By Ben Bailey
Spring is here and the streams and the woodlands beckon with visions of golden, crisp trout, baking over the coals of a campfire. Horace Kephart recommended frying them in bacon grease and I agree. Not only does it taste great but you get the added benefit of the thrill in raising your cholesterol ten points. However, the woods offer more culinary delights this time of year.
I remember as a boy going to the woods to gather branch lettuce, which grows along small mountainside streams. My mother prepared this by shredding the leaves, adding diced onion and bacon bits and just before serving, sprinkling them with the hot bacon grease. Thus prepared, it was referred to as kilt lettuce. You can also do this with ice-berg lettuce from the store, but half the fun is going to the woods to gather it.
Also don’t forget the ramps. Eaten raw they used to be guaranteed to get you expelled from school. My favorite ramp dish is fried potatoes and ramps. Some people like them with eggs and some even do ramp casserole. I might mention that to conserve this plant, you can just harvest the tops, leaving the bulb in the ground to grow again next year.
Another treat this time of year is the morel mushroom. A lot of people are afraid to gather mushrooms for fear of gathering a poisonous one but the morel has a distinct appearance that sets it apart. I like to sauté them in butter, then roll them in cornmeal, add salt and pepper and finally fry them to a crisp, golden brown and enjoy.
A spring dish that is quite good is fiddlehead ferns. They can be eaten raw in a salad or sautéed and prepared like asparagus. Add a splash of little blue violets for color… both the flower and the leaves are edible.
My mother would not allow me to forget mentioning her favorite spring dish of poke salad. This is prepared by taking the young shoots or leaves of the poke plant, stripping out the stems and boiling in two changes of water, then fryng in bacon grease…best eaten with corn-bread.
Ben Bailey, is a native of Western North Carolina, Master Carpenter, Avid Angler, and Naturalist.