A Group of Gatherers Forages for Food in Sands Point

'd always been intrigued by the idea of foraging, the time-honored practice of gathering edible plants in wild places. It's how the first humans fed themselves, and I was drawn to the idea of connecting with my gatherer forebears. I was also impressed by foraging's inherent thrift. After all, wild food is free.

So, I contacted "Wild Man" Steve Brill, a naturalist and educator who is the Northeast's preeminent forager, and signed up for an upcoming outing. On a Saturday afternoon in late May I found myself part of a group of 35 setting out to see what wild edibles the varied terrain of Sands Point Preserve had to offer.

Just a few steps onto the preserve's nature trail, we encountered our first edible plant-and the first of many frustratingly out-of-season berries: this common blackberry wouldn't bear fruit until the end of July. We did come upon a patch of goutweed whose leaves Brill described as tasting like a combination of celery and parsley.

After coming across two more premature berries -a wineberry that ripens in mid-July and a black raspberry due to bear fruit in mid- to late June-the trail spilled onto the beach and we broke for lunch. When we resumed our search, in the scrub that ran parallel to the water, Brill spied a plant bearing showy pink flowers, a wrinkled rose. The blooms smelled heavenly but Brill told us that the plant's real treasure was its succulent hips (fruit) that are incredibly delicious, tasting of pomegranate and persimmon . . . when they ripen in the fall.

Right on the heels of the roses we came across an autumn olive shrub. This member of the honeysuckle family bears Brill's hands-down favorite autumn fruit. The red-speckled berry tastes of currants, plums and raspberries, only better. Estimated time of ripeness: October.

Away from the beach and past more nonexistent black raspberries, we found ourselves in a meadow. Brill ran over to a vine and exclaimed, "This is the plant that made me start foraging." It was in May of 1979 that Brill saw a group of Greek women collecting grape leaves in a Queens park. He was moved to join them, and when he went home and stuffed the leaves he'd picked, he was struck by how far superior they were to anything he'd made with the store-bought variety. From that day on, he was hooked on wild foods.

Also ringing the meadow were a black cherry tree (whose cherries ripen in August) and some wild strawberries (late June). When we stepped into the adjacent woods, we spotted some wild onions. Here at last was something I could take home and include in the tomato sauce I was planning to make for dinner. I yanked out four bulbs, and not a moment too soon, as our four-hour tour was drawing to a close. I drove away somewhat disappointed by my paltry haul but determined to try foraging later in the season when the pickings wouldn't be quite so slim.

This dish, from Brill and Evelyn Dean's "Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places," (Hearst, $18.95), was inspired after Brill's grape-leaf epiphany. It also uses goutweed and wild onions. But you can substitute store-bought items for all the foraged ingredients.