This post was written 2 month ago, so some of the seasonal info is out of date - but the message is the same
Who doesn’t like free food? This is a particularly great time of the year
for it, at least where I live. I don’t
need to extol the nutritional virtues of berries here. They’re a real superfood, full of
antioxidants and beneficial phytochemicals. I find them to be about the most
satisfying dessert out there. No guilt
at all, and they go a long way towards satisfying any sweet tooth type cravings
for worse things to eat. But the other
great thing about them is that they’re everywhere, if you know where to
look. I’m all for planting your own, if
you have the space and resources – my yard currently has raspberries,
gooseberries, serviceberries, currants, grapes and strawberries. However, it’s often the case as well that you
can find them growing wild, or at least semi-‘wild’. Today, I stopped off to harvest my favourite
supply of ‘wild’ currants from a strip of about 8 or 9 bushes growing along a
traffic median in the middle of a suburban, box store parking lot.
These bushes are planted for their ornamental
value, I suppose, but this time of year they are just laden with huge, purple
currants, free for the taking. Like I
said, I also grow my own, but my one bush can’t compete with these in terms of
fruit size or quantity. I’ll be checking
back over the next week or so to get another few batches as well.
I’ve been coming back for the currants for about 3 years
now, but this year I discovered another bonus. Just a stone’s throw away, at a
mall parking lot across the street from the currant bushes, I came across two
huge serviceberry trees. I was able to
get a good harvest of serviceberries today as well which, in case you’ve never
tried them, taste like a slightly more bland blueberry. I only filled one Tupperware container, but
the trees were so loaded that I could easily fill a larger container tomorrow
and likely for days after.
I’m sure
hundreds of people walk by these trees each day (on their way to the mall’s
grocery store no doubt) and never stop to try these delicious little berries. Of course, it’s not just berries…there are a plethora of
wild plants out there. You don’t need to
be out in the wilderness to find them, as many grow in urban parks, empty lots,
pathways, borders, etc. In fact, a lot
of very good wild, edible plants seem to prefer disturbed soils and ‘waste’
areas. My advice would be to get a good
field guide (these are two of my favourites)
and go out for a walk around.
Make sure
to only sample stuff you’re sure of the identity! In addition to this, even if I’m 99% sure of
something, my policy is to only have a very
small bite (maybe equivalent of one or two berries or one leaf) of any new
plant, wait 24 hours to be sure, and then come back for more if it turns out
fine. You’ll be surprised at how quickly
you begin to identify plants and bring them into your repertoire of
knowledge. I probably add about 5 new
useable species a year, and that number was much higher when I was just
starting out.
The advantage is that many wild plants are even more
nutritious than cultivated equivalents or substitutes. Dandelion greens are everywhere in the spring
and have more Vitamin A than any other store-bought green. Wild Garlic Mustard is also everywhere, adds
a garlicky flavour to salads, and is an invasive species…so you’re doing a good
deed by picking and eating it. Lamb’s
Quarters, or Goosefoot as it’s also called, is very abundant, and beats out
spinach in most nutritional categories.
Make sure not to harvest stuff where pesticide use is apparent. However, my intuition is that most of these wild
plants see far less chemical usage than the store-bought equivalents. I can’t imagine anyone taking the time to
spray pesticides on the currants or serviceberries I collected today, because
they’re not trying to increase yields or make a profit from the fruits.
So there you go.
Free, nutritious food, ripe for the picking. Pay attention the next time you’re out for a
run or walk
