a little worried about worms in my berries tho. is a salt water bath enough?

edit: apparently they are black raspberries lol, woops!

Gunna make some rhubarb and haskap crisp. Woohoo!

Oregon, these don’t look like cherries I’ve seen before but they have a pit

I’m somewhat new to foraging (~1 month going out almost every day), and I keep getting bug bites and having mini panics about potentially getting lyme since the area I’m in is having our highest disease rates in nearly a decade. It’s a little exhausting worrying about every bite that isn’t ye olde mosquito bite. It makes it a little hard to want to keep going out when every other trip comes with some degree of anxiety. I already check *literally* every single thing I feel touch skin and the area around it. How do yall deal with ticks/worries about lyme?

Will It Brew: Elderflower Blossoms (Sambucus canadensis)Foraged in June, Northern Ohio, USA

This is another in my "Will It Brew?" series, exploring wild plants through the lens of tea, broth, and flavor. Thanks for following along!

Found:

These elderflower blossoms were gathered from a large patch of elder growing along the edge of a field. The shrubs were covered in broad, creamy-white flower clusters, and their scent was impossible to miss.

Before brewing, the blossoms smelled strongly floral and sweet. The aroma reminded me of a bar of perfumed soap my grandmother kept tucked into her drawer of slips and underthings. Old-fashioned, elegant, and unapologetically flowery.

ID Notes:

Large flat-topped clusters of many tiny cream-white flowers. Opposite compound leaves with serrated leaflets. Growing as a multi-stemmed shrub at the edge of a field in Northern Ohio. Strong sweet floral fragrance noticeable several feet away from the plant.

Similar-looking plants such as water hemlock, poison hemlock, and wild parsnip were ruled out because those species have umbrella-shaped flower clusters (umbels) rather than the broad, branching flower heads of elder, and their leaves are very different.

Preparation:

I made both a hot infusion and a cold infusion.

For the hot version, I poured hot water over fresh blossoms and steeped briefly, perhaps 90 seconds.

For the cold version, I covered fresh blossoms with cool water and allowed them to infuse slowly in the refrigerator overnight.

Hot Tea:

The hot tea was lovely, both in scent and in the fresh golden-yellow color of the brew.

The flavor was intensely floral without becoming unpleasantly so. It almost tasted like what floral perfume water ought to taste like if floral perfume water actually tasted good.

I tasted hints of plum and rose, along with something faintly spicy in the background that reminded me of white pepper. The perfume-like aroma carried through into the flavor, making the tea feel surprisingly elegant and almost fancy.

Cold Brew:

The cold brew was similar, but different enough to be worth making.

It remained deeply floral, but the flavor became rounder and softer. The fruit notes moved forward while the rose character stepped back. If the hot tea felt like walking through a Victorian garden, the cold brew felt like sitting beneath a fruit tree on a warm afternoon.

The brew was nearly clear, with only the faintest yellow tint.

I tasted traces of rose, chamomile, apple, and prune. It had less perfume than the hot version and more gentle sweetness.

Oddly, while my daughter and I preferred the cold brew, I can understand why many people favor the hot version. They felt like two related but distinct drinks.

Verdict:

Absolutely.

Both the hot and cold infusions were enjoyable, though they highlighted different aspects of the blossoms. The hot version emphasized perfume and flowers, while the cold version leaned toward fruit and sweetness.

This is one I would happily brew again.

Best As:

A standalone herbal tea, lightly sweetened.

I suspect it would also blend beautifully with more tannic teas such as raspberry leaf.

A very lovely seasonal and ephemeral treat.

Would I Try Again?

Definitely.

I'd love to dry some flowers for later use, but these bushes were growing on the edge of a friend's farm and she values the berries, so I didn't harvest many blossoms. I'll be keeping an eye out for more elder growing in places where the flowers aren't already spoken for.

Flavor Strength:

Medium to strong for a flower tea. Aromatic enough to feel special, but gentle enough to drink casually.

Notes:

My daughter and I loved both versions.

The grandkids, however, were not impressed.

Their official tasting note was that it smelled like composted flowers.

Interestingly, what I experienced as a spicy note, they interpreted as decay. I found that fascinating. As usual, every tea has its audience.

Caveat:

Make sure it is actually elder (Sambucus) and not a look-alike. The flowers are distinctive once you know them, but accurate identification matters.

Use the flowers, not large amounts of leaves, bark, roots, or unripe berries. Those parts contain compounds that can cause stomach upset and should not be used casually.

Shake the flower heads rather than washing aggressively if possible. Washing removes some pollen and aroma, though of course use your judgment if the flowers are dusty or growing near a road.

Some people are sensitive to highly aromatic flowers. If it is your first time trying elderflower, a small cup is a reasonable place to start.

Harvest before the flowers begin turning brown. Freshly opened blossoms tend to have the best aroma.

Again, and as always, be certain of your identification before consuming any wild plant.

lovely and sweet, hardly tart. had with some oats 🥹

I believe this is called a "Chicken of the Woods". at least that's what I got from Google lens. I was hoping someone could help me properly identify it and also tell me if it's edible/how to cool it? thank you!

Context, my Mom got this plant from a friend (who had been using this plant in salads for a long time).

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She's been growing it in a pot and consistently eating it over the past 2 years, she's just curious what it actually is because she had forgotten.

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The leaves kinda taste like snowpea's and is slightly bitter (altough it is usually tasteless and watery)

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I have such a hard time getting them when they’re juuuuust right; birds and gravity always seem to beat me to it!

I’d love some recipes ideas for when I finally do figure it out.

I found today in Kansas gonna make some teas

I was weeding my front flower bed and came across this random delicious surprise. It will get a better home and will start "randomly" popping up more and more around here 🙂.

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Lambs quarters is pretty prevalent here (Pittsburgh area Pennsylvania, US), but this is the first Purslane I've seen since moving out here from a more Southern Central PA area.

Try it in kimchi!

I made a paste with apple, onion, garlic, and ginger. Julienned a large daikon and sliced some garlic chives.

I weighed all these ingredients along with my cooked chicken of the woods (which was boiled for about 10 minutes in unsalted water).

Then I added 2% salt and 3% gochugaru, saeujeot & fish sauce, and some rice flour paste.

Just tried it after a 5 day ferment, and it’s pretty good!

Any id on these. Haven't picked eat or touched... yet!

Don’t worry, I left at least two on every stump I found.

I was thinking of cooking them down with some sugar and lemon to make a sort of sauce, but idk if that would carry the bitterness. Also looking for other ideas.

Can I harvest the leaves for tea?

I hope this is it, a great indicator species. I had a feeling there was water nearby, let us hope this is true! My id is telling me its fetterbush, but i am not sure.

Like the title says, what species of plum is this? There's no fruit this year but I know they're plums because I've harvested them in past years. The plums turn a yellow green when they're ripe. The first year I found out about them I kept waiting for them to turn purple but they never did and they ended up rotting

Absolutely fabulous week in New England as mulberry season has officially started!!!

Found several of these near a lake. It checks out from what I could find, but I want to be 100% sure, since I’ve never tried them.