Fall is here! School is back in session. The sun is setting an hour earlier. And night time temperatures have dropped by double digits, signifying the beginning of a new foraging season. September is a true bounty of fantastic wild foods.
You’ve just hit the mushroom mother-load. But now an intimidating thought creeps into your head – how do I preserve my wild harvest? Worry no more! After years of trial and error, research, testing and constant experimentation, I’ve come up with some tips and tricks to help you fully enjoy your foraged fungi.
August is somehow already upon us and the past two weeks have been filled with sun and foraging fun! Many wild fruits are ripening along field edges and hedgerows including pin cherries, blackberries, currants, the last of the season’s blueberries and hackberries and elderberries. Sumac is prime for picking – perfect for sodas, syrups and seasoning. Wild grape clusters will soon turn sun-kissed and sweet.
The first time I attempted to make mushroom jerky was purely as an experiment. I had a surplus of maitake/hen of the woods and had read that their meaty stems were perfect for jerky. I eat meat jerky maybe once a year, usually while on a road trip. I certainly didn’t have high expectations for the fungi version. But oh, how I was wrong!
Summer has kicked off with a bang! Last month’s record-breaking heat coaxed out the first fungi of the season including Chicken of the Woods, Berkeley’s Polypore (pictured right), and Black Staining Polypore. This week’s steady rain forecast opens up the potential for a solid Black Trumpet and Chanterelle harvest.
Now is the perfect time to forage unripe black walnuts around New England! While most Americans think of these nearly tennis ball-sized nuts as a nuisance for the mess they make in the fall when they drop from the trees, many cultures have incorporated green walnuts into their cocktail concoctions over the centuries.
Elderflower is just starting to bloom around the Boston area. A staple to most mixologists and bartenders, elderflower infuses a deliciously bright, subtly sweet and floral punch when added to cocktails.
June welcomes more delightfully edible flowers like daylily, milkweed, linden, beach roses, along with the first fruits of the season in mulberry and juneberry. For the first time I will be offering a salt marsh forage in late June up on the seacoast of NH where we will explore all of the succulent, salty treasures from marsh samphire and sea beans to beach roses and orache.
Spruce and fir tips are offering up their citrusy bounty. There are so many ways to use these delicious bursts of lemon, orange and grapefruit flavors. I like to make a number of salts and sugars to use throughout the year.
Compound butter is a simple and tasty way to preserve foraged herbs, especially wild ramps! Store it in your fridge for 2 to 3 weeks or freeze it to enjoy all year long.