OurGoods

Foraging in an Ornamental Wilderness

Despite the bitter cold, an amazing group showed up to venture out and forage for kale. Sarah wanted to learn about foraging in the city because she is going to live off the land for a week in July (see the challenge here). She’s now teaching a class here about historic tastes on February 21st! Mara came because she is mapping community gardens and starting a website called “farming concrete.” The others (Jen, Kate, Jonah, and Kristine) were up for adventure and ended the night in song.

HERE’S WHAT WE LEARNED

Preserving Function in an Ornamental Wilderness: Foraging and Preserving Urban Edible Plants (written by Trade School teacher Emcee C.M., Master of None)
A COMMON RESOURCE: Ornamental kale (a.k.a. ornamental cabbage, flowering kale).

This is the name for a group of colorful cultivars of Brassica Oleracea, var. Acephala. It is commonly used in winter landscaping for its color in NYC and elsewhere, but also grown by farmers for culinary purposes.

Kale is the closest relative of wild cabbage, which grows in Europe and Northern Africa, and has a very long tradition of use. It developed into many of our favorite vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collards, Brussels sprouts, and of course kales.

All these vegetables, including the ornamental varieties, are very nutritious. Anecdotally, kale and cabbage are said to contain as much vitamin C as do citrus fruits. Also vitamin K, beta carotene, calcium, iron, lutein, and sulforaphane, which has anticancer properties.

Ornamental plants in New York City may be sprayed with pesticides and fungicides, but kale is less likely to have been sprayed since it is a winter vegetable and pests are not such a problem this time of year. Besides, many commercial vegetables available in markets have been sprayed too. If you are scrupulous about these things, baking soda and vinegar are recommended for cleaning vegetables before eating.

Ornamental kales are available from September to March roughly in NYC, depending on landscaping regimes of the different businesses and city agencies that plant them.

Example locations (as of January 27, 2010):
-East side of 5th Ave. between w. 8th St. and Washington Mews.
-North side of 40th Street between 5th Ave. and Madison Ave.
-Northeast corner of 3rd Ave. and 15th St.

Technique: collect leaves before they brown or wilt, larger, outer leaves first. If you collect from a variety of plantings you can fill your basket without disrespecting anyone’s display, and, more to the point, you can allow the plants to continue growing for future forays and for other foragers.

If people ask what you’re doing, just tell them. You are sharing in a common resource, effectively reclaiming restricted, codified, enclosed public space for shared, common use. Think of it as stewardship, or pruning, if you like. You are participating in a close, local human relationship to nature. In a word, you are commoning.

Recipe:
Ornamental Kale Sauerkraut

Was your harvest in cold water (mix in vinegar or baking soda if you like for extra cleaning power). Chop kale fine and pack in a large jar, Tupperware container, or for a big batch, a five gallon food-grade plastic bucket works great. Layer the kale with plenty of salt and any other veggies and herbs you like. My friends in Siberia use dill leaf or seed, anise sieed, bay leaf, and grated carrots in their sauerkraut. My grandma made a great coleslaw variation with onion, green bell pepper, celery seed, and black pepper. A version similar to kimchi would include garlic, ginger, and red pepper.

Press firmly the whole business to the bottom of the jar and weigh it down with a smaller jar full of water (capped) inside the big jar. Or use any other press strategy you can think of for the container you’re working with (for a big bucket a dinner plate with a milkjug full of water as a weight works great). The goal is to keep the kraut submerged in its brine as it ferments. Over the next 24 hours, the salt and pressure will draw moisture out of the veggies, making a natural brine for the kraut to soak and ferment in.

Let it sit on the counter for a week checking regularly for taste and texture and mixing it around so it ferments evenly. It should remain somewhat crisp and crunchy and always submerged. Any bits that stray up above the brine level will dry out and could possibly form mold. Just discard them. During this week, leave the cap of the big jar loose so that air can escape.

When it tastes ready to you, refrigerate as you use it. It will keep for many months. Or you could can it in sterile jars and a boiling water bath for long-term shelf storage. Follow the instructions that come with the jars (Ball jars and Mason jars are available in some hardware stores and grocery stores and online). Eat it as a side dish, with hotdogs, as a soup ingredient, as a filling for crepes and savory pastries, etc!

p.s. A great resource for fermented foods is Sandor Ellix Katz’s book Wild Fermentation.