I recently had the opportunity to attend a talk by Philip Ackerman-Leist where he discussed his book Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems. During his lecture, Ackerman-Leist spoke about the critical components and challenges of creating strong local food systems. One of the interesting things he mentioned in his lecture was the importance of utilizing the food that is already at our feet. This practice is known as wildcrafting and is defined as the practice of harvesting plants from their natural, wild habitat either for medicinal use or for food. A few years ago, my friend Ali led me on a few walks to show me the ins and outs of wildcrafting in my region. Ali is a physical therapist and also a certified herbalist who utilizes wildcrafted plants to make medicinal salves and tinctures and also harvests them for food. She taught me where to look for certain common plants and how to harvest them sustainably. Today, I will focus on two of my favorite plants that Ali taught me to find for food: ramps (also known as wild leeks) and fiddleheads. Restaurants and specialty grocers where I live will pay upwards of $10 a pound for these spring vegetables, as they are seen as something of a delicacy. I don't intend to sell any that I collect, and be aware that it may be illegal to sell them in some places. But, I will share how to find them, how to sustainably harvest them, and how to prepare them.
Fiddleheads are the young, furled fronds of the ostrich fern, matteuccia struthiopteris, as they first emerge from the ground. Once they unfurl they become beautiful full-length fern fronds and are no longer edible, so they must be harvested and eaten when they are still curled up like little pinwheels. Fiddleheads can be found in damp woodland areas of Central and Eastern North America in early spring before the leaves fill out on the trees that tower overhead. Search near streams, brooks, rivers, or vernal ponds. Because the trees in forested areas are still bare in early spring, there is still plenty of light reaching the forest floor allowing the tiny ferns to sprout. Ostrich ferns can be identified by the clusters of 3-12 shoots on each plant, the smooth stems, and the u-shaped curve on the inside of the stem. They are high in antioxidants, omega-3, omega-6, iron and fiber. When locating and harvesting, tread lightly so as to disrupt as little of the natural vegetation as possible. Harvest only one or two fiddleheads from each fern so that the remaining fronds can reach maturity and reproduce. Harvest from a wide area, moving often, rather than in a very concentrated zone. That way, you can be sure that there will be fiddleheads to harvest for years to come.
Snip each fiddlehead with shears an inch or so from the ground then soak them in water until the little brown, papery shavings come loose from the ferns. Rinse them well to remove any other dirt or debris. Do not consume fiddleheads raw. They should be boiled or steamed for 10-15 minutes and can be prepared several different ways. My favorite dish I have made with them is a fiddlehead orzo salad. First, I boiled the fiddleheads in salted water for 10 minutes, then I plunged them into ice water to stop the cooking. I boiled orzo pasta in a separate pot of salted water, drained, and rinsed it. Then, toss the fiddleheads, pasta, some halved grape tomatoes, chopped fresh chives, a generous squeeze of lemon, olive oil, salt & pepper. Chill and serve for a delicious, healthy spring salad.
Ramps, allium tricoccum, are wild leeks that can be found in the same wet, densely wooded areas where fiddleheads are found through central and eastern US and Canada. They grow in dense clusters in marshy areas and around rivers, streams, and brooks. They thrive in early spring when the leaves of the forest canopy are thin, allowing light to pass through to the forest floor. They can be identified by their broad, smooth, green leaves and purple lower stems. Their taste can be described as a mix between a green onion and garlic. When harvesting ramps, follow similar rules as you would follow with fiddleheads: tread lightly, never harvest any more than 5% of any one clump and harvest from the center of each clump rather than from the outskirts. The ramps can repopulate an area in the center of a clump easier than they can from the outer edges. When harvesting, you will need a small, sharp spade so that you can dig underneath and harvest the ramp roots and all. They are well-rooted, so attempting to pull them out of the ground results in tearing the leaves off, leaving the onion in the ground. Be mindful of other plants growing among the ramps and don't unnecessarily disturb any of them. A great example of this sort of thing happened on Sunday when I was harvesting ramps from one of my favorite spots. Growing among the ramps was flowering trillium, a plant that is listed as threatened or endangered in many places. Picking or otherwise disturbing them is illegal without a special permit in some states.
 |
| Trillium in the Ramps |
Once I harvest the ramps, I like to place them in a bucket and soak them in water to remove the loose dirt. Then, I place them on a screen or in a plant tray and hose them down well. Next, I remove the roots and the outer skins of each ramp and rinse them again in clean, cold water. Now they are ready to be bagged and stored in the fridge for any meal where you might otherwise use onions, scallions, or leeks. Because I like ramps so much and they are only available for a few weeks each year, I like to preserve some of them by pickling them. I use a pickled ramp recipe that comes from a cookbook called Cooking With Shelburne Farms: Food and Stories From Vermont.
Shelburne Farms Pickled Ramps
20 small ramps, roots removed and trimmed to 1" of greens
1 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar (I usually omit this)
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp whole fennel seeds
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, add the ramps, and boil for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and plunge the ramps into ice water to stop cooking. In a medium pot, bring the cider vinegar, honey, sugar, red pepper, peppercorns, fennel, coriander, and the bay leaf to a simmer, then remove from heat. Put the drained ramps into a clean pint jar. Pour the hot pickling liquid into the jar and allow to cool uncovered. Then, cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. These pickled ramps will stay good in the refrigerator for at least a month. The cookbook recommends serving these in salads with beets and goat cheese, with charcuterie, or as an unexpected touch to a cheese plate. I like to eat them straight from the jar.
Another way I really like to use ramps is in a pesto. Pesto is really versatile and can be spread onto toast, used as a base for a homemade pizza, or tossed with pasta for a quick dinner. I found this particular recipe in the produce section of my co-op and I'm unsure of its original origin. I used a really great olive oil sent by my friend Sara that was grown and pressed by her neighbors in Winters, CA and I made a few minor substitutions to the ramp recipe.
Ramp Pesto
1/2 cup ramps, roots removed, leaves and bulbs roughly chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (I used toasted pecans)
1/4 cup parmesan reggiano, grated
salt & pepper
Combine all in a food processor and blend. I used this most recent batch in a pasta dish by coating a chicken breast in some of the pesto and then baking it. Meanwhile, I boiled whole wheat angel hair spaghettini, drained it, then tossed it with the shredded cooked chicken, the rest of the pesto, and a few finely chopped sundried tomatoes.
No comments:
Post a Comment