Hurricane Irene Part III (the conclusion)

While I waited for Hurricane Irene to arrive I lost electricity at the house and decided to go on an extremely local adventure: I wanted to determine whether or not a weed in my back yard was edible, possibly yarrow. Turns out it isn’t yarrow, it’s Queen Anne’s Lace (or Wild Carrot). I used Edible Wild Plants by Lee Allen Peterson as my guide on this.

I’m going to cut to the chase here: don’t trouble yourself with trying to eat this root unless it is the last source of nutrition on the planet. The root smells like carrot, the stem is hairy, and there’s a tiny purple flower on the top of the cluster of flowers so you’ll know that you’re not about to bite into Poison Hemlock. As far as how Wild Carrot tastes, I don’t know and I may never know. I went to give it a chomp and could not penetrate the woody, fibrous root, which was a huge disappointment as I was hoping for some “wild calories” today. I thought that if I carefully removed the outer layer the yummy goodness would be made available. Unh unh. I thought if I boiled it in water that might soften it up a bit. Nope.

But this did make me think of an early form of man -- the hominid. These folks had primitive digestive systems and wandered around eating anything and everything they could get their hands on. Chances are hominids would’ve gladly accepted my offer of wild carrot. Of that I’ll never be sure.
I have, however, decided on a new naming convention. Wild edibles that aren’t worth the trouble shall henceforth be referred to as hominid snacks.

Another wild edible to be filed under hominid snack, Japanese Knotweed (or False Bamboo). I made a knotweed-rhubarb pie last year. It was disgusting. I’m a pretty good cook and I totally blame the knotweed for this pie as a failure.

However, Stinging Nettle Quiche (cooked by Lukas, a recipe of his own) is totally meant for Modern Man and Woman. Today I scoured the backyard hunting stinging nettles, while I harvested wild carrot, and none were to be found. Had I located that weed, I would have totally cooked, and snarfed that quiche once power had been restored.

Unable to let go of the need for wild calories I lucked onto a patch of mushrooms along the roadside when I went for a tiny drive to suss out the damage inflicted by Tropical Storm Irene. Lots of downed tree branches in my area, which is no doubt how we lost power.

A couple of days ago I was on a nature walk and came across tons of wild mushrooms. I was thinking with my head and not my stomach on that walk and I’m pretty sure I missed out on gathering a few chanterelle.
Today I saw the mushrooms and said, “You babies are coming home with me.”

After quite a bit of consultation in the field guide I reached the conclusion that I was looking at a variation of Voluminous Latex Milky. Gave the gills a slit and white latex sprang forth. Decided to cook ‘em and give ‘em a taste. Prayed to G*d that I wasn’t about to poison myself.

I cleaned the mushrooms, sliced ‘em thin, applied a little heat (medium), and slow cooked the flesh in butter until it was softened and delectable. I took a nibble. They were tasty, nothing acrid or “scary.” I waited half an hour -- which is my guess as to how long it would make for me to feel the ill-effects of a poisonous mushroom -- I felt ok and polished off the rest.

I don’t know if these are dinner-party worthy but I’ll be eating them again. Haven’t made up my mind if I’ll go back and collect the rest of the lot I stumbled onto today…