This is the end, my weary friend, the end.
--Jim Morrison
So this will be my last regular post in this series, at least until Spring. RonV, wvvoiceofreason and ninkasi23 have all offered to post diaries over the Winter, though. RonV will, I believe, be starting next week and covering medicinal herbs and how to prepare them. (Right: Oyster Mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus, by wide eyed lib)
Despite the odd weather, it's been a great year for foraging. Sure, I got stung by nettles, eaten by mosquitos and had poison ivy all over my right arm. (Of course it had to happen after the jewelweed was dead for the year...) But I also got to eat a lot of terrific food, like wineberry preserves, Japanese knotweed pie, sumac lemonade and many delicious stirfries filled with wild greens.
Before we get started, I'd like to thank everyone who has read these diaries. All of you have pushed me to learn more and try new things, and I'm truly grateful.
Covered: orache & ginkgo
Today's first plant is common orache or saltbush (Atriplex patula). Like its relatives lamb's quarters, epazote and amaranth (all in the goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae), common orache is a non-native annual herb with long-stemmed, alternate leaves that is found in almost everywhere in the U.S. and southern Canada. (Left: Common Orache by wide eyed lib)
If you know what lamb's quarters look like, then common orache will be very easy to identify. The main difference is that orache's leaves are arrow-shaped, have irregular teeth and are somewhat thick rather than thin, toothless and diamond-shaped. Otherwise, the plants have a very similar overall structure, as well as similar flowers and seeds. Young plants of both species also have the same fine, powdery bloom on the top. The other important difference is that common orache grows by the beach, in salt marshes and anywhere with sufficient water and salt deposits.
In mid-Summer, common orache develops long racemes covered with tiny, purplish-green flowers that droop from the leaf axils. These give way in Fall to thousands of tiny black seeds. (Right: Common Orache Leaf by wide eyed lib)
All above-ground parts of common orache are edible, though the leaves and young stems are the most useful. Depending on growing conditions, this plant can sometimes taste a little bitter raw, but the bitterness mellows quite a bit when it's cooked. Because common orache absorbs salt, it actually tastes salty. Because of this, you should taste before adding additional salt to whatever you're cooking. I'm not a huge fan of orache raw (though it can certainly be eaten that way), but I love it steamed or cooked in soups or stirfries. Like lamb's quarters, orache has a flavor that's fairly similar to spinach. The seeds have a slight thickening ability when added to soups and other liquids. (Left: Common Orache Flowers by wide eyed lib)
Many (and perhaps most) other similar-looking plants in the Atriplex genus are also edible, including garden orache (A. hortensis), Mediterranean saltbush (A. halimus), grey saltbush (A. cinerea), chamiso (A. canescens), shadscale (A. confertifolia) and spearscale (A. hastata).
I wasn't able to find much online about orache's nutritional profile, but I'd guess that it's similar to lamb's quarters, which would mean its high in protein, calcium, potassium, beta carotene and niacin. Unlike lamb's quarters, the thickness of orache leaves make them a poor candidate for drying, but the seeds can be dried for later use. The seeds also have a laxative effect, which is useful medicinally.
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The final plant in this series is a unique one. Although you'll occasionally find a plant that is the single extant member of its genus, the ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) is, to my knowledge the sole plant that is the only extant member of its family (Ginkgoaceae), order (Ginkgoales), class (Ginkgoopsida) and division (Ginkgophyta). It's truly a living fossil, and it's more closely related to conifers than it is to broad-leafed trees. Originally known only from fossils, in the late 1700s western scientists "discovered" a small grove of ginkgo trees growing near a monastery in China. The monks had been cultivating the trees for centuries and saved them from extinction. (Right: Ginkgo Tree with Fruit by wide eyed lib)
Ginkgo trees have very unusual fan-shaped leaves with veins that all eminate from the stem. In Spring, male and female trees both develop short-lived, inconspicious clusters of white flowers. In late Summer to early Fall, female trees develop peach-colored, wrinkly fruits (actually, like the yew tree, they're a fleshy seed coating called an aril) which surround a single, relatively soft seed. The ginkgo's aril is very famous for it's horrible smell; it smells like rotting vomit. For this reason, landscapers try to plant only male trees. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), it takes many years for these trees to mature to the point where you can distinguish their sex, and many trees sold as male trees turn out to be females. Although gingkos are only naturalized in a handful of eastern states, they've been planted just about everywhere. (Left: Ginkgo Leaf by wide eyed lib)
The nuts are the edible parts of this tree, and they're easy to gather since the fruits fall as soon as they ripen in late Fall. For a bumper crop, visit a tree after a heavy rainfall. Because the fruits smell so awful, it's best to discard those right away rather than carry them inside because they'll smell even worse in an enclosed place. Luckily, the fruit separates very easily. It's best to wear gloves when handling the fruits because about 1 in 50 people will develop a rash otherwise.
The nuts must be cooked before being eaten. Put back on your gloves and rinse them well before laying them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and baking at 275 degrees for 25 minutes. Give them a stir once or twice while they're cooking. After they cool off, the hard shells need to be cracked. You can do this with a nut cracker or even your teeth. The nuts inside will be soft and unctuous. They taste a little like cheese.
Ginkgo nuts are delicious in rice dishes, soups, salads and casseroles. They're not crunchy like other nuts; instead they're almost creamy. They can also be ground and used like chickpeas to create delicious dips and spreads. Ginkgo nuts only last 3 days or so even if refrigerated, so for long-term storage, freezing is the best option. I've seen dried ginkgo nuts for sale, but I've never been able to successfully dry them myself. (Right: Ginkgo Fruits by wide eyed lib)
Nutritionally, gingko nuts are high in protein while being low in fat. They also have numerous medicinal properties. According to Plants for a Future:
The leaves stimulate the blood circulation and have a tonic effect on the brain, reducing lethargy, improving memory and giving an improved sense of well-being. They have also been shown to be effective in improving peripheral arterial circulation and in treating hearing disorders such as tinnitus where these result from poor circulation or damage by free radicals. The leaves contain ginkgolides... (which) inhibit allergic responses and so are of use in treating disorders such as asthma... The fruit is antibacterial, antifungal, astringent, cancer, digestive, expectorant, sedative, vermifuge. The fruit is macerated in vegetable oil for 100 days and then the pulp is used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis etc. (This report might be referring to the seed rather than the fleshy fruit). The cooked seed is antitussive, astringent and sedative. It is used in the treatment of asthma, coughs with thick phlegm and urinary incontinence. The raw seed is said to have anticancer activity and also to be antivinous. It should be used with caution, however, due to reports of toxicity. The cooked seeds stabilize spermatogenesis.
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Thanks again for reading. It's a little sad ending the series, but I need a break and I'm looking forward to seeing what the guest diarists do.
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If you'd like to learn more about foraging but missed the earlier diaries in the series, you can click here for the previous 35 installments. As always, please feel free to post photos in the comments and I'll do my best to help identify what you've found. (And if you find any errors, let me know.)
Here are some helpful foraging resources:
"Wildman" Steve Brill's site covers many edibles and includes nice drawings.
"Green" Deane Jordan's site is quite comprehensive and has color photos and stories about many plants.
Green Deane's foraging how-to clips on youtube each cover a single plant in reassuring detail.
Linda Runyon's site features only a few plants but has great deals on her dvd, wild cards and books (check out the package deals in particular).
Steve Brill's book, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places is my primary foraging guide. (Read reviews here, but if you're feeling generous, please buy from Steve's website.)
Linda Runyon's book The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide contains especially detailed information about nutritional content and how to store and preserve wild foods.
Samuel Thayer’s book The Forager's Harvest is perhaps the finest resource out there for the 32 plants covered. The color photos and detailed harvest and preparation information are top-notch.
Steve Brill also offers guided foraging tours in NYC-area parks. Details and contact info are on his website.
Don Wiss’s website is a treasure trove featuring hundreds of photos of common northeastern edibles.
Finally, the USDA plants database is a great place to look up info on all sorts of plants.
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