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Foraging For Food

© Karen L. Harris

By Karen L. Harris

While I have yet to eat a cattail root or pound acorns into flour, I do like to take advantage of the free food Mother Nature provides for us. The field behind my house, the woods across the street and my dad's hunting property all provide ideal spots for foraging for dinner--well, in my case, it is mostly for dessert.

Foraging for food is nothing new. Our Neanderthal ancestors gathered nuts, roots and berries. Foraging is becoming more en vogue nowadays as people renew their interest in nature.

While I'm sure I am passing up some great delicacies that foraging experts could point out, my daughters and I enjoy trudging through the woods in search of edibles.

Asparagus

A couple dozen larger asparagus plants grow at my dad's property. Although asparagus season is just about over now, the girls and I stopped by periodically to gather the new shoots. If I had been more diligent, I'm sure I could have collected enough to freeze, but I was satisfied with the several free dinner side dishes we had of fresh asparagus. I even made cream of asparagus soup for lunch one Sunday. It was delicious and easy. Any good standard cookbook will have a recipe for it.

Wild Onions

Smaller, yet more potent than their commercial cousins, wild onions add a wonderful flavor to pasta salads, soups and casseroles. My onion-loving husband even coats wild onions with butter and puts them on the grill, stem and all, when he's grilling a steak. I've been told that wild onions are superb in stuffing, but I haven't tried it for myself yet.

Mulberries

We have a half a dozen mulberry bushes growing around our farm. My kids and their friends love to pick them and eat them. The purple stain will scrub off their fingers but as for their clothes...

I made mulberry jelly last year. It was very good but a bit tart. It wasn't tart enough to stop us from enjoying it on toast, biscuits and peanut butter sandwiches.

Mulberries are a good addition to a fruit salad. My daughters will eat fruit salad until it comes out their ears, so I'm always grateful for free fruit to add.

Mulberry dumplings are a big hit at my house. I mix three cups of mulberries with one cup of sugar and a bit of lemon juice and simmer it in a big pot. It is important that you use a large, wide pot so you have room for the dumplings. Then I mix two cups of flour with two teaspoons of baking powder, a dash of salt and two tablespoons

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