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Wild Greens And Flowers Salad -1

native, salads, vegetables

1 cup watercress leaves and (only)
1 tender stems
1 cup lamb's quarter new leaves
1 (or use small spinach
1 leaves)
1 cup arugula lettuce torn (not
1 cut) to bite-size pieces
1 can also use bibb or leaf
1 lettuces
1/2 cup tender nasturtium and violet
1 leaves torn up
1/2 cup nasturtium and violet
1 flowers (in season)
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup salad oil
1 mint leaves
2 teaspoon fresh mint chopped fine and
1 bruised
2 teaspoon chopped tarragon (fresh) or
1 teaspoon dried if necessary
1 optional: salt and pepper to
1 taste

Salads were much liked in the Spring when new, tender greens appeared. A great variety of mixtures was used. Since salt was uncommon or not used at all, salads were flavored by herbs, oil pressed from seeds, and especially with a vinegar made from fermented, evaporated uncooked maple sap (which we can't do or get). So this is an approximation of the spring tonic salads beloved by all woodland people after the long winters. Combine honey and vinegar, whisk in oil, which in crushed mint. Season to taste with small amount of salt. Pour over greens and flowers in large bowl, tossing for at least 3 minuts to cover all lightly with dressing. Serve immediately. Lambs quarters (chenopodium album) is a fuzzy-leafed weed that can be found in city empty lots (though it depends on the environment whether you'd want to eat if if gathered there). I don't know its Ojibwe name, Indian spinach it was called by older ladies years ago. It is very very high in beta carotene (plant vitamin A) and calcium, and is a good food for nursing mothers where there are no dairy cattle or milk. Violets of all sorts flower all over city and suburban lawns as weeds. All species are high in vintamins C and A. Chickweed (Stellaria media, Ojibwe name winibidja bibagano, or toothplant) is another common spring herb that grows all over (as law weed for example) as low, spreading mat, It is very high in vitamin C, and was therefore a common anti-scurvy remedy for this deficiency disease. Small amounts of new mustard leaves (brassica negra) were used for pungent flavor, probably not too easy for city-dwellers to find, but sometimes sold in produce or health food stores. Wild onions and leeks was also traditional and sought from early spring until gone in winter - flower heads as well as leaves and bulbs would be eaten in salads as well as cooked> Salad oil was pressed from some kinds of seeds I don't know, from sunflowr seeds, but most especially the oil that can be pressed/cooked out of acorn meal which has been cold-water leached of bitter tannin. There was supposedly less of the bitter tannin in acorns from certain oaks: mitigomisk. Bitter kind was called wisugimitigomisk (bitter oak). The acorn meal was a general good (and whole acorns of the sweet kind were roasted) and the oil was all-purpose cooking and household utility oil, used on bullrishes for weaving to keep them soft, water resistant, and shiny. The general idea of a traditional native salad is to cut down on salt, by emphasizing flavors from vinegar, honey or maple syrup, herbs, and ground pungent seeds (such as mustard). The petals of most flowers that will later be edible fruits or berries can be eaten, but not all taste good. Elder flowers and basswood flowers are especially good. Paula Giese

Yield: 1 servings

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