wild edibles

Food & Home 20 April 2009

Staff

One of the very first wild foods most people learn to identify is Miner's Lettuce (or Claytonia perfoliata)- a nice, obedient and non-threatening edible. If you're trying to overcome the culturally conditioned fear that anything growing haphazard along an undeveloped piece of land will poison you, this plant is probably the best one to start with. (Of course, that would be right after you've learned which plants will actually harm you - though the ratio of good to bad is about 10 to 1.)

The succulent, round leaves and tiny tassel of white flowers can be spotted a mile away - nothing in our area looks quite like it. Though most abundant in late winter/early spring, Miner's Lettuce ca be found in cool shady spots throughout the yep It's also chock full of vitamin C, iron and assorted minerals, while the taste is quite good-somewhere between spinach and lettuce (with a hint of apple peel), but with a more pleasing, succulent texture. It's in the same family as purslane (another wild 'weed' that sometimes finds its way into farmers markets or onto upscale menus) and gets its name from the northern gold miners who would suffer the ravages of scurvy through the winters and rejoice in spring when they could finally get their vitamin C.