The Count: 17 Meals and Counting

Here is a list of the meals we've eaten thus far and our analysis of them. The rating scale is as follows:

1: inedible
2: we finished it, but we wouldn't make it again

3: average

4: yummy; we'd be disappointed if we didn't have it again
5: superb; a meal to introduce others to wild edibles

Names of all wild foods we collected are in all caps.

Meals of 2011:

1. Battered, fried PERCH sandwich--4
2. MAPLE honey granola--5
3. DAY LILY salad--3
4. Scrambled eggs with WILD LEEKS--4
5. PARSNIP and potato hash browns--4
6. WILD LEEK soup, French onion style--3
7. Caramelized WILD LEEK pasta--5
8. MARSH MARIGOLD sautee on toast--3
9. WILD LEEKS with cauliflower--4
10. WILD LEEK quiche--5
11. GARLIC MUSTARD stalks in breadcrumbs--1
12. WILD LEEK pesto pasta--2
13. Caramelized WILD LEEKS over trout--5
14. WILD LEEK and FIDDLEHEAD beef stirfry-5 15. ORPINE, MAY FLOWER, TRAILING ARBUTUS, and WINTERGREEN salad--3
16. FIDDLEHEAD pasta in cheddar cream sauce--4

Ick! Garlic Mustard Stalks again.

Well, we tried again. We went to a healthy sized patch up here in Vermont. We took a variety of different sized stalks and boiled them until tender. Bitter! And perhaps we could handle the bitterness if it were not all in the aftertaste. Who wants to walk around with that horrid flavor in their mouths! It is conclusive; we just don't like them. But, everyone has a few foods that they just don't like. Garlic mustard is one of those for us.

This is a picture of the garlic mustard in our compost bucket.

Wild Edible Breakthrough

Holy Edibles, Batman! There are suddenly a LOT of things to eat outside. For the past week, we have been eating meals infused with something wild at least twice a day (in large part due to a wild leek quiche we've been having for breakfast).

And it seems we have entered a new phase in our foraging lives--one we have aspired to. Wild vegetables are starting to replace the supermarket and farm stand vegetables that have always been featured in our diets. Last week, in the grocery store, I didn't buy any vegetables because I knew I already had wild edibles waiting to be eaten in the fridge and that new edibles were popping up all over the yard.

This is very exciting for our family. Spring was when we devoted the largest part of our foraging efforts last year, and so we are best versed in the spring plant foods. As the warm season progresses, it will be interesting to see if our new trend continues (as we hope it does). But for now, here's to cheaper grocery bills, more time outside, new culinary creations, and better nutrition!