The city has a treasure trove of tasty edible plants, if you know where to look.
My love of foraging food started when I was growing up in the woods of Vermont. Each May, before the lilacs bloomed, my Dad and I would pick the wild leeks (ramps) and fiddleheads that popped up on the banks of the streams near where we lived and cook them together for a springtime dinner. Like many of Mother Nature’s most fleeting gifts, they were delicious, and there was something deeply satisfying and almost magical about eating food we’d foraged ourselves.
I currently live in the bustling urban nexus of Cambridge’s Central Square. Even so, with a little practice (and a few great teachers), I’ve found bountiful amounts of food to forage, cook, and give to others — all within walking distance of my apartment. In fact, my urban location makes foraging feel all the more magical.
Burdock Root
Friends who ask me what I am foraging this time of year are surprised when I mention burdock root. Yes, I am talking about that burdock — the weedy kind with the round sticky burrs that often get caught in clothing, dog’s fur, or unfortunately for me while harvesting recently, heads of long hair. When I first moved to Boston from Vermont, I remember seeing burdock root for sale at Whole Foods. I was intrigued because I knew burdock only as the annoying weed that dominated our cow’s pasture growing up. What I didn’t know at the time is that burdock is a delicious edible used in Japanese cuisine and some European folk recipes. It can be found wild all over Boston in the fall.
Although a common weed in the Northeast, burdock root is an escaped domesticated vegetable from Japan,where it is intentionally cultivated for its hugely nutritious qualities and captivating earthy-sweet taste. Due to its long and deep roots that access nutrients deep in the soil where many other plants can’t reach them, burdock is high in many uncommon minerals such as manganese. It also contains multiple types of powerful antioxidants, is anti-inflammatory, has a high amount of dietary fiber and vitamin B6, and provides inulin, a helpful sugar for sufferers of low blood sugar. Moreover, it is an invasive species in the Northeast, so by harvesting the roots for consumption and limiting new growth, we are healing both our bodies and the earth.
I currently live in the bustling urban nexus of Cambridge’s Central Square. Even so, with a little practice (and a few great teachers), I’ve found bountiful amounts of food to forage, cook, and give to others — all within walking distance of my apartment.
Burdock is a biennial plant, meaning that in its first year of growth, it produces only rosettes (large leaves in a circular pattern with no stalk or burrs); but in the second year of life, it grows stalks. While the tall, mature plant with stalks and burrs is practically unusable, the rosettes have a thick edible root that can be cleaned and cooked when dug up. The growing cycles of plants in a given area overlap, so older stalks and younger rosettes grow at the same time. The presence of the old growth alongside the younger rosettes makes burdock an easily identifiable plant for foraging beginners. Another identifying feature of burdock is the presence of two concentric beige-white rings in the root when it’s cut through.
Burdock’s unique properties make it a fun and relatively straightforward plant to forage in the city, though it does require a spade or shovel and a willingness to get a little dirty. When harvesting, look for the base of the rosettes and gently dig deep down and around the root to loosen it so you can pull it up out of the soil. (I always wear gardening gloves and long sleeves to prevent incidents with the burrs.) You can cut off the leaves and discard them on the spot. Be sure to scrub the root thoroughly at home, and peel it before preparation.
Digging burdock takes a bit of practice, but there is a lot of burdock in the urban wild to practice on! I am not sure I’ve ever unearthed a whole burdock root in its entirety, but the more root dug up while harvesting the better, as the lower two-thirds of the root is sweeter in flavor and less fibrous. The very young stalks of burdock are also apparently quite delicious. I’ve come across Italian folk recipes that call for parboiling the young burdock stalks, (“carduni” in Italian), then dipping them in eggs, then bread crumbs, and frying them.
Burdock can be found in harvestable form throughout the spring to late fall, but most foragers prefer to wait until the early and late fall when the roots have had time to fatten up over the summer. It’s also nice to wait because there isn’t much else to harvest this time of year. I have found burdock patches in multiple parks, green spaces, and other locations throughout the city, (particularly off-trail where the terrain is less maintained), including the banks of the Charles River, vacated construction sites, and empty dirt lots. The plant’s status as a common weed means that no one is going to mind when you dig up a few roots for harvest, though you may get some weird looks inquiring about what you are doing (they’re just jealous of your foraging skills!)
Digging burdock takes a bit of practice, but there is a lot of burdock in the urban wild to practice on!
To prepare burdock root, I turn primarily to Japanese cuisine for inspiration. There, they call the plant Gobō. The earthy, sweet, but slightly bitter flavor pairs well with root vegetables like parsnip and carrot as well as with pork and umami, salty flavors like tamari. Recently, after harvesting burdock at Magazine Beach Park near the Boston University Bridge, I made Burdock and Carrot Kinpura, a Japanese dish of sauteed and braised burdock root and carrot in a sweet, salty sauce topped with sesame seeds. The flavors were wonderful on top of a grain bowl filled with local micro greens and pan-fried tofu. As always when eating my own foraged food, I felt a renewed sense of sovereignty and a connection to the urban wild of Boston. Next time, I plan on using burdock to make expert forager Steve Brill’s savory vegetable patties.
Garlic Mustard and Curly Dock
Fall in the Boston area also gives life to seasonal greens such as garlic mustard and curly dock. Curly dock, a wild green best in early spring and late fall, grows close to the ground and has long narrow leaves and wavy edges. It looks similar to burdock rosettes but has smooth (not wooly) undersides. A popular (inexpensive) vegetable during the Great Depression, curly dock has a somewhat lemony flavor and, when cooked down, works great on top of roasted fish (similar to a classic French sorrel sauce). Or, you can simply chop it up and thrown in seasonal soups. Nutritionally, curly dock has double the vitamin C of grocery store spinach and a third more protein, iron, calcium, potassium, and beta-carotene.
To find curly dock, look for patches of disturbed soil along roadsides or riverbanks or in the woody areas of parks. I’ve found the green in the woods, along pathways, and on riverbanks in almost every urban park I’ve explored in Boston, including Magazine Beach Park in Cambridge and Back Bay Fens. To harvest, pick the leaves with your fingers by breaking them off at the base of the rosette. Wash and dry thoroughly before preparation.
Garlic mustard is another wild green I hunt for this time of year. It’s aroma-packed and prolific in urban parks and along the borders of tree-lined properties. It has a thin stalk and heart-shaped, scalloped-edged, leaves. Identify it by its distinctive aroma: when crushed, the leaves smell like an unmistakable mixture of garlic and mustard. For culinary purposes, use leaves from the base of the stalk (called basal leaves). They have the most flavor.
I recently found garlic mustard while walking in Olmstead Park in Jamaica Plain, and I have also seen it in unmaintained yards and patches of land throughout my Cambridge neighborhood. In the fall, the maturity of the plant makes for a slightly more bitter flavor, so make sure to use extra salt to balance out the bitterness while cooking. The mustard-garlic-flavored basal leaves are delicious in a parmesan based pesto or in an omelet or salad.
A unique characteristic of garlic mustard is its ability to survive in the cold. The leaves contain natural antifreeze properties that help it survive even under the snow. This means that if you find it in the fall, you know where to look for it later in the winter. And, looking ahead, burdock rosettes and curly dock greens are among the first to emerge post-winter, so finding some now will also provide a jumpstart on next spring’s harvest. Happy picking!
