• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Forager Chef

Foraging and Cooking Mushrooms, Wild and Obscure Food

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other Mushrooms
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Hedgehogs
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Honey Mushrooms
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Ramps
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
      • Spruce and Conifers
      • Pollen
      • Prickly Ash
      • Bergamot / Wild Oregano
      • Golpar / Cow Parsnip
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged Animals
      • Venison
      • Small Game
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Angelica

Wild AngelicaMichael The Archangel. Masterwort. The Holy Ghost. Angelica. It has a number of names, is usually about 8 ft tall, purple, looks like it came out of a Doctor Suess book, and is just as fascinating as it sounds. It’s taken me the better part of six years to find this plant.

There’s lots of different plants in the family of angelica (over 60), but for my purposes here, I’m speaking about common wild angelica, which in Wisconsin and Minnesota where I hunt should be Angelica atropurpurea.

When I finally realized that I ‘d found it along an old road in rural Wisconsin, I got so excited. I cut off one of the branches with a pocket knife and put it up to my nose. I will never forget the floral smell, like a sickeningly sweet Victorian perfume, with a heart note of, carrot? It’s one of the most unique herbs I’ve ever experienced.

In literature, it’s described as an herb, but it’s really more. Angelica has both a part that could be considered a vegetable (the large stem), and parts that resemble and can be used herbs (root, seeds, leaves).

I read about it first in old European dessert recipes where the stem is used as a garnish for cakes and sweets. Eventually I noticed people talking about it in wild food guides, although it’s mentioned sparsely.

There aren’t many sellers of candied Angelica stem, and it’s expensive (about 24-30$/lb). I had just about given up finding it until this year, and I doubt if large concentrations of it exist in Southern Minnesota (I have heard reports of it from friends of mine up north on the Iron Range though).

Wild Angelica

It’s hard to tell, but this is in a swamp. You’re looking for damp areas next to water with these most of the time. It’s helped me to look casually at roadsides and ditches too, to point me in the right direction.

In an effort to keep a bunch of info succinct, here’s what I’ve learned divided into some useful categories.

Does Angelica Look Like Hemlock?

Only in passing. The leaves are larger and sweet smelling. What it does resemble closely in size and shape is cow parsnip, but the scent is much different. Angelica will not give you a phototoxin rash from handling it.

When to Harvest

Angelica is not exactly a perennial, and not exactly a biennial-It’s special. It grows very slowly, and probably won’t go to seed until it’s 3rd year of growth. The stalks can be harvested for maximum yield during their 2nd year, but can also be picked early during the 3rd year of growth before the plant goes to seed. After it goes to seed, the stem is too tough to be cooked, but could be used to make a syrup by cooking it in 50-50 sugar and water. April/May through June is a good window to pick it in the Midwest for it’s delicious stem.

You’ll want to find damp areas around lakes, swamps, and ponds for this. An easy way to look for it is to look for them on the side of the road in the ditch, which can point you in the direction of larger colonies nearby.

Wild Angelica

If you catch angelica late in the summer, you can still get some tender stalks from new growth at the bottom of the plant.

Usable Parts

Wild Angelica

One plant harvested for the stem. Note the umbels that will soon turn into tasty seeds, and the leaves, which can be candied or used as an herb. The larger pieces of the stem will have to be picked through for varying degrees of tenderness. The thinner stem from the top of the plant will be more tender and soft.

Stem

The strongest flavored part of the plant. Only tender stems should be used. They can be boiled in water with a pinch of baking soda to make it tender, then peeled of their outer skins, cut into pieces and candied and used in cookies and cakes, or for decorating, or used with savory dishes, especially poultry and fowl.

The stem can also be cooked in liquid and used as an aromatic vegetable. It’s especially good with meat where sweet things and sauces are welcome, so pork, lamb, and especially wild fowl will love it.

Seeds

The last gift angelica will give you. Pick the seeds from the flower heads, remove any small pieces of stem, then dry in a dehydrator and store in an air-tight container. After drying they will keep for years. Use like fennel or anise seed.

Angelica SeedOne of my favorite uses so far has been dusting fish with ground angelica seed and then sauteing. I’ve also cured fish with a mix of the seed ground in sugar and salt per gravlax, then crusted it with ground toasted seeds afterwords, wrapped tightly with plastic to make the crust adhere.

Foie Gras Torchon with Crab Apple Butter and Angelica Two Ways

Foie gras torchon perfumed with angelica, crusted with the seeds, and served with crab apple butter, candied angelica stem, and brioche. From a recent rare beer dinner at The Salt Cellar.

Leaves

These can be picked whenever y0u see them, but smaller, more tender leaves are better for eating. They’re slightly bitter, but still retain the floral-carrot-y flavor of angelica, so they are great chopped up in salads, used as an herb for cooking fish, or blanched in water with a pinch of baking soda, shocked in ice water, then dipped in sugar syrup, and rolled in sugar and dried to use as a pretty and aromatic garnish to desserts or drinks.

Root

The root is used to infuse many different herbal liquors that are popular in Europe, herbsaint, nocino, gin, absinthe, etc. Remember if you dig up the root, the plant will not grow back. The root is hard and dense like a rock, but can be grated with a box grater, then used to infuse alcohol, or made into syrup. Working with the stem is a lot of work, I had a hard time using a hatchet to break it up.

Wild Angelica

The root, washed and dried. You will need something heavy and sharp to work with this.

Notes on Cooking 

  • Angelica is a strong, but delicate flavor. The more things you combine it with, the less you’ll taste it.
  • For culinary purposes, angelica stem (which has the strongest flavor) is not dairy soluble, but it is alcohol and water soluble. This means if you want to flavor cream based sauces or flavorings with it, (which tastes ok) you will have to make a sugar syrup with it first, then add cream. If you cook angelica stem in dairy alone, you will not be able to taste it at all.
  • When trying to think of how to pair the flavor of angelica with things, imagine how a carrot tastes, since they’re in the same family. Things like orange, ginger, and soft herbs like tarragon, chervil, mint, and dill are good flavors to pair with it.
  • For desserts, angelica would love to be alongside ripe berries and fruit.
  • It would not like to be with dark or milk chocolate.
  • If you like to infuse your own liquors, you’ll want to try throwing some chopped angelica stems, seeds, or grated root into an infusion-it’s fantastic.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit

Related

Previous Post: « Goose Confit with Blackcap Raspberries
Next Post: Lobster Mushroom Cakes (Video) »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pete Hautman

    December 31, 2015 at 8:25 am

    Alan, First, thank you for this website. I’ve been visiting regularly, and always come away with something new, useful, or delicious—sometimes all three. I did not know that Angelica could be used as food. I believe I’ve seen in along the creeks flowing into the Mississippi in SW Wisconsin (very cool micro-climate with many unexpected flora and fauna). I’m looking forward to experimenting with it in the kitchen next year.
    One plant I haven’t seen mentioned here is the locally abundant lamb’s quarters/goosefoot/pigweed, a plant cultivated by pre-Columbian Native Americans for its seeds. I harvested some of the seeds this fall. Interesting and quite pleasant flavor. I didm’t get much, mostly because it’s a pain separating the seed from the chaff. I’ve been using them as a garnish.
    Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks, and Happy New Year.

    Reply
  2. Libby

    January 7, 2016 at 10:01 pm

    I love that you are showing how to find and use our wonderful wild foods. I have harvested some wild foods over the years, and I’m really enjoying your ideas and recipes. I have 120 acres sitting up North that I have barely explored. Have you ever found highbush cranberries in the winter? I get them from up there sometimes when I swing in to check on the land, and find them hanging like a cluster of beautiful clear red rubies -they are wonderful in a compote or sauce.Thanks again for your inspirations!

    Reply
  3. Shelagh Herring

    January 9, 2016 at 6:54 am

    The only negative is the pic of foie gras. A dish made with incredible cruelty to satisfy a taste bud. Your posts are interesting but ugh. The bird is forcibly restrained, choked while a pipe is shoved down her throat to force the bird to eat so much grain the get fatty liver disease. Oh yum.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 9, 2016 at 9:34 am

      The only negative here is your ignorance regarding foie. Fowl naturally gorge themselves in the fall and enlarged livers occur in nature. True, inhumane practices were used in the past especially by the Romans, but I serve humanely raised foie and there is plenty of it available today. The birds aren’t choked or uncomfortable, they actually volunteer to sit in their caretaker’s lap. In Spain, award winning foie is raised where the birds gavage *themselves* in the fall, since it’s what they do naturally. What we should be upset with is that most of the worlds chicken and poultry are raised living in their own feces and fed piles of antibiotics without a square foot to walk around in, then they’re made into chicken nuggets and fed to the nation’s children at lunchtime-that’s an actual poultry problem.

      Reply
      • elizabeth

        March 23, 2020 at 8:13 am

        thanks for giving a clear sensible reply.

        Reply
  4. Matt

    February 17, 2016 at 11:01 pm

    Very cool, I have a fair amount on my property. Deer eat the leaves and then hammer the tops in June/July.

    Reply
  5. C

    July 29, 2017 at 4:58 pm

    Nice article! Just to point out though, Angelica is not a family. It’s a genus. There are a lot of species in the genus of Angelica, not a lot of plants in the family of Angelica. Angelica is in the family Apiaceae, which has over 400 genera (genus).

    Reply
  6. Keith

    September 1, 2017 at 5:00 pm

    Have you ever cooked with osmorhiza also known as sweet cicely or sweet root? All parts are edible but the roots and seeds have a very strong and sweet anise flavor. In the late fall, the plant will often sprout and the small sprouts are intensely sweet with a burst of flavor. The young flower buds and green seed heads are also very sweet. I always nibble on them as a trail snack but would love to know what a creative chef could do with them. I’ve also thought the seed heads could be sprouted and the small sprouts used to garnish desserts or salads.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 2, 2017 at 10:37 am

      I have not, but I’ve wanted to. I know it grows in our area, I really like to approach carrot family plants with due process though. Someday I’ll pick them out. Great ideas though, I’m sure there is lots that can be done with them.

      Reply
  7. sair

    May 28, 2018 at 11:48 pm

    Are you sure that the plant you are referencing is A. sylvestris, and not A. atropurpurea? The latter is native and widespread across Wisconsin. The former is non-native and I am not sure it is present in Wisconsin (according to USDA PLANTS database it isn’t, but that’s not always the most up-to-date). Thanks for any info.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      May 29, 2018 at 7:47 am

      Nope, you are correct, and I had been meaning to update this, thanks for giving me the impetus to do that.

      Reply
  8. Sage

    May 24, 2019 at 4:50 pm

    Have you ever eaten the young flower pods before they’ve opened? If you peel back the outer pod, it almost looks like broccoli. Just wondering about these parts of the plant.

    Reply
  9. Judy Johnson

    June 6, 2020 at 7:58 am

    I’ll have to look for Angelica. I thought I read a post from you that you found morels in a cut over of maple. Was that you? What county were you in?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 7, 2020 at 8:23 am

      Yes, Dunn county.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Edible Fruit & Herb Flowers says:
    August 5, 2019 at 12:03 am

    […] Angelica is one of the many flowers that taste like Anise, licorice, or rootbeer. You can use the blooms as a unique compliment to mince pie or any dish with apple. If you’re making pork and apple dishes, this will add a bit of mystique to the palate if you don’t let the flavor overwhelm the other aspects of the meal. […]

    Reply
  2. Umbellifer Lookalikes | Welcome to the Nest. says:
    August 15, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    […] I know, I know… Let’s not get alarmist. A number of perfectly safe wild and cultivated plants grow umbels. For instance, Queen Anne’s Lace (aka wild carrot) is a joyful mark of summertime. For centuries, children and brides have used its umbels to fashion themselves white, lacy crowns; chefs and cooks have used them to make a delicately sweet, floral, slightly citrus-y jelly. Many of our favorite edible plants and herbs grow umbels—carrot, dill, fennel, celery, cilantro. There’s even a native species of giant umbellifer called Purple Angelica used as a decorative addition to gardens because of its bold coloration (psst: It’s also medicinal and the stalks are a favorite of forager-chefs like Alan Bergo of Minneapolis (foragerchef.com/angelica/)). […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Judy Johnson Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Pre-Order MY BOOK

Categories

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Instagram

foragerchef

Toothwort is peaking right now. Makes a great garn Toothwort is peaking right now. Makes a great garnish. Here with @shepherdsongfarm goat tartare, ramp vinaigrette and wild rice sourdough. It adds a nice bitter, mustardy note. 

#cutleaftoothwort #cardamineconcatenata #goat #tartare #normalizegoatmeat
Consider the salad, here, a little mix of ephemera Consider the salad, here, a little mix of ephemerals, and other tender young plants and herbs. 

The instinctual knowledge involved in choosing different plants at their peak to serve together raw, with thought put into how the textures and flavors will work on someone’s palette, to me, is one of the highest forms of culinary artistry. Something most people will never taste in their life. 

A little oil, salt, pepper, acid, a touch of sweetness from maple, maybe few fresh herbs are all you need. Bottled dressing of any kind would be like putting Axe Body spray on food. 

#spring #ephemerals #toothwort #troutlily #springbeauty #foraging
🌱Ephemeral Week🌱 Last entry. I’ve saved t 🌱Ephemeral Week🌱

Last entry. I’ve saved the smallest, fern gulliest plant for last. 

False Mermaid Weed (Floerkea proserpinacoides) is a good little plant Sam Thayer showed me. It’s tiny, as in all the photos are from me on my belly, in a wet ditch. It’s so small it’s hard to get the camera to even focus on it (see pic with my finger for scale). 

Mermaid weed likes wet areas, like ditches and spots that hold a bit of water (perfect mosquito habitat😁). 

Like chickweed, Floerkia greens are like nature’s Microgreens. They’re in the Limnanthaceae, (a new-ish group of brassicas) and like the Toothwort form earlier this week, you’ll taste a strong mustard-family flavor in a mouthful of their tender stems. 

They’re literally wild mustard sprouts, and, unlike other wild sprouts (garlic mustard 🤬) they stay sprouts, and, they actually taste good. 

It has a wide range over much of the eastern and western U.S., and is listed as secure globally, but is endangered in some states and shouldn’t be disturbed in those places. 

I’m lucky enough to have some large colonies near me so I do clip a few handfuls each year-my annual reward for removing some of the garlic mustard nearby, that, along with atvs, dirt bikes, and contamination from local water pollution, is one of the biggest threats to this tiny green. 

#floerkiaproserpinacoides 
#wildsprouts #mustardsprouts #ferngully #tiny #foraging #mermaid #🧜‍♀️
🌱Ephemeral Week🌱 Virginia Bluebells (Merten 🌱Ephemeral Week🌱

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are one of the most beautiful harbingers of spring I know, as well as one of the most delicious. 

They’re in the Borage family, along with the namesake plant, Comfrey (which I only eat a few flowers of occasionally) and Honeywort. 

The flavor of the greens, like borage, has a rich flavor some people might describe as mushroomy or fishy, but after a just a few moments of cooking (30-60 seconds) they get mild and delicious, with a subtle bitterness. It’s a good bitter though-nothing like dandelions or garlic mustard that aren’t fit to be in the same basket, let alone on the same plate. 

The shoots are sweet and delicious, much more mild than the greens. As they can grow to be over a foot long, they’re almost more of a vegetable than a leafy green, depending on when you harvest them. 

Bluebells love moist, rich soil, but you don’t have to go to the woods to get them. Many people know Virginia Bluebells as a garden plant, and they can make a great edible addition to your landscape.

#virginiabluebells #foraging #ephemerals #springwildflowers #wildfoodlove #mertensiavirginica
🌱Ephemeral Week🌱 Narrow-leaved Wild Leek / 🌱Ephemeral Week🌱

Narrow-leaved Wild Leek / White Ramp (Allium burdickii) 

If you’re in a ramp patch you might occasionally see some with white stems (pic 1,2). These are a cousin to the more common variety with much larger leaves and red stems (pic 3,4,5)

Allium burdickii is not as common as the red-stemmed variety, and in every ramp patch I’ve been in, the white ramp is heavily outnumbered. 

Where I harvest, I like to leave them alone, and mark the areas where they grow with sticks or middens on the ground so I can go back in the fall and help them spread their seeds. I also try and remove garlic mustard when I see it-a much more imminent threat in my mind to ramps than foragers out to gather some leaves. 

2020 was a banner year for ramp seeds, and you can still help the plants right now (pic 7) as some seed heads are still full and would love for you to give them a shake as you walk by. 

#alliumburdickii #ramps #ephemerals #foraging #spring
🌱Ephemeral Week🌱 #4: Erythronium leaves E 🌱Ephemeral Week🌱

#4: Erythronium leaves 

Erythronium (Trout Lily) are another ephemeral that I see widespread in my ramp patches, there’s at least 32 species world-wide, with at least one endangered species in MN (Dwarf Trout Lily). 

They’re a beautiful, delicious plant I eat every year, but I can’t recommend serving them to the general public. Plenty of people say these are edible, but also emetic if eaten in “quantity”. 

I can tell you, at least with E. albidum and E. americanum I’ve eaten, that some people are much more sensitive than others, so if you want to make a salad to serve people, make sure they’re comfortable eating it, and use a few leaves as a garnish. 

Funny enough, I didn’t learn about these from a foraging book. Like knotweed, I learned about them from one of my favorite chefs: Michel Bras, one of the most influential chefs of the turn of the 21 century. 

Any chef that works with wild plants owes a debt to Bras. His book, although a little dated now, still teaches me new things all the time. While flipping through the book I also caught a recipe using tansy flowers 😳 that I’d probably pass on. 

The whitefish crusted with sunflower seeds is a dish of mine from 2012, and an example of how I eat the leaves: a few at a time, as a garnish. 

#troutlily #erythronium #michelbras #ephemerals #foraging
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Footer

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.