There’s a whole world of edibles right at our doorstep, just waiting for us to forage and enjoy if we know what to look for.
I learned this by attending the Lunch Lecture at the M.V. Museum on Friday, Oct. 4, where we were blessed with a wealth of information from Kristina Hook, a Wampanoag elder born and raised on the Island. Hook shared stories of foraging and cooking, along with the preparation methods she uses that have been passed down through the generations.
Hook began her talk by saying, “We, as Wampanoag people, were given a set of instructions. I believe that each and every person in this room came from a tribe, and we all came with the same set of instructions, but we lost our way a bit.
“We are taught that we are put here to take care of nature, and nature is here to take care of us,” she continued. “So you never do certain things. You leave things the way you found them, which means you don’t bring a trowel or shovel but rather a stick.
“You only take what you need, and you use what you take. You do not have the right to take the last nut, berry, or green leaf. You’re sharing this with lots of different entities.”
The most important thing is to make an audible thank-you to whatever you take from, whether a blueberry bush or grapevine, because it is its own entity.
Hook brought in several foraged edibles to show us.
We looked first at large branches of grape leaves. She explained that it is best to use them in the spring, when they are tender, to make stuffed grape leaves: “If you select them later when they are big and fibrous, you can brine them with salt, leaving them in water for 24 hours.”
While I’m familiar with stuffed grape leaves, Hook’s next recipe using them was new to me. She lines the inside cavity of a fish with them, adding a bit of sumac, which is best when picked when it has a bit of waxy substance on the seed: “These little things taste like a lemon like you have never tasted before.” She may add sassafras and spring onions, which have an onion-garlic flavor, or fresh chives or oregano. “Whatever aromatic that I have goes into the belly of the fish,” said Hook.
You wrap the prepared fish in aluminum foil and bake it in a 350° oven, for about 45 minutes for a big fish. When done, open the foil about 15 minutes before serving, allowing some excess moisture to escape.
“For presentation, you lift the skin and pull it back. There’s your whole fish — beautiful in its natural state, and perfectly steamed with aromatic herbs, which go so well with the fish,” says Hook.
Speaking more about sumac, Hook lays the seeds in the sun, where they turn brown. If they don’t dry completely, put them in a low oven at about 150° to 200°, and store them in a vacuum-sealed jar.
“It’s also medicine. We used it as an antiseptic. When I was a kid, if you were in the woods and drew blood, you took the sumac and mashed it on your cut. Also, my mother made us gargle, boiling the berries to make tea for a sore throat.”
Hook warned us about white sumac, which has sawtooth-shaped leaves, and is poisonous.
She also spoke more about sassafras: “The shape of the leaves is like mittens, which you can rough up to bring out the oil to the top of the leaf.” You want to use it moderately, as, she warned, “it can be a little bit of a cleanse.”
Hook tends to use the leaves in the summer to make lemonade, because it’s not so strong. You break off a portion of twigs and leaves, crunch it up, and put it into a large pot of water, bringing it to a boil until the oil floats to the top. Remove the pot from the heat and let the mixture steep: “I was taught it is an aid to digestion, and good for blood circulation and blood pressure.”
Hook spoke, too, about items to gather in the spring for a salad or to add to a stew or soup. She recommended wild sorrel, which is a little less lemony than sumac, and baby clover, which is sweet. You can eat both the flowers and leaves, as you can with tiny lawn violets and their leaves. She enjoys baby dandelions, but never any bigger than your thumb, because the larger ones are too chewy and bitter.
Hook finished off with her justly famous blueberry slump. Add the berries to a little less than an equal amount of water. “Bring to boil until the berries start to puff up a bit. Start with two cups of sugar, and slowly simmer until it gets syrupy and thick on low heat.” Then, drop the dough for homemade or commercial biscuits into the boiling blueberries, and when they puff up, serve in a bowl with blueberry syrup on top.
Although lunch was served during Hook’s talk, it seemed that everyone left already thinking about the next meal.
