I love Spring time.  The days are no longer as dark, I can go outside without having to wear multiple layers of clothes, beautiful flowers are beginning to bloom,  and best of all, I find free, organic, healthy food near me just by taking a stroll in nature!  

Here are 3 foods I absolutely love to forage in the Spring:

1. DANDELIONS (taraxicum officinale)

Now I know many of you probably see these flowers and think they are pests.  Of course they are, to most who prefer a clean, well manicured lawn.  However, to foodies like me, they are a super food and potentially medicine as well.  Imagine that, eating a dandelion, it’s actually pretty good!

 WHEN to FORAGE

April to May.  Dandelion flowers usually last for 5-10 days but a patch of dandelions can flower for the entire Spring as each plant has multiple blossoms.  

WHERE to FIND

Dandelions seems to be almost everywhere, in yards, on the sides of roads and in park fields.  The key is to only pick dandelions for consumption from places that are free of pesticides and with low foot traffic.

HOW to USE

Dandelions are edible from the flower all the way down to the root.  I will usually toss some of the flowers and leaves into my salad.  Note that the leaves can be somewhat bitter but this is a good thing.  Bitter foods are known to stimulate the growth of healthy gut bacteria, regulate hunger, reduce cravings for sweets and aid in food absorption.  In addition, eating dandelion greens (which you can buy in the grocery store, but I prefer them straight from nature - either from my backyard which is pesticide free or the forest) will boost your Vitamins A, C, E & K levels in addition to the mineral calcium.  

 I also love dandelions as a tea.  I will often collect  2 cups of dandelion flowers (making sure they are free of ants and other bugs), add them to a stainless steel pot with 8 cups of water, boil for about 5 minutes and have the tea with some honey.  

I am also beginning to dig up the roots, wash them, dry them and grind them up later as a coffee substitute.  My kids love the smell of coffee, so this is an especially fun drink for them.  For me, I’m happy to offer more soluble fiber to help in balancing gut bacteria for all of us.

HOW to STORE

PRECAUTIONS

Dandelions aren’t for everyone.  Notably, those with ragweed allergies may have a reaction to dandelions.  Dandelions may also impact those on blood thinners or other medications so it’s best to consult a physician first if this is your situation.

2. GARLIC MUSTARD (alliaria petiolata)

To me, this is similar to many of the dark, leafy, Asian greens that I eat except for one thing, it is a bit more bitter.  But growing up, my mom always told me that bitter things were good for me and that they had certain properties that other foods did not have that made them super healthy.  Now I know from my research, that she was right.  Garlic mustard is edible and a powerhouse of nutrients.  It is known to improve digestion, decrease inflammation, reduce cholesterol levels and potentially have anti-cancer properties.  So in my eyes, it’s well worth the effort and bitterness to forage for this!

WHEN to FORAGE

May to June

WHERE to FIND

As part of the Brassica family, garlic mustard can usually be pretty easy to spot due to its white clusters of small flowers with four petals.  It can be found in woodland forests, along forest trails and even roadsides.  The younger the plant, the better for harvesting, as it will be less bitter and the stems not so coarse.  When you pick garlic mustard, the green parts will tend to have a spicy garlic or onion scent and the flowers are sweet smelling.

HOW to USE

You can use garlic mustard in salads or as a pesto but I prefer it stir fried with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  I personally find the stems tend to be slightly sweet tasting while the leaves tend to be more bitter.  

In addition to being a great source of vitamins A, C, and K, it is also a great source of minerals such as calcium, iron and magnesium.  Believe it or not, mustard greens have been shown to have a higher concentration of vitamins C & K than even kale, spinach and collard greens.  

For those who like horseradish, the roots taste similar and can be used in soups or pickled for later.

3. WILD LEEKS (allium tricoccum); a.k.a. WILD RAMPS

I love garlic and so when I learned about these, I was super excited.  A free, wild plant that I could add to my stir fries, make into a creamy soup or turn into a pesto?  Wow, it sounded amazing.  All I had to look for was a low lying plant with broad green leaves and purplish stems.  However, searching for it was a bit more difficult than I anticipated.  

WHEN to FORAGE

March to early May

WHERE to FIND

It grows in woodland forests (e.g. beech, maple, birch, basswood, hickory and oak trees) in damper areas, often near little bodies of water like creeks and ponds.  The difficult part though is that if an area is “overpicked” or people have picked the bulbs and not just the green leaves, the plants will disappear and not re-grow.  From seed to harvest, it takes 7 years, so it’s important that when we come across a large patch of wild leeks, that we do not pull all of them by the bulb or we’ll have nothing to come back to in future years.   

HOW to USE

I often chop them up as I would green onions or garlic and add them to my stir fries.  Sometimes when I’m picking them, I’ll even eat them raw but that’s not for the faint-hearted - it’s got a super strong kick.  But my favorite way to use wild leeks is to make them into a creamy soup just like a regular leek soup.  I’ll fry them in olive oil with cubed potatoes and a package of bacon, add salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and sometimes a bit of tumeric, fry them a bit more and then add water so that everything is submerged.  I boil until the potatoes are soft.  Finally, I use my Kitchenaid hand blender  to whizz it all into a creamy soup.  Serve that with some fresh sourdough and butter - deeelicious!

HOW to STORE

Since wild leeks are only available in the Spring, I often pick enough so that I can freeze them in ziplock bags for use later in the year.

So there you have it, 3 foods to forage near you!  Save some money, eat locally grown food - you can’t get any fresher than plucking it yourself from nature!!