Tama Matsuoka Wong, author of Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer’s Market, was a star guest here at Double Brook Farm today.
Along with Tama, Jon, Andrew, Charlton, Stephanie and I foraged all through the weeds looking for edibles to add to salads and drinks, to saute, blanch, boil, dry, toast and simply eat raw. First thing she found was wood sorrel. It’s everywhere!
This was followed closely by the lambsquarters. Here is Stephanie with a tender lambsquarters top, ready to be sauteed.
Best moment of the foraging session? When Andrew excitedly yanked a 2-foot sassafras sapling out of the ground and asked: “Can you use this?”. Tama answered: “Yes, but I have a sustainability code, so I don’t use it.” Andrew: “Oh.” It only took a heartbeat for the rest of us to pile on…
Jon found a treasure trove of Field Garlic (above) which is now in our fridge, along with some Narrowleaf Mountainmint. Actually the mint has already been muddled with some agave and a lime. So good!
Even Roxy was enjoying all the action. So exciting to have a bunch of humans sniffing and digging all through the weeds and woods.
When I left the foraging crew, they were still going along the fences in search of new flavors…
Thank you, Tama, for guiding us through the edibles! Back at the ranch, the cows seem to say: ‘yeah, yeah, tell me something I don’t know’.
