Stalking the Wild Rhubarb

I’m learning how to forage and spring is the best time to practice because there’s really not that much growing, yet.  The spring edibles practically jump right out at you, bright patches of green against a still-brownish background, which is useful when you’re not terribly observant. 

So far, I’ve correctly identified and not died eating wild garlic, mugwort, dandelion leaves, violets (flowers and leaves), and garlic mustard, most of which I just found in my yard.  I made pesto out of the garlic mustard tonight.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  But the weirdest thing I’ve foraged by far was the Japanese knotweed.  It was pointed out to me on a nature walk with the Waltham Land Trust not as something edible but as an aggressive invasive species that Frederick Law Olmsted planted all around Boston’s green space on account of its beauty, but which has since out-competed many native species and is now generally despised by ecologists. 

Back at home, I double-checked my Russ Cohen foraging book (remember his wild edibles walk?) and, upon confirming its possible deliciousness, returned the next day to harvest some of the young shoots since I didn’t think anyone would mind.  Even though Japanese knotweed is a member of the buckwheat family, the shoots look like asparagus meets rhubarb meets bamboo.  The stalks are actually hollow like bamboo, so you need to pick twice as much as you think you’ll need and not peel it too deeply.

Raw, it tastes crisp and tart.  Cooked, I had read that it resembles rhubarb in character, so I threw together a quick crumble like this one with a few apples, three of four stalks of sliced knotweed, and maybe ¼ cup sugar.  Then I cobbled together a mixture of flour, oatmeal, almonds, pine nuts, maple sugar, and cold butter, dumped it on top, and baked it in a 375°F oven for 45 minutes.  It was very good.  Even Husband approved, who has not necessarily been enthusiastic about the foraging concept.  The only downside is that unlike rhubarb, which cooks down to a rose color, knotweed cooks to an unappetizing light green.  Snotweed is more like it.  But if you smother it in enough vanilla ice cream, you won’t notice.  I have some stalks in the freezer I’m saving for strawberry season.

Comments

[dissertation help]

Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!

[Mangochild]

Very nice! I'm still too nervous to forage, but its good to hear successes of others - maybe one day I'll get there....

[Jess]

You're a brave soul. The only thing I've successfully foraged was dandelion blossoms for dandelion wine. A bit sweet, but tasty!

[NurseJen]

I've successfully harvested wild chives, dandelion (the blossoms for wine and the greens) and wild thyme, but only from my friends' backyards, and that's as far as I can go. I've always wanted to harvest chicory, but I only see it on the side of highways and that freaks me out a little.

Very impressive!

[cookiecrumb]

Very neato keeno.

[WhatACard]

Perfect timing with this post...I was just out picking dandelion greens in the yard before the first mow of the year. My first foray into foraging :) Gonna cook 'em up with some bacon, as I'm sure you'll agree that makes everything a little better!

[joan]

This brought back my memories of rhubarb. I grew up in Minnesota. We has rhubarb pie, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb sauce. The sauce you could put on or over anything!

[Tammy]

joan: I like the sound of that sauce. Was it just rhubarb and sugar cooked down? I may have to try it.

WhatACard: I do agree. And I may do the same.

CC: Has knotweed taken over California, yet?

NurseJen: I know nothing of your crazy dandelion-based beverages. Do tell.

Jess: Are you speaking of the same dandelion wine as NurseJen?

Mangochild: I only started last year. Before that, I grouped all plants together into the category of "that green stuff." Now I'm trying to be more discriminating (e.g., "that green stuff which can be eaten").

dissertation help: Thanks. You might want to consider punctuation when promoting your writing services in the future, though.

[VegYear]

Whether rhubarb cooks up pink or green seems to depend entirely on the color of the stalks before cooking. We've had fun surprising friends with a snotty-disgusting looking but absolutely delicious rhubarb sauce for ice cream (preferably strawberry ice cream, or vanilla ice cream with sliced strawberries). The rhubarb sauce recipe is in Joy of Cooking, but you could figure it out - simmer thinly sliced rhubarb with sugar and some water until it looks like sauce.

[Japanese knotweed]

That japanese knotweed crumble sounds yummy!

Theres so many recipes online to look at, one of my favourites is something so quick and easy. I stirfried the weed with sesame oil, sesame seed, soy sauce, hot sauce, and garlic, it’s so tasty - try it!

It such a nice ingredient to work with, i think it needs to be made more aware to the public as eradicating this annoying weed just became easy!!

Thanks for the post, will be making this one soon :o)

[Katie Vega]

Awesome post... thanks for sharing. I haven't seen any of this out where I am (Columbus, Ohio) but I've been dying to forage some wild Rhubarb. Great blog!