Forage for food in your own backyard

While most homeowners hate to see the weed goosefoot lambs quarters pop up in their backyards, Tana Elder of Petersburg welcomes the annual sprouting of the herbaceous plant.

“This weed is real tender. It tastes like domestic spinach. I put the leaves in salad, or you can put it in an omelet or quiche,” said the retired schoolteacher.

By gathering and eating the weed -- also known as wild spinach -- that grows just about everywhere in central Illinois, Elder is practicing a growing trend: foraging.

“People these days are getting more involved in their food choices. If you talk about seasonal and local, what is more seasonal and local than what is in your backyard?” said Ellen Zachos, author of “Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat” (Storey Publishing, 2013). Another plus: the food is free.

She suggests planting ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and annuals with edible parts on your property so you can easily forage for food. By managing your own nontraditional edibles, you will know that they haven’t been sprayed with chemicals and are not poisonous.

“The book is for the person who doesn’t want to risk their family’s health by picking the wrong plant. Most people know what a dandelion is, what a hosta is, what a daylily is. So foraging in your backyard is a non-threatening and accessible way to get started,” said Zachos, who works as a rooftop garden designer in New York City.

Common Midwestern plants

Wild foods that are safe to eat include:

--Spruce trees. In early spring, snip off the feathery new growth on the tips of the branches. Make spruce salt or sugar by adding equal parts of salt or sugar and spruce tips in a food processor. Pulse until the mix is finely chopped and let it dry on a cookie sheet. Spruce tips also can be made into jelly or sorbet.

--Hostas. New shoots can be chopped, stir-fried and served over pasta or rice. Older leaves can be boiled 15 to 20 minutes, then chopped and sautéed, like other greens, and added to soups and quiche. The flowers can be tossed in a salad.

--Nasturtium. Seedpods can be pickled and used as caper substitutes. Flowers, which have a distinctive horseradish-like taste, can be added to salads, floated on cold soups or sprinkled on rice dishes. Leaves can be added to a sandwich or used to make pesto.

--Crab apples. Sprinkle the fruit of this flowering tree with cinnamon and serve as a side dish with pork or chicken. Or make crab apples into wine, which will have the flavor of port. Cook the fruit and it can be used in tarts, cakes, pies and applesauce.

--Chokeberry. The tart red or black berries of this deciduous shrub can be juiced or used to flavor ice cream, sorbet or jelly.

--Redbud trees. Collect the tart pink buds off of this flowering tree when they’re tightly closed. They add a snappy crunch to leafy green salads, and can be stirred into potato, tuna or chicken salad.

--Hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Often found at the base of oak trees, the mushroom’s fibrous stem can transform into mushroom stock. The caps adds meaty substance to pasta, casserole and stir-fries.

--Oak trees. Shell newly fallen acorns and grind the nut meat into a flour to use in baked goods. They also can be ground and used as nuts in cookies and breads.

--Milkweed. Boil the shoots, flower buds and pods of this roadside weed. Shoots, which taste like green beans, can be roasted in a 450-degree oven with olive oil, garlic and parmesan. Buds can be sautéed in olive oil with salt and pepper. Mature flowers can be dipped in batter and deep-fried, or simmered in water to make a pink-purple syrup that can be mixed into cocktails. Toss immature pods into soups, stews and stir-fries.

Branching out

If your backyard foraging is successful, Zachos suggests getting a field guide that identifies edible plants. Then ask neighbors for permission to forage in their yards or search in open spaces.

“I harvest all over the place. I harvest in Central Park. It’s a really large park with many noxious weeds that need pulling,” said Zachos.

“While most parks don’t allow wholesale harvesting of leaves and stems, they’re more relaxed about nuts and berries. Collecting mushrooms and weeds may also be permitted; just be sure to ask first,” she said. The National Park Service, she added, allows individuals to pick up 25 pounds of pine nuts per year, as long as they’re for noncommercial use and no trees are damaged in the picking.

Derek Harms, interim executive director of the Springfield Park District, said the district has no “specific ordinance that prevents foraging in our parks.”

But Zachos stressed that it’s easier for novices to simply grow made-for-foraging plants on their property.

“You’ve already got permission, and you probably know what you’re growing,” she said.

Tana Elder knows what’s growing in her yard, and it includes goosefoot lambs quarters.

“It’s the bane of every farmer,” she said. “But it’s delicious.”

Milkweed Flower Syrup

Adapted from “Backyard Foraging”

2 cups fully opened, nectar-filled milkweed flowers

2 cups sugar

Place flowers in a pot with 4 cups of water and the sugar. Stir gently with wire whisk to dissolve sugar, then bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer until volume is reduced by half and the taste pleases you. Add the pink-purple syrup to white wine or cocktails, freeze it into popsicles or use with an ice cream maker to create a sorbet.

Food editor Kathryn Rem can be reached at 788-1520 or kathryn.rem@sj-r.com.