When we moved to Arkansas, money was tight. We were blessed to have neighbors who showed us how to find food on our land. Rip Bonds taught me how to find, harvest and cook poke sallet. Marion Spear showed us how to harvest and enjoy catbriar shoot and to make spring rolls with wild greens.
In the years since, I've continued to expand my knowledge of harvesting, cooking and eating wild greens. This Missouri web site is an incredible reference http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/how/cooking/wild-edibles-missouri and most of these green are native to our area of the Ozarks.
I have the Peterson's Guide to Wild Edibles and several other guides to digging, cutting and harvesting foods. Last year I discovered Edible Wild Plants by John Kallas. It is my current favorite greens guide and the one that I recommend to my students in my spring greens cooking class. There are still a few spaces left in that class on April 7 and there is room in the Spring Herb Workshop on the same day. The field trip the day before is booked full, but the workshop is an incredible overview of greens knowledge.
Today we had chickweed, henbit and dock with rice, garlic and cheddar cheese for lunch. I stirred fried the greens lightly with the garlic and served them over the rice and cheese. My family thought they were good, except I should have trimmed all the stems out and only cooked the leaves. Even as tender as the stems are right now, they were a less than stellar part of the delicious dish.
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| My fav edible greens book in a patch of chickweed and henbit in our front yard. We carry this wonderful book at the Homespun Gift Shop at the Ozark Folk Center. |
I have the Peterson's Guide to Wild Edibles and several other guides to digging, cutting and harvesting foods. Last year I discovered Edible Wild Plants by John Kallas. It is my current favorite greens guide and the one that I recommend to my students in my spring greens cooking class. There are still a few spaces left in that class on April 7 and there is room in the Spring Herb Workshop on the same day. The field trip the day before is booked full, but the workshop is an incredible overview of greens knowledge.
Today we had chickweed, henbit and dock with rice, garlic and cheddar cheese for lunch. I stirred fried the greens lightly with the garlic and served them over the rice and cheese. My family thought they were good, except I should have trimmed all the stems out and only cooked the leaves. Even as tender as the stems are right now, they were a less than stellar part of the delicious dish.
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