Ribes aureum

Ribes aureum - spring flowers

Ribes aureum - fall berries

The best tasting native current in this area is definitely Ribes aureum, or Golden Current. They are juicy and full of sweetness, with a little tartness, and a current flavor of their own.

The bushes are most easily recognizable in the spring, when they grow lots of bright yellow flowers. The flowers are the most "golden" part of this plant. These flowers have a long tube before they open out, and the structure is slightly different botanically from most other flowers. The large spreading yellow "petals" are actually the sepals, while the real petals are small and form a small crown in the center of the flower. The flowers dry out, but remain attached to the end of the berry when it is ripe.

The berries in the fall can be either orange or black when ripe. I have found both types. As stated, the dried sepals and pistil from the flower remain attached to the end of the berry. I usually break these off, but they are not very distracting if you don't.

The leaves resemble maple leaves, and like maples, they turn a pretty shade of red in the fall. But they are smaller, and are more 3-lobed, where maples are more 5-lobed. They are also attached to a bush instead of a tree.

The berries are great raw. If you find enough they can be made into jams or dried like raisins. I am particularly fond of putting dried currents in my granola. They give it a good fruity flavor, without clashing with the texture of the rest of the granola. (Raisins are so large that you have to stop to chew each one, but dried currents are small, so you taste them without noticing when you are chewing one.)

Rhus aromatica

Rhus aromatica or Rhus trilobata

The Sumac bush is known in latin, depending on which botanist you ask, as Rhus aromatica (for its fragrant leaves) or Rhus trilobata (for the three-lobed leaves). It is quite fragrant, although the smell seems to be a bit controversial, because it has many common names, including fragrant sumac, skunkbush, and lemonade bush. I just call it sumac, because it is by far the most common member of the genus in this region. It is a common desert plant, and also is found in the mountains, although it prefers to be near streams in either setting.

The main use for sumac, as the common name "lemonade bush" implies, is for making a refreshing drink. The ripe, bright red berries have a sour-tasting coating which dissolves in water to make a drinks flavored similar to lemonade. The berries can be used when they are fresh or when they are older and dry, since the important part is on the surface. One should taste a berry before picking a lot from a bush, because the flavor might have already been washed away by rain.

The drink is made by soaking the berries in cold water for a hour or so. Boiling or hot water should not be used, because it could leach out bitter tannins, which would not taste as good. I enjoy the flavor both straight or with a little sweetening. It is tart and refreshing, and my kids love it, especially the girls.

The dry fruits can also be ground up into a lemony-tasting spice, which is especially popular in middle east cooking. It is the main ingredient in the spice mix called za'atar. The species Rhus coriaria is more common in that part of the world, but the spice can be made with any of the common sumac species. It western culture it could be used whenever you might want a lemon-pepper seasoning.

There is a similar species called Rhus integrifolia, which grows along the California coast. It has thick unlobed leaves, and larger berries which have a thicker sticky layer of lemony flavor on them. The common name is lemonade berry, and it is quite the treat to suck off the flavor from those berries if you are in that area.

Rhus glabra

Rhus glabra

Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) is similar to Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) and can be used in the same ways. Rhus glabra has smooth stems and is common in the western United States, while Rhus typhina has hairy stems and is more common in the eastern United States, and is even considered invasive in some areas.

The main use of sumac is in making the refreshing, tart drink called sumac-ade. It is similar in taste to lemonade and I enjoy it both straight or with a little sweetening added. The ripe red berries are simply soaked in cold water for an hour or so. The tart flavoring is on the outside of the berries, so they can be used when the berries are older and dry, as long as the rain has not washed the flavor away. It is good to taste a berry before picking to be sure it is still tasty. The smooth sumac has the advantage over the more locally common sumac bush (Rhus aromatica) because the berries grow in large clusters at the top of the branches, which makes collection mush easier. Note that the water should not be boiling or hot, because that might leach out bitter tannins which would not taste as good.

Smooth sumac has another edible part which the more common sumac bush lacks. Sumac bush is a dense woody shrub which is fairly slow growing. But smooth sumac puts out significant new branches of growth each year. When these new shoots are young (not yet producing berries at the end) they can be peeled and eaten raw. They are mild tasting and slightly crunchy, from the tip down until the point where pith starts to form in the middle of the stem. In the ones I have found, the shoots which are new branches from main bush are about the same size and flavor as new shoots coming out of the ground from the roots. Sam Thayer has a story (in The Forager's Harvest) about staghorn sumac next to railroad tracks which was mowed down every year, and would grow much larger shoots.

There is a poison sumac plant, which used to be included in the Rhus genus (Rhus vernix). This has been renamed into the Toxicodendron (poison ivy) genus, along with all the other related poisonous, rash-producing species. So it is now called Toxicodendron vernix. Poison sumac has a leaf structure (pinnately compound) resembling Rhus glabra, whereas poison ivy (our local species is Toxicodendron rydbergii) leaves come in threes, and can resemble Rhus aromatica although they are larger. The berries of the poisonous species are greenish or whitish, not red, so that is an easy way distinguish them.

Cardaria draba

Cardaria draba

Cardaria draba is a great wild substitute for broccoli. Just be sure you cook it first.

It's so good, I had to put the conclusion at the beginning, where I usually explain that Cardaria draba is commonly known as Whitetop or Hoary Cress, and less commonly but more recently known as Lepidium draba. Like broccoli, it is a cruciferous vegetable, which means it is a member of the mustard family, formerly (and more correctly) called the Cruciferae family in Latin. "Draba" comes from a Greek word meaning sharp, acrid or burning, which is an appropriate description of this plant.

Whitetop is a very common and invasive weed. If you don't already have it in your garden, one of your neighbors does, and it is easily found in practically every suburban setting. You probably see a lot of it next to your jogging path, for example.

I have heard from many people that whitetop is edible, and have eaten it myself, and told others about it. The trouble with it is, it is extremely spicy when eaten raw, so I have not eaten very much of it at a time. But it looks like it would make a good broccoli substitute, if cooking could tame the spiciness. So on a trip to the mountains, I found a lot of it in prime condition, with the tops still in clusters of buds before the flowers open, and it was time to finally do the cooking experiments with it. I just pick the top bud clusters, along with any small leaves which came with it. Lower leaves seem a lot tougher. One can squat down in a patch and pick a lot before needing to get up to go to the next section of the patch. Squatting is better for your back than bending over.

Whitetop Stir-Fry
with false solomon's seal, watercress,
mushrooms and onions,
in a stinging nettle and soy sauce

And the cooking was a complete success. After 5 minutes of boiling, the flavor was fresh and mild, with practically all of the spiciness gone. Some people can still detect a little when they eat a lot of it. After 10 minutes, the flavor was about the same, but it had a mushier texture, so it doesn't need to be cooked that long. Next I steamed it for 5 minutes. This also removed that spiciness and resulted in the most similar taste to broccoli, both in flavor and texture. Finally, because I like broccoli in my stir-fry recipes (the buds hold on to the sauce very well--yummy), I made a stir-fry out of it, along with some Smilacina racemosa (false solomon's seal) and Nasturtium officinale (watercress) which I found on the same outing. I also added some mushrooms and onion, and made the sauce out of stinging nettle and soy sauce. Very very good!

Note that some sources say there is hydrogen cyanide in the young leaves, but this is an over-simplification. The cyanide in Cardaria draba (and other mustards) is in the form of isothiocyanates, glucosinolates, and in less chemical terms, erucic acid. These compounds are known to have a very spicy and/or bitter flavor. One study (Nutrient composition of whitetop) says "Total glucosinolate content of whole whitetop plants during the rosette and early bloom stages of development approximated that of low-glucosinolate cultivars of rape." In other words, whitetop is no more dangerous than canola oil.

Older sources and those interesting grazing animals emphasize the negative effects of these compounds, which include anti-thyroid effects (therefore pro-goiter effects) and cardiotoxic effects in rats (not verified in humans). It is also said to taint milk and meat for about a week after ingestion. Newer studies prefer to emphasize the health benefits of isothiocyanates, which include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and multi-faceted anticancer activity. (Here is a fairly readable article.)  There are various studies on the effects of cooking cruciferous vegetables, which confirm that boiling reduces these chemicals the most. Actually, most of those articles are concerned with finding the cooking methods which preserve isothiocyanates and glucosinolates because of their reputed healthy effects, but since whitetop is fairly high in these compounds, it is probably better to try to reduce them in cooking.

A couple of us did notice some mild stomach upset a few hours after eating our whitetop stir-fry. So remember the usual cautions to try new foods in small amounts to see how you react to them, and that boiling is probably the best way cook these if you are being cautious. 

One reason why Cardaria draba is so invasive is that it releases allelopathic chemicals which reduce the growth of other plants. Cardaria draba is especially detrimental to grasses, including commercial cereal crops. So it may be a good idea to get it out of your garden.

Asparagus officinalis

Asparagus officinalis

smaller plant, beginning to leaf out

Asparagus officinalis does not grow in the mountains very often. It is not a native species, but an escapee from cultivation, so it most commonly grows along irrigation ditches, where it has plenty of water and full sun.

Asparagus is one of the best-known and most sought out wild edibles, not to mention one of the best tasting. Since I had not personally identified and harvested this plant, I decided to take trip out the the flat-lands specifically to find this. It isn't very hard to find. Just look for its favorite habitat, along irrigation ditches, and walk until you find some. It grows low to the ground, so it works best to watch for last year's dried plants. These have thin lacy leaves, and dry to a yellowish color. Although they can get quite large, the dry asparagus plants along my ditch were only about two feet high, and straw-colored. Nevertheless, they were a good signal to slow down and look closer. Whereas, if I just saw grasses or horsetails, I could walk a little faster. Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, I was not the first person to walk this stretch, so many of the stalks had already been picked. I grows pretty swiftly, though, so I was able to harvest enough for my family and I to get a good taste.

The taste is excellent, of course: sweet and fresh and makes you wish for more. One person said it tastes like peas. That's a pretty common comparison around here actually, and while I don't think it tastes quite like fresh garden peas, the sweetness and freshness are similar at least.

As much as I love the mountains, this is one plant which could draw me down to explore the farmland and ditches, as least temporarily.

Perideridia gairdneri

Yampah flowers

I've been searching for this plant for a while now. Perideridia gairdneri is known by the common name of Yampah, and was a favorite food for many American Indian tribes. I first found small amounts of the plant, but I was impressed by its scent, and after reading up on it, I knew it was a plant I wanted to seek out and try. Now I have finally found it in enough abundance to harvest some. I'm not telling where.

Yampah leaves, already withered
when in full flower

I'll start with how to identify it. First, it has the compound umbels which all members of the carrot family have. It can be difficult to distinguish different members of the carrot family from each other, and from the few poisonous species, but Yampah has a few things which set it apart. These are the white flowers, and especially the leaves. It almost looks as if it has no leaves, but if you look closely, you will find one or two ternately (divided into threes) compound leaves with long narrow leaflets. These may be at the base or halfway up the stem. Often they will already be brown and withered or even fallen off before the flowers are done blooming. The long narrow leaflets are rare in the carrot family. If you find long narrow leaflets, but the flowers are yellow, you probably have Lomatian triternatum (ternate desert parsley). Finally, dig up the roots. Fortunately they are not very deep. The stem seems to go down an inch or two to the top of a fleshy, fascicled root. The "fascicled" is the important thing to look for. It means they grow in clusters, sometimes singly, but often in pairs, and rarely in threes (in my experience so far).

A variety of Yampah root shapes

The roots are the main edible part. Mine were about a half inch wide and up to two inches long. When raw, they are crisp and sweet, and have a tinge of minty-anise flavor. When boiled for 10 minutes, they are soft like potatoes, but with much more flavor to them. The raw flavor mellows slightly, and they still have the pleasant sweetness flavor, like a seasoned potato. Some people compare it to a parsnip. I really enjoyed the flavor, and thought they were excellent just as they were, without adding the oil or salt which a lot of other roots seem to need.

Also, the flowers and seeds are very pleasantly aromatic, and would be a great spice to add to meals. I think crushing the flowers releases the scent of fresh carrots, and the seeds have been compared with caraway. I am saving my seeds for use in spicing up some other dishes.

There is a very informative article on Yampah at cultivariable.com. He says the roots are propagative, so you can replant the smaller ones, or even break off the bottom of the root and replant the top part. Nutritionally, they have lots of starch, like most roots, and are high in vitamin C and potassium, and also have a good amount of protein.

Sidalcea oregana

Sidalcea oregana

Checkermallow "cheesies" and leaves

I've seen Checkermallow in the wild before, but recently I found a place where it was abundant, so I took the opportunity to try this edible plant. Distinguishing the exact species with Sidalcea, the Checkermallow genus, is a bit technical, so I would not be surprised if other species Checkermallow taste similar.

Checkermallows can be recognized by their light pinkish or purplish flowers, which have the filaments of the stamens united into a tube projecting up from the center of the flower. The united filaments are characteristic of the entire Mallow family. You should also notice how the petals in the flower buds spiral together. Besides the flowers, you should look for the distinctive fruits, often referred to as "cheesies". And a final distinctive feature of checkermallows is how the leaves are lobed, but the lower leaves are fuller with shallow indentations between the lobes, while the uppers leaves get progressively narrower lobes and deeper and wider indentations.

I am happy to report that the taste of Checkermallows is quite agreeable. The leaves are mild and pleasant tasting. I would recommend them both alone and in a salad with other greens. The fruits, which are often called "cheesies" because they resemble a miniature cheese wheel, were especially good. They were softer and more juicy than other types of mallow I have tried in the past. (For example, malva neglecta.) They tend to fall apart into segments easily if you try to squeeze them out of the enclosing sepals, but I would recommend them as a very tasty nibble any time you can find them.