The trend lately is leaning toward hunting for food in your own backyard! Foraging.
As a city girl, I’ve always been a bit VERY skeptical about eating things that aren’t “garden grown.” Yes, I see the irony in this as wild edibles are in fact grown in the ground just as any garden veggie or fruit would be.
But, my kids, wild ones as they are, have always loved eating things that they find outside. Clovers. Wild onions. Those pretty little purple flower things that grow like crazy here in spring. And even not so edible things like bugs (on purpose!?!?) and poke berries* (even after I said NOT to….)
Now that we are country folk, we decided to get a book on edible weeds and plants so that we could begin the journey of bravely trying new things. The day we were collecting red bud flowers for tea was the same day we found our sweet pup in the road. So we never got around to trying them. (They were too much of a reminder!)
My barefoot beauty spent days in April digging up wild onions. Together, we cleaned them and removed the roots before sauteing them in butter! (I will admit to google-ing wild onions rather intensely to make sure we picked the correct ones. There is a poisonous look-a-like!)
So, imagine my surprise when the kids found some “cool mushrooms!!”
After several internet searches, I deemed the mushrooms SAFE!! These morel mushrooms are a prized wild edible! YES!!! I went to Facebook to learn what to do with them….
First up, soak over night in salty water to eliminate the bugs! (This whole process really made me question if I actually wanted to eat these…. Bugs?!)
The next morning, remove from the water and allow the mushrooms to dry. Chop into bite-sized pieces and coat with flour. Then!!!! Fry in bacon grease. Yeah!
Everyone tried this new delicacy, but not everyone enjoyed it. I was very bummed we only found 3. (If you have hunting tips, let me know!!)
A few days ago, my little guy came back from a treck to the other side of the pond and excitedly shared that he found…. Wild Blackberry bushes!
We will be heading out in a few weeks to collect those wild treats!
I’d love to hear what you are hunting in your yard!
*Poke berries are poisonous if you eat several more than a few. My kid ate one (& I flipped!!) and was fine. I have heard that the leaved can be boiled and “enjoyed” in a salad. But I will not be trying this anytime soon!!!
