Wild Spring Plant Foods: The Foxfire Americana Library (7) (2 page)

Sassafras tea: gather old field roots and tender limbs in March. Boil roots and limbs and sweeten with sugar to taste. Or wash roots, beat to a pulp with a hammer. Boil, strain, sweeten, and drink with ice. Or put one cup shredded bark in quart of boiling water. Boil ten to twelve
minutes, strain, sweeten with honey or sugar. Or use one five-inch piece of sassafras root one inch thick. Shave into two quarts water; boil, adding sugar or honey. “Mighty tasty if stirred with a spicewood stick.”

I
LLUSTRATION 2
Harley Carpenter with strips of sassafras bark for tea.

Sassafras candy: grate bark, boil, strain, and pour into boiling sugar; then let harden and break into small pieces.

Sassafras jelly: boil two cups strong sassafras tea and one package powdered pectin. Add three cups strained honey. Strain and put in jars. Jelly will thicken slowly.

The leaves of red sassafras make a good addition to candy and icings. Add one teaspoonful of dried and pulverized leaves to a kettle of soup, or add one teaspoon of leaves to a warmed-up stew.

I
LLUSTRATION 3
Spicebush

Spicebush is a shrub growing six to sixteen feet high in rich woods, ravine-covered forests, or on damp stream-sides. It has smooth green stems and twigs, with a strong camphor-like smell. The leaves are medium green, paler below, and fall early in autumn. Honey-yellow flowers appear before the leaves in very early spring. In fall, the bush bears bright red, or (rarely) yellow, aromatic berries.

Twigs and bark are used for tea. Berries can be used as a spice in cooking. Spicebush is gathered in March when the bark slips. Mrs. Norton told us, “You’ve heard tell of spicewood, haven’t you? Well, it grows on the branches [streams] and you get it, wash it, and break it up in little pieces. It tastes better than sassafras; it ain’t so strong.”

Spicewood tea: “Get the twigs in spring and break ’em up and boil ’em and sweeten. A lot of people like that with cracklin’ bread” (Mrs. Hershel Keener). Or gather a bundle of spicewood twigs. Cover with water in boiler. Boil fifteen to twenty minutes (or until water has become colored). Strain, sweeten with honey, if desired, or add milk and sugar after boiling. Especially good with fresh pork.

Spicewood seasoning: gather spicewood berries; dry and put in peppermill for seasoning.

I
LLUSTRATION 4
Sweet birch

The sweet birch is a common tree in the deciduous forests of the mountains, growing to ninety feet in rich ravines, along with tulip poplar and red maple. Bark on young trees is a red-brown, but becomes very crackled on old trees. The slender twigs smell like wintergreen. Catkins appear before the leaves in very early spring. Leaves are oval, tooth-edged, and deep green in color. Small seeds are eaten by many species of birds.

Buds and twigs are favored “nibblers” for hikers in the mountains, and will allay thirst. Twigs and root bark are used for tea, and trees are tapped so sap can be used for sugar or birch beer. At one time, the sweet birch provided oil for much of the wintergreen flavoring used for candy, gum, and medicine. The inner bark is an emergency food if you are lost in the woods, for it is rich in starch and sugar.

Sweet birch bark tastes quite good, and may easily be peeled off to chew like chewing gum.

Sweet birch tea: cover a handful of young twigs with water; boil and strain. Sweeten with sugar or honey. The birch is naturally sweet so needs very little extra sweetening. Good hot or cold. Or bore a hole half-inch thick into tree. Insert a topper or hollow toke of bark; hang a bucket under end of toke to collect sap. Drink plain, hot or cold.

Birch beer: Tap trees when sap is rising. Jug sap and throw in a handful of shelled corn. Nature finishes the job.

I
LLUSTRATION 5
Morel

The mushroom most commonly gathered in spring, and a delight to eat, is the morel,
Morchella.
There are various signs to tell it is time to go morel hunting, but usually you look for them after a warm rain, when the dark blue violets bloom. A favorite place is under old apple trees.

All are wrinkled and pitted, and a light oak-leaf brown color. Avoid mushrooms having folds instead of pits. True morels are hollow.
Morchella esculenta
is found under old apple or pear trees when oak leaves are mouse-ear size. Look for the fat morel,
M. angusticeps
, in oak, beech, or maple forests when the service berry
(Amelanchier)
is in bloom.
M. crassipes
is found in swampy ground, almost always with jewelweed
(Impatiens).
These mushrooms are especially favored by people of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. They consider them the best of all edible mushrooms and use them in sauces, gravies, and soups. Morels can be dried for winter use. Hang them strung on twine, with a knot between each mushroom to keep them from touching. Hang in a dry place. Before using dried morels, soak in milk to restore freshness, or grind into mushroom powder.

Fried morels: soak in salt water. Slice crossways in rings. Dip in egg and corn meal, and fry at medium low heat. Or put one pint of morels in pan with egg-sized piece of butter. Sprinkle on salt and pepper. When butter is almost absorbed, add fresh butter and enough flour to thicken. Serve on toast or cornbread.

Stuffed morels: soak one-half hour in salt water; parboil lightly. Stuff with finely chopped chicken or cracker crumbs and butter or margarine. Bake at low heat for twenty minutes.

Merkel omelet: let stand in salt water one hour. Chop fine; mix with eggs, salt and pepper, and fry in butter.

Merkel pie: cut in small pieces. Cover bottom of pie dish with thin bits of bacon. Add layer of merkels, salt and pepper; then layer of mashed potatoes. Put in layers of merkels and potatoes, finishing with potatoes on top. Bake one-half hour.

Before the days of vitamin pills and supermarkets, the first warm spring days brought people out of doors to gather the new green leaves of a group of plants known collectively as “potherbs,” “greens,” “garden sass,” or “sallet.” All of the wild greens offer much good and nutritious food full of minerals and vitamins. It is necessary to know and recognize these plants at an early stage of growth; they must be gathered while very young and tender, for they become strong and
bitter as they increase in size. Pick lots of very tiny leaves as greens “cook down” considerably.

I
LLUSTRATION 6
Dock (foreground), poke (left rear), and dandelion.

Some of the greens that are especially good are sheep sorrel, dandelion, poke, dock, lamb’s quarters, and mustard. How do we know? We’ve tried them, and they beat any spinach that comes canned or frozen, or even fresh from the garden.

I
LLUSTRATION 7
Teresa Tyler with asparagus.

Asparagus is a cultivated vegetable that frequently escapes and runs wild along roadsides or in old fields, or persists around old farm sites. The mature plant looks like a miniature evergreen, with needle-like, finely appressed leaves. Small yellow lily-like blossoms appear on the ends of the branches followed by bright red berries containing the seeds. These seeds in ancient times were sometimes roasted as a coffee substitute.

The edible part of asparagus is a green-purple, thick shoot, used before the leaves or branches appear. Pliny the Elder urged eating them for good health, and they are equally valuable for good nutrition today.

Asparagus is most flavorsome if cooked immediately after it is gathered. A favored potherb, it should always be cooked in as short a time and with as little water as possible. Add butter, or hard-boiled egg and serve on cornbread, or add vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper, and put on parsley or chives, if desired.