Sunken Meadow Park
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The seashore is always a special place for edible wild plants, and the fall is no exception. In addition to the beach habitat and adjacent thickets, it's got cultivated areas, wetlands, and woodland trails. The most spectacular find in the sand within sight of the ocean, sea rocket is a pungent, succulent mustard found nowhere else, and it's as healthy as it is tasty. |
 Sea Rocket This succulent is mild-tasting when it first comes up, then becomes fiery as the season progresses |
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There will also be edible seaweeds in the sound. Irish moss, which is used as a commercial thickener in cosmetics and ice cream, also makes great puddings. In the LI sound itself we're sure to find rockweed, a seaweed that's an excellent ingredient in soup stock and can also be prepared like potato chips. It's such an excellent source of iodine and other minerals, herbalists used it for thyroid problems for centuries. We'll probably also find sea lettuce, great sautéed with garlic or added to soups. We could also find Irish moss, one of the best thickeners of soups and beverages. Herbs and greens such as sheep sorrel, wood sorrel, chickweed, Asiatic dayflower, northern bayberry, field garlic, pokeweed, yarrow, violets, and mullein will be growing along the edges of trails or in fields. Wild berries are coming into season too. We'll be looking for wild strawberries, which are smaller but much tastier than what you're used to; mulberries, which are related to figs; and juneberries, sweet berries with the flavors of blueberries, apples, and almonds. |
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If there has been sufficient rain beforehand, there could be choice gourmet mushrooms such as chicken mushrooms, dryad's saddle, wine-cap stropharias, or fairy ring mushrooms. You can't get better springtime foraging than this! |
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The 3-hour walking tour begins at 12:30 PM, Saturday, September 5, at the Kings Park LIRR Station Ticket Office.
Call (914) 835-2153 at least 24 hours in advance to reserve a place. |
