Forage Culture

It’s about time to dig roots, but you can still find a few above ground treats before all the fall colors disappear. Since we’ve had a few frosty nights, fruits like fox grapes and tiny crabapples benefit greatly from the crystallizing of sugars, so if you’ve had your eye on a few spots, go gather their goodness now! It’s also a great time to find these fruits since most of the leaves have already dropped and left the fruit highly visible.

Also shown here is late goldenrod, my personal favorite tea substitute, and a few final green walnuts with their earthy, zesty peels just waiting to be made into bitters.

Persimmon fruit has stories to share. Maybe you’ve encountered it as the national fruit of Japan or as a symbol of transformation in Buddhism. Maybe you’ve lured deer with an American persimmon tree or maybe you’ve heard how the seeds can “predict the weather”. Maybe this is all new to you…

My family grew up with several native persimmon trees on their property, never realizing the fruit that dropped from these massive trees was edible and delicious. They would watch the deer come to eat after an especially hard rain had forced lots of fruit to fall, but I was the first to show them how scrumptious persimmon could be.

Layer the persimmon pulp (no seeds if you’re using native ones) with a simple whipped cream, maybe add a little drop of almond flavoring or orange liqueur to the cream, layer with pecans or cashews, and sprinkle a warm spice on top for garnish. The persimmon shown in the picture is a fuyu persimmon, just for your reference.

Say hello to the depths of autumn with this dessert… or breakfast 😉

Here in zone 6 we’ve got witch hazel blooming! It’s such an interesting tree that blooms in the fall once the leaves have started to drop. If you struggle with tree ID, get some yarn or other simple marking material to tag your witch hazel for reinspection in the Spring.

While it may be tempting to harvest some of tree now to make your herbal remedies, it’s not the best time for the plant (or for your medicine) since nature is in the process of sending its nutrients down to the roots. Wait until spring, harvesting small branches from well established trees, when sap begins to flow again.

Fall foraging - the lack of water in our area is making me lean towards photography rather than hunting, but either way, it’s wonderful to be out in the woods.

Go get your berry fix!

is making it easy to do two good things at once: support Ukraine and the planet. Insider purchasing seeds as gifts for friends and family if you already have your stock.

Wild lettuce. Bolted. Beautiful. I’m a sucker for these beauties in giant vases and in my garden, but please don’t think that they’re tasty like your regular lettuce.
Wild lettuce has medicinal properties that I’m super sensitive to. It’s known for pain relieving aspects, and, just like narcotics, should be respected. Luckily it has a bitter flavor that tends to keep over consumption to a minimum!

For me, ingestion leads to stomach upset and extreme head fog and dizziness, but I’m also very sensitive to pain medication. The plant draws its energy down to its roots overnight, so picking the leaves in the morning will provide fewer active compounds and midday will have higher concentrations. Don’t use this for medicinal purposes without consultation from a trained herbalist - it’s a strong medicine!

This heat is for the berries. While fresh is amazing, frozen ones combined with dried spicebush, an avocado, some OJ, and lemon makes for an actually creamy bowl that’s way healthier than ice cream or sherbet.

It’s so frustrating when you seen people saying their smoothie bowl tastes great when’s it’s really more like shaved ice. Texture is crucial to your brain telling you that’s it’s satisfied, and having a complex chord of flavor is another important part of your brain’s connection to food.

See, lemon zest is easy to add to everything. It’s not as tricky as lime, takes twenty seconds to produce, and it’ll amp up every savory or sweet flavor because of the bitter and acid notes it brings to the party. It’s a secret weapon that every home cook should be using liberally.

It’s also a way to start understanding how to use the whole of something. That’s what’s fascinating about the First People of our land: nothing ever went to waste.

Are you an avid zester yet?