Greens gone wild

As you squelch along on a muddy spring hike, look down: Now is when shoots spring up and tiny leaves unfurl, ready to grace a salad or enliven a saute. Westerners see wild greens on menus and at farmers' markets, but more and more people are gathering a fresh taste themselves. "Foraging's fun, it gets you closer to the earth, and it's a wonderful family activity," says John Kallas, director of Portland's Wild Food Adventures (www.wildfoodadventures.com or 503/775-3828), which offers tours and classes.

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Out there in April are such succulent finds as dandelion greens, fennel, fiddleheads, mustard greens, nettles, and watercress. If you want to join in, learn before you go, says Peter Martinelli, an organic farmer in Bolinas, California, who gathers and sells watercress, nettles, and miner's lettuce. "My grandmother used to send me down to the creek to forage wild watercress when I was a kid," Martinelli says. "She made me very aware of what was watercress and what was not."

If you can't rely on family lore, find a teacher, check local regulations, and get yourself a good field guide. The handiest we've found? Gregory L. Tilford's Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West (Mountain Press Publishing, 1997; $21).

COPYRIGHT 2006 Sunset Publishing Corp.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning