Foraging for wild violets: identification, edibility and sustainable harvesting

Identification difficulty: Beginner 

Wild violets are a beautiful, fleeting part of early spring. They grow low to the ground, dainty and unassuming, but bring a smile to every woodland walk. They are found in Europe and North America, and apparently in Australia as well.

Violets are also a tasty edible wildflower, with a unique flavor and aroma which has been valued for centuries. Violets were a vogue flavor in Victorian era, and after, up until the First World War. They were used in candy and baked goods; but trench warfare, and subsequent post-war expansion of roadways and urban areas across Europe, tore up many of the fields they were harvested from.

Perhaps its most famous use is in Creme de Violette, a liqueur made by infusing violets into a brandy or neutral spirit. Creme de Violette is beautiful and delicious, with deep purple color, delicate aroma, and impossible to replicate floral taste. For years it was nearly impossible to get a hold of (due to the scarcity of wild violets), but new crops are being harvested from the alps.

You too can experience the unique and elegant taste of violets, and without the expensive price tag, simply by taking a walk in the woods!

It's important to know that violets are native to our forests, not an introduced species. They are also essential for the heath of pollinators, like bees, so sustainable harvesting is a must! 

Vegetarian hot & sour soup from scratch, made with 3 wild mushrooms and burdock. Gluten free, high protein, low sugar, low carb

Today's recipe is amazing. It's super healthy, tastes great, and is jam-packed with vitamin, iron and mineral-rich wild mushrooms. It's a better-for-you, scratch-made, vegetarian version of classic take-out Chinese: hot and sour soup. It's low in fat, low in carbs, high in protein, and gluten-free.

It's also much more time consuming than anything I usually make, clocking in at about an hour and 45 minutes (but it makes a TON and it's totally worth it), and you're probably going to need to hit up an Asian market for all the ingredients.

But if I haven't scared you off yet, let me just say again: totally worth it.

With three kinds of wild mushrooms it's got a ton of umami flavor, you won't miss the meat! It's spicy and sour and thick and richly textured. While we usually think of hot and sour as an appetizer, this is totally a complete and filling meal.

Wood ear mushrooms are a superfood, cholesterol-lowering, hypoglycemic, and tumor-reducing!

I've used 3 kinds of foraged mushrooms here, but you can also use store-bought. Just make sure to pick a good texture mix. So you need 1 kind of meaty mushroom (oysters, shiitake, or hen of the wood), and 1 kind of soft mushroom (I used honey mushrooms*, but you could use beech or enoki as well), and wood ear mushrooms. You absolutely have to have wood ears, they are the traditional black fungus that gives hot and sour soup it's unique texture. They can be purchased, dried, in Asian markets.

The edible and medicinal wood ear mushroom: Auricularia species. Foraging, identifying and preparing this wild mushroom.

  Identification difficulty level: Beginner

2022 Update Note:
Between 2013 - 2015, extensive DNA analysis was done on the mushrooms previously known as Auricularia auricula, and it was discovered that what was believed to be one species was actually a cluster of closely related species. This information was not confirmed until 2019, and not widely published until recently. 

Auricularia auricula-judae was discovered to actually be multiple different species that look and act very similar. The name Auricularia auricula-judae now only applies to the European species.

The Asian species have been renamed as Auricularia heimuer and Auricularia villosula, and the American species are Auricularia angiospermarum (on broadleaf trees) and Auricularia americana (on conifers). 

I have gone ahead and edited this post to simply refer to the mushroom as Auricularia species, as all the identification features remain the same. 

Auricularia species are better known as the wood ear, jelly ear, or tree ear, it also has an outdated name of jew's ear. In China it's called the black fungus, cloud fungus, black mushroom, or black jelly mushroom. It's widely used as both food and natural medicine, having anti-tumor (anti-cancer), anticoagulant, cholesterol-lowering, and hypoglycemic effects.

As a bonus, it's a fairly easy mushroom to identify, though there are similar looking fungi, they aren't poisonous, and many are actually edible. But, as always, it's your responsibility to make sure you are 100% positive you have a correct identification, by corroborating with several reliable sources and/or local experts.

One note of caution: because of the anticoagulant effects, it's important not to consumer wood ear if you are on blood thinning medications.

Now, on to identification and cooking tips!

Redbud (or any other edible flower) smoothie - vegan, dairy free, gluten-free and paleo and raw diet optional

Omg! How much do you love that color?!?!

That pretty pink alone would energize you throughout the day, never mind that this gluten-free, low sugar, low fat, dairy-free, vegan smoothie recipe is packed with vitamin C, plant-based protein, and antioxidants. Bonus: redbuds are naturally loaded with anthocyanins (one of the most important flavonoids)!

I made my smoothie with soy milk, but if you swap it out for almond milk, it becomes both paleo and raw-diet friendly.

You could swap the redbud blossoms for any other edible flowers if you like, but these fruits do compliment the sweet sour tang of redbud perfectly.

Flower-power redbud and fresh fruit smoothie

makes about 12 oz.

1 large banana

1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped

1 1/2 cups packed redbud blossoms

1 cup ice cubes

1/2 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk

Raw honey or agave, optional

1. Blend all the ingredients together at high speed. Add more ice or milk, if needed, to get the right consistency. Taste and add honey or agave, if needed. 
2. Serve it up in a pretty glass, sprinkle some more flowers on top, because it's worth it!