Those Lockdown Larder Blues
A Food Forager’s Pandemic Survival Guide
By Henry Teitelbaum
Whether your way of coping with COVID-19 is to binge-watch Netflix, hold virtual house parties, or just stare at the walls, sooner or later you’re going to have to eat.
All around the world, lockdowns have turned people into cabin fever muppets with food scarcity issues. Too afraid to step out to the grocery store, we obsess over our diminishing stocks of beloved perishables. But as irrational hoarding of household essentials persists, some of us are wondering how we’re going to continue to feed our families without inviting contagion into our homes.
Well, fear not, brave city slicker. Help from mother nature is at hand. Springtime is overflowing with garden-fresh edible vegetation, much of it right at your doorstep. Armed with little more than a shopping basket and a pair of gardening gloves, there’s more than enough seasonal fare to see you and your family through the lockdown while staying safely out of coughing range.
And it’s all for free. (You’re welcome)
Season’s Best
Spring is my favorite season. New growth sprouts like clockwork from every corner of the great outdoors. Early seasonal greens that I have tried include weirdly named species such as Jack-by-the-hedge, (Alliaria petiolata), Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus) and Goosegrass (Galium aparine), which people in my neck of the woods call ‘cleavers’ because of the way they latch onto anything. Goosegrass, in particular, is at its best for harvesting now and can be chopped and lightly poached to yield a flavor similar to asparagus.
My personal favorite among leafy green vegetables is Stinging nettles, (Urtica dioica) which is right now providing a wholesome first flush for us to enjoy. More specialties of the season are on the way, as the ubiquitous low-growing Chickweed (Stellaria media), Ramsons (discussed below), and Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) all bring their special character to your table.
Some of these can be used to liven up your store-bought fare. Others can be blitzed into an assortment of soups and potages or stir-fried together with the protein of your choice for a main.
For those adventurous enough, this is a great time to kick your supermarket shopping addiction and try something that doesn’t always come shrink-wrapped in plastic.
Nettle-Mania
Stinging nettles grow virtually anywhere there is a patch of untended greenery.
It is early in the season here in London, which means that most of the insects that use nettles for food or shelter haven’t yet emerged, so cleaning and preparation are easier. If the pandemic lasts, you can expect this superfood to remain available and abundant straight into early winter when it will again be virtually bug-free. Just be sure to gather only the tops, so that the plant can grow back. And for God’s sake, wear garden gloves!
There are many exciting nettle recipes that I have refined over the years, including nettle soup, nettle pesto, and nettle risotto. Each of these starts off with a quick blanching to de-activate the stingers, which contain formic acid. (Blanching involves submerging the nettles first in freshly boiled water for about a minute and then dipping them in ice water. This allows the nettles to retain their bright green color and presumably, most of their phytonutrients.)
I then strip the leaves and either chop them or run them through my food processor so that I have something that resembles chopped spinach. You can use this mulch as you would spinach, sautéed in olive oil with a clove of garlic and a squeeze of lemon, or added to whatever else you are cooking. Nettles are superb in a minestrone, a pistou or any kind of bean stew, but they are also brilliant with basil in pesto for pasta or seasoned and served under poached fish.
Dandelions and beyond
Another readily available green vegetable that probably needs no introduction is Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). This is especially good now because the young leaves are less bitter than as the season advances. Dandelion adds a pleasant bite to a salad but is equally good boiled and topped with olive oil and a lemon wedge.
Similarly, Fat hen (Chenopodium album), which I first encountered while visiting Minnesota as Lamb’s Quarter, can be boiled, oiled and served in this manner. A member of the Amaranth family, which includes Quinoa, among other species, variations of Fat hen are in season most of the year and are ubiquitous in places like Greece, where they are called ‘Vleeta’. In the UK, it’s still early in the season for this mild, spinach-like leafy vegetable, but it too will become readily available as the growing season progresses.
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum), literally ‘Bear’s garlic’, or more commonly, ramsons, are also about to come into season. These are easy to distinguish by their long, wide leaves, tall stalks, and distinctive white flowers. All parts can be added to salads, while the leaves can be chopped and deployed as you would most any garlic.
As Spring turns full blossom, a riot of exciting, yet often overlooked green vegetables begin to emerge. There’s the ubiquitous rocket, and occasional watercress, which people tend to not notice growing on their way to purchase them at the greengrocer, but also less obvious fare. I’m particularly fond of Sorrel (Rumex acetosa), whose distinctive arrow-shaped leaves and refreshing lemony bite make it an easy win for the occasional forager. It is brilliant for seasoning when folded into stock for fish or served as a sauce for lamb.
Less recommended are seasonal vegetables that could be confused with similar-looking, but poisonous plants. This is particularly problematic for Cow parsley, (Anthriscus sylvestris) which grows in a meadow near my home, but which can, unfortunately, share space with deadly Hemlock, (Conium maculatum). There’s also the invasive species, Giant Hogweed, (Heracleum mantegazzian), which produces flowering parts that resemble those of Cow parsley but are extremely toxic to touch.
Only those confident in their bushcraft expertise should consider harvesting this abundantly available vegetable. I have found that cow parsley cooks up nicely as a soup due to its aromatic, slightly anise-scented character, not unlike chervil — to which it is related. In my own experience, it also works as a straight-out substitute for parsley.
Shrooming season
No discussion of seasonal foraging, or the potential risks, would be complete without a look at the various fungi that are soon to emerge. Spring isn’t the main mushroom foraging time of year, but Morels (Morchella esculenta) and Velvet Shank (Flammulina velutipes) are said to be in season right now.
Morels are well known, though I personally have never come across their distinctive fruiting bodies anywhere I’ve foraged. I have found abundant Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) in December and January, but Spring Oysters should remain available until summer. These make wonderful food choices because they are so easy to identify from their shape and habitat, but also because of the long list of nutritional benefits associated with them.
Another favorite of mine that becomes abundant, even in urban settings around this time of year, is the St. George’s mushroom, (Calocybe Gambosa). This is less easy to identify by its shape or its gills because it resembles other white-gilled mushrooms. But St. George’s mushrooms tend to grow in ‘fairy ring’ circles or beside distinctive dark patches in overgrown grass, where the fruiting bodies can ripen unseen. They are also among the first species to emerge during the season.
Other distinguishing characteristics include their habitat near shaded bodies of water or on the edge of forests, spore print, and their alluring scent, which is reminiscent of fresh cucumber.
For me, St. George’s are a delicacy that cooks up beautifully in butter, in omelets, or in a simple pasta sauce. Be careful to get to them by St. George’s Day, which is observed on 23 April in the UK, as they tend to be choice targets for maggots.
You will need to be sure of what you have found before you eat them. A good way to do this is to photograph both the top and underneath the cap, check the spore print, and submit this to an authoritative mushroom identification app.
Guidebooks and other support
There are many online guidebooks that can help you double-check what you have gathered. I also use a Facebook group called The Mushroom Identification Group for confirmation where I need it. The group is carefully monitored for accuracy relating to photo submissions. Of course, a guided forage with a qualified mycologist would be ideal for this, but this is unlikely while the lockdown remains in force.
Foraging for fresh food is a great way to spend quality time alone or with a family member while keeping a safe distance from the COVID-19 crisis. Not only will the foods you find enhance your health, the quiet time you spend gathering them might just keep you sane.
Henry Teitelbaum is a freelance content strategist, financial writer, and sustainability blogger at P3-Planet.com.