It’s Sochan season, and while I was reminded of it in a big way while hunting morels in a flood plain forest. There were lots of familiar plants (no morels), but most of all I was struck by the Rudbeckia laciniata / Sochan—it was everywhere I turned. The colonies seemed to go as far as…
Leafy Greens | Recipes
Nettle Bread
A deep green nettle bread studded with nuts, along with the more crumbly, shortbread-style lembas bread are traditional travel foods wood elves have been making for a very long time. Both are useful, portable foods you can pack in a bag and take with you on a journey, or in my case, a fitting seasonal…
Wood Nettle Shoots
Wood nettle shoots are a great example of the different gifts wild plants give us at different stages of their yearly growth. Even more so to me, they represent my narrow sight, and how you can read about something, know it exists, and is there for the taking, but not truly “see it” until you…
Lacto Knotweed Pickles
One of the best parts about this site I never would’ve imagined as it was hatched when I lived in my friends basement years ago was that I’d be able to talk to people outside of the Midwest. In hindsight, the Internet being, well, the Internet, I should’ve known, but it came as a real…
Garlic Mustard Shoots with Ramp Butter
Oh garlic mustard. Let me count the ways I hate thee. Seriously, I hate this plant, it’s nothing less than a scourge on the woodlands and sugarbushes in my area, so when I eat it, it’s usually seasoned with plenty of spite. Sure, I know plenty of people that like to eat it, “eat the…
Spring Ephemeral Salad
Spring is one of the most exciting times of year, and the regrowth of fresh greens always makes me crave them. Spring ephemerals, or plants that have short life spring lifecycles, are fascinating in how they operate. Plants like ramps, toothwort, spring beauty, trout lily, and Floerkia sprouts all live and get their energy in…
Butter Glazed Nettles
Butter glazed nettles is probably my go-to recipe for nettles when I just want to eat some as a side dish. Most of the time we think of nettles we assume they need to be boiled, but it just isn’t the case. I reserve boiling/blanching more for ingredients where I may want to control or…
Roman Nettle Patina (Frittata)
People have been eating nettles for a very long time. Thousands of years, and, in all reality, likely longer than that. Nettle patina is the oldest recipe for nettles that I know of, and it comes directly from one of the oldest surviving culinary texts we humans have, the one and only De Re Coquinaria…
Szechuan Parsnip Leaf Salad
Parsnips and their relatives like carrots are loved and cherished food plants around the world for good reason: they’re relatively easy to take care of, they can be stored for long periods of time—even over winter, and most importantly, they’re delicious. One thing no one talks about about though is that the leaves are also…
Ramp Leaf Pasta Dough(s)
Everyone loves green noodles–including me, which is why there’s at least 3 different variations of them already on this site. Ramp leaf noodles needed to happen though, but, unlike other green and colored pastas, I had a vision for the noodles to actually taste like the ingredient used to make them, which, to be honest,…
Ramp Leaf Oil
Forest green, deep and oniony, chefs love a good green oil, and ramp leaf oil is probably the best I’ve ever had. Alot of the time, green oil can be a thoughtless garnish, or lazy drizzle on top of a soup—a little color—nothing more. But with a little care, green oil is not only an…
Mediterranean Dock Soup with Rice and Lemon
Do you like Greek dishes like avgolemono? Then you’ll like this recipe for dock soup with rice and lemon–they’re basically cousins. Dock, or Rumex species are legion across the United States, and, as much as I would like to tell you that I cooked with curly dock for this recipe, I can’t be exactly certain….
Grilled Ramps with Chokecherry Sauce
Love ramps and have a bunch? Guess what? You can eat them like a vegetable. Just like green onions, ramps can be grilled or roasted and eaten as a side dish, and it’s a great way to have them–especially the youngest first batch that you harvest since they’ll be the most tender. I did a…