As part of the wild foods foraging program today at Indian Creek Nature Center, we were able to bring together a very local, very fresh, gourmet menu.
Appetizer: serviceberries
Salad: purslane leaves, lambsquarter leaves, dandelion leaves, yarrow leaves, red clover blossoms
Salad dressing: orange champagne vinegar and basil infused olive oil
Main course: milkweed blossoms sauteed in butter with catnip and mulberries on the side
Drink: sumaconade (staghorn sumac drupes, honey, cinnamon stick)
Dessert: paw paws and aronia berries (frozen last year), and elderberry jelly and wild plum jelly (preserved last year)
After dinner tea: chamomile leaves and buds, stinging nettle leaves, red clover blossoms, wild ginger root, wild rose blossoms, mountain mint leaves
* Sumaconade Recipe*
Gather 9-12 staghorn sumac drupes in late summer. Hang them and cover with a paper sack to keep them clean and dry-they will keep until the following summer.
Soak them in 1 gallon of cold water, 2-12 hours
Wring or muddle the drupes with your hands into the water.
Pour the mixture through clean t-shirt material 3 times to filter it.
Add 1/2-1 cup honey (may be mixed with a bit of warm water to dissolve)
Add 1 stick of cinnamon
Chill before serving
We didn’t cook our way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian, BUT, we have to admit, this sounds interesting…
Not a vegetarian all the time. Plants just tend to sit still long enough for me to catch them and demonstrate the technique, at least if I’m looking at the right place at the right time. I missed the linden blossoms this spring… Your recipes look awesome. I have both a pasture chicken and a deer in the freezer right now, and I am looking forward to trying out one of your recipes this weekend.
Thanks! Let us know how it goes!
What an amazing meal! We’ve been feasting on mulberries but that’s it. I think I’ve seen some sumac drupes along the roadside though, milkweed too!
~Lee