Indiana foraging made easy with these springtime plants

Yahoo

13-05-2025

Indiana's wild lands not only offer Hoosiers the opportunity to explore, they hold a bountiful selection of edible gifts.
As the outdoors fully shake off the winter slumber, we use this edition of Scrub Hub to speak with an expert and find out what tasty treats nature offers us during the spring.
We spoke with Wild Edible Indiana's Carrie Vrabel to help us find some select snacks when headed out on a hike this spring and answer the question: What are the best plants to forage during spring in Indiana?
Vrabel offers private foraging classes and helps run the Wild Edible Indiana Facebook group, which has more than 7,000 members.
Before digging into the individual edibles, Vrabel offered some advice for Hoosiers just starting out in the foraging world.
Learning plant identification is the best place to start. Foragers should not rely on their phones, Vrabel said, but invest in a good guide that helps the reader identify plants.
Second, never eat anything you are not 100% sure about. Vrabel suggests using at least three sources to make sure the plant is edible. She recommends checking out identification classes and posting photos in online forums for some extra guidance.
It's also important to be thoughtful about what you harvest. A good rule of thumb Vrabel has is to never take more than one-fifth of what is there and only to harvest when there is an abundance of that plant.
Once Hoosiers are prepared to start foraging, there are a handful of springtime plants that are good for beginners to focus on.
Morels are an obvious delicacy for foragers in Indiana, but a lesser-known treat is the Dryad Saddle or Pheasant Back fungi that is known as the morel hunter's consolation prize since it is a bit easier to find while hunting for morels.
These are fun to find, Vrabel said, and the key to harvesting them is when the pores on the underside of the mushroom are still really small and close together. As the mushroom ages those pores widen, and the fungi moves past being tender enough to eat.
Ramps are a popular forage plant for Hoosiers out on hikes in the woods. There are two varieties here in Indiana, Vrabel said, one has a wider leaf, and the other is more narrow.
Ramps are basically Indiana's native onion, Vrabel said, but there are two look-alikes that people should watch out for. The easiest way to determine a ramp is by tearing away the tip of the leaf. A ramp will have a distinctly onion smell, and the look-alikes will not have that same smell.
'Be mindful when you harvest them,' Vrabel said. 'Ramps are very slow growing native plants that take about seven years to establish a colony.'
Garlic mustard is an invasive plant found throughout the woods in Indiana forests. The leaves have a very pungent garlic flavor, but also have a bitter aftertaste. Vrabel said they're best mixed with other greens.
Garlic mustard was brought to the U.S. as a food plant by the colonists, Vrabel said. It has spread very quickly and can be identified by its serrated heart-shaped leaves.
The roots of the plant also can be used as a wild horseradish. Vrabel said it has that wasabi-type flavor and that the entire plant is edible.
While stinging nettle might not seem like the best food source at first, there's a quick way to remove the "sting" and enjoy these as a nutritious foraged green, Vrabel said.
If you briefly boil or steam the plants, the stings are gone. But it will take some care when harvesting stinging nettles. A good pair of gloves should be enough to keep he stinging at bay.
Vrabel said she brings a pair of scissors with her and just cuts off the tops of the stinging nettle plants, then puts them in a big bag.
Dandelions are everywhere, and the entire plant can be eaten or consumed. They also they have a lot of nutritional value, Vrabel said.
The leaves can be boiled or tossed into a salad raw, but Vrabel's favorite way to prepare them is by making dandelion root coffee.
The key to making a good coffee is to dry the roots out first for about a week or so before roasting them in the oven. Vrabel usually roasts the dried roots for 20 minutes at 325 degrees before grinding them up in a coffee grinder. Then you can soak the grounds in a French press.
Trees are also a good source of foraging in Indiana, and Vrabel said one of the best is the black locust.
These might be ready to harvest around mid-May with clusters of white flowers on their branches, Vrabel said. The key to harvesting these is finding a yellow dot in the center of the flower. The dot is typically most vibrant just as the flowers open and begins to fade as the flowers age. The earlier the flowers are harvested, the better the flavor is, which Vrabel said is hard to describe.
Hoosiers will want to keep their eyes out for these flowers as the window to harvest begins in about two weeks.
IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at [e-mail]. Follow him on BlueSky @karlstartswithk.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana foraging expert provides tips and tricks for the spring