Photographed by Zoe Valdina.
Chaste Tree
On a recent job, in the fields of a local sheep and cut flower farmer, while discussing various sustainable agricultural practices I was reminded of a book that “sideswiped” (in the best way) my personal and professional life more than a decade ago. The book, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food (Penguin Random House, 2015), was written by New York farm-to-table chef Dan Barber, and it transformed the way I utilize my kitchen and how I view agriculture as a whole. The book is divided into four parts: “soil,” “land,” “sea” and “seed,” and chronicles stories and lessons from different ecological food systems, as well as trials undertaken at Stonebarns, Barber’s farm in upstate New York.
While rereading The Third Plate, I was reminded of how influential this New York chef had been to my gardening practice. This was the book that led me to many imperative agricultural and naturalistic voices, including Aldo Leopold, Rudolf Steiner, and Wendell Berry. Each has impacted my life profoundly.
In relating the approaches he has encountered during his quest for “sustainability,” Barber offers great hope. He prods his readers to think beyond unsustainable, post-World-War-II agricultural systems that our society has come to rely on, inviting us instead to improve our food production practices through a combination of innovative thinking, and a return to age-old, chemical-free practices that served previous generations well. Though Barber’s book is neither about native plants nor foraging, he illustrates and advocates for other ways of approaching our agricultural systems, and, ultimately, our plates.
With the return of this book to my life, and since this month’s issue is about cuisine, I thought it would be fitting (and fun) to profile some of my favorite edible plants—ones that are abundant, easy to access and require little effort to procure and prepare. In other words, they’re sustainable by definition.
A majority of the plants we encounter in the wild and in our landscapes actually can be used as food or medicine—though not all are necessarily tasty. So, here’s my list of plants that are easily accessible in the wild (or perhaps in your neighbor’s garden), that can add either great flavor or aesthetic interest, upping your culinary game.
Please Note: Always take heed when consuming wild plants, and do your own due diligence when researching how to identify each, making certain you understand its potential effects. The following are offered based on my own experiences.
Photo by Jess Cole
Rootbeer Plant
Rootbeer Plant, Piper auritum
This is a fun, slightly aggressive, tropical perennial that I love using in shade gardens. It lends tall, whimsical interest to any space, with its giant, heart-shaped leaves and bizarre, long, white spike flowers. The common name comes from its complex scent and taste, which is reminiscent of sassafras or tarragon. A friend from Mexico taught me to wrap fish in these large, soft-to-touch leaves for grilling over an open fire. It’s my absolute most beloved way to cook fresh-caught redfish.
Chaste Tree, Vitex agnus-castus
This small, bushy, deciduous tree native to the Mediterranean is an excellent choice for gardens in need of a pop of summer color. Its purple blooms produce berries that, when dried, are almost identical in taste to that of black peppercorns—grind and use as you would black pepper.
This tree has a long and beautiful history in relation to women. To this day—used in capsules, tinctures, or teas—the berries play significant medicinal roles in female reproductive health, helping treat issues like cycle regulation, infertility, and relief from menstrual symptoms. Historically, the tree was at the center of Greek rituals and agricultural festivals honoring various goddesses. In modern day Israel, excavations at a temple complex in an ancient Philistine settlement identified as the biblical city of Gath, uncovered hundreds of preserved vitex berries. It is thought by archaeobotanists that the fruit was perhaps used to induce mind-altering states during religious rituals.
American Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana
I used to grow and sell this bizarre “weed,” until it started to seed itself throughout my entire nursery stock. Still, I find its lanky, tall form and burgundy fruit and stems endlessly fascinating to the eye.
Pokeweed has a solid culinary history in the South that deserves to be revitalized and heralded at the chef's table. Its deep green leaves were traditionally used in “poke salad” (or, as it is sometimes called, “polk salad,” or “poke sallet”), which is actually a dish of cooked greens rather than a raw salad. Supposedly, pokeweed was once common enough to be sold canned in stores. The berries have a strong medicinal and culinary history among Native peoples, who used pokeweed to treat conditions ranging from acne to arthritis.
It's not everyday that you have a famous song for a native Louisiana perennial. If you don’t know it already, check out Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie.” I personally love Elvis’s cover.
“Down there we have a plant that grows in the woods and
The fields
Looks somethin' like a turnip green
Everybody calls it polk salad”
Photo by Jess Cole
Elderberry
Elderberry, Sambucus canadensis
This one may seem obvious, yet I still find it to be incredibly underused. The elderberry tree is a small, suckering tree (or ditch plant, however you want to see it) that seemingly never stops giving. It has medicinal qualities as a treatment for respiratory illnesses, and is super tasty, too. I harvest berries each year to make an Indian spiced elderberry syrup for my family, encouraging a strong immune system in all of us. But I’d love to see it more on the kitchen table. I also use the syrup in cocktails. The plant’s purple-black berries deliver tasty pops of flavor, and make an excellent garnish. A comrade, who is a ritualistic tea drinker, taught me to harvest the dainty white flowers before they fruit, then to either dry them or use them fresh to make a delicate hot tea.
Greenbriar, Smilax
Greenbriar is a native, thorny evergreen vine. Multiple species can be found throughout our woods. It can be seen as a nuisance, as it's difficult to eradicate. Still, it does have some positive attributes—my favorite being how yummy it is. Supposedly all parts of the plant are edible, but I only harvest the tender new shoots and tendrils. They taste almost identical to asparagus and are delicious when served raw, as a garnish, or in a salad, as well as sautéed with a bit of butter, salt, and lemon. Another fun fact is that this plant is a florist’s dream, since the vine stays green, without wilting, for days on end with zero water, making it a popular choice for decorating arbors, entryways, and the like. A friend jokes that I should harvest greenbriar from my woods as an Etsy side hustle, because this vine really does sell at top dollar and gets shipped from the southeast all over the country to grace weddings and beyond.
Photo by Jess Cole
Jewels of Opar
Jewels of Opar, Talinum paniculatum
This is the coolest shade-loving native-ish tropical perennial—a petite plant with succulent leaves and whimsical flower spikes. The flowers begin as sparkly, red, tiny dots, then burst into star-shaped, pink blossoms. The plant reseeds readily, and I often plant it with cultivars of ajuga and the also-whimsical perennial Chocolate Plant (Pseuderanthemum alatum). Jewels of Opar is related to edible, more common, purslane and can be used similarly—raw in salads, as a garnish for warm meals, or sautéed or cooked like spinach, to which it tastes similar.
American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana
This common native landscape staple and borderline roadside weed is a better-known edible than most plants on this list, but it's not the easiest flavor profile to work with. I believe there is great opportunity for experimentation with this plant. I added it to the list for its beauty. The berries’ deep purple color is tremendous.
In my kitchen, I like to soak beautyberries in tequila or gin, which imparts a striking color when added to any cocktail. I have also created syrups by simmering the berries with honey or sugar, and have heard of tasty jams being made from the berries. More than anything, though, I use the plant’s leaves to infuse into a DIY bug spray; the plant has a long history of use by Native peoples for repelling mosquitoes. It works well for our family.
[Read this: "Through Drought & Deluge—The ins & outs of water management in the garden"]
Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, stellata + soulangeana
This one is so bizarrely tasty, as well as incredibly beautiful. There are more edible magnolia flowers than just these three, but the above are the only varieties I have personal experience with. Magnolias are ancient flowers. I tell my son they are dinosaur food—though I have no real evidence that it’s true, other than the fact that the flower has been around longer than the dinosaurs. Both the petals and unopened buds are edible. I have used them both fresh as garnish, and preserved via pickling for a wild floral addition to many a meal. The pickled version is similar in taste to pickled ginger.
Read more entries of Jess Cole's column, “Our Sustainable Garden,” at countryroadsmag.com.
