Mushroom foraging

For all of you who are interested in learning about mushroom foraging:

If you aren't 100% certain..don't eat it!

Saturday, October 15th – Paul Smith’s College

Foraging for Fall Mushrooms along the Red Dot Trail with Susan Hopkins (meet at 2:15pm at the lean-to parking area across from the entrance to the college)

Presentation from professional mycologist Tina Ellor from Phillips Mushroom Farm, Kennett Square, PA entitled: The Growing Green Business of Mushrooms: Composting, Cultivation, and Culinary Versatility

7pm, Pine Room of the Student Center

Free of charge, public invited

For more information contact Tom Huber, 518 327-6330 or thuber@paulsmiths.edu

Final Truly Wild of the Season!

What are these berries? Can you eat them? What do they taste like?

This Saturday, August 27, 2:00pm at Heaven Hill in Lake Placid will be the final Truly Wild session of the 2011 season.  We will be exploring some "survival" foods, sun roots, some great teas for a healthy winter, and other great wild and not-so-wild stuff. Nature always decides what will be available.

There is always room to bring another Truly Wild youth explorer!

Please let me know if you will be attending.

See you soon,
Pat

Milkweed on the Menu

Lilacs, roses and milkweed blossoms are definitely my favorite flower scents. Milkweed scent is sweet, musky and spicy. The flavor of the unopened buds is broccoli-like but milder and without the cabbage smell or taste.

Pick blossoms when they are still tightly closed. Rinse in cold water to remove any 6-legged critters. Place blossoms in rapidly boiling water for 1-2 minutes or until they turn bright green. Many wild food books will tell you to place them in boiling water for 3 changes to "remove the bitter taste". This is not necessary. Although milkweed blossoms are described as "mildly toxic"  the 1-2 minute boiling water bath removes all toxins.

Use the prepared blossoms in any recipe that calls for broccoli. Steam and serve with your favorite topping, dip in batter and deep fry, stir fry with your favorite veggies, bake in casseroles, add to pasta dishes, and add to any of your favorite Oriental dishes.

Blossoms that have been blanched also freeze well for a taste of summer in the cold winter months.

Milkweed blossoms are all opened? Make jelly! Milkweed jelly is a pretty rose color, slightly "spicy" and delicious.

Flower Jelly

*Recipe works for Queen Anne’s Lace, Milkweed, Red Clover, Elderberry, Carnation, Peony or any other sweet smelling flower that is edible.

Make an infusion by pouring boiling water over a quart jar full of packed, cleaned flower heads. Let stand at least 5 hours or overnight.

Strain or press through a coffee filter. For every 2 ½ cups of infusion, add the juice of a fresh lemon and 1 package of powdered pectin.

Bring infusion to a boil. Add 3 cups sugar and boil hard for 1 minute. Test for “set” by dropping small amount onto cold surface. If it feels like jelly, it’s ready. Humidity may cause a longer cooking time.

If you wish to use honey instead of sugar, add 1 ½ cup at the end of the second boil. Test for set.


See you at the next Truly Wild session on August 27 at 2:00 pm- Heaven Hill.  The menu will include wild dessert items!

Weeds, wonderful WEEDS!

"Weeds" were almost all that was on the menu for the June 25, Truly Wild session. Salad consisted of organic spinach and lettuce from my garden topped with heals all, wood sorrel, sheep sorrel, thistle celery, cattail, wild pansy, daisy leaves, red clover and chickweed. The dressing was local spray-free strawberry vinaigrette. Bread was made from red clover. The stew-soup consisted of lambs quarters, cattail, thistle, burdock, wild carrot, purslane, and whatever else that was growing and handy! The stock base was from free range chicken. The only seasonings added were supplied by "weeds". 4H Truly Wild menbers also made a lambs quarters and cattail stir fry that was served with fresh lambs quarters pasta.

 My favorite quote from a Truly Wild 4H member, " I look at the world from a whole new way now." Cool.

Dandelions, thistle, Queen Anne's Lace, burdock, milkweed, plantain, sorrels, heals all, stinging nettle, lambs quarters, cattail, red clover, and the list goes on.....  We walk on them every day, see them in every field, along the side of the road and most think of them as only unwanted pests. Many were mainstays in the diets of Native Americans. Some of them came here as treasured kitchen garden items and herbal medicines on the Mayflower. Others came with Asian settlers. Look carefully where you walk. You may be walking on the only plant to be declared "holy" by the early Roman Catholic church.

Dandelions- So many commercials showing a cartoon-cute spray bottle sheriff chasing the dandelion bad guy out of town with its roots between its legs. The Sheriff should be chased out of town! That spray bottle contains glyphosphate a chemical that is described as "not violently toxic to people or animals". What does "violently" mean??? "On the other hand, most people react badly to glyphosphate (and other chemicals mixed with it) when ingested or applied to the skin, so you want to avoid any contact with the chemical. "  I guess allowing your toddlers play time on the lawn is out? Don't touch the grass when you retrieve your golf ball.

 Humans cannot digest grass. Dandelions on the other hand have  as much iron as spinach and four times Vitamin A content. An analysis of dandelion shows it to consist of healthy plant protein, good fats and carbohydrates. It also contains a healthy amount of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, and vitamin C. A serving of spring dandelion greens has as much calcium as half a cup of milk. Dandelions are frost, insect and disease resistant. Spring greens, roasted fall-spring roots, and flowers are all ingredients to delicious dishes. Grass is delicious if you happen to be a horse or cow.

If you would like recipes from the last Truly Wild session, email me at: adkshoer@aol.com. I will be happy to share.  Make sure to check the rest of the blog for recipes!

The next Truly Wild session will be July 9th from 2:00pm to 4:30ish. We will meet at Heaven Hill and then travel down the road to the Cornell Maple forest. Milkweed will be one of the items served after the hike. Yum!!!!

 

Red clover bread?

Yes, dried red clover flowers make a sweet, nutty "flour" that adds calcium and a host of other nutrients to the bread. I promise to take a photo of the bread when it is finished.

Saturday's menu for the June Truly Wild class at Heaven Hill will include:

• Red Clover Bread-Unbleached locally milled flour, honey, yeast, water and a smidgen of salt. *Smidgen is less then shake or two and more then a pinch. This is bread at it's most simple form. Delicious! The recipe will follow....
• Salad- Sheep sorrel, wood sorrel, wild pansies, lambs quarters,heals all, chickweed, daisy leaves, purslane, red clover flowers,  fresh spinach and lettuce from my very organic garden. There will also be some thistle celery and cattail in this wild mixture! The salad dressing is strawberry vinaigrette made from spray-free local strawberries, honey from hives in Gabriels and balsamic vinegar. The balsamic vinegar is the only item in the salad that isn't from the "wild".
• Simply Stir Fry- Cattail, lambs quarters, wild garlic and whatever else we find on Heaven Hill Farm!
• Momma Nature's Choice Stew- You guessed it. This stew/thick soup will have everything that can be used as a pot-herb and is available this time of the year. The only seasoning will be herbs from Momma Nature. It is all stewed in a free-range chicken broth. I will also add homemade pasta made from lambs quarters. This stew isn't pretty but is always healthy, delicious and never has left-overs.
• Herbal Iced Tea- Yup, the theme is Red Clover again. Red clover, mullein and a hint of mint. Herbalists swear the this tea will clear you sinuses and relieve the allergy symptoms that seem to be plaguing people this year. I know that it is tasty!

WOOPS! Where in the Adirondacks is Pat Banker?

Today is May 30, 2011 and it is a picture perfect Adirondack day!

It is 4:45 pm and I just received a phone call from Gail Brill asking where I was as I was missing in action from the first in the series of Truly Wild workshops. It seems that Gail was kind enough to post information to all the Green Circle members (http://www.adkgreencircle.org/)  about the workshops. Unfortunately, my phone number and the pre-registration requirement request was missing in the Green Circle notice. WOOPS! You knew about the workshops but I didn't know about you!  Everyone who had registered through 4H and newspaper ads was notified that I was canceling for today due to families having holiday conflicts. I really feel bad that there were so many people waiting to share a day of exploring wild edibles. Thank you Gail for being at Heaven Hill to greet everyone! Please accept my humble apology. I promise to bring extra dandelion and violet jelly to share when we meet next time.

My contact information is:

Pat Banker
518-327-3457 Home
518-483-7403  Cornell Cooperative Extension Office
email- adkshoer@aol.com
or- pab21@cornell.edu

See you soon!

New 2011 "Truly Wild" dates set!

It's April in the Adirondacks and soon "Truly Wild" will be offered at Heaven Hill Farm and the Cornell Uhlein Farm in Lake Placid. Dates will be: May 30, June 25, July 9 and August 27.  Start time will be 2:00 pm.  The program will be offered to youth ages 9-19 for a registration fee of $10.  The $10 will include printed materials, all classes, and some Truly Wild recipes to taste test and prepare!  All youth must be accompanied by an adult. *There will be a limit of 15 youth.

Spread the word!