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Wild Mushroom Conserve (Pickled Mushrooms)

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Chanterelle Mushroom ConserveThere really is no substitute for fresh mushrooms in everyday cooking, but we can get pretty close. Of course they can always be pickled for long term storage, but there’s another method, almost in between a pickle and a marinade: the almighty conserve. Think of it as the best pickled mushroom you’ve ever had. Seriously.

I used to make this in 80 lb batches of these pickled mushrooms every week at my first restaurant, for a reason. It was also sold commercially at Heartland Restaurant and Farm Direct Market in it’s heyday when we had a market full of preserves like pickles, sauerkraut and other ferments, all made in house. Real quick for the sticklers: I’ve seen mushroom “conserva” and “conserve” both on the menus of various restaurants. They’re generally going to be the same thing, conserva just being the Italian translation.

The real magic about this is that it lacks the overkill acidity of most pickling liquids (as well as sugar, which I don’t care for in mushroom pickles), but it’s still safe enough to can in a water bath. Kept under their liquid, the pickled mushrooms will stay for a very long time. Some recipes online will say they keep for about a month, let me tell you though, I have kept mushrooms stored like this in restaurants for over a year, having no loss in the quality of the product. Just make sure to keep the pickled mushrooms under their liquid. 

I used to make this in 80 lb batches every week at the restaurant, for a reason. 

hedgehog mushroom conserve recipe

Hedgehog mushrooms are excellent prepared like this too.

Mind Your PH 

I never canned this in restaurants, since there’s walk in coolers, but for home use, you want something shelf stable. I did an experiment to test if this could be canned in 2017, I suspected it could, but I wanted to be 100% sure. Here’s the skinny: general standards for pickling and canning say that you want to have a PH under 4.6 or lower for hermetically sealed foods. Canning food in a pressure canner doesn’t require a low PH as the temperature exceeds 242F, which is enough on it’s own to ward off botulism. Foods canned in a water bath canner (like this can be) only reach 212F (the boiling point of water), and that isn’t enough on it’s own to prevent botulism, so lowering the PH with acid or vinegar is necessary.

To find a sweet spot PH level, I started with 2 cups of liquid and then started adding vinegar, stirring to incorporate, and then testing the PH at 1 and 2 minute intervals to make sure I got a steady reading. The moral of the story is that mushroom conserve here, consistently came in at right around 3.6, which is way under what you need to be safe, and adding more vinegar eventually made PH level plateau at right around 3.2, which begs the question of why we would ever pickle something in 100% vinegar, which plenty of mushroom pickles call for. Anything preserved in 100% vinegar is far too strong for me. The lower amount of vinegar in conserve recipes gives you an advantage in that the mushrooms retain more of their flavor, making them more versatile.

Chanterelle Mushroom Conserve

You can also store the conserve in a jar, just make sure everything is covered by liquid.

The End-All Mushroom Pickle for most species 

I guarantee you, once you try this recipe, you may never want to simply pickle mushrooms again. I used hedgehog and chanterelle mushroom in the pictures here because they’re probably my favorite for conserve but you could use a lot of different mushroom species, epecially if they’re in the button stage. If it’s a mushroom you can pick, it can probably be conserved, and wild mushroom blends are good too. One thing to know though, is that aborted entolomas and any species of puffball I like to caramelize until lightly golden in oil before the vinegar and liquid is added, otherwise they just don’t taste as good, a bit like some cousin of crumpled tofu.

rainbow trout with chicken of the woods mushrooms

Conserve is a great garnish for entrees, pictured is chicken of the woods with rainbow trout.

There’s a couple things that are good to know about preserving mushrooms this way, and I would give the same advice for pickles. Here are some tricks I’ve learned after using this recipe for years. At one restaurant, I used to make this in 80lb batches, weekly– I might know a thing or two about it.

  • Only use young mushrooms for conserve and pickles, small tight buttons will yield the highest quality product. Larger, more mature mushrooms are better dried.
  • Don’t go crazy with the flavoring ingredients. Adding a whole bunch of herbs, garlic and spices will make your mushroom conserve (or pickles for that matter) taste like medicine. Start with my tested proportions and get creative later.

How I Use It 

This is how a lot of chefs preserve mushrooms en-masse, and, although they have a little acid to them, and they’re in a container of liquid, it definitely doesn’t mean that they’re to be relegated to a bloody mary skewer or part of a pickle plate. Oh hayll no.  Like I mentioned, wet preservation like this is probably the best way to keep the texture of fresh mushrooms, salting comes in a close second, but then they need to be rinsed and soaked before hand. With mushroom conserve, all you do is pull them out of the jar and warm them up if you want. Easy money.

Baked chanterelle mushroom conserve with wild greens and melted brie

Warmed up with a slice of brie on top and served with a salad and lunch is served.

Pro Tip: Serve them Warm 

Most of the time, I like to warm these up and add them to a dish, as a garnish to finish a plate, or as part of a warm salad, or appetizer. They can even be an appetizer in themselves. Baked in a dish with a little liquid and topped with a slice of brie and melted under the broiler in an oven, they’re ridiculously good spooned on toast, with a green salad on the side to cut the richness. I’m sure you can figure out plenty of things to do with them, if you don’t end up eating them out of the jar standing in front of the fridge.

Chanterelle Mushroom Conserve

Chanterelle Mushroom Conserve
Print Recipe
5 from 16 votes

Wild Mushroom Conserve

Probably the greatest wild mushroom pickle/preserve you will ever taste. Yield: 1 qt canning jar 
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Conserve, Mushroom Conserve, Pickled Wild Mushrooms
Servings: 1 Quart

Ingredients

  • Scant 2 lbs small young mushroom buttons chanterelles are my favorite
  • 3 cloves 7 grams garlic thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup flavorless oil for sauteeing grapeseed or canola
  • 1 teaspoon 5 grams kosher salt a generous teaspoon
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup white wine or apple cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme fresh only
  • 2 dried bay leaves or use fresh

Instructions

  • Read through the entire recipe before proceeding.
  • Rinse your mushrooms with water while you clean them to ensure they'll have liquid to give up when they hit the heat.
  • In a wide pan with high sides, or a soup pot, gently heat the oil and the sliced garlic slowly on medium heat until the garlic begins to turn golden. Take your time here, as the more color you can put on the garlic, the better the finished product will taste. Do not burn the garlic.
  • When the garlic is perfectly golden, add the mushrooms, salt and herbs, stir so the salt can help draw out the mushroom liquid, then cover the pan, cooking on medium heat, and allow the mushrooms to give up their juice and halt the cooking of the garlic. The mushrooms should give off a good amount of water.
  • Once the mushrooms have wilted and given up their juice, add the water and vinegar, then bring the mixture to a boil.
  • Finally, put the mushrooms in a quart jar, pack them down, then bring the liquid back to a boil, and pour the boiling liquid over the mushrooms. Wiggle a chopstick around in the jar to get out air pockets.
  • Press the mushrooms down to make sure they are completely covered with liquid--add a little oil to cover if they threaten to pop up, then screw on the lid, and turn the jar upside down to seal. You will have extra liquid leftover. From here, as long as the jar is sealed, the mushrooms will last until next season. You can also process the jar(s) in a water bath like regular pickles. Store opened jars in the fridge.

Notes

If you want to can this for long term storage, pour the mushrooms and their juice while boiling hot into the jar, top it off with the extra 1/4 cup of oil, screw on the lid tightly and turn the jar upside down. Alternately, can in a water bath. 

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Previous Post: « Cream of Porcini Soup with Black Walnut Pesto
Next Post: Suspect Sub-Species: Giant Aborted Entolomas »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rob

    September 25, 2018 at 9:06 pm

    This sounds delicious, and I would like to try it. But it sounds like you are saying that you don’t actually need to do the whole canning bath thing if you want to can these. Is that right? You can just pour hot liquid in then seal by flipping upside down?

    Reply
    • Lisa

      December 11, 2020 at 10:53 pm

      Hi. I had the same question. I also wanted to know if its OK to reuse jam jar (one piece) lids rather than the traditional two piece canning lids.

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        December 11, 2020 at 11:24 pm

        I don’t recommend that.

        Reply
  2. Maddy

    March 7, 2019 at 4:14 pm

    Congratulations on your article in
    The Minnesota Conservation Magazine.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      March 7, 2019 at 4:39 pm

      Thanks Maddy. Between you and me, it was interesting. Editors want you to write so descriptive sometimes it can feel like a dessert with too much sugar IMO. They approached me with an article idea and I was happy to tackle the project though, and next time, when I pitch an idea, I think it will feel a little more natural. It took a lot of time and back and forth for that little blurb, not to mention images!

      Reply
  3. Carrie Maier

    August 30, 2019 at 5:44 pm

    I do not have champagne vinegar. Alternative based on flavour or Acetic Acid percentage should I look for?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 1, 2019 at 11:27 am

      Use white wine or cider vinegar.

      Reply
      • Carrie Maier

        September 1, 2019 at 11:43 am

        Thank you. I will try and find champagne vinegar. What about this choice do you use it in many recipes?

        Reply
        • Alan Bergo

          September 1, 2019 at 12:05 pm

          I prefer champagne vinegar only slightly to white wine, but I buy mine from a wholesale purveyor, it’s from https://www.beaufortoliveoil.com/specialty-vinegars

          You can substitute any good tasting, light colored vinegar. Apple cider and white wine are fine. You will love the mushroom conserve, probably the most used recipe on the whole site.

          Reply
          • Carrie Maier

            September 1, 2019 at 12:16 pm

            Thank you for differentiating choices in the vinegar. Some can be very different in acid content or by flavours imparted. Example balsamic vs cider vinegar.. Even many different aging if balsamic can be found the alter complexities. When choosing vinegar in culinary uses I hope to find a defined one listed (not necessarily a brand) that has an impact on end result of the preparation when served. Would you comment on this.

          • Alan Bergo

            September 2, 2019 at 12:04 pm

            I feel the same way, it’s very important to know the vinegar you’re using. For example, red fruit pairs the best with red wine vinegar, and apples should be paired with apple cider vinegar, generally speaking.

  4. Tony g

    September 16, 2019 at 7:34 pm

    Love your site. Most of my favorite mushroom recipes live here :).

    Just made a b. Edulis conserva. To-die-for good!!!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 21, 2019 at 7:42 pm

      Glad you like it, it’s one of my favorites.

      Reply
  5. Martin

    October 13, 2019 at 8:57 am

    Hi Alan,

    Love your website. Can I ask if you store this mushroom preserve in jars sealed in a water bath do you have to refrigerate afterwards or can it be stored in the pantry?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 13, 2019 at 9:02 am

      It only needs to be refrigerated after it’s open. Yes, you can absolutely store it in a pantry.

      Reply
  6. Kate

    June 16, 2020 at 5:58 am

    Thanks for the recipe! This is my first time making a mushroom conserve after foraging pine mushrooms. I followed the recipe & I filled the mushrooms to a 1/4 inch from the top and added the juice to the top of the jar, Then I can boiled it for 15 mins. The seal is intact but it looks now that there is less juice in the jar & the mushrooms are protruding a bit above the juice (about 1/4 inch). Is it sealed properly even though this has happened? Will it keep a year despite this? Many thanks!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      June 16, 2020 at 10:29 am

      It’s fine. The pH of the jar is so low you don’t need to worry.

      Reply
      • Kate Cheung

        August 5, 2020 at 7:57 pm

        Thanks so much for your prompt reply! 🙂

        Reply
  7. Celeste

    July 24, 2020 at 4:45 pm

    Thanks for this info! When you did your pH tests, was that the acidity of the liquid or the acidity of the mushrooms themselves? It seems to me that to make sure it’s safe for canning, one would need to make sure the entire mushroom was held at that acidity level, not just that the pickling medium was at that acidity.
    I’m going to try this with some smooth chanterelles and cinabars I just picked, but I think I’m still going to keep it in the fridge rather than can it.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      July 25, 2020 at 9:12 am

      The mushrooms are completely saturated with liquid. We used to sell this commercially at Heartland to the general public, and it is completely, utterly safe. I have another friend who is selling it commercially as I type this. At your house, you do what you want though. The vast amount of pickling recipes online for mushrooms assassinate the mushrooms with vinegar.

      Reply
  8. Ann

    August 5, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    If I do a water bath for quart jars, what would be the process time?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 5, 2020 at 2:01 pm

      10-12 minutes should be fine. Pack the conserve into the jars hot.

      Reply
  9. Wes

    August 17, 2020 at 7:58 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Alan, would you recommend this recipe for black trumpets? I have approx 5 pounds of them and I’d prefer not drying them if I can help it.

    Thanks for the fantastic recipes! This is always my go to place after foraging.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 17, 2020 at 9:27 pm

      Hi Wes, yes I would. You can probably fit more in a jar than what’s described here, and you may need to increase the liquid/brine slightly using the same proportions to maintain the proper pH as this is built for chunky mushrooms after they’re washed. That being sad, it would be great. I’d also point you to the black trumpet puree, and from there, spinning that into some tasty black trumpet butter which freezes well. I’m simmering some trumpets to make it as I type this. 🙂

      Reply
      • Wes

        August 18, 2020 at 12:46 pm

        Thanks for the quick reply! I just watched your video for cleaning them and saw you didn’t soak them like some other videos I saw. The water turns a dark colour and has a great aroma so I’m worried about losing some of the flavor that way.

        Reply
  10. Liz Neerland

    August 24, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    How would this work with comb tooth?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 24, 2020 at 6:07 pm

      Just fine. Wash/dunk them to make sure they have enough water to give off if they’re dry.

      Reply
  11. Patrick Maun

    August 25, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    Have you tried this method with Grifola frondosa? I usually just slice them up and freeze then vacuum pack but would love to try this method for some of them this season.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 26, 2020 at 1:29 pm

      Yes, hundreds of pounds of them. Proceed with confidence.

      Reply
      • Robert Malcolm Kay

        August 31, 2020 at 1:54 pm

        5 stars
        Thanks for sharing your expertise, Chef!
        Due to this stupid coronavirus, I am spending more time foraging my local woods here in Scotland, and they are bouncing with first class fungi, so I came here looking for advice and help: yours is superb.

        Reply
  12. Erica Coda

    August 26, 2020 at 1:24 pm

    5 stars
    Wow! The liquid is so delicious and I had leftover so I simmered some zucchini in it and canned them. I am going to refrigerate those though because I wasn’t sure on storage. Any other ideas on how to use this liquid for canning other things like veggies? I’m going to be on the lookout for more hedgehogs, but with the taste of this brine I would make it again and use it for all kinds of things. Thank you for another wonderful recipe!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 26, 2020 at 1:27 pm

      I can’t speak to other vegetables, but if you keep the ratio of liquid to vinegar the same it would be fine. As mushroom water content can be highly variable, it’s normal to have some leftover, much better than to not have enough.

      Reply
      • Erica Coda

        August 26, 2020 at 11:02 pm

        For sure! Thanks again.

        Reply
  13. Sarah

    August 28, 2020 at 3:14 pm

    Thanks so much for this recipe! I am not a huge fan of pickles but I wanted to add an additional way to preserve mushrooms to my repertoire. I would not use a quart at a time for my cooking so I am going to try this recipe but can it in half pint jars. I will update my comment and let you know if it works! I just found a few pounds of hedgehogs. ????

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      August 28, 2020 at 8:00 pm

      You can keep the opened jars in the fridge. Scale the recipe to whatever mason jar size you like.

      Reply
  14. Susan

    September 12, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    5 stars
    Can’t tell you how excited I am to have found this, as no one wants to commit to a non-pickly wild mushroom recipe. Foraging is still new to me, only 2 yrs, but we’ve been enjoying such a variety this spring and summer. Right now, we can’t eat the puffballs quickly enough (so many!), and I see your comment about browning them lightly golden before adding them to the pan. Do you have any other ideas for preserving puffballs? We also came upon some parasols and horse mushrooms. Do you think it would be ok to mix them? I’m an experienced canner, but this will be a first for mushrooms. Thanks so much!

    Reply
  15. Olivia

    September 22, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    5 stars
    Can I reduce the salt by 25% without affecting shelf stability? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      September 23, 2020 at 8:45 am

      Yes of course. You can also cut the liquid with equal parts vinegar and water if you made a batch that’s too strong for you.

      Reply
  16. Mike

    October 1, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    5 stars
    Hi you don’t say how much salt to add to the recipe any chance you can let me know
    Ta

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 1, 2020 at 2:19 pm

      It’s in the recipe, 1 teaspoon or 5 grams. You can get away with a little more if you like.

      Reply
  17. Rados Malidzan

    October 13, 2020 at 6:14 am

    5 stars
    Thank you sooo much for your efforts on sharing your knowledge and experience with us! Would you please be so kind to advise on applying your Wild Mushroom Conserve recipe on Macrolepiota Procera, Parasol mushroom? What is the best way to save them for later?
    Best regards

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 13, 2020 at 11:53 am

      Yes that’s fine to use them here.

      Reply
  18. Jan Jay

    October 14, 2020 at 12:26 am

    5 stars
    Love your site! I love Lobster mushooms can I use the Conserve with them?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 14, 2020 at 9:02 am

      Yes.

      Reply
  19. Emma Pullman

    October 15, 2020 at 2:07 am

    5 stars
    Hey! You said only young chanterelles will work here. I have a lot of white chanterelles around here and they’re gigantic. And I don’t even think it’s that they’re old, they’re just massive. But folks say that chanterelles don’t dry well. Have you ever tried this with larger chanterelles/older mushrooms?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 15, 2020 at 1:35 pm

      You can use mature ones, they just won’t have the same texture.

      Reply
  20. Michael Godin

    November 23, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    5 stars
    First let me say that I’ve spent years trying to find ideas like you’ve put down here. Outstanding recipes.
    I made a small batch of the conserva but made a mistake in the last step; I failed to bring the liquid back to boil before pouring it into the jar. Am I likely to poison myself or others as a result? I expect to use these within 5-6 weeks of bottling.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      November 23, 2020 at 1:15 pm

      Thanks Michael, and no problem–you’re all good! Just keep the conserve in the fridge. Boiling and pouring into the jar hot is only for long term storage outside of refrigeration. That being said, you could bring everything back up to a boil and pour it back in the jar, turn it upside down, and wait for it to seal, which would do the trick too, just don’t tell anybody I told you 🙂 As long as the jar forms a seal you’re golden for storing outside of the fridge. Once the seal is broken, you’ll want to refrigerate them. The pH on this is solid, and I re-worked it this year to remove some user error that was giving people excess liquid, and likely a lower pH as a result.

      Reply
      • Michael Godin

        November 24, 2020 at 5:58 pm

        Many thanks!

        Reply
  21. Debz

    January 5, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    I am very new to the preserving realm. If the jars of mushrooms are not placed in a water bath, can they be stored at room temp if unopened? If so, for how long? Thanks

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 6, 2021 at 10:01 am

      No. To store at room temp you MUST water bath process.

      Reply
  22. CHARLES WILSON

    May 22, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    I recently was successful at getting Laetiporus cincinnatus to fruit in my backyard. I used the technique for cultivation of Grifola by burying the log segments and there are many fragments of dirt and grass in it. One of the pictures on your website shows a white pored Laetiporus coming out of a log. was this a hardwood or conifer and what state was it found in? Maybe I need to try putting the logs upright and only partly buried, or find something, possibly straw, that they can grow through without getting contaminated. Why not dry them for lpreservation?

    Reply
  23. Alan Bergo

    July 3, 2018 at 4:42 pm

    Hi Charles, the white pored Laetiporus in my picture was coming out of a hardwood log. It was in a middle-esque stage of decay. I prefer not to dry them unless I want to make powder, the texture suffers…personal preference, I know many dry them.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. hunting and cooking hegdgehog mushrooms says:
    April 4, 2014 at 6:33 pm

    […] to preserve them. Pickling is my favorite technique. See a recipe for hedgehog mushroom conserve here, one of my favorite ways to preserve […]

    Reply
  2. Black Trumpet Mushroom Bouchee With Chanterelle-Cheese Mousse And Pickled Chanterelles says:
    August 8, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    […] A few nice buttons of chanterelle conserve, you can use this recipe here […]

    Reply
  3. White Chanterelles in Minnesota says:
    September 19, 2014 at 4:10 pm

    […] and yellowfeet) these should not be dried for cooking since it destroys their flavor. Pickling or conserve would be my first choice. Making duxelles and then freezing would be good […]

    Reply
  4. hericium mushrooms, bears tooth says:
    November 29, 2014 at 11:22 am

    […] Preservation wise, I’ll be honest and say that I’ve never pickled these yet, but it could be done. They could be dried too, but until I find enough of them in one shot, I’ll probably just keep frying them up. One great way they could be preserved is in a conserve, something halfway between a pickle and a marinade, see a recipe for that here. […]

    Reply
  5. Hunting and cooking agaricus campestris, the meadow mushroom says:
    December 1, 2014 at 2:20 pm

    […] These can be dried, sauteed in butter and frozen, or pickled in a recipe for conserve like I posted here. Making powder from them to make broth and seasonings is also a good choice if they had bug damage, […]

    Reply
  6. Beef tartare with dead man's fingers says:
    June 21, 2015 at 7:59 am

    […] have to use only Xylaria here, one of my favorite ways to have tartare is with a little bit of mushroom conserve, which can be made with a mix of species or just one-it’s how I serve it at the Salt […]

    Reply
  7. Prosciutto Wrapped Grilled Asparagus with Garlic Mustard Pesto – Anise to Za'atar says:
    August 2, 2018 at 9:19 am

    […] (Note: In the picture I’ve garnished the plate with microgreens, shaved Parmesan, radish, and foraged Pheasant Back mushroom conserve (using this method from Forager Chef) […]

    Reply
  8. Cauliflower Mushrooms / Sparassis says:
    January 21, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    […] To freeze, blanch your cauliflower mushrooms in salted, boiling water for 5 minutes, then cool and freeze, preferably with some of the water you blanched them in to avoid them being exposed to air. Vacuum sealed if you can. They can also be dried, and are sold commonly in Asian markets like that, but I haven’t tried them. Or try them pickled or made into conserve. […]

    Reply
  9. Salted Wild Mushrooms In Brine Recipe says:
    July 18, 2020 at 11:22 am

    […] version is that it’s a good way to preserve the texture of fresh mushrooms, just like with mushroom conserve and pickles, just with no […]

    Reply
  10. Confluence: Information Experience says:
    November 17, 2020 at 8:09 pm

    What are your favorite quarantine recipes – include a picture!

    Breakfast is big around the Shultz house, so these

    Reply
  11. The Mali Mushroom Project says:
    December 8, 2020 at 12:26 pm

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    […] pickled wild mushroom preserves I tell everyone to make can be canned in a waterbath, but, in Mali, I assumed that dedicating the amount of water needed to […]

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  12. Cooking with ischnoderma resinosum, the resinous polypore says:
    December 16, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    […] into account their tasty liquid, I modified my older mushroom conserve / pickled mushroom recipe for them. The preserved mushrooms are great reheated gently and added to […]

    Reply

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🌱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
🌱Ephemeral Week🌱 Plant #3: Cutleaf Toothwor 🌱Ephemeral Week🌱

Plant #3: Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) is another beautiful spring wildflower that loves to grow in the same habitat you’ll see ramps and spring beauty. 

Its small at first, but grows to a worthy size for eating as it flowers. It’s related to cabbage and mustard greens (Brassicaceae) and eating just a few leaves will give you a potent, spicy pop of mustard-family flavor reminiscent of horseradish. 

Eaten in combination with other things, like in a salad, the flavor becomes submissive and you’ll barely know it’s there. 

Some people eat the spicy roots shaped like canine teeth, but for the work I hardly think they’re worth it. 

A great wild spring green for the salad bowl-eat them leaves, tender stem, flowers and all🤤. 

#cutleaftoothwort #cadamineconcatenata #ephemeral #springedibles #foraging #wildfoodlove
🌱Ephemeral Week🌱 Plant #2 is Virginia water 🌱Ephemeral Week🌱

Plant #2 is Virginia waterleaf, and, I’m cheating a bit as it’s semi-ephemeral. The plant comes up in spring and goes to flower, but gives a second harvest of fresh growth in the fall, where other ephemerals I know do not. 

This is a great starter wild green-easy to recognize with the splashes of white on the leaves that may or may not be present. After you learn it though, don’t be surprised if, like me, you eventually pass it up for more delicious greens nearby. 

The plant gets tough quick, and the flavor is..meh, so I usually have small amounts of very young greens in blends of blanched and sautéed mixes. 

My favorite part is the wee flower buds, that, if you get at the right time, can be harvested in decent quantity and are good steamed as they’ll soak up oil sautéed. 

#hydrophyllumvirginianum #waterleaf #foraging #fueledbynature #weedeater
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