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Foraging for Wild Ingredients - May 2003
A Conversation with Jeremy Faber
Jeremy Faber has the kind of job lots of us would like to have: he hikes and hunts the lower Cascades as well as our local city parks—foraging for wild natural ingredients
Jeremy sells his unique plants and mushrooms to farmers' markets and a select number of restaurants. We're very happy Nell's is on his list. Currently, we are using his lettuces and greens on our salmon plate: "Wild King Salmon with Fingerling Potatoes and Wild Forest Greens."
Jeremy began his food career in the kitchen. He was Brasa's first pastry chef, and later was sous-chef at The Herb Farm. His expertise with finding natural things gradually led him out of the kitchen into the woods.
He says there is no real secret to foraging. Many plants are spotted easier by locating what grows around them.
"You find fiddlehead ferns around skunk cabbage. And some of it is luck and reading up on stuff." Jeremy always brings along a cooler. When he finds what he's looking for—wild greens for instance—he carefully removes the plants from their surroundings, and if he's close to a natural water source, he refreshes them in a river or stream. Then they go into his cooler. When he's back home he refreshes the greens in cold water for one half-hour. By the way, a little advice for novice foragers: don't park your car in the sun.
His busy seasons are April-July and September-November. Mushroom hunting is tougher in the spring. "In the fall mushrooms are everywhere."
Besides the wild forest greens, Jeremy supplies Nell's with fiddlehead ferns, wild mushrooms and nettles. "Nettles are the most nutritious food in nature. They have tons of minerals, protein, vitamins A, C, and D, tons of chlorophyll. "
Some of you may know nettles as that plant that stings when you brush against them. The sting is caused by formic acid. If you gather or cook them, be sure to wear gloves when handling
Blanching the nettles in a pot of boiling water neutralizes the acid and eliminates the sting. Cook for only a couple of minutes, then drain and cool in ice water. Drain again, then squeeze excess water from the nettles. (See our recipe for Nettle Gnocchi below in this newsletter.) You can save the blanching liquid and add some sugar and lemon juice to make a very healthy nettle tea.
At Nell's, besides the gnocchi, we have made nettle soup, nettle sauce and used them sautéed as a vegetable.