it benefits our family as well as the author. Thanks in advance!

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Wild Foraging in April

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Mellow April 26, 2012 41 Comment