Thursday, December 08, 2011

An Edible Walk In The 'Hood


Occasionally, I'll talk about foraging for wild food, this can be done in the city as well as the country, one just needs to be a little more choosy. You want to first be 100% sure that what your harvesting is edible, and NOT in someone's garden or on their lawn. I used to see elderly Italian ladies harvesting dandelions from lawns, and I always wondered why they would break their backs for a weed. Of course, NOW I know differently! So if you see a yard full of dandelions in the spring, it's to your benefit to knock on the door, introduce yourself and find out if your neighbor will let you take care of their dandelion "problem". This assumes, of course, that they don't spray their lawn with a chemical cocktail.

Here's some more flowers that you might find in your neighborhood that are edible:
Clover: good in tea or salad (I have a dog who would eat white clover heads by the handful as a puppy!)
Rose: syrups and waters
Dill: salads, eggs, potatoes
Viola/Pansy: this one is a good garnish, or frozen into ice cubes for a little bit of summer
Daylily/Tigerlily: Chop into salads, fry or pickle
Rosemary: infusion for the face, put in salads and Italian dishes.

This is one skill that's worth a trip to the library, or maybe take in an evening class if you can find one.
Happy foraging!

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