Foraging: identifying and eating turks cap flowers and fruit, easy for beginners

Isn't that vivid red and green combo perfect for this time of year?

Identification difficulty: Beginner

Turk's cap sometimes known as Texas mallow, Drummond's mallow or Mexican apple, and formally known as Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii, is an edible wild plant and a member of the hibiscus family, native to Texas, the Southwestern US, and Mexico. 

Most, if not all, members of the hibiscus family have edible parts, or are at least, non-poisonous. The flowers of many varieties are steeped into herbal teas, where they impart a tartness, like pomegranate, but also a lovely floral note.  For those of you who enjoy Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger, that's a hibiscus-focused tea. 

Even if hibiscus isn't the primary flavor in your tea, check out the package, chances are, there's some hibiscus in there. The flower family is used to provide floral aromas, tartness and rich color to teas, candies, confections and more. 

The most famously used hibiscus is the roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa, native to Africa. Roselle is the main ingredient in the famous Jamaican sorrel punch, infused with citrus, sugar and ginger and served virgin or spiked with rum. It's also used throughout processed foods, primarily to impart a vivid red color. When you see "natural colors and flavors" and the item is red, there's a good chance it contains hibiscus, specifically roselle. 

My point in this divergence is that you've almost certainly eaten a hibiscus before, even if you didn't know it. 

Most hibiscus have edible flowers, and some, like roselle, are used for their calyxes or buds, but turk's cap also produces an edible fruit of a reasonable size and decent flavor. Furthermore, while the whole family is pretty easy to identify, Turk's cap is one of the easiest of them all. 

Turk's cap is an important late season food source for bees

Identifying spring curly dock: an edible, weedy wild plant

This is one of the most healthy, beautiful curly dock plants I've ever seen

Identification difficulty level: novice

Curly dock, Latin name: Rumex crispus, is an excellent wild plant to know. It provides food for at least 6-9 months, and year-round in some climates. It's fairly easy to identify, and grows abundantly throughout all of non-Arctic North America. Curly dock has a mild flavor, a subtly sour note, and a pleasant texture, making it a very versatile ingredient in the kitchen. Curly dock comes from Eurasia, so it's an invasive species here in the Americas. Invasivore eating is one of the most locally-sourced, extremely sustainable ways to look at food. 

Easy to ID, delicious, abundant, nutritious, and sustainable? I wonder why everyone isn't jumping on the curly dock bandwagon!

Small warning: curly dock has oxalic acid, and should be avoided by people with rheumatoid arthritis and kidney or liver problems, more on that below. 

Foraging: Identifying and Eating Purslane (avoid poisonous spurge!)

Purslane: abundant, tasty, very nutritious, and pretty easy to identify--with just a couple pointers!

Identification difficulty: Novice

Purslane, (latin name: Portulaca oleracea), is a wonderful, edible "weed". It's tasty, versatile, highly nutritious, easy to find, grows everywhere and is relatively easy to identify. It's not native to North America, and so is generally considered to be an invasive weed. For those of you with an interest in sustainable eating, choosing invasive species for your meals is one of the most sustainable, locavore options. There's even a word for it: invasivore!

Purslane does have one dangerous look-a-like: the potentially deadly spurges. (Euphorbia varieties). I find that they really don't look that much alike, and there is one tried and true way to tell them apart--making purslane a good plant for even a novice forager. 

With that in mind, I'd like to tell you everything I know about purslane, including how to identify it, how to not confuse it with spurge, flavor profile and some basic cooking tips. 

Purslane quick history

Purslane has spread throughout all of the Old World, (Europe, North Africa, and Asia). I have heard conflicting accounts wether it originated in India, the Middle East, or the Far East. It't eaten fairly frequently through out it's range, especially in the Indian subcontinent. With European imperialism, purslane spread to Australia and North and South America, and it's eaten there too (especially Mexico)--just strangely not in the U.S. or Canada in the modern day. It was apparently eaten in parts of the US as recently as WWII.

Purslane can be found most anywhere, as can adapt itself to a variety of climates, from arid to damp, hot to cold, and sun to shade. (Not including Antartica and other uninhabitable places, like parts of Canada and Russia. :P  Just kidding!). It's a succulent, and can adapt itself to environments that experience the extremes of seasonal monsoons and months-long droughts.