Hello Spring! Spring is actually happening! For a while we were not sure it would ever get here.
Spring means the beginning of wild food season for us. While you may already be picking dandelions and wishing for mushrooms, these 4 foraged foods are what get us hooked on wild every single year.
- Stinging Nettles: We love nettles because they mean spring, we hate them because they sting! Put on gloves to collect and then blanch these greens for a nutritious wild food that can be used in place of spinach. Here is a post full of information about this useful plant – Stinging Nettles
- Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns: Pull on your rubber boots and head to the wet woods and stream beds to find these babies. A New England specialty, the baby ferns taste a bit like a green beans and make outstanding pickles. We just opened our last jar but are looking forward to making more with this recipe – Sweet Pickled Fiddleheads
- Knotweed Jelly: One of the earliest season jellies that I make. Knotweed is an invasive plant that is high in vitamin C, contains a chemical used to treat Lyme disease, and grows like bamboo (but tastes like rhubarb)!
Boil up the stalks for a pretty pink juice to make a stunning jelly. Use the Recipe at the bottom of this post to turn it into jelly – Wild Knotweed Jelly
- Candied Wild Violets: These cuties grace every lawn around our area. Turn the little blooms into candies that hold the season all year long and use the sweet baby greens in salads.
Happy Spring!
Nancy Warner 