Think wild blueberries are exotic? Try picking your own cattail shoots, milkweed pods or wild ginger. Eating locally might be trendy, but foodies who are serious about tasting terroir are turning to foraging.
Wild foods are local edibles with attitude and grit — coming up when and where they please without help from farmer or gardener. Chefs across the country already know these indigenous plants are as delicious to eat as they are exciting to hunt, and many are in their prime right now.
Salal berries
Where it grows On evergreen shrubs in the shady, moist, coastal areas of British Columbia.
When to look for it The plant begins to fruit in June, but the berries, about the size of a cranberry, are not ripe until they are dark blue or black, usually in late July through August. Sturdy crops of berries can last into the fall, when they will be sweetened by a few autumn frosts.
How to eat it
Salal berries — which have a distinctive star-shaped indentation at their tips — are best enjoyed fresh, or made into jam, jelly or syrup, either on their own or in combination with other berries or fruit.
Choke cherries
Where it grows In large clusters on small trees across Canada, especially in the Western provinces.
When to look for it These pea-sized cherries are ripe in late summer, when they have turned from red to deep burgundy or even darker. Avoid eating the fruit before it is ripe or it will be mouth-puckeringly astringent.
How to eat it Choke cherries are best when cooked. (You can also eat them raw, but remove the pits first as raw pits contain a toxin.) Cook the cherries whole with sugar for juice, jelly or syrup, or pit the cherries for a delicious pie filling.
Saskatoon berries
Where it grows In thickets, ravines and open woods across the Prairies.
When to look for it In July and August or as soon as the berries, which look like blueberries with little crowns at the ends, turn a dark-purplish blue
How to eat it Sun-warmed Saskatoons are great eaten right off the bush. Their flavour is sweet and even more complex than wild blueberries. Saskatoon berries also freeze nicely for a little sunshine in colder months. (Freezing will soften fruit, so you will need to bake the berries into a pie or crumble once defrosted.)
Wild ginger
Where it grows This native plant has heart-shaped leaves and grows low to the ground in moist woods and thickets from Manitoba eastward.
When to look for it May through June.
How to eat it Canadian wild ginger has a much more subtle, earthy flavour than tropical ginger. Use fresh, cleaned and scraped ginger root in hot or iced tea, or anywhere else you might use tropical ginger root. You can also dry the roots in a slow oven and store in an airtight container.
Cattail
Where it grows Wet areas like marshes, ponds and shallow water throughout the country.
When to look for it Different parts of the cattail plant are edible at different times, from early spring through summer.
How to eat it Cattails, also called bulrushes, are reedy plants with foliage that looks like long wild grass and brown, tubular flowers. In early spring, eat the shoots raw, poached or roasted. In June, break the immature flower head off, peel the green membrane and enjoy it boiled, with salt and butter. Once the cattail flowers in summer, gently bend the stalk until you can get the furry flower into a bag and then tap the stalk to collect the pollen. Add half a cup or so to pancakes or muffins. (Simply reduce the flour in the recipe proportionately.)
Milkweed
Where it grows In fields and along roadsides all over North America.
When to look for it Early spring, late spring and summer.
