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| David Cozzo teaching me how to enjoy Redbud blossoms |
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| Mallow |
The forager mustn’t wait for weekend
farmers’ markets or hunt down ethnic food carts to find streetside snacks. Boulevard bonanzas await the keen eyed and
wild minded in urban areas throughout America.
Last weekend while strolling the Denver sidewalks with Alex and David
Cozzo, kindred foodies and ethnobiologists, we munched our way to the Botanic
Gardens popping fresh Mallow leaves (Malva
sp.), tender Elm samara (Elymus sp.),
young Basswood leaves (Tillia sp.),
sweet nectared Norway Maple (Acer plantanoides)
and Redbud (Cercis canadensis) flowers,
and most especially, the young pea-like seeds of Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum).
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| A peeled maple shoot in perfect condition for eating |
Maples captured my interest two years
ago when I learned that the flowers, shoots, sap, cambium, and even seeds of
Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
were eaten by Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest (See Turner 1995). I found the flowers to be a passable (and
colorful) addition to salads, and the pealed shoots to have a refreshing
crunch. However, travel and some
monomaniacal moments of thesis work limited my experience with the cambium to a
taste, and kept me from dabbling in maple tapping and samara snacking.
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| Spring emerging Silver Maple samara |
With my unfinished business with Bigleaf
Maple in the back of my mind, I was pleased to see young samara hanging from
the otherwise bare branches of Silver Maple along the streets of Denver. Silver Maples
form samara in the spring (before leaf-out), unlike the summer (or at least much after leaf out) forming samara of Bigleaf maple. Alex, Katrina and I split open the tender
samara and tentatively tasted the turgid green seeds. They were great!
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| A Silver Maple seed perfect for eating |
When full sized but still young enough
to be soft and milky, they have a flavor similar to snap peas or raw shell peas. The seeds solidify and darken with age, and
the flavor simultaneously becomes astringent and not as enjoyable. Alex had the great idea of making a wild
version of edamame with the tender
seeds; he boiled the samara for 5 minutes before draining, salting, and serving
them. These Edamapleme proved to be
delicious hors d’oeuvres to our Elk
burger dinner.
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