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