 Today's first forageables are the bayberries, a group of short, highly aromatic shrubs in the Myrica and Morella genera. They all have smooth, grey, sometimes speckled bark and simple, oblong somewhat leathery leaves that are arranged in a spiral around the ends of the twigs. The leaf veins are generally more prominent on the reverse than on the face. Most species have no teeth on the leaves, but a few have small teeth. Some of the species are evergreens in the southern portions of their ranges, and even in the north, some leaves tend to cling stubbornly to the branches long after all other plants are bare skeletons. There are no poisonous lookalikes. (Right: Northern Bayberry by Peter Coughlin)
Northern bayberry can be as small as 3 feet and as high as 13 feet tall. The leaves are oblong and generally about 2-3 inches in length and 1/2 inch wide. The small berries appear in Fall, are greyish green and form groups of between 2 and 5 berries on short branches closer to the trunk than the leaves generally grow. You'll find it from the mid-Atlantic coast to Canada and as far west as the Great Lakes. It likes dry, sunny areas and can tolerate poor soil.
 Sweet gale is the shortest of the bunch, rarely exceeding 6 feet. The leaves are dull, with tiny teeth along the edges. Instead of having berries, wax myrtle has whitish-grey nutlets that form cone shapes at the ends of the branches. These persist over winter and make the species easy to identify. Sweet gale likes moist areas like swamps and other wetlands and can be found throughout Canada, the Northeastern U.S. and at higher altitudes throughout portions of the Southern Appalachians. It's also found in sphagnum bogs from Northern California through the Pacific Northwest and all the way to Alaska.
The last of the most common species of bayberry is the wax myrtle, aka southern bayberry, a taller, mostly evergreen shrub that can reach 25 feet in height under the right conditions. The leaves are somewhat wedge shaped and smaller than the other 2 species, with tiny dark dots on both sides. The berries are black and extremely firm. It's found in sandy, wet soil primarily in the southeastern U.S., as far north as Pennsylvania and as far west as Texas. (Left: Northern Bayberry Bark by Peter Coughlin)
Although these genera aren't related to the bay leaves sold in tiny bottles with hefty price tags (or their California cousins), they contain many of the same resins and flavor compounds and can be used in the identical ways, either fresh or dried. I have jars of both commercial bay leaves and northern bayberry leaves on my spice rack, and I honestly cannot tell the difference between the 2 by scent alone. Commercial bay leaves are a bit larger and crisper when dried, but the effect in recipes is the same. One or 2 bayberry leaves also make a lovely tea, either alone or mixed with green tea.
 On the species that have them, the nutlet "cones" can be ground and used as a spice. The firmness, waxy coating and overly resinous flavor make the berries on other species not terribly useful for food, but they can be lightly crushed and brewed into tea, provided that you don't mind drinking a bit of wax. Early settlers used to make candles from the berries, but from what I've read the process is ridiculously labor intensive and yields only a tiny amount of wax in any case. (Right: Northern Bayberry Leaves by Peter Coughlin)
The bark, roots, leaves and berries of bayberry bushes are important medicinally. A decoction of bark and roots boosts circulation and helps tone the body. All parts have stimulatory, astringent and tonic properties. Tea from the leaves soothes the stomach and intestines and helps clear sinus congestion. Many parts of the plant also have antibacterial properties. Because myricadiol, a constituent, has been linked to sodium retention and the excretion of potassium, it's important not to use excessive amounts of bayberry without being under the care of an experienced herbalist.
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  The next plant on the menu is honewort. When I first saw goutweed, it wasn't yet flowering and I confused it with honewort. The 2 plants are related (both in the carrot family) and have somewhat similar 3 part compound palmate leaves that are sometimes lobed and have sharp, irregular teeth. However, while goutweed has flowers that look like umbrellas, honewort's tiny whitish-green flowers are more randomly scattered, making it very distinctive. (Don't confuse this honewort with this honewort; although the 2 species are related, they're different plants, and I'm not sure of the edibility of T. glauca.) (Above Left: Honewort; Above Right: Honewort Leaf, both by wide eyed lib)
Honewort (aka wild chervil) is a native, freely-branching perennial with a ridged stem (unlike goutweed's, which resemble miniature celery). The leaves are dark green above and a lighter green on the reverse. The flowers appear in early Summer and are shaped like tiny cups because their petals are fused at the bottom. By mid-Summer, honewort goes to seed, featuring each seed on a separate stalk. The seeds are very similar in size and shape to caraway seeds, but they're a deep green. Honewort grows in the eastern half of the U.S. and southern Canada in dry areas with partial to full shade. It tends to grow in dense stands.
 The flavor of the leaves is a great deal like parsley, to which it's related. In mid-Spring when honewort first forms a basal rosette, the leaves are very mild and even bland. As the plant matures, it obtains a pleasant bitterness that makes it more distinctive and a better addition to salads, stir fries or any dish where you might use parsley. Dried, it retains its flavor beautifully. All parts of this plant are edible, including the roots, which resemble parsnips in flavor but are considerably more woody. My favorite part, however, is the seeds. They taste like a happy marriage between caraway and parsley with a little cucumber thrown in. Some resources online claim that cooking destroys the flavor of honewort, but I've cooked it a few different ways and found it still quite flavorful. (Above Right: Honewort Flower Buds by wide eyed lib)
A leaf infusion was used by traditional herbalists as a diuretic and kidney tonic and to treat frequent urination. It's also been used for "women's complaints" and to treat colds and fevers. A very closely related species grows in Asia, and it's known as san ye qin in China and mitsuba in Japan, but I wasn't able to uncover any traditional Chinese or Japanese medicinal uses for it, although I'm sure there are some.
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 Today's final plants are the amaranths, sometimes also known by the much less appetizing name pigweed. Although health food stores would like you to believe that amaranth is a very exotic "new" super-food, the truth is that it grows wild in every U.S. state and all but 3 of the northernmost Canadian provinces (not to mention in Europe, Asia and Central and South America). If you've ever had a garden, chances are you've unknowingly tossed this nutritional powerhouse--largely responsible for the success of the Aztec Empire--on the compost heap. (Left: Amaranth by wide eyed lib)
Amaranths begin life in Summer as basal rosettes with deeply veined leaves and red-tinged roots. The leaves of various species (all edible and all Amaranthus genus) range in shape from oval to lance-shaped to diamond-shaped, but all have toothless, gently wavy margins. They tend to grow 3 to 4 feet high, but can reach 6 feet or more under the right conditions. The species that grows near me has an unusual notch at the end of each leaf. Many of the species look so similar that even botanists can't tell them apart without magnification. (If amaranth looks something like lamb's quarters or epazote, there's a good reason for that. All 3 plants are in the Amaranthaceae family.)
In Fall, amaranth sends up incredibly dense clusters of nearly microscopic green flowers from its upper leaf axils. How dense is incredibly dense? A 4 foot high plant can create as many as 200,000 flowers which later become 200,000 hard, black seeds. The seed stalks often persist over winter. Amaranth species grow in a wide range of sunny and partially sunny habitats from well-watered gardens to very dry soil to hardly any soil at all.
 When they first appear, amaranth leaves are tender and delicious, tasting something like green beans, but stronger. The leaves of different species have slightly different flavors, so if you don't like one, you might be able to identify and try another. They can be eaten raw or cooked just like any other leafy green. (Right: Amaranth Leaf by wide eyed lib)
But amaranth is best known for its seeds. Although many people consider amaranth a grain, grains are technically the fruit/seeds of grasses, and amaranth isn't a grass. But it's delicious regardless. To eat wild amaranth, in Fall gather as many seed heads as you can stuff into a paper bag and store them for 2-3 weeks, sealing the top of the bag with tape to keep out dust and creepy-crawlies. The seeds will keep just about indefinitely this way, but after 2 weeks or so you can rub down the stalks to separate the seeds from the chaff, and then winnow out the chaff. (There are 2 ways of doing this: 1) push the unwinnowed seeds through a fine mesh screen with holes large enough for the seeds to fall through but small enough to let through minimal chaff; or 2) go outside and spread a clean sheet on the ground in front of a bench or table with a fan on it. Turn the fan on high and stand off to one side. Toss handfuls of unwinnowed grain in front of the fan. The seeds, being heavier than the chaff, will fall onto the sheet and the chaff will fly away. Or at least that's the theory.)
Once winnowed to your satisfaction, dried amaranth seeds can be put in a pot with twice as much water as seeds and simmered for 25 minutes. The water should be completely absorbed. The resulting cooked cereal is delicious with some milk, a drizzle of maple syrup and/or some fruit and nuts. You can also eat the seeds fresh, which shortens the cooking time but increases the winnowing time.
As befits the staple food of a great empire, amaranth is amazingly nutritious. The seeds contains lysine, an amino acid generally missing from grains. This combined with other amino acids means that 3 ounces of amaranth seeds provide 10% of the U.S. RDA of protein, plus phosphorus, Vitamin E and various B vitamins. The leaves are no slouches either, since they contain Vitamin C, beta carotene, niacin, riboflavin, calcium and iron. They're also surprisingly high in protein.
Not bad for a plant that might be growing in your backyard.
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Finally, I'm excited to announce that I found wild thimbleberries growing near me. They have distinctive maple-shaped leaves and purple flowers that set them apart from other members of the Rubus genus (covered here). Woohoo! Now all I have to do is wait for them to ripen. (Above Left: Thimbleberry Leaf; Above Right: Thimbleberry Flower, both by wide eyed lib)
Are they ripe yet? Are they ripe yet? Are they ripe yet? Are they ripe yet? Are they ripe yet?
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If you're interested in foraging and missed the earlier diaries in the series, you can click here for the previous 17 installments. As always, please feel free to post photos in the comments and I'll do my best to help identify what you've found. (And if you find any errors, let me know.)
Here are some helpful foraging resources:
"Wildman" Steve Brill's site covers many edibles and includes nice drawings.
"Green" Deane Jordan's site is quite comprehensive and has color photos and stories about many plants.
Green Deane's foraging how-to clips on youtube each cover a single plant in reassuring detail.
Linda Runyon's site features only a few plants but has great deals on her dvd, wild cards and books (check out the package deals in particular).
Steve Brill's book, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places is my primary foraging guide. (Read reviews here, but if you're feeling generous, please buy from Steve's website.)
Linda Runyon's book The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide contains especially detailed information about nutritional content and how to store and preserve wild foods.
Samuel Thayer's book The Forager's Harvest is perhaps the finest resource out there for the 32 plants covered. The color photos and detailed harvest and preparation information are top-notch.
Steve Brill also offers guided foraging tours in NYC-area parks. Details and contact info are on his website.
Don Wiss's website is a treasure trove featuring hundreds of photos of common northeastern edibles.
Finally, the USDA plants database is a great place to look up info on all sorts of plants.
See you next week!
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