Tag: foraging

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The Wonder of Dandelions

By Katie Hunhoff

Marla Bull Bear helps manage summer camps on the Rosebud Reservation designed to connect teens with their Lakota roots.

Dandelions are a scourge for people who think of beautiful city lawns as a monoculture of green rectangles. But the yellow flowers are like most things in life; the better you know them, the more you like them.

“Dandelions are absolutely amazing,” says Marla Bull Bear, a Herrick woman who often teaches youth about the wonders of nature in South Dakota.”It’s a plant that’s seen as a noxious weed until we realize how wonderful they are as a medicine and health benefit. That is what really got me interested in dandelions.”

“The entire plant is useful, as well as being extremely healthy,” says Bull Bear, who serves as executive director of the Lakota Youth Development.”The flowers are good in tea, the leaves can be used in any type of salad. And the roots can be used as a poor man’s coffee.”

Bull Bear roasts the dandelion roots, grinds them, and uses the grounds to supplement her coffee, making it last longer. People with a sensitivity to caffeine can use the dandelion roots as a complete coffee replacement.”To me, the grounds taste like dandelions,” she laughs. She describes it as a rich, earthy taste.

She uses the yellow flower to steep tea. It results in a mild taste, especially when sweetened with honey.

Once people open their minds to dandelions being a part of their diet, the benefits are almost overwhelming. Dandelions are more nutrient dense than lettuce, spinach, broccoli and other greens. They have a long tap root which pulls minerals from deep within the earth. Even dandelions grown in poor soil are still full of nutrition. To name some health benefits, dandelions are high in iron, vitamin A, B, C, K and E, calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, zinc, antioxidants and fiber. In fact, dandelions are so hardy and nutritious that some families survived on them during the Great Depression.

Dandelions are also believed to have medicinal uses. Their milky juice can treat fungal infections on skin. The roots and greens are natural detoxifiers and diuretics, supporting the kidneys and liver and also the gallbladder. Dandelions may lower blood pressure and even calm your nerves.

If the numerous benefits of dandelions inspire you to start foraging, Bull Bear has a big disclaimer. It isn’t safe to eat dandelions that grow on a lawn sprayed with chemicals or pesticides.”Plants absorb chemicals out of the earth. So when lawns have been exposed it can take three to four years for the effects to leave,” she says. And even if your own lawn hasn’t been sprayed, chemicals can spread from nearby lawns through pollinators or the air.

“We have horrible mindsets about our lawns. And most lawns could feed a family for a year if we turned them into gardens,” she says.”We would all be healthier if we got out and dug in the dirt and got some sunshine. Our health issues and the earth are all connected. If we are being unhealthy with the land and our environment, it will come back to haunt us,” she says.

Even country dandelions, growing far from city lawns, may not be safe to harvest. Bull Bear asks that foragers avoid road ditches due to car exhaust and chemical sprays that may drift from neighboring fields and pastures. Even dandelions that grow by lakes and ponds may be problematic.”If the river or creek floods there are all manner of things in the flood water that can contaminate plants.”

Part of Bull Bear’s work with Lakota Youth Development is to teach kids about safe foraging and having respect for the land.”When we work with our youth here and think about plants it’s about building relationships between them and the plant nation. ‘What can it do for us?’ and ‘What harm can it do?’ It’s like making a relationship with people. And we can help them and benefit from what gifts they have to offer.”

Once you find an area that has untouched dandelions, foraging can begin. Bull Bear has three rules of thumb. The first is to never harvest more than you need, which is a guessing game for beginners. Second, never harvest more than one third of the plant in a given area so you leave the system strong. And finally, she recommends making an offering, a prayer or thank you, to the plant nation.

Dandelions are not a part of Native American folklore or legend. They were originally brought here by the pilgrims who knew the many benefits.”It’s a fairly new plant as far as Lakota history. But that doesn’t mean it’s not on our list of medicines,” Bull Bear says.

Bull Bear has seen many kids enjoy dandelions.”Every child is drawn to them. To pick them by the handfuls to give to grandma, or to make a wish while blowing their seeds. It has a real attraction for kids. If we want to get kids interested in foraging and their natural environment, dandelions are a great first plant.”

Dandelion Tea

1 tablespoon of rinsed and drained yellow dandelion petals

1 cup hot water

Add honey to taste

Let steep 2-3 minutes

Dandelion Flower Cookies

1 cup coconut oil

1 cup honey

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla or almond (optional)

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup rinsed yellow, dandelion flower petals

2 cups flour

Mix all together. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Dandelion Greens

4 tablespoons butter

1 onion

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups heavy cream or half and half

4 handfuls of rinsed dandelion leaves (either young leaves or older, longer leaves work well in this recipe).

Steam dandelion greens and drain. Chop onion and saute in butter (or olive oil). Brown flour in butter and onions, then take off heat and slowly stir in
milk. Stir over low heat until thickened. My husband loves basil so I usually sprinkle in a bit of basil at this point. Next add the dandelion greens and
cook for 5-10 minutes. This dish is good with a little shredded cheese sprinkled on top.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the March/April 2023 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

Honey from dandelion and a Cup of tea. Selective focus.
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The Art of Mushroom Hunting

By Bernie Hunhoff

Morel mushrooms will soon begin to grow in South Dakota’s river valleys.

Thousands of South Dakotans are now waiting for a warming of the soil that will sprout mushrooms in forested fields and river bottoms.

When the time is right, people who normally complain about walking across the street for a loaf of bread will crawl through brambles, wade across mucky creeks, scratch under rotted leaves and climb barbed wire — all in the height of tick season — to collect a sack full of mushrooms.

I hadn’t gone mushroom hunting since we escorted our elderly grandmother around the farmstead as she poked about for the fungi, so when longtime mushroomer Darold Loecker issued an invitation to search his favorite spot along the Missouri River I thought it might be a fun exercise.

“Meet me at the bait shop. And bring an extra pair of shoes,” he said.

Grandma never needed extra shoes. That should have been the warning I needed. But I wasn’t suspicious enough to ask.

Darold wasn’t there yet when I got to the bait shop. The girl behind the counter asked if I was going fishing. She had a tub full of minnows.

“Mushroom hunting,” I said confidently.

A Wonderbread man, who was filling the bakery shelf, said he found lots of mushrooms the night before. “But the ticks were thick. I had about 30 on me when I got home.”

Just as I was trying to leave, Darold showed up. I mentioned the ticks. He just laughed. “Did you bring extra shoes?” he asked.

We got in Darold’s pickup and as he turned the key he swore me to secrecy. Mushroomers, it seems, like to keep their favorite spots a secret. Unlike deer hunters, who will tell you the exact latitude and longitude where they bagged a big buck, mushroom hunters often won’t even tell you what county they hunt.

Darold trusted me for some reason. And it wasn’t long before we came upon some cottonwood trees in a river bottom. He gave me a bag and suggested I find a walking stick, which isn’t hard to do in a forest of cottonwoods.

He said the stick serves three purposes: It can be a cane, a marker when you find a good spot and a probe in underbrush.

Off we went. My eyes were trained on the grassy ground. I found empty shotgun shells and Mountain Dew cans, but no mushroom.

After about five minutes, Darold called me over. He pointed to a little fungus with a brown, spongy head atop a 2-inch stem. “That’s a morel mushroom. That’s what we’re looking for.”

He instructed me how to pinch the mushroom off at ground level. I was more confident now that I knew what we were looking for. I walked even slower, looking under every brush by every log. Darold has discovered that mushrooms seem to sprout around downed trees and branches.

Darold found a few more. I was still looking for my first one. Then he started tailing me and every now and then he would say, “You just stepped over one!”

That was the motivation I needed to really watch the earth and, before long, I found a few without backtracking. At last I was a full-fledged mushroom hunter.

We had good success along the riverside. But mushroom hunters are explorers and Darold pointed to a tiny island, which was separated from us by a swamp of stale water and cattails.

”There’ll be mushrooms there because nobody else will go there,” he said. That’s where the extra shoes came in handy. We put on our old sneakers and gingerly waded through the swamp to the island, where we found more pop cans but no mushrooms.

We returned to the riverbank, put on our dry shoes and resumed the hunt. In a few hours’ time we filled several bags with morel mushrooms. I felt like a gardener who reaped a bounty without pulling a weed. And we only brushed off a half-dozen wood ticks.

It seemed too easy to be legal. But it is.

Since that mushroom hunt, I have tried to learn more about mushrooms by asking other veteran pickers for advice. As long as you don’t inquire as to where they go, they are willing to talk. Here’s some of what I’ve learned:

Don’t use plastic bags when you hunt for mushrooms because they cause sweating and quicker deterioration. Use paper bags in the field, and wax paper or newspapers for wrapping.

Sandy soil (such as can be found along many rivers) is the best place to search early in the season because it warms earlier. The mushroom season usually arrives in mid-April in southeast South Dakota and may last only a week or two, depending on the weather. It may come later in northern South Dakota and has been known to extend to Memorial Day in the Black Hills.

If you are hunting mushrooms for the first time, be certain you are collecting edible fungi. Some are poisonous. The most popular South Dakota mushroom is the genus Morchella, commonly known as the morel. Guidebooks are available to help you identify your bounty. Veteran mushroom hunters are also happy to help.

Once you bring home a sack full of mushrooms, you’ll wonder what to do with them. Most nutritionists would probably agree that mushrooms will never become a staple in the American diet. They are not easily digestible and should not be eaten in large quantities.

Furthermore they are fungi — closely related to athlete’s foot, green stuff on old cheese and corn smut. Nutritionally, they are about as good as a leaf of lettuce.

But also remember that mushrooms can cost $100 a pound dried in some specialty stores. And the morel we commonly enjoy in South Dakota cannot even be grown in captivity. They only flourish in the wild.

When you bring your mushrooms home, be certain to look for tiny worms that sometimes crawl into the pitted crown of the morel.

Some people store their mushrooms by drying them on wire trays or screens and then storing the pieces in tightly closed jars. When water is added later, the mushrooms return to their original shape, texture and taste.

Others can mushrooms by heating them for about 15 minutes in water and then packing them in pint or half-pint jars. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of ascorbic acid to each pint and fill the jars with boiling water to cover the mushrooms. Process in a hot water bath for three hours or in a pressure canner for 30 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.

When it comes to preparing the mushrooms for the table, it is a matter of preference. Many people simply slice them up for salads, sauces and omelets.

But a favorite style, especially in South Dakota bars, involves dipping mushroom slices in an egg batter and frying them quickly in butter, turning them to brown both sides.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the March/April 1993 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

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America’s Asparagus Gap

“Where to find spring asparagus” reads the headline on the New York Magazine website. Hmmm, I’m thinking, we have a similar story in our May/June issue. Perhaps we’re not so different from our fellow journalists in the Big Apple.

So I read the New York Magazine story and learn that the writer is simply suggesting how to find asparagus at six restaurants that I’ve never heard of, including Rosemary’s, Rouge Tomate and Northern Spy Food Co., the latter of which is featuring a $27 plate of weakfish with a spring stew of fava beans, fiddleheads, asparagus, rice beans and nettle fume.

Sounds good enough, but very different from our story which suggests that you drive down a gravel road and search for wild asparagus in the ditches. It grows there because South Dakota once had more than 80,000 farms, and almost every farm had a garden. Many of the family farmsteads are gone, but the asparagus continues to spread. You just have to know where to look.

Our asparagus expert is Russ Olson, a friend from Madison who serves Lake and Moody counties in the state senate. Russ has been an asparagus hunter since his childhood days at Egan. He suggests that rookies look for last year’s left-over growth. “The old plant will be two or three feet high and look like a spindly tumbleweed,” he says. “Find that and you’ll find new growth around it.”

Russ says the asparagus stalks are ready for harvest about the time the lilacs bloom. “Snip the new shoots when they are about 10 inches high,” he says. “And leave them alone after July 4th so they can recover for next year.”

That’s our idea of an asparagus hunt. But don’t misunderstand me. I’m not knocking the New York variety. Avoiding comparisons with other states has long been one of our principal editorial goals at South Dakota Magazine. Geographic comparisons almost always devolve into snobbery, intentionally or not. I suspect that many rural Americans of both political parties cringed when Sarah Palin suggested that her rural upbringing qualified her for high political office. “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity and dignity,” she said. “They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food run our factories and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they are always proud of America.”

And our city friends are not hard-working, patriotic and proud?

Eighty percent of Americans have voted on this with their feet. They live in urban and suburban communities. The vast majority of our small towns, including almost every one in South Dakota, is struggling to attract young people. Not to pick on Sarah (because she’s hardly the first small-state politician or writer to romanticize the virtues of Green Acres living), but we think it’s important for rural America to avoid the practice of rural reverse snobbery. The we’re-better-than-everyone-else-ism seems to be one thing that many young people dislike about their small towns.

So we say enjoy the asparagus wherever you live — whether it be Brooklyn or Brookings or Batesland. But $27 a plate? If the price gets any higher, surely our city cousins will be cruising the dirt roads of Moody County, looking for the wild variety.

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Hard-won Walnut Cookies

By Ruth Steil

Black walnuts add rich flavor to baked goods, but harvesting and shelling the nuts can be a real challenge.

Try cracking your black walnuts with a hammer and you’ll likely get bruised fingers and a new respect for squirrels. The little furry-tailed creatures make the laborious task of shelling black walnuts look simple. Since humans aren’t equipped with a squirrel’s incisors, using a nutcracker is probably the best option. Neighbors may suggest other nut-cracking methods — like crushing the nuts in a vise or splitting them with an axe or putting them in a gunny sack and driving over them. All of the aforementioned pose safety issues, since the nuts and shells can become airborne.

A nutcracker worthy of cracking a black walnut isn’t any ordinary nutcracker. And it certainly doesn’t look like the one you see dancing in the ballet. A real nutcracker has a long lever handle that crushes the nut between two metal plungers.”You need special equipment,” said April Borders, Yankton County Extension Agent, when we spoke with her in 2007.”The nutcracker for black walnuts looks almost like a pop can crusher.”

Rock-hard shells aren’t the only drawback to black walnuts; juice from the hull surrounding the shell will stain. Native Americans and pioneers used it to make dye, and even today several recipes for the dye can be found on the Internet. Unless you don’t mind stained hands and fingers, Borders recommended wearing gloves when working with black walnuts. Protecting clothing, tools and work surfaces is a good idea, too.

Black walnuts should be hulled before storage to retain the color and flavor of the nutmeat. It’s best to throw the hull scraps in the trash. The hulls, as well as the roots, leaves and bark of the black walnut tree contain juglone, a chemical that inhibits the growth of many vegetables, fruits, landscape plants and flowers.”When you look under a black walnut tree, there’s nothing growing under it, even grass has a hard time,” Borders said.”It’s mother nature’s way of protecting the plant.”

In order to beat the squirrels, look for black walnuts to ripen from August to September.”Harvest will depend on the weather,” Borders said.”Watch for the husks to change color, then use your thumb to do a dent test similar to what you would do with squash.” It’s best to pull the nuts off the tree, according to Borders. Those too high to reach will come down with the frost.

Once you’ve collected the nuts, hulled them and purchased a heavy-duty nutcracker, you’re probably in a hurry to shell. But wait a while — they should cure for two weeks or more. That allows the flavor to develop and prepares them for storage. It also gives you time to ask around for recipes.

Grace Linn of Brookings shared this recipe with us. She first made these cookies with black walnuts she brought home from a trip in Wisconsin when she didn’t realize the nuts grew in South Dakota.

Black Walnut Raisin Cookies

1 cup raisins
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or black walnut flavoring
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/3 cup black walnuts

Mix and cook the raisins and water for a few minutes. Drain and reserve 1/4 cup liquid. Return liquid to raisins and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Set aside to cool.

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs and flavoring then beat thoroughly. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and allspice. Mix flour mixture with sugar and shortening. Fold in raisin mixture and black walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until done.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the September/October 2007 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.

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Weed Eater

By Laura Johnson

Who doesn’t love a free meal? It’s long been an interest of mine. I’ve never gone dumpster diving myself, but I have friends who enjoy it. I have gleefully partaken of their spoils in the past — well-aged candy, day-or-two-old bread, slightly expired juice and more. We’re all still alive, too.

It wasn’t until recently that I realized that free food is all around us. It’s coming up out of the ground, in fact. It’s darned hard to stop these tasty plants, which some of you call”weeds.” Why spend a lot of time and energy eradicating them when you could be feasting? Once I bought a house and had control over what went on in my yard, I decided to experiment. Did you know the leaves of the often cursed dandelion are delicious before the flower buds form and turn them bitter? You can use them raw, steamed or sautÈed. The roots are edible also, and the flowers can be converted into fritters, jam or wine.

A lady from my knitting group hooked me on my latest weed-eating obsession — lamb’s quarters. If you’ve ever pulled a weed, you’ll recognize these dusty-looking plants. (As with all foraged foods, check with someone who knows about wild edibles before you start snacking for the first time.) Lamb’s quarters are related to quinoa, and are extremely nutritious — full of vitamins A and C and other good things. It’s much better for you than expired candy.

Treat these weeds like you would spinach — the flavor is similar. I’ve seen recipes for lamb’s quarters pesto, lasagna, omelet and soup. All sound very lovely, but I tend to use my backyard bounty the same way I use all edibles — in pizza, nature’s perfect food. Here’s a rough recipe that’ll give you an idea of how I do it.

Lamb’s Quarters Pizza

Crust — From the Betty Crocker Cookbook

Makes 2 — or split it up into smaller portions and freeze what you do not use right away, as I do.

1 packages regular or quick active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
Olive or vegetable oil
Cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water in medium bowl. Stir in flour, 2 tablespoons oil and salt. Beat vigorously 20 strokes. Cover and let rest 20 minutes.

Move oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 2 cookie sheets or pizza pans with oil. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide dough in half; pat each half into 11 inch circle on cookie sheet with floured fingers. Prick dough thorougly with fork. Bake about 10 minutes or until crust just begins to brown. Remove and add toppings.

Toppings

The amount of each topping you need will vary depending on how much pizza you’re making, of course.

1 or 2 garlic cloves
Olive oil
Salt
Lamb’s quarters, washed well, drained and patted dry
Mozzarella, grated
Goat cheese, crumbled or sliced
Whatever sounds good to you on pizza

While crust is baking, mash garlic cloves with salt in a mortar and pestle, adding olive oil to make a sauce-like substance, or just mince garlic and spread on crust with oil. Add a layer of lamb’s quarters, making sure you’ve got them pretty dry. Add grated mozzarella and top with hunks of goat cheese. Bake until mozzarella has melted and pizzas look bubbly, about ten minutes.

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Asparagus Stalking

By Rebecca Johnson

Food foragers unite! It’s time to start scoping out wild asparagus. For spring hunting, you can start by looking for last year’s dead asparagus bush. The new green stalks should be hiding underneath. Hunting usually starts in April or May, but things are sprouting a little earlier with the unseasonably warm weather.

Debey Senska of Forestburg sent me a photo of her first find of the year. It’s not ready to pick, but she’s excited for when it is.”In my area, it seems like when the lilacs bloom it’s time to start looking,” says Senska.”In the James River Valley the growing season will be earlier than Forestburg, and up by Aberdeen it will be later.” I’m going to keep an eye out this weekend in Yankton while hunting for morels. I saw a few lilac blooms out by the lake this week.

Senska’s hunting begins by scouting in the fall. It can be hard to spot while still in edible form, but in the fall you can look for overgrown wild asparagus. It will be about four feet tall, bushy and fernlike. Its foliage is wispy with tiny green needles. It’s too late to eat, but make note of the location and come back in the spring. Senska looks in well-drained soils near rivers, lakes, and along fence lines.”When we lived on the farm, my kids and I spent many hours hunting asparagus within a two mile range of home,” says Senska.”It even grew in the fence line of the little country cemetery where my son is now buried.”

Asparagus crop varies by the amount of snow or rain.”The water content in asparagus is almost 95%, so in a wet spring the harvest is amazing,” Senska says. It hasn’t been especially rainy so far this year, so we’ll see how it goes. If you decide to venture out this season, have fun and enjoy your free food!

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First Time Mushroom Hunting

I didn’t need another hobby, but I found a new one last weekend in morel mushroom hunting. And it combines two things I already enjoy — hiking and eating healthy, unusual foods.

It’s no secret morels are in season but I’ve quickly found that good hunting areas are guarded and even coveted. My husband Jeremy and I decided to try our luck at this muddy Easter egg hunt in a wooded area outside of town. We found almost five pounds after about an hour and a half of searching.

Don’t even ask me where they were. The only person we’ve told the true location to is my Dad. He’s got better things to do besides crawling around in the dirt and he promised not to tell anyone.

We plan to eat these treasures every night this week. Does anybody have any good recipes?