Early May Menu

Our first Acorn Kitchen Wild Food CSA pick up was a success. We met at a public recreation area in Greenfield and went for a long plant identification walk. Pointing out all the edible green treats shooting up gave me great joy. I feel a sense of security in knowing there are an abundance of wild plants for us to eat. As much as I love to garden, foraging is less time and energy intensive than food production. Both techniques are equally valuable for community food security.

 In each CSA box, we offered Japanese Knotweed Syrup and Shoots, Garlic Mustard Nettle Pesto, Fresh Nettles, Roasted Dandelion Root Tea, Ramps (Wild Leeks), Sweet Birch Sap and a newsletter about foraging.

After our plant walk, we had a picnic lunch featuring wild foods and cleansing teas: Cleavers, White Pine, and Dandelion Recharge. These beverages are all super-foods for the liver and move lymph aiding in detoxifying the blood.

Small tastes of savory dishes to expand our palates were impressive! I especially enjoyed the parsnip nettle soup. Spring parsnips are available now. Their sweet roots are deep nutrition and along with the dense mineral content of nettles, your body will be soaring!

For dessert, a local baker provided us with two delicious gluten free treats: Japanese Knotweed Crumble and Autumn Olive Curd dabbled on top of Butter Thumbprint Cookies! Local maple syrup and honey sweetened these treats without taking away from the sour and pungent flavors of the wild edible ingredients. We want those bitter, pungent, and sour flavors in our diets this spring to facilitate our body’s natural cleansing process.

Our next Acorn Kitchen Wild Foods workshop is May 25^th at Hampshire College from 10am-12pm. $20. Let me know if you’d like to come and be part of this great group of foragers or email wearewildfood@gmail.com.