Central Park
Saturday
September 6

Thanks to its varied habitats and combination of native and introduced species, this world-famous park overflows with wild food.

If the summer has been rainy, the mushrooming should be excellent. In years where there was exceptionally rainy weather, we found hundreds of dollars worth of prized prince mushrooms (Agaricus augustus) on a path across from the Museum of Natural History, and they'll be back again if it rains a lot beforehand.

Some of the mushrooms the group will look for include chicken mushrooms and ringless honey mushrooms.

Many common wild greens also abound. We'll hunt for lamb's-quarters (a wild spinach), sour wood sorrel and sheep sorrel, spicy poor man's pepper, mild lady's thumb, and string bean-flavored Asiatic dayflower.

There will also be culinary and medicinal herbs such as burdock root, sassafras, and common spicebush. The last also bears oblong red berries that make a fantastic, allspice-like seasoning.

Speaking of fruit, there may also be a huge crop of wild apples just northwest of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and west of Park Drive East. Further south, we may also find wild quince.

Not to be outdone, Park Drive West has a great stand of staghorn sumac, which you use to make pink lemonade or a wonderful concentrate used in place of lemon juice.

The group will also look for hawthorn berries, related to apples and with a similar flavor. The fruit of the hackberry tree, on the other hand, tastes like the candy coating of M&M's.