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Japanese Knotweed Recipe Roundup
It's coming . . . Japanese knotweed season! The winter season is still lingering here in southern New England, but early spring greens and shoots should start peeking up soon. Japanese knotweed is one...
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Black Locust Recipe Roundup
Here in southern New England, we have about two weeks in late May when the black locusts bloom. This mildly invasive pioneer tree is often found along waterways, highways, along the edges of open...
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Spring Greens 2015
Cardamine hirsuta, hairy bittercressAfter so much snow this winter the spring greens and shoots are a bit slow to emerge. We find ourselves turning our faces up towards the sun on the nice days,...
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Japanese Knotweed for Eating and Playing
Japanese knotweed at the ideal size for recipesWe have conflicting feelings about one of the most abundant invasive plants in the Northeast, Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica, syn Polygonum...
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Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Japanese Knotweed Syrup
Spring has sprung and Japanese knotweed season is upon us here in southeastern Connecticut. We furiously gathered huge baskets of shoots that were less than 12" tall, the optimum height before the...
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Japanese Knotweed Recipe - Knotweed Pudding Cake
After we made the Japanese knotweed syrup, we started thinking about what else we could use it for besides flavoring soda, drizzling over ice cream, and pouring over pancakes. Taking inspiration from...
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Milkweed Shoots Recipe - Milkweed Frittata
As spring quickly marches forward towards summer, there are so many fresh wild greens popping up every day that we can eat a #wildfoodeveryday. Ramps greens can easily go into anything that requires...
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Milkweed Shoots vs. Dogbane shoots
Milkweed shoots ready to cook and enjoyMilkweed shoots are not for absolute beginner foragers, and milkweed is a good plant to observe for a full year in all of its life stages before trying to consume...
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Black Locust Recipe Roundup
In about another week the black locust trees will bloom for about 8-12 days, a brief period in which we collect and eat them like mad. We have only frozen them with mild success. They lose their...
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Black Locust Recipe - Black Locust Crepe (Palacsinta)
What's a palacsinta? It is the Hungarian version of crepes! These are Robert's favorite mid-day snack, quick to put together and cook, and the recipe is easy to modify to accommodate just about and...
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Invasive Bamboo
Soba noodles with bamboo shoots, ramps greens, lemon juice, and thymeI like to keep a current list of the invasive plants of Connecticut on hand, and on the copy I printed out, I highlight the edible...
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And Mushroom Season Begins . . .
While spring has finally sprung and we are up to our chins in fresh, seasonal, wild greens, spring is a terrible time for mushrooms. Beyond a lucky morel, some dried polypores, and an odd Ascomycete,...
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Milkweed Recipe Roundup
Although it is too late to gather and eat the shoots of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), the flower buds are at a great size to eat, and the pods will be maturing soon. Although many books say to...
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Spicebush Recipe- Spicebush Ice Cream Sandwiches on Acorn Cookies
Even thought spicebush berries and acorns are wild foods collected in autumn, hot summer days are when we want ice cream sandwiches. Dipping into our preserved stores, we pulled spicebush berries and...
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Cattail Recipe--Cattail Flower Bread
Late spring is when we head back out into wet areas that are filled with cattails, and at this time of year the flower spikes are just getting ready to emerge from a protective leaf sheath. In a week...
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Chicken Mushroom Recipe - Green Grape "Chicken" Salad
We were lucky to find a wonderfully tender white chicken mushroom (Laetiporus cincinnatus) while out driving after a day at the beach. Once it was cleaned, I promptly made Gillian's favorite chicken...
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Mycophagy at NEMF 2015
Last weekend our mushroom club, Connecticut Valley Mycological Society, was honored to host the 39th Annual Sam Ristich Foray, held by the member mushroom clubs of the Northeast Mycological...
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Chicken Mushroom Recipe - Chicken Mushroom Wontons
The weather has been hot and dry for nearly the whole month of August, so mushrooming in Connecticut has been poor. Our forays with CVMS have consisted of a lot of polypores and wood decayers, and few...
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Polypore Mushrooms
Trametes versicolorMost polypore fungi are found on wood, and they are just doing their job, which is breaking down the lignins in the wood. Fungi are great recyclers. Many of the harder polypores can...
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Wild Mushroom Festival
An autumn bounty of edibles, honeys, puffballs both large and small, chicken, winecaps, and parasols.2015 will be our fourth year participating in the Denison Pequotsepos Wild Mushroom Festival in...
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