Urban Foraging: The World As Your Garden

For many if not most people in the United States, foraging is limited to rooting through the menu drawer before ordering take-out. Still, the notion of urban foraging requires no great stretch of the imagination. Despite the concrete and pavement that blankets urban areas, nature invariably finds a way to poke through. For the informed and reasonably adventurous, an everyday farmer's market may be only steps from the front door.

Forage Facts

Urban foraging sounds like something for chipmunks and squirrels. Why should humans nibble on a tree branch when the local fast food chain just unveiled its latest attempt at a salad bar --- especially when nature isn't even considerate enough to provide a sneeze guard?

The modern urban forager is a hybrid of botanist and culinary artist.

"For me, urban foraging is identifying and harvesting wild edible plants and mushrooms within a city environment," said author Leda Meredith, a New York City urban forager. "It's rooted in a tradition that has only been lost within the past 60 or so years."

Once upon a time, Meredith said, people knew weeds were edible and how to use them in meal.

"It used to be considered a weird fringe activity," Meredith said, "but I find that has changed with the growing interest in local and sustainable foods."

The urban forager's shopping list can be lengthy and sometimes exotic, but the items on it --- when they are found --- are always fresh and free. The only currency Mother Nature accepts is a healthy dose of respect.

"It's not just greens," Meredith said. "Root vegetables, mushrooms, fruits of all kinds, nuts, spices, shoots. ... The list of marvelous free ingredients just waiting to be foraged is extensive. You can absolutely make a salad out of the ingredients that you find growing in your city."

Leda Meredith's Dandelion Wine Recipe

Makes approximately 3 1/2 bottles of wine

Ingredients:

2 qts. dandelion flowers, measured before trimming off most of the green calyx and all of the stems (you should have about 1 qt. after the trimming)

3/4 lb. chopped golden raisins

1 1/2 lbs. honey

3 lemons, juice and zest (without the white inner peel)

3 oranges, juice and zest (without the white inner peel)

1 tsp. yeast nutrient or 2 tbsp. corn meal

4 qts. filtered water

1 packet wine yeast (available through homebrewing supply companies)

Snip off most of the green calyxes of the flowers. Put the trimmed petals in a non-reactive vessel (no aluminum or iron).

Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the flower petals. After 2 hours, strain, press and discard petals.

Bring the strained liquid to a boil. Stir in citrus juice and honey until the honey is dissolved.

Add the lemon and orange zest and the chopped raisins.

Remove the liquid from the heat and set it aside to cool. When it reaches room temperature, stir in yeast nutrient or cornmeal and wine yeast. Cover it and leave it at room temperature. Stir it three times daily for 10 to 14 days.

Strain the wine into a sanitized 1 gallon jug and seal it with either an airlock or a balloon with a single pinprick in it. That will allow gasses to escape but keep detrimental bacteria out.

After three weeks, siphon or carefully pour the liquid into another sanitized jug. If there are more than 2 inches between the top of the wine and the neck of the bottle, top off with a syrup of equal parts honey and water.

When the wine is clear rather than cloudy, wait 30 days then siphon or carefully pour it into another jug, top up if necessary to refit the airlock or balloon. Repeat this procedure every three months for nine months until almost no sediment is forming on the bottom of the jug. Pour the wine through a funnel into bottles. Cork the bottles and age it for a year.

Seeing the Forage for the Greens

Before you run out and start gnawing at your neighbor's saplings, it's best to understand exactly what you're dealing with. If you're not careful, you could end up tossing a poison salad.

"Many of the fruit trees planted in parks or along sidewalks were put there with the original intention that people would harvest them," Meredith said. "But don't be sort of sure, as you don't want to eat anything poisonous or unpalatable. The first rule of foraging is: If in doubt, throw it out."

She suggests doing a little legwork and research on anything you plan to eat. After all, urban produce won't have the code stickers found in grocery store produce.

"Find a good field guide --- either a book, website, or app --- and learn to conclusively identify a few plants to get started," Meredith said. "Also, find out if the area you are planning to forage in has been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides, and avoid it if so."

When you're gathering for yourself, there's no skirting the effect that city living has on nature.

"Most of us humans live in highly contaminated environments," said ecological systems designer Nancy Klehm, founder of Social Ecologies. "Airborne, water and soil-borne pollution, chemical fertilizers, and heavy metals are part and parcel to our lives, and even public parks have risks attached to them. You always want to be collecting from places which are less obviously contaminated than others."

Once you've picked your spot, or spots, the tools of the urban foraging trade are as simple as the rules for being a conscientious steward of the environment.

"Always have a pocket knife and a few paper bags or newspapers with you, as plants can mold easily in plastic," Klehm said. "A small trowel can be helpful, but most importantly, know your plants and show your respect to them and their abundance. Never take more than you can use, and don't damage a plant or public property with sloppy pruning or digging."

Gather, Rinse, Repeat

So much of what you come across in your urban foraging adventure is determined not by how hard you look, but by where and when you do your hunting. Geography and season play such important roles that you're not so much at the mercy of Mother Nature as you are playing strictly by her guidelines.

With so many variables at play, it's nice to know that some basic, universal rules apply to all urban foragers. The first of them is simple enough: Wash up. Not just the hands that did the digging and pruning, but everything you've rescued from the metropolitan wild or a community garden.

"Many community gardens are organic, which means they're herbicide- and pesticide-free, and most wild fruits and vegetables don't require any special handling," Meredith said. "Wash everything like you would wash produce from a Farmer's Market."

That means scrubbing roots under running water with a vegetable brush, or swishing your freshly plucked greens around in a sink or large bowl of water and letting the residual soil sink to the bottom. After everything is rinsed, the food must be stored in the same way you would keep store-bought food.

"The same methods that help your cultivated produce last longer will work with wild edibles," Meredith said. "Think categories like leafy greens, root vegetables (and) berries --- if it works to help your store-bought spinach stay fresh longer, it will work for any wild leafy green."