Spring Forage Menu

Had a fabulous romp through Vermont fields and woods for an annual spring forage--or as some prefer to call it--wild crafting. Following is the menu Chef Ted hand crafted from our finds:




Vermont pheasant with wild leaf salad, sherry & citrus vinaigrettes

fiddlehead soup with Maine lobster & crab, and scallop

wood-roasted salmon with sautéed ramps, Japanese knotweed, and potato-ramp pie, sauces of ramp, chive oil, and duck stock

wild ginger cobbler with Japanese knotweed ice cream and candied Japanese knotweed


Lee Jones said of his experience,"We thought it would be mildly amusing but it turned out to be a blast." T'was a beautiful and delicious feast!

This wild leaf salad (pictured) was comprised of leaves from Canadian white violets, trout lilies, dandelion, sedum, plantain, and Ox eye daisy. The violet leaves are sweet and comprised most of the salad. Trout lily, violet, and dandelion flowers are all edible. We shredded the dandelion flower as a sprinkling garnish. Pick only two inch dandelion leaves as larger ones are too bitter. Use sparingly in a salad unless you love bitter. Hearts of cattail (similar to hearts of palm) were poached with lemon and salt, and dressed in a citrus vinaigrette and arranged around the leafy greens.

I'll post more photos and blahg more in detail about specific ingredients in upcoming posts. Meanwhile don't assume you know what to pick by this list of ingredients, and if you do know, don't pick from polluted waters or unnaturally fertilized lawns.

Spring Forage

A dear client gave me a list of about 25 wild edibles she found on her property. Though I know most of them I have never found them all around the same area. Lucky lady! Her property borders part of the Appalachian Trail so widespread disbursement may be the reason.

One early season edible we will find for sure on our annual Spring Forage this week is dandelion. It's a weed, but so are many other wild edibles. Dig and you will have yourself a twofer: weed gone, and green edible had. The smaller, tender leaves are less bitter. Sauteéd with olive oil, fresh garlic, and some hot pepper is how my grandmother used to eat them. Raw in salads is another common use. Some people pick only the flower and make dandelion wine--for this there is quite a diversity of recipes you can web-search.

Field daisy leaves will be emerging and ripe for picking their tender leaves. Violets (tender leaves,) wood sorrel, plaintains, and Johnny jump-ups should all be available.

Sedum is another wild plant that when picked young can be used in salads or as a garnish, though one version called stone-crop is not. I say if there is a question, or it is questionable for some --fogeddabodit. Trout lily falls in this category, and we don't serve honey-mushrooms for that reason: some folks may find them upsetting.

Just down the road is Japanese knotweed, Fallopia japonica, syn. Polygonum cuspidatum, Reynoutria japonica, considered an invasive plant, so no worries about pulling it up by the roots, though mostly it is cut back just above where it meets the earth. Best height for picking the asparagus-looking stalk with red speckles is 4-6 inches. It is best to identify it in the fall when in full bloom, usually in roadside ravines. It is a high bush that has wall to wall leaves with long lasting and showy white flowers, and a bamboo-like stalk.

Ramps or wild leeks, Allium tricoccum, members of the onion family, resemble poisonous lily-of-the-valley plants. Be sure your ramps smell of onion. Some people confuse ramps with wild garlic which is also edible. In the UK wild garlic is called ramson, Allium ursinumin, so it may be more of an etymological rather than physiological confusion as wild garlic has thinner, hollow stems--more similar to chive than daffodil, which is another poisonous bulb to be wary of picking mistakenly.

We definitely know where to find some Ostrich or Shutlecock Fern, Pteretis pensylvanica, so we can get their early fiddleheads. This is an edible that can be scouted in the winter or early spring for site verification. Look for the spore-bearing fertile fronds shown in our photo.

We'll hope for morel mushrooms, but it seems too dry at this time for a good crop to emerge.

Always get advice from people who know the wilds. Here is link to a list and photos of wild Eastern plants.