Early Spring Nibbles
We all go through phases as teenagers --- our
hip-hop phase, our rebellious phase. I went through phases too,
and the one I remember the most is my edible plants phase.
About a year
before I hunted down
the tract of old growth forest, my obsession was wild
edibles. For weeks, I pored over Euell Gibbons’ Stalking the Wild
Asparagus. I dug up daylily roots out of my flowerbed and boiled
them, finding their taste bitter and not very palatable. I
agonized over whether it was ethical to dig up the slow-growing but
supposedly delicious roots of the toothworts, finally deciding against
it. I read about pounding and boiling acorns until the bitterness
is gone, then using them as flour.
Like most
teenage phases, this one slowly faded away as I realized that I was too
picky to eat two thirds of the cultivated foods that crossed my plate,
let alone the wild ones. But there are a few wild plants that I
will still happily nibble on as I walk down the trail. Teaberry
and sassafras leaves are old friends, the first minty, the second spicy
and slippery. The Cliff Trail is home to two of my other favorite
nibbles --- greenbriers and Spicebush.
There are
actually two species of greenbriers to be found along the Cliff Trail
(along with several more in southwest Virginia), and all of them form
long, thorn-covered vines. The more common of the two Sugar Hill
species, aptly named Common Greenbrier, is my favorite for spring
nibbling --- I like to pluck off the tender shoots that twine out of
the end of the vine in spring and eat them raw for their slightly sour
flavor. I have been told that others cook the shoots like
asparagus, but my greenbrier tendrils never make it home. The
other Sugar Hill greenbrier --- Hispid Greenbrier --- is easily
distinguished by the smaller, hair-like thorns that line its
stem. Tender tendrils from the Hispid Greenbrier are also edible
in the spring, though I rarely find enough to feel good about nibbling
on them.
Friends who I
introduce to greenbrier tendrils give me mixed reviews, but just about
everyone likes Spicebush flower buds. The Spicebush is closely
related to the similarly spicy Sassafras, but its leaves are usually
too strong for my palate. In early spring, though, tiny round
buds on the bush’s twigs swell until they pop open into pale yellow
flowers. The flowers, and especially the about-to-open flower
buds, are just right --- slightly spicy, slightly sweet, without the
kick of the adult leaves. Like Common Greenbrier, Spicebushes are
a dime a dozen in our region, so I feel no ethical quandary about
snacking on their tasty buds as I hike Sugar Hill’s trails.
As with any
teenage phase, the search for wild edibles does not come without
dangers. Before eating any wild plant, you should be positive
that you are identifying it correctly and can distinguish it from
poisonous plants. Even easily identified edibles like greenbriers
and Spicebush may cause allergic reactions in some people, so start off
your experiments with small quantities. Those caveats aside, it
is certainly fun to know what to snack on when you run out of granola
bars on the trail.
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