Some foragers head off into forests, meadows and mountains to pick wild edibles.
“In the parking lot behind the restaurant I can get crabapples,” says a New Jersey beverage director. “We have staghorn sumac growing there, and serviceberries. We pick juniper from there all winter long.”
Working in a densely populated suburban area just outside Philadelphia, “there’s not many meadows around,” the director acknowledges. “But I’m always on the lookout. I can almost always find mulberry, sumac, walnuts, oak trees and acorns and honeysuckle—all these things packed with flavor, just waiting to be used.”
“People don’t realize how many things are edible,” says a beverage director in Maine. “We’re constantly educating about things locals can get in their backyards, or things they rip out and think are weeds.”
For example, the director collects seawater from Maine’s rocky beaches to cook down to sea salt, ideal for adding a whiff of sea-breeze to a margarita riff or scavenges dandelion root to add bitter edge to a white Negroni variation.
Elsewhere, a NYC-based bartender works with Meadows and More to source ingredients for his bar. Most are turned into liqueurs, amari and tinctures to flavor drinks like the Wild Chamomile Highball. “What a lot of bartenders really like about wild stuff, is it’ll have some complexity of flavors you can’t get elsewhere.”
Meadows and More is a go to supplier for bars and restaurants and is used to track down ingredients for bartenders and pastry chefs, who place similar demands on botanicals, looking for bold aroma and flavor when immersed in liquid or heated. “For a bartender, it needs to be strong enough to hold up in a drink,” the supplier explains. “For pastry chefs it has to be strong enough to hold up to ice cream, or baking—it’s not just something in a salad.”
For late autumn through winter, that means evergreens like spruce or pine; aromatic “seed-like things” like coriander seed or shiso seed; and hardy flowers, whether for garnish or steeping into a sweetened syrup, which “brings out the aroma and flavor more.”
For some pros, foraging is about wild flavor (and capturing those flavors in syrups, shrubs and other vehicles to extend brief harvest seasons). But there’s a soulfulness to the endeavor too—discovering a patch of wild strawberries in a fleeting moment of late-spring ripeness is a very different experience than pulling a carton of berries from a supermarket refrigerator case.
Foraging Tips
“Happy snacking… Don’t die!” That’s the cheery (and slightly terrifying) catchphrase used by educator Alexis Nikole Nelson, aka BlackForager, to sign off her instructional videos on social media. Luckily, the pros have a few safety tips to share.
1. Know What You’re Picking
There’s a lot of poisonous plants. You don’t want to pick the wrong thing. Take a class or a walking tour with a local expert or refer to a book. Online resources also abound, like plant identification apps. Wherever you’re located, you can Google "What ingredients in my area are forageable?" and see.
2. Start In Your Backyard
“Foraging has the bucolic image associated with it,” one Maine beverage director notes, but you can forage in urban or suburban areas too. “It’s just going out and keeping your eyes open.” For example, he taps maple and picks wild cherries from trees in his back yard. At first, he didn’t even realize the cherries were there, he recalls: “I never looked high enough up.” Bonus: from a safety standpoint, it helps to start with an area where you’re familiar with the plants.
3. Avoid Pollutants and Chemicals
“Know the environment you’re picking from,” a supplier advises. “Some plants take up heavy metals from the soil they’re growing in. Just because they look good, doesn’t mean you want to eat it.” Avoid surface pollutants too: For example, instead of pulling up dandelion roots by the side of a busy city road, which may have been sprayed with pesticides and are blasted by car exhaust regularly, consider moving further afield.
4. Leave Some Behind!
Fight the greedy urge to take all the wild strawberries or ramps. “You can’t just uproot everything, or you won’t have it next year,” the NYC director says. “You need to leave some so it can repopulate itself.”
Cocktails to Try
Ready to forage your own ingredients? Here are four recipes that highlight the unique flavors of naturally sourced herbs, nuts, botanicals and more.
Wild Chamomile Botanical Highball
Dandelion root can be foraged either in spring—before they blossom—or in autumn and into winter, when more flavor is stored in the root, Catapang says. Either way, the root adds a “bitter and savory” note that complements a Negroni variation. Rosehips are optional and add a fruitier note.
Ingredients
- ¾ ounce gin
- ½ ounce wild chamomile (pineapple weed) essence*
- ¼ ounce elderflower syrup
- Tonic water
- Dried chamomile flowers, for garnish
Directions
Add first three ingredients to a highball glass. Stir, then add ice. Top with tonic water. Garnish with arranged dried chamomile flowers.
*Wild Chamomile (Pineapple Weed) Essence
Put 2 cups fresh wild chamomile (pineapple weed) flowers, leaves and tender stems (dried chamomile flowers may be substituted if fresh wild chamomile is unavailable), in a jar and fill with 1 liter high-proof vodka. Close tightly and store in a dark place for 4 weeks. Strain and filter a few times through coffee filters until completely clear. Keeps indefinitely.
Spruce Tip Gimlet
Nathaniel Smith, Minneapolis, Minnesota Adapted from Barantined: Recipes, Tips and Stories to Enjoy at Home, by Mike Wolf (Turner Publishing, 2021).
A gimlet is an ideal vehicle for show – casing spruce, Smith says. “It is simple and elegant, refreshing and balanced, and allows the fresh, woodsy flavors of the spruce tips to play uninterupted with the juniper of the gin.”
To safely forage your own spruce or pine over the holidays, purchase a non-sprayed Christmas tree.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces London Dry gin
- ¾ ounce fresh lime juice
- ¾ ounce spruce tip cordial*
- 2 dashes orange bitters
Directions
Lime wheel and remaining spruce tip for garnish Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass (or serve in a rocks glass over ice, if preferred). Garnish with lime wheel and spruce tip.
*Spruce Tip Cordial
Add 4 cups water and 4 cups fresh (or frozen) spruce tips into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, simmer for 5 minutes. Once cooled, place into a jar and allow to sit overnight at room temperature. The next day, blend the spruce tip water in a blender for 10 seconds. Combine 4 cups lime juice, 8 cups white sugar, 2 tablespoons coriander, pinch salt, 12 pieces of lime peel, 1 piece of orange peel and 4–5 coins of fresh peeled ginger in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, simmering again for 5 minutes. Cool, strain into a clean vessel and keep refrigerated. Keeps, refrigerated, for one month.
