Tag: wildfood

  • Mushroom Hunting – Foraging for the Chicken Mushroom

    Mushroom Hunting – Foraging for the Chicken Mushroom

    One of my best friends drove over from NY state yesterday and arrived with a bag full of interesting mushrooms. He and his wife have become quite adept at finding Morels and Oyster mushrooms.

    He had found these near their house, down the road a mile or so, and stopped to pick a few.

    Chicken Mushrooms

    We brought them into the house and I pulled out my mushroom books. We found the mushroom, identified as the Chicken Mushroom ( Laetiporus sulphureus ), in my favorite book, The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms.

    But to make sure we knew what this was, we cross checked with our other mushroom books, and confirmed that the mushrooms were indeed Chicken Mushrooms.

    Always make sure you know exactly what you are doing with mushrooms found in the woods, if you’re not sure, don’t eat them, OK?

    Considered Choice Edible by the Audubon Guide, we first simmered them in salt water, as suggested online, and then sauted them with a little butter. They were quite good. Not amazing, but good enough that we will pick these again and add to a meal.

    What fun mushroom or wild food finds have you found lately? let us know below:

    a quick simmer in salt water was suggested
    Sauteed in Butter, yum.
  • OK, I DO like ramps.

    OK, I DO like ramps.

    Last week, someone posted on Twitter that they didn’t get the hype about certain ‘foodie’ foods, and ramps being one of them. I concurred.

    Then last weekend, we had dinner at the camp, and I sat down to a plate of ramps.

    WOW

    photo: wfiupublicradio
    photo: wfiupublicradio

    For these ramps, the recipe was simple: Saute in olive oil.

    That’s it. The cook apologized for not having any garlic to add to the dish. It didn’t need it. They taste like a cross between garlic and scallions, and sweet and buttery.

    According to Wikipedia : Allium tricoccum, commonly known as ramps, spring onion, ramson, wild leek, or ail des bois (French), is a member of the onion family (Alliaceae). Found in groups with broad, smooth, light green leaves, often with deep purple or burgundy tints on the lower stems and a scallion-like bulb strongly rooted just beneath the surface of the soil. Both the white lower leaf stalks and the broad green leaves are edible. They are found from the U.S. state of South Carolina to Canada and are especially popular in the cuisine of the US state of West Virginia and the Canadian province of Quebec when they emerge in the springtime. A common description of the flavor is like a combination of onions and strong garlic

    Ramps grow on the East Coast of the U.S. in wooded areas. So last Sunday, on our hike with the Labradors, I kept my eyes out for ramps, but found none. But I will keep looking, as my neighbors down in the valley have ramps, so I’m thinking they are up at my house as well, maybe they sprout a bit later. ( i’m hoping )

    My Brooklyn neighbors, Food52.com, interviewed Hubert McCabe of Windfall Farm on their blog here, and he says: “They’re like a present … You stumble on them, and nobody will tell anybody else where their secret spots are.”

    Thanks to Food52, I met a new Brooklyn Food web video person, Lisa, of The Funny Side Up, and here is her video about ramps, direct from her kitchen.

    some other food bloggers who have written about ramps are listed below, please check them out.

    Closet Cooking

    innBrooklyn

    Radishes and Rhubarb

    Good Food Revolution

    The Just in Case Book

    What do you know about ramps? How do you cook them? tell us below: