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| Black Locust flowers (Robinia pseudoacacia) |
There is something
special about eating trees- food that towers above your head and doesn’t need
to be watered or weeded. Whether bast, leaf, fruit or flower, many trees
have at least something edible to offer. Today, while walking along Bellingham
Bay, I noticed that the flowers of Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) were in the perfect stage for harvesting.
My friend Sam
Thayer introduced me to the delicious flavor of Black Locust flowers a decade
ago, but I haven't eaten them in years because they aren’t planted as commonly in western
Washington as they are in other parts of North America. Black Locust is native
to the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania southward to northern Alabama, as
well as the Ozarks of southern Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, but they are
planted extensively throughout North America, and have escaped cultivation on
many other continents. In the Pacific Northwest, they are commonly planted as
street trees or escaped into old fields on the east (dry) side of Vancouver
Island south of Campbell River, in the BC interior south of Kamloops, east of
the Cascades in Washington, and in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Black Locusts
are less commonly found in cloudier climates like western Washington.
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| Silhouette of Black Locust street tree |
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| Black Locust bark |
Black Locust
trees typically reach heights of 70 to 80 feet tall and widths of 1-2 feet in
diameter. Bark is grey with orange to whitish highlights between deep, braided
fissures. Multiple trunks, or trunks that branch low to the ground are common, and
the trunks often reach strongly upward before assuming a gnarled or curled
shape in the canopy. The young branches, especially those from vigorous new
growth, are armored with pairs of large, slightly ascending thorns that are up
to an inch long. Leaves are pinnately
compound, 20-40 inches long with 9-19 oval leaflets; each leaflet is 1-2 inches
long, and 0.6-1.2 inches wide. The honey scented flowers are white with red
blotched calyxes. They hang in racemes that are 3-8 inches long and begin to
blossom in late May and early June, after the leaves have emerged. Pollinated
flowers develop into 3-4 inch long pods, each with 4-8 seeds.
When harvesting
Black Locust flowers, target those that are fully open and have a faint yellow blotch in the center.
The flowers have a divine flavor that is akin to a snow pea dipped in honey,
with an ambrosia like aroma. However, the young or unopened flowers will taste more
like peas and less like honey, and over-mature flowers become bitter as they wilt and fall to the ground. The best way to eat the flowers is to pluck off a raceme and—holding
it by the bottom—stick the entire thing in your mouth, purse your lips, and
pull the stem out, using your lips to pluck off all the flowers. For more
civilized circumstances, such as adding the flowers to a salad, strip the
flowers off by pulling the stems between your thumb and index finger
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| Flowers like garlands of popcorn |
The first flowers
I found were located at none-other than Locust Beach in Bellingham. I ate about 300
flowers and filled my pockets. While biking home I found a few more trees
planted along a residential street near my house. My eyes and enthusiasm now
tuned, I will undoubtedly start seeing this rediscovered tree elsewhere.
Now is the time to spot Black Locust- look for cream colored flowers hanging
like short garlands of popcorn from a wispy leaved canopy, or just follow your
nose.
Sam Thayer
reports that the pods and seeds make a tasty vegetable when full sized but
still green and tender (See Forager’s Harvest, pg. 246-250). I look forward to
trying them this summer.
Warning: The bark
and leaves of Black Locust are toxic.
