#Foraging and the morel of the story – my latest @CityPalate feature article

I love the chance to spend time in nature and living in Alberta, Canada gives me great opportunities to do so. I love hiking in The Rocky Mountains, cycling, skiing or sometimes just getting in a raft and floating down the big wide Bow River.

Eventually, all that time in nature makes me hungry though and that’s when it’s good to spend a little of my time in the great outdoors with a cadre of culinary instructors from SAIT Polytechnic’s School of Hospitality and Tourism. Once a year we go on a hike that turns into an episode of Bounty Hunter. The bounty in this case is food and the hunting is part of the gathering we do on their annual foraging day in the foothills of The Rocky Mountains.

You might be a confirmed “urban forager” but in case you’d like to take a walk on the wild side of food read on…

I’ve included my City Palate article Foraging 101 – finding good things to eat in our back yards, fields and forests here to share some of Alberta’s glorious bounty with you virtually –  if not in real time.

It’s fun to learn a little more each year about the difference between what’s wild and what’s wildly edible with naturalist Julie Walker of Full Circle Adventures. I have been surprised and delighted by the bounty to be found when viewing the natural world with the help of a pair of well-trained eyes.

Alberta – wild or tamed – it’s a very edible province. Spoiler Alert: that’s the morel to this story.

Penny Marshall with freshly cleaned dandelion heads – if you can’t beat them enjoy them – photo – Karen Anderson

you can find stinging nettles at some farmers’ markets – photo – Karen Anderson

stinging nettle, mint and orange smoothie – photo – Karen Anderson

Spruce tips for tea – photo – Karen Anderson

delicate white violets – both the flower and leaves are edible – photo – Karen Anderson

foraged greens – photo – Karen Anderson

fiddleheads are young ostrich ferns – photo – Karen Anderson

morels do not have partitions inside – they are hollow – photo – Karen Anderson

My father foraging blueberries in New Brunswick