I've been foraging in the freezer, delighting in the harvest of warmer seasons. One gem that sparkles loudly is black chokeberry, aka, Aronia. After a fun, sweaty roller skating session (like last night), I crave it, blending it into an agua fresca, that I like to call Aronia Elixir. Aronia Elixir: Tap This Superfruit In The Kitchen < Click here to view this video Scientifically called Aronia melanocarpa, this fruit contains some of the highest antioxidants on the planet. Hosting a rich soup of polyphenols, anthocyanins, plus vitamin C and more, Aronia can boost our cardiovascula ..read more

A healthy patch of ramps Ramps need to be protected, replanted, and if harvested, to do so with care and consciousness toward these ends. Ramps take time to develop: production from sowing seed to root harvest can take 5 to 7 years. They are slow growing Native American perennials of the “onion family’ who are endangered in some regions If you find a well-established colony, harvest should be less than 5% of the plants. Another recommendation is to harvest only one leaf from several mature plants. This approach leaves the roots intact so the plants are not killed. My handful oframpleaves was ..read more

This Native American, hardy annual, scientifically named Lactuca canadensis, is sprouting wide basal rosettes, with tender leaves that make excellent salad. I also refer to it as: “Native ancient WILD SALAD known as food for the nerves”. Learn to identify, harvest & eat it with our free video lesson over on our Youtube channel: Wild Lettuce Video < click here to view. TO HELP with ID, harvest and use, here is our Wild Lettuce illustrated page from Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook by Dina Falconi (me), illustrated by Wendy Hollender. More about our book on ..read more

Click the image to view this video. It's fiddlehead season! And I am excited to share with you all about this mid-spring, gourmet treat.  In this lesson I focus on the fiddleheads from the Ostrich Fern, scientifically called Matteuccia struthiopteris. They offer a mild and pleasing flavor, to gussy up any spring dish. The part we eat is the fiddlehead, the crozier— the tightly coiled part of the fern that looks like a fiddle’s (the instrument’s) head, along with its tender stem.  Gather when up to 6-7 inches tall, and still has a tightly coiled tip. Eat both the stipe (stalk, aka pe ..read more

Horseradish is in the kitchen! We’ve had three hard frosts, which sends a plant’s resources into its roots; and signals the beginning of the root digging season. Horseradish relish—the familiar spicy condiment—is a stimulating herbal medicine that we can easily make ourselves. Properties of Horseradish  This strongly heating, stimulating, rubefacient root is blood moving and decongesting, but it can be irritating. It’s used to increase digestive fire, as a sinus opener, circulatory invigorator, and a poop maker. It helps to bring phlegm up and out and can help with wet coughs and wet, dam ..read more

Today’s Find: Comb Tooth: Hericium coralloides—white jewel; thank you for showing yourself today; will dehydrate Painted Suillus: Suillus spraguei—will prob. dehydrate Butterball: Suillus weaverae f/k/a granulatus—super abundant; will prob. dehydrate Smooth chanterelle: Cantharellus lateritius—choice (!) into the frying pan. Cinnabar chanterelle: Cantharellus cinnabarinus—cute little brightness Black Trumpet: Craterellus fallax—super abundant (!); will dehydrate Corrugated Milk Cap: Lactifluus corrugis—so good! Just sautéed this. Hygrophorous Milky: Lactifluus hygrophoroides—choice! H ..read more

I am a big fan of nuts & seeds (perhaps you are too!). They are potent foods packed with nutrients. It's amazing to consider that so many of these energy nuggets carry the potential to turn into very large trees. From hazel and Brazil nuts to piñon pine and green pumpkin seeds, our earth and kitchens are blessed with a wide array of choices. Join me in the kitchen today where I share with you a simple, yet important technique for making nuts and seeds more tasty, and more digestible / more bioavailable. In this new lesson I take you step by step through this master recipe. Of course we can ..read more

Let your herbal chocolate creativity flow—wild style, and invent your own signature chocolates. Yup (!), decadence has arrived in the herbal kitchen. Join me today in making dark chocolates infused with herbs & spices. I offer you this master recipe, guiding you step by step in this video lesson, so you can let your artistic herbal chocolate juices swirl. Click here for this free lesson: https://youtu.be/37CV2IepEOE or copy paste it. Today's version—made with rose hip, pecan, and lemon zest—is tart, rich in bioflavonoids, vitamin C, and antioxidants, and offers carminative action (digesti ..read more

At this very moment, at the edge of the woodlands there is a delectable temperate-zoned "tropical" fruit in the food forest.  Join me in the pawpaw patch! Learn to ID, harvest, eat, and grow this luscious treat.    Luscious Treat: Meet & Plant Pawpaw < click here to view this video Pawpaw, scientifically called Asimina triloba of the Annonaceae family, is the largest native fruit of eastern North America. Native to 26 states. Range: north to New York and southern Ontario, west to Texas and Nebraska and south to Florida. Grows ..read more

I am excited for you to join me in the enchanted wild fungal realm where you will learn to ID & harvest Hygrophorus milky, a wild choice mushroom, scientifically called Lactifluus (Lactarius) hygrophoroides of the Russulaceae family.  Yes, we can eat this gourmet treasure, but you must key it out with 100% accuracy!  You’ll find this gem growing singly or gregariously in association with oaks+ (mycorrhizal) in woods or woodland edges. I find it growing in the moss around our sleeping tent which is tucked into the edge of an oak and hickory forest. Key Identifying Features: Cap ..read more