Macrobiotic inspired meal with side of wild carrots

When I lived in Maine I attended a macrobiotic cooking class. We would meet at the woman’s house (I think her name was Susan) and she would prepare a macrobiotic meal for us, while explaining what she was doing and the philosophy behind macrobiotics. Then we would all eat the meal together at the end.

She would often pick the vegetables straight from her garden - bring them in, chop them up and cook them right there, fresh as can be. One time she made a carrot dish for us, with baby carrots from her garden. She chopped the greens up as well and tossed them right into the saute. It was delicious.

Normally I don’t use wild carrots. Obviously they do have a close resemblance to their deadly family member poison hemlock (and water hemlock), both very common in this area. And though I have identified all three and feel secure in my identification, I’ve read that wild carrots just aren’t worth it. So occasionally I will pull them up and inhale the wonderful smell of carrot, and then longingly toss it aside.

Our yard is full of wild carrot this year. Wild carrot is distinguished from poison hemlock by the little hairs found up its stalk. It also smells strongly of carrot and does not have the purple mottled stalk of its deadly relative. I decided to include it in this week’s share of our Community Supported Foraging (our wild food csa.) So of course I had some myself.

Wild carrots, also called Queen Anne’s Lace, is Daucus carota, which you may recognize is the exact species of cultivated carrot. They are exactly the same plant, differentiated only in the subspecies. By the time the carrots are wild, they are white rather than orange and are much smaller (though the greens are still full and lush.) Some people are sensitive to these greens and can have a rash reaction on their skin. The greens are edible, however, just as cultivated carrot greens are.

I also like to include a recipe for each new edible in the share. Because the carrot part of the wild carrot are relatively small, I decided to include the greens in the dish. I lightly sauteed the carrots, greens and some mint from my garden in olive oil, with a little tamari and water at the end to steam. I turned off the heat and added chopped chives and garnished it with chive flower petals at the end.

Making this dish inspired me to cook some brown rice and tofu, and enjoy a delicious macrobiotic type meal reminiscent of my days in Maine (20 years ago!) And I must say: I enjoyed this wild carrot dish more than I enjoy cultivated carrots! Cultivated carrots are too sweet and mushy. These wild carrots don’t have the sweetness and they are tougher, but that only adds to them, not detracts, in my opinion.

If you are sure about your identification of wild carrot, I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!

Recipe: Wild Carrot and Mint

Stir fried wild carrot roots and leaves with mint. Topped with chive flower.

• wild carrot root and greens, chopped (I used all the roots in the share - they’re so small, but only half the greens.)
• one stalk mint, leaves removed and chopped
• one chopped chive or onion grass
• chive flower (or red clover flower, petals pulled out) to garnish
• olive oil
• tamari

In olive oil, saute chopped wild carrots roots for about five minutes. Then add chopped carrot greens and saute until wilted. Finally add chopped mint at very end, sauteing just a bit, adding tamari and a splash of water to steam.

Turn off heat and stir in chopped onion grass.

Remove from heat and garnish with pulled petals from red clover or chive blossom.

(Suggestion: you can also saute some red clover blossoms right into this dish, and then garnish with a fresh one at the end.)

~ Melissa

This week’s share:

• day lily tubers
• wild carrots
• red clover blossoms
• nettles
• violet leaves
• peppermint

Day Lily tubers

Day lily tubers are new to your share this week. They are found among the roots of these bright orange lilies, which are often planted but are also often found “escaped” or wild. The tubers can be dug and eaten year round (as long as the ground is not frozen.) The young white ones are the most delicate and delicious, but the older yellow ones are good, too. When choosing the tubers, just make sure they are nice and hard. They will be crisp, crunchy and delicious. They can be eaten raw (they do not have to be peeled), or boil in salt water like new potatoes. They don’t take very long to cook. Definitely try them raw first - they are yummy.

Wild Carrots

Also new this week: Wild Carrots! (Also called Queen Anne’s Lace.) The botanical name is Daucus carota, which you may notice is the exact same species as cultivated carrot. Cultivated carrots differ only in subspecies…this is really the same plant. You will notice the carrot smell. We recommend great caution when harvesting this plant because of its similarity in appearance to the deadly poison hemlock. This is one mistake no one wants to make! However, there are some main differences. One is the carrot smell. The next is that you will see little hairs along the stalk of wild carrot; poison hemlock is completely hairless. Poison hemlock also has a mottled stalk (mottled with purple dots). The flowers are very similar as are the flowers of another deadly plant (which is blooming now): water hemlock. (I have seen water hemlock in Schenley park and poison hemlock everywhere this year: road sides, south side river trail, Frick park so please be careful!) Some people feel that the dark petal in the middle of the wild carrot flower helps them identify it, but that isn’t quite as reliable an indicator.

Some people are sensitive to carrot greens, but I do like to eat them. I add them to smoothies, soups and sautes.

As with all new food, eat sparingly the first time. People may have reactions (allergies, rashes) or difficulty digesting certain foods.

Recipe: Wild Carrot and Mint

Stir fried wild carrot roots and leaves with mint. Topped with chive flower.

• wild carrot root and greens, chopped (I used all the roots in the share - they’re so small, but only half the greens.)
• one stalk mint, leaves removed and chopped
• one chopped chive or onion grass
• chive flower (or red clover flower, petals pulled out) to garnish
• olive oil
• tamari

In olive oil, saute chopped wild carrots roots for about five minutes. Then add chopped carrot greens and saute until wilted. Finally add chopped mint at very end, sauteing just a bit, adding tamari and a splash of water to steam.

Turn off heat and stir in chopped onion grass.

Remove from heat and garnish with pulled petals from red clover or chive blossom.

(Suggestion: you can also saute some red clover blossoms right into this dish, and then garnish with a fresh one at the end.)

***

To my CSF-ers, if you get a chance take a minute this week to let me know what you’ve liked in the share, what you’ve made with the foods. Have you dried anything? Frozen or otherwise stored it for later? Have you made anything medicinal: tincture, tea or oil?  Would you like more medicinal herbs to make things with, or shall I just stick to the edible foods?

Also, I’ve had requests for dandelion roots and sassafras and I will be trying to get those into your share soon! Any other special requests?

Morel season seems to be over…but we are still out in the woods looking for mushrooms.

Thanks so much and enjoy this week’s wild food CSA!

~ Melissa

Before going raw, I made some scrumptious flower fritters with red clover blossoms and dandelion flowers. They were incredibly easy to make. They were inspired by my friend Vanessa who told me she’d made some with dandelion flowers: just mix egg, flour and milk for batter, dip the flowers and fry. Then drizzle with maple syrup.

I used coconut milk and buckwheat flour (to make them gluten-free and dairy-free), fried them in olive oil and voila: pure yumminess!

Red Clover and Dandelion Flower Fritters

Recipe: Flower Fritters

Batter

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (you can use any milk)
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (you can use any flour)

Mix ingredients together.

You’ll also need:

• red clover blossoms
• dandelion flowers (you can do one or the other or both)
• olive oil
• maple syrup

Dip flowers into batter, covering the flower with batter.

In a small pan (or pot) with olive oil, drop battered flowers. Flip when browned (this only takes a couple minutes.)

Remove onto cloth or paper towels to drain excess oil.

Serve drizzled with maple syrup.

Enjoy and Happy Mother’s Day!

~ Melissa

It usually hits me mid April. But even though it was a warm spring, my unstoppable desire to “go raw” again didn’t hit me until last week. So here I am, mid May, morel season is over (thank goodness: wild mushrooms must be cooked!) and I have “gone raw.”

By raw I mean I am eating only raw fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds. So lots of green smoothies, fresh juices, and yummy wild salads. But sometimes I do crave something…more. More savory and tasty than a smoothie or even a salad (though I have some delicious dressings that get me out combing my yard and neighborhood for wild delights!)

Yesterday I found a recipe in Brigitte Mars’s book, Rawsome, for Palak, which is a curried spinach dish. I substituted raw nettles for the spinach, changed a few other things and I can not even begin to convey its deliciousness.

Raw Curried Nettles with Flax Crackers

Raw and Wild Recipe: Indian Nettle Curry

inspired by Palak, from Rawsome by Brigitte Mars

• 1/2 cup soaked cashews
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger root
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 cups fresh nettles
• 1 Tbsp chopped onion
• salt, tumeric, coriander, cumin, cayenne to taste

Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender and puree.

I made the flax crackers as well, although those these can be purchased at food coops or health food stores (or even health food sections of regular grocery stores.) If not eating all raw, this dish would go well on rice or pasta, or even spread on sandwiches (or pizza!) Raw veggies would be excellent dipped in it.

Hope you are enjoying spring!

Love and nettle stings,

~ Melissa

In your share this week:

• plantain leaves
• burdock roots and stalks
• red clover flowers
• nettles
• violet leaves
• lemon balm
• creeping charlie

Plantain leaves are excellent to eat (raw in salad or in soups or stir-fried). I also love to coat them with a special dressing and dehydrate them a la kale chips. If you get our newsletter you have seen this recipe for plantain crisps, but I will also include it below.

Plantain is also a wonderful medicinal plant. The leaves are used fresh from the yard, crushed and applied to bee stings, nettle stings, or bug bites. You can also make an oil by chopping the leaves (or cutting into small pieces with scissors) and covering them with olive oil. Let it steep for a couple weeks then strain the leaves out saving the oil. This oil is excellent to take the itch away from bug/misquito bites and even poison ivy! It is safe to use on children and animals as well. To make the oil faster, place chopped plantain and oil in the blender and blend well, strain and it is ready to use. You can also gently heat the plantain and oil in a crock pot (on low) or oven with a pilot light for a couple days. Sometimes leaving the plantain in the oil too long will cause mold, so I like the faster methods of blending or lightly heating!

To make a salve, just take the strained plantain oil, gently heat on the stove (double boiler) or in a crock pot) and add some grated beeswax. Stir until beeswax melts, remove from heat and pour into a container with a wide mouth (so you can reach into it.) I also like to add lavender essential oil as it cools. Lavender is also helpful to take away redness and itching. When it cools it will become harder. Depending on how much beeswax you add is how hard it will get. I usually just add a little so it’s not too hard. (I like to scoop it up and apply liberally to poison ivy rashes!)

Recipe: Plantain Crisps:

• 1/2 cup cashews, soaking makes them softer
• water to cover cashew, use sparingly in blender and add more as needed. You want a fairly thick sauce.
• onion, 1 Tbsp, chopped
• garlic, 1 clove
• lemon, juiced or 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• tamari, 2 Tbsp or salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

In a blender place cashews, water, onion, garlic, lemon juice or vinegar, tamari or salt, and nutritional yeast (optional.) Blend until creamy.  Pour over plantain leaves (or kale leaves) and massage until fully covered. Place on dehydrator tray and dehydrate on 115 until crispy (about 6 hours.) If you don’t have a dehydrator you can use your oven on a low temperature until dried and crispy. It will probably take less than an hour in the oven.

Burdock Root, also known as Wild Gobo

Burdock root is a very popular vegetable in Japan, where it is known as gobo.  If you get the newsletter you’ll have received an entire ebook on Burdock! (If you don’t get the newsletter just sign up in the green box on the right, it’s free and filled with awesome information!) Burdock root is a tonic which brings great strength. The roots can be juiced, eaten raw, cooked in soups or stews, or sliced and dried for tea or roasted (and then ground) for a coffee substitute.

Here are some links to this blog for things I have done with burdock:

• burdock info page
• burdock juice
  
• burdock tincture
• dried burdock root
• fermented veggies with burdock

Recipe: Burdock Juice

Zesty, Lemony Burdock Juice

Ingredients:

• 3 apples
• 3 inches burdock root
• 1/4 lemon, including peel
• ginger root

Run all ingredients through a juicer and enjoy!

Here is a recipe for Kinpira Gobo, a traditional Japanese dish.  In this dish, you peel and cut the burdock root into strips, and saute it (often with carrot cut similarly), and season with tamari, mirin (a sweet Japanese wine), sake and sesame seeds.

Last week I battered and friend the red clover blossom, and it was delicious! To keep it dairy and gluten-free, I used an egg, coconut milk and buckwheat flour for the batter. I simply dipped clover blossoms (and dandelion blossoms) in, and fried in olive oil. Then I drizzled the fritters with maple syrup and enjoyed!

Red clover blossom and dandelion fritters

I have been using the violet greens and flowers in salads and on sandwiches.

This week I plan to dry some nettles to have as tea, and also I’ve been enjoying the nettles in a simple potato soup:

Recipe: Red Lentil, Potato, Nettle Soup

Red lentil, potato, nettle soup

• potatoes, chopped
• nettles, blanched (in the soup water) and chopped, then re-added to soup at end
• onions, chopped
• garlic, chopped
• red lentils
• salt
• pepper
• water

Heat the water until boiling and add nettles to blanch (removes sting). Remove nettles and chop, saving the broth for the soup.

Add red lentils, potatoes, onions, garlic and boil until potatoes and lentils are soft.

Add salt and pepper, return chopped nettles to soup.

Ideas for lemon balm:

• Add to smoothie
• dry for tea
• steep in honey for a delicious flavored honey

Creeping Charlie makes its return from week one. This is a mint found commonly in yards and gardens. It has a refreshing sharp minty taste. It can be dried for use as tea, added to smoothies or added to dishes (like tabouli) or rice for a minty bite.

This week’s share:

• morels
• garlic mustard
• red clover flowers and leaves (new this week!)
• violet leaves and flowers (violet leaves are new!)
• black locust flowers (new this week!)
• apple mint (new this week!)
• lemon balm
• burdock stalks
• nettles
• chickweed

Blooming Black Locust Tree

Yeeehaaa!  The sweet smell of flowers is in the air. You may have noticed the black locust trees in bloom - either by sight or smell. These delicious flowers are the only part of the tree that is edible. They smell magnificent and taste like honey. I enjoy them as a snack as is (raw) and added to a smoothie. One Food Under Foot follower emailed to tell me she enjoys them tempura style! My favorite fermented soda ever was made with black locust flowers! See newsletter 3 for info on making the ginger bug starter. Then pour boiling water over the locust flowers, add some sugar, when it cools to room temperature strain and add some of the ginger bug starter. Cover and let sit a couple days for a fizzy fermented healthy beverage.

Black Locust Flowers

Red Clover flowers and leaves are also new this week! I never realized how amazing red clover flowers smell until I had them all the table dividing them into shares this week. Wow - yum!

Dividing Red Clover Flowers into 9 Shares

These are gorgeous large blooms! One thing you’ll notice about these flowers are the oval leaves underneath the flower in sets of three. There is a look-alike to clover (which is not yet blooming, but it will be soon) called Crown Vetch and you definitely do not want to eat it! Crown Vetch contains high amounts of nitro-compounds that can cause heart attacks. Not only is it unsafe for humans but for horses as well (ruminants such as cows can safely eat it). Crown Vetch was planted all along Pennsylvania highways and is extremely common and invasive. Vetch leaves are very different from clover, however. Clover leaves occur in sets of three, vetch leaves are in pairs: 15 to 25 pairs of oblong leaflets. The picture below shows white crown vetch, which could be mistaken for white clover, but there is also purple, which is similar in color to red clover.

White Crown Vetch (Poison)

Ideas for Red Clover include:

• Raw in Salads
• Saute in stir fry
• tempura style!
• pull petals out and add to cookie or pancake batter
• smoothies (of course)
• soup
• dried - blossoms can be dried and used to make a tea which balances hormones (mainly women)
• dried - blossoms can be dried and ground into flour (mix with regular flour in recipes…adds protein!)
• fermented soda - see week 3 newsletter for information on making a ginger bug starter. Then add the starter to sweetened red clover tea to make a naturally fermented soda.

Violet Leaves are new also, though you have gotten the flowers before. This little mix is great in salads or smoothies. Violet leaves and flowers are both very high in vitamin C.

violet flowers and leaves - high in vitamin C

I believe apple mint is new to your share as well. Doesn’t it smell just like apples? Mmmmm. You can dry this mint to save and have later as tea, or make tea with it now or add to salads or dishes which call for mint. It’s great in smoothies! I love adding apple mint to smoothies almost as much as I love adding lemon balm (also in your share) along with other greens such as chickweed.

This may be the last week for morels! We have been out there looking high and low for you, every chance we get! Phew! Many people have reported this is a slow year for morels but we have done ok. Just multiply what you have gotten in your share ten times - not too bad! I hope you have enjoyed them! And who knows…maybe it’s been “slow” because they are not even fully out yet - it’s only the beginning of May! We will still be out there scoping the forests and hills for morels until at least mid-May, so hope is not lost for a banner amount in your share! *Remember to always cook wild mushrooms before eating!*

We found this awesome morel today...it is in the shares!

Some tips for this week’s share:

• try using garlic mustard leaves in place of lettuce on sandwiches and burgers
• if garlic mustard or any green gets wilty, soaking in ice water revives (thanks Rhonda!)
• If you find yourself with too many greens, remember you can dry them or freeze them
• a great way to save garlic mustard is turning it to pesto and freezing the pesto in ice cube trays
• you don’t need to peel the burdock stalks if you cook them: just boil them and they will get soft and the bitterness goes away
• remember to always cook wild mushrooms before eating!

Here are links to some recipes we’ve posted previously using things that are in your share. (All recipes are vegetarian and gluten-free!)

• Garlic Mustard Pesto
• Potato Pancakes with nettles and garlic mustard
• Burdock stalks in gravy
• Morel Frittata
• Nettles and Broccoli Quiche
• Morel Potato Kugel
• Leah’s Chickweed Crepes
• Homemade Nettle Pasta
• Nettle Potato Soup
• Making Fermented Sodas (including the ginger bug starter)

And remember you can search our blog (search box upper left) or  check back to previous newsletters for ideas.

Enjoy this week’s share!!

~ Melissa Sokulski

This morel is in someone's share this week!

Welcome to Week 4 of the CSF!

New this week: Burdock leaf stalks, onion grass bulbs, catnip and lemon balm.

In your share this week:

• Burdock Leaf Stalks
• Catnip
• Lemon Balm
• Purple Dead Nettle
• Onion Grass with Bulbs
• Garlic Mustard
• Chickweed
• Japanese Knotweed
• Nettles
• Morels

What a fun share we have for you this week!

We’ve been out hiking the hills and forests of Western PA and we do indeed have more morel mushrooms for you this week! Remember to always cook morels and all wild mushrooms before you eat them! I have been enjoying morels sauteed in butter with onions and eaten with eggs, or in fried rice. In fact, I made some wonderful fried rice with morels, nettles and cat tails the other day - yum!

The Burdock Leaf Stalks are new this week. (They look like huge stalks of celery.) They taste very bitter if you eat them raw due to their outer skin. However, I found by boiling them in water (I added salt to the water) for 20 minutes (then throw away that water), they are no longer bitter and they are no longer stringy. (If not cooked enough they are pretty tough.) You don’t even need to peel them! If you’d like to try them raw I recommend peeling them - it is just the outer skin that is bitter.

I made a delicious dish with a good sauce by cooking the stalks:

1. Wash stalks
2. chop them into small pieces, about 1 -2 inches (smaller than in the picture below…I made it a couple times and I liked it better when the stalks were a little smaller than shown.)
3. put them in a pan and cover with water
4. simmer with lid 20 minutes
5. save stalks, throw out water

Then:

1. Melt butter into that same pan (you can use olive oil to make vegan)
2. Added 2 Tbsp of buckwheat flour (I used buckwheat so it’s gluten free, you can use whatever flour you like)
3. Mix over medium heat
4. Add a little water and mix the flour in evenly, keep adding water slowly and mixing until it becomes a thick sauce
5. Add salt and pepper (and Parmesan cheese if you want, optional.)
6. Once sauce is done add burdock stalks back in and stir until coated.
7. Serve with the sauce.

Burdock Stalks with Sauce

This week we also finally made homemade nettle pasta again! We had run out of eggs so we just omitted them and made vegan pasta instead. I added a little water to the steamed nettles while blending them, and then mixed (by kneading) the nettle/water mixture into buckwheat flour (again so it was gluten free, you can use regular flour if you wish.) It came out great!

Catnip is an herb which is beloved by cats as well as people! You will find this soft-to-the-touch mint in your share this week. As a tea (you can boil it fresh or dry it first, then steep) it acts as a muscle relaxant and induces relaxation and sleep. I have mine hanging to dry in my doorway and my cats are going CRAZY today!

catnip (far right) hanging to dry nest to 3 bundles of already dried thyme

The Lemon Balm is also a mint, this one very lemony. I like to add the leaves to tea (fresh leaves or dried) and salads. I think lemon balm also makes a delicious pesto. Try slicing the leaves and floating on top of a lemongrass soup after it’s done cooking. Very delicious.

This week we found a gorgeous field of onion grass (at Wild Red’s Gardens in Morningside.) You’ll find we harvested the whole plant this time: bulb as well as green.  You can cook the bulbs as you would any onion bulb or shallot. Use the greens as you would chives. They can also be dried if you find yourself with an abundance!

You’ve seen all the other wild edibles before…check back to previous newsletters for ideas. I have been using garlic mustard leaves on sandwiches (in place of lettuce) and I love it!

Please remember to send me any pictures and recipes that you make with your wild edibles…I’d love to pass them along to the rest of the share!

Enjoy your share this week!

~ Melissa

Frick Park Walk

In case you want to follow Food Under Foot in the news, there have been 2 amazing articles about us recently:

• The Pittsburgh Post Gazette food section featured us in their Wild Food feature on Thursday, April 12, 2012

• Pittsburgh Magazine columnist Leah Lizarondo mentions us in her awesome article Girl Gone Wild

Great recipes for wild foods can be found in both places!

Also, we had 2 excellent wild edibles walks yesterday at the Frick Park Earth Day celebration. Thanks to everyone who came! I will get a blog post up soon with everything we saw and discussed. Unfortunately, the rain erased most of the emails I collected from participants so if you don’t get the email from me that’s why. I hope you find us anyway. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter in the green box in the right margin!

Yesterday I finished the book 29 Gifts by Cami Walker. I’ve taken the challenge: give 29 gifts in 29 days. I also joined the community.

Day 1 of giving was today and so far my gifts were “wild”:

• showing columnist Leah Lizarondo a wonderful nettle patch in Frick Park (for her upcoming NPR interview!!)

• Harvesting nettles for my daughter Ella so we can make Nettle Pasta together (she’s been asking me since the nettles have come up.)

Happy happy Earth Day!

~ Melissa