Sweet Things
Mint ice cream is pretty common, but usually it's made with mint extract. But if you make your ice cream by infusing the mint leaves into the cream overnight, you get a much stronger, more herby mint flavor you will not forget.
Featured
Mountain pennyroyal is a widespread mountain herb in the American West. Think of it as a combination of mint and marjoram. It is one of our most spectacular native wild herbs.
Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi
Called strangolapreti -- "priest stranglers" -- in Italian, these dumplings made with breadcrumbs, cheese and a green thing (spinach, amaranth, chard, etc) are easy to make and are a great vegetarian main course or side dish for something meatier.
Recipe
Yep. Walnut ketchup. Ketchup used to be a lot more varied than just tomatoes. This is a classic British recipe made with young, green walnuts - black walnuts, here - results in a sauce that tastes astonishingly like A1 steak sauce. Give it a go!
Mushrooms
Fried morels. Where have you been all my life? Seriously. I have eaten morels for decades, but only recently have I experenced the glory of the fried morel. I am not looking back.
Foraging
Wild onions, ramps especially, make a great pesto. This is my version, which is pretty classic -- but you can play with pesto a lot, changing the nuts, cheese and herbs at will.
Charcuterie
Fennel salami, finocchiona, is an Italian staple. There are lots of variations on this salami, but they all require a decent addition of fennel seeds. My version has wild fennel seeds, fennel pollen and ouzo.
Recipe
Elderflower cordial -- really a syrup -- is a classic use for these incredibly aromatic flowers of spring. Use this to make homemade soda, add it to gin, or make it into a sorbet whenever you want to remember the first warm breezes of the year.
Foraging
Pickling ramp bulbs -- or the bulbs of any large wild onion -- is a great way to preserve the harvest. These are fantastic served with cured meats and cheeses, or chopped into a relish or just eaten as a snack.
Recipe
Spring is in full swing here in California, and it's not far off in the rest of the country. This recipe brings together several of my favorite spring ingredients: Rabbit, morel mushrooms and nettles, all in a lovely, Italian-inspired dish.
Foraging
Here's how to identify and eat the wild greens of spring: Dandelions, wild lettuces and other wild chicories. These are pleasingly bitter, super nutritious and awesome with meats and pasta.
Foraging
Stalking the wild asparagus, as the late, great Euell Gibbons did, is harder than you might think. Here's how to find and forage for one of spring's finest wild edible plants.
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