Edible Plants

EDIBLE- What can we eat from the wild? 

www.sitkanature.org -

Fiddleheads are the new growth of ferns, named for their violin scroll shape. High-end restaurants charge handsomely for these greens, yet you can find them coast to coast without too much difficulty, sometimes even in urban parks. 

Here in the Puget Sound lowlands we get our first fiddleheads in early spring. The season continues into late spring in the mountains, as well as in Ravenna Park.The most popular fiddlehead in the Pacific Northwest is the Lady fern, So why don't you go out and pick it yourself and make a meal!

Fiddleheads don't require any fancy moves in the kitchen to taste delicious. A quick parboil (1-2 minutes) and then saute in butter is all that's needed. 

They emerge dressed for the unpredictable weather sporting a variety of fur cloaks or papery sheaths. Rub off the coat as best you can before cooking. With some species, such as the lady fern, it's nearly impossible to completely remove the chaff. Cut the stem close to the coil, which is also called a crosier.

Fiddlehead Pasta with Lemon Butter Sauce



1 lb pasta

3 cups fiddleheads, cleaned

4 tbsp butter

2-3 garlic cloves minced

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

1 cup parmesan cheese
grated
salt and pepper, to taste



Steps:

1.Blanche the fiddleheads for a minute or two in pot of boiling water. Remove with slotted spoon and add pasta to same water.


2. Saute garlic in butter until not quite golden. Add lemon juice and cook another minute. Add fiddleheads and coat thoroughly. Toss with pasta, lemon zest, and cheese. Season at table. Serves 3-4.

Credit: http://craveperfection.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-jam.html

Photo credit:http://diyfromscratch.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/salmonberry-jam/

Most of us in the Pacific Northwest don’t know what salmonberries are. Sadly, many of those who do know them either pass them off as inedible or don’t consider their flavor interesting enough to pick them. One will never see them in the markets. But as Krishna and I have discovered they are excellent!They are high perishability and low shelf life, make them unable to ever be packed and sold. The only way one will ever eat the salmonberry is through foraging and sharing.

The salmonberry has been a food source for millennia. Contemporary foragers have published recipes for jams and pies. Krishna and I cooked them down with water and honey and covered our ice cream with them! It was excellent! 

But more extensive is the Native American use of the salmonberry.Native people, having collected enough of them, would hold feasts featuring the harvested fruit. They were often paired with dried salmon spawn or  Never were they paired with mussels, susceptible to toxicity in the warmer months, for fear of sickness.

Salmonberries were preserved as jams and jellies, as they still are today. This remains the primary method of preserving salmonberries. 

Ingredients:

-4 cups of your favorite berries (I used salmonberries, but blackberries/raspberries/etc will do just fine), if you prefer seeds in your jam, don't strain, but if you're making jelly, then you'll need to strain the juice out of your berries and discard the pulp and seeds

-4 to 5 cups of sugar

-1 box of pectin

-mason jars (you can pick the size- mini, regular, jumbo)

-lots of water

Instructions: In a large pot, heat enough water to cover your jars. Place your jars face down, and make sure you put your lids and rings in the water too. Once it boils, allow to boil for 10 minutes (10 minutes seems to be the rule of thumb for canning). Carefully remove the lids and jars from the water and allow to rest on your counter while you make your jam/jelly. In a medium/large saucepan over medium heat, combine the juice, pectin and sugar. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Once the mixture bubbles, continue to stir for about a minute. Remove from heat and ladle into your jars (my friend used a really cool funnel for this, but you don't have to if you're careful). Fill to the lower ring (about 1/4" inch from the tippy-top) and screw on the lids and rings hand-tight, but not super duper tight. Place in the boiling water for 10 more minutes. Remove from the water and allow to cool on the counter. You'll hear the lids pop, that's a good thing, that means they're sealed. Allow to cool overnight prior to re-tightening their rings.

recipe from:http://craveperfection.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-jam.html