The Locusts are Here (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Oh sweet joy! Black locust flowers--another reason for living. We so look forward to this plague of locusts.

Yesterday, as we drove home from a swimming and ice cream excursion, we saw them--lovely white clusters hanging from these magestic and stately trees. Last year, we nearly missed them altogether. A late frost prevented all the locusts in our area from blooming. We hoped this year would not be the same.

Locust flowers are among our top ten favorite wild edibles. They are impressively fragrant and their frangrance runs through to their flavor. They only bloom for a week right around June 1. As soon as you notice their lovely petals littering the ground, they are no longer delicious. So you have to find them early--just after they bloom. Their brevity makes them all the more precious--so we expect to gorge this week on snowy white plumes.

Yub Yub loves them! This afternoon she and her good friend ate them like grapes off their clusters. "Mama, I need more of those tasty flowers!"

I put them into a salad of blueberries and spring greens and covered them with a light vinegarette made with the red clover vinegar I made last June. Yum. I can't wait for breakfast.

Black Locust--Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

We look forward to the blooming of the black locust trees every year. Their sweet blossoms are addictive. When I was in Massachusetts, I scarfed down a snack of locust blossoms at Six Flags during my school's field trip. Since they were blooming there, we figured it was only a matter of time before they came ready up our way. We waited a week . . . then two. No flowers. We inspected the trees more closely. No sign of flower buds. They bloomed to our south and to our north, but not in our town. What's going on? Do any botanists out there have a solution to the mystery of the disappearing edibles.

The Score: 45 down, 55 to go

Our fridge is full of baggies containing edible odds and ends we need to cook up. Our front porch hosts a few baskets containing edibles we find in the yard. On our trip to Connecticut this weekend, we weeded Thag's mother's ivy specifically to collect the edible weeds growing in it. We stopped the car to collect on the side of the road. We are busy with edibles and are still having trouble keeping up with all this season has to offer.

So...

31. Morel mushrooms--absolutely divine--5

32. Dryad's saddle mushrooms--pungent and chewy--Thag--4, Ooga--1

33. Cattail rhizome flour--labor intensive to process, but sweet and nutty in flavor--5

34. Mint--no description necessary--5

35. Jewel weed--slightly slimy and a bit limp after all the boiling, but mild in flavor--3

36. Sheep sorrel--sour and lemony--easy to use in a variety of recipes--4

37. Wood sorrel--lovely little heart shaped leaves, tastes very similar to sheep sorrel, easy to find--great salad green--4

38. Clover greens--easy to find, hide well in a salad, tough if old--3

39. Milk weed shoots--easy to gather, should be peeled, cook like green beans, get 'em young--4

40. Thistle stalk--use like celery--deep, yet subtle, in flavor--good in sauces--4

41. Black locust flowers--sweet and fragrant, utterly heavenly--5

42. Thistle petiole--use like thistle stalk, but more work intensive--3

43. Burdock petiole--a pain to process, requires two boilings, gentle flavor, easy to incorporate into any veggie dish like a stir fry--3

44. Sumac shoots--we don't think we did these right--supposed to be sweet and juicy--we found them slightly bitter--until further notice, 2

45. Chickweed greens--easy to find, nice lettucy flavor, can be cooked or eaten raw--4

Black Locust Flower--An Amusement Park Snack

This year our team of teachers took our 8th graders to a Six Flags amusement park. It's not my idea of a great field trip, but our kids were psyched. They skittered off to the most intimidating roller coasters and proceeded to wait in line for hours. All for a several second joy ride. I had never ridden a roller coaster, and so, at the ripe old age of 32, I decided to give it a whirl. I went off to go stand in line too. But there, just before the entrance to the Pandemonium roller coaster, was a locust branch heavy with its clusters of white flowers leaning over the fence and beckoning. Unwilling to spend my dollars on the overpriced grease that passed for food in the land of corporate dining, I dashed over and filled my hands with the sweet blossoms and ate my fill during the hour-long wait for the roller coaster. A few quizzical glances were a small price to pay for an otherwise free lunch.