Happy July, food & foraging friends!

I don’t know about you, but I’m not having the July I planned. Right after the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (which was fabulous – check out Chef Julian’s chanterelle dumplings with green plum sauce recipe from the cooking demo I facilitated) COVID finally got me, and the infection has triggered a prolonged illness and crash of my chronic condition ME/CFS that has forced me to cancel long anticipated plans.

I share this in part to say I haven’t much been able to access the woods I would normally be romping in. The good news is wild food — and medicine — is truly everywhere. When I was tapped as a source for this 2019 WAMU story, I was in the middle of my last big ME/CFS crash, and couldn’t go a block without wheelchair assistance. Never one to miss an opportunity, I asked the reporter to my apartment and push my wheelchair while I pointed out all edible goodies in front of my building. I promised five wild edibles by the top of the block but we surpassed that in just a few paces!

So this month, I want to talk about a few medicinal forageables I’m working with to boost my immune system, as well as a few things I’ve been able to find even with my reduced mobility.

Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica or Fallopia japonica) is an invasive plant I’ve written about previously for culinary purposes, but until now I’d never worked with it medicinally. I was amazed to discover all of the medicinal benefits concentrated in its roots: Promotes antibiotic and antiviral action, enhances immune function, reduces autoimmune reactions, and reduces inflammation – all being quite what the doctor ordered right now. It also claims the highest resveratrol content of any known plant – helping protect the central nervous system and neurological health.

Japanese knotweed is a bear to dig up and chop up — I had to get a garden buddy to do so for me — but then it’s as easy as putting the root cuttings in vodka for a few weeks, then straining to utilize as a tincture taken daily.

Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea): It may be coincidence, but I went a full two years without even getting a cold until the beginning of this year when the homemade echinacea tincture I’d taken faithfully those two years ran out. The link above details all of echinacea’s supposed benefits: improve immunity, blood sugar regulation, inflammation and even skin health. There is some research to indicate it can help limit the severity and duration of the common cold.

You can find echinacea in any drugstore in capsule form, or do like I do and grow this beautiful perennial yourself and tincture the root, leaves and flowers (all of which contain chicoric acid, which has various superpowers, including being an inhibitor of HIV-1 replication) for the price of a cheap bottle of vodka.

Reishi (ganoderma): Reishi has been used for many centuries in Asian medicine, and is believed to fight cancer, boost immune functioning, help regulate cholesterol and blood pressure, among other benefits. Reishi contains over 200 different polysaccharide compounds (Beta-glucans), complex long-chain sugar molecules that benefit the immune system, and support healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

I find reishi all the time on my block, even though people think of it as some mystical mushroom only found in a cloud forest somewhere. This is not something I would harvest from my block however, as I might for a culinary plant. Fungi can hyperaccumulate heavy metals and other toxins, and if I’m making medicine, I definitely don’t want a dose of that. Luckily a fellow MAW member who grows reishi commercially had donated a few fruiting blocks for our Smithsonian display, so I had a nice clean source to work from. As with the other two, it was a matter of chopping up the mushroom as much as possible (more surface area for the alcohol to absorb), and steeping in vodka two weeks.

Do I think these plants and fungi will reverse my 15 years of chronic illness? Not in the least. The science is still inconclusive on a lot of the benefits. I do believe they can at least support my overall health and immune system functioning. Considering the outrageous cost of many other supplements, I’m happy to have these natural boosters available to me for little to no cost.

             

Left/top: Highlights from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, including reishi from MAW’s Magnificent Mushrooms display and chanterelle dumplings from a cooking demo with Arcadia Venture’s Julian Fortu. Right/bottom: Echinacea (aka coneflower) is great as a tea or tincture; I combined it with Japanese knotweed in my tincture. Reishi tincture on the right.

 

So, I’ve only managed to get on the trail twice this month, and then going not more than the equivalent of a few city blocks. Yet in that short time was able to find many wild edible mushrooms, from bicolor and gilled boletes, oysters, and the darling of summer foragers, chanterelles, for a three-course fungus-centric meal of crispy air-fried oysters for app, a simple chanterelle risotto using leftover rice, and a parfait of candied chanterelles, goat cheese and walnuts. My dinner partner protested at first to the dessert course, thinking candied chanterelles would be complicated, but was simple as boiling the smaller chanterelles whole with sugar and vanilla. Delish!

My only update on the events front is that Forage and Feast Tour of Virginia’s Northern Neck planned for August will be pushed back to early fall. We’re also looking to offer the trip in modular form for people who would like to come for a particular day of the tour. Reach out if you’re interested in getting more details on that as it firms up.

Wildly yours,

April