Mulberry Leaves and Grape Tendrils - Foraging A Wild Salad in the City

If you want a great salad in the city, here are some tips for foraging a wild salad from some common plants that may be around you, just waiting for you to pick them.

I show you a wonderful wild salad I foraged in Washinton, DC, awhile back. It was the month of June, so the easy picking of early spring greens was past. My goal was some bicycling and gathering my lunch from the plants on my sightseeing ride.

In a city, I don't forage near busy roadways, in well-manicured landscapes where people may spray for weeds or pests, or where people and their pets are busy running around. I looked for my wild salad behind the hotel where I was staying. Those areas are often ignored.

I found two mulberry trees with young leaves that were still tender and good to eat, without any white sap in the leaves. I picked leaves that would be good in a salad, and then I picked the ripe mulberry fruit, too. Ripe mulberry fruit can be many colors, from white, to red, to dark purple, to black. I give you tips on how to tell which fruit is ripe.

I also found a wild grapevine with young and tender leaves and tendrils. On this plant, the foliage was mild tasting, not tart like the Concord grape tendrils on my homestead.

While I was biking to the Capitol area, I found a dandelion with large leaves, in tall grass away from the bike trail. I also found violets and wood sorrel, but they were in a busy area and could be contaminated by passing people and animals. So I left them alone. It's OK to leave plants alone if they don't seem safe or pleasing.

When I got to my destination, I found a park table, and started to build my salad. I had picked clean and organized, but still sorted through my plants to make sure I only had quality plants and species that I wanted. I washed the greens really well!

I chopped my greens into small pieces so their flavors would blend together. I added my mulberry fruits and the chopped orange I brought along. This salad was really good! I would serve it to anyone!

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Plants
Mulberry - Morus spp.
White Mulberry - Morus alba
Red Mulberry - Morus rubra
Black Mulberry - Morus nigra
Grape - Vitis spp.
Riverbank Grape - Vitis riparia
Dandelion - Taraxicum officinale
Violets - Viola spp.
Wood sorrel - Oxalis spp.

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My video with the trick to removing bitterness from large dandelion greens, even for a raw salad -    • Cooking Monster Dandelion Greens: One Weir...  

Here are some other videos you may enjoy:
Playlist on Wild Salads -    • Wild Salads: Foraging Wild Edible Plants -...  
Playlist on Dandelions -    • Dandelions: Foraging Wild Edible Plants  

My channel - Haphazard Homestead -    / @haphazardhomestead  

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My mailbox:
Haphazard Homestead
PO Box 40721
Eugene, OR 97404

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