Foraged Recipe: Black Locust & Ricotta Crostini with Wild Mint

Some flowers taste like flowers. Others have a floral quality, but taste primarily like something else. The black locust is one of these, its flowers taste like the sweetest of sweet spring peas, though they have a slightly crunchy texture--like celery.

Around here, black locust blooms are only available for about 2 weeks out of the year, in the late spring. Aside from being delicious, they have the advantage of being very abundant, hard to over-harvest, easy to pick, and pretty easy to identify. Check out my identification post here.

Black locust is frequently used as other edible flowers are used: in baking, or to make syrups. I really don't like to bake, and I wanted to make something that would highlight the pea-like flavors, rather than the floral taste. I also wanted something fresh to celebrate the end of spring. Peas and mint are a pretty classic combo, and cheese makes everything better, right? With wild mint in season, this pretty little appetizer (also good for a light lunch) seemed like a slam dunk. It tastes good, and is attractive an exotic enough to convert even the most hesitant non-forager.

Superfood "Mac & Cheese" Casserole Recipe with Foraged Nettles and Quinoa

While looking for morels this weekend, I was pretty excited to stumble upon a nice patch of wood nettles. Wood nettles, like their more popular cousins the stinging nettles, are nutritional powerhouses--superfoods! They are rich in vitamins A, C, D, and K, and calcium (more than a glass of milk!).

For me, nettles I trust to eat are rather a rarity. Stinging nettles are generally easier to find, because they prefer disturbed ground settings, growing as common weeds in areas that have been touched by human hands. But for this reason, at least in NJ where I live, I never find any I can trust to be pesticide and road-waste free. These gorgeous plants, growing deep in the old-growth forest, were clearly untouched and safe to eat.

Tasty young wood nettle

Despite their name, wood nettles still sting, especially the older plants. As I was hunting for morels that day, I didn't have any gloves. For that reason, and because the shoots are more tender and flavorful anyway--I avoided any plants over about 7", and focused on harvesting the little ones. I still got stung, sometimes enough to make me walk away and continue my search for morels for a good 15 minutes, till the sting subsided. As Thayer (in his book, the Forager's Harvest) says, it is best to only touch the stems with your tough finger-tips. The worst stinging happens when you accidentally brush the plant with the soft skin on top of your hand, or inside your wrist.

I have had this recipe on my mind for some time, and I rushed home to make it. It's really, really good. It's guilt-free comfort food, a perfect balance of vitamins from the nettles, protein from the quinoa and cottage cheese, calcium from the nettles and the cheese, and minerals from the mushrooms. By replacing some of the cheddar with fat-free cottage cheese (another superfood), we up the nutrition and reduce the fat further while still keeping the oozy cheesy, gooey-ness factor.

Next time you get stung by a weed in your garden, whip this up for dinner, you won't be disappointed!

Foraged Simple Milkweed Bud Stir-Fry Recipe

After a long day of being in the sun, hiking around foraging, I usually don't want to spend hours prepping an elaborate dinner. A quick stir-fry can be the perfect solution. Straightforward ingredients, simple, carefully chosen spices, and an exotic, wild element produce a memorable meal, one that comes together in about 30 minutes--and all in one pot!.

Milkweed buds are a great wild food source. They are generally abundant, incredibly easy to gather, and are part of a plant that will produce one vegetable after another over the course of several months. (Shoots in the early spring, buds and flowers in the early summer, and pods during the height of summer.)

Savory, Fat-Free (Almost!), Foraged Clover Bread Recipe

While on a tour with "Wildman" Steve Brill, we came upon a field of sweet clover, the red/purple kind; which the "Wildman" told us was very good for you. Upon tasting the flowers, I was reminded of this dandelion bread from Fat of the Land; and I knew I had to try to make a clover version--with my own small twists, of course!

I wanted to try to create a somewhat healthier version of the original. I substituted half of the white flour for whole wheat flour, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand. I also decided to use an old trick for reducing the fat of a dish, by replacing unsweetened apple sauce for the oil. The result is an almost fat-free bread--the egg still has a little fat in it. My first loaf was missing something, so the second batch got a dash of vanilla extract, which really perked it up.

There is a slightly bitter note in this bread; I would assume it comes from the green parts of the flowers, which are impossible to remove entirely. Still, it is rich, hearty and dense, with a touch of sweetness and a very pleasing texture. It tastes great with a pat of creamy butter, or toasted with a drizzle of maple syrup; but my favorite way of serving it is to add a razor thin slice of sharply-flavored cheese (I used Asiago), to top each slice of bread.

It is difficult to categorize this bread. It could be an appetizer, certainly, but it is also very nice for breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea. And its delicious when paired with beer, so. . . However you look at it, its a tasty little anytime bread.