Wild Foods in April

April in the High Country of NC brings plenty of wild food for foraging. There are a number of plants that are still going strong from March, and plenty new that are added to the mix.

March wild foods still available where I live in Western NC during April:

• Chickweed (Stellaria media)
• Bluntleaf dock (Rumex obtusifolius)
• Ramps (Allium tricoccum)
• Dandelion (Taraxacum)
• Bishop’s weed (Aegopodium podagraria)
• Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)
• Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum)
• Violets (Viola)
• Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina)
• Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva)

Click HERE to see all of the March wild foods.

April wild foods, in general order of their appearance:

 

Yellow Rocket (Barbarea vulgaris) — leaves, stems, blooms raw or cooked

1. Yellow Rocket & Wild Greens Ramen Noodle Soup
2. Daylily Shoots, Yellow Rocket, and Chickweed Salad Greens, and More

Mint (Lamia) — leaves raw or cooked

1. Nine Wild Greens for Dinner

Cleavers (Galium aparine) — young leaves & stems raw or cooked, then later in the season, seeds roasted for coffee

1. Foraging Beech Leaves, Cleavers, and Virginia Waterleaf Greens

Hostas — young shoots and leaves, flowers; raw or cooked

1. Hostas for Dinner

Plantain (Plantago major) — young leaves in spring raw or cooked (bitter)

1. Red Clover and Plantain Salad
2. Nine Wild Greens for Dinner

Maples (Acer) — young leaves raw or cooked, seeds raw or cooked

1. Foraging Maple Seeds & Leaves

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) — young leaves, stems, and flowers cooked

1. Easy-to-Forage Garlic Mustard Greens

Raspberry (Rubus) — young leaves raw or cooked, fruit

1. Daylily Shoots, Yellow Rocket, and Chickweed Salad Greens, and More
2. Raspberries and the Laughing Mountain

Appalachian spicebush (Lindera benzoin) — flowers, leaves, twigs ground for teas/flavoring; berries raw, dried, or cooked as seasoning in fall

1. Appalachian Spicebush Tea
2. Peach Spiceberry Pie

Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum) — leaves and flowers raw or cooked

1. Cicely, Chickweed, Violets, and Solomon’s Seal Greens
2. Smooth Rock Cress, Solomon’s Seal, Lamb’s Ear and Vetch Greens

Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza) — entire plant raw or cooked

1. Watercress and Sweet Cicely Salads
2. Cicely, Chickweed, Violets, and Solomon’s Seal Greens

Watercress (Cardamine rotundifolia) — stems, leaves, flowers raw or cooked

1. Beautiful Watercress and Branch Lettuce Harvest
2. Foraging Fresh Branch Lettuce and Watercress

Branch lettuce/saxifrage (Micranthes micranthidifolia) — leaves raw or cooked

1. Beautiful Watercress and Branch Lettuce Harvest
2. Foraging Fresh Branch Lettuce and Watercress

Burdock (Arctium lappa) — first year (rosette) roots, second year peeled flower stalks and peeled stems

Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) — leaves, stems, flowers raw or cooked

1. Foraged Green Salad with Woodland Stonecrop

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Please remember: Always be 100% certain of your identifications before harvesting or eating any wild food. Harvest sustainably, so that the plants can keep growing. And don’t forget to tell the earth and all her gifts “thank you.”