Urban Foraging

Last year I watched a group of boys harvesting the crabapple trees across the street in the park. In matter of ten days, the two trees were stripped. For twelve years I’d enjoyed the lovely spring blooms, but it never occurred to me that edible fruit was, in most years, going to waste a short walk away. Duh. I determined that in 2013, I’d get my share.

Yesterday I looked to the south and noticed the crabapples were red! The boys must’ve moved away, because otherwise they would have already been picking. We loaded my yellow garden wagon with baskets and a step ladder and pulled it across to the park. Twenty minutes yielded almost a half bushel.  

A few years ago I would’ve dreaded the juice extraction process. I mean the old way, where one had to cook the apples and wait overnight while the juice dripped through cheesecloth. Now I use the steam juicer, which I originally bought for grapes, so the process is relatively simple. Wash the fruit, place it into the basket in the top of the pan, put water in the bottom, bring to a boil, time for ninety minutes and then drain the condensation (the hot juice) into hot, sterile canning jars. With that process complete, I can make the jelly whenever I please.

Last year, an industrious friend delivered two five gallon buckets of peaches he’d picked from abandoned trees he’d discovered in his walks in the neighborhood. After a moment of surprise and panic, I remembered the steam juicer. I didn’t have to pit or peel, just wash and steam. The jelly was a beautiful, clear red-yellow, smelled incredible and tasted just like peaches.

I also harvest various “weeds” along the back streets of my neighborhood, which I use for medicine. Whenever possible, I stay away from busy, polluted roadways when foraging. I harvest mulberries by bringing clean sheets to place beneath the shaken limbs. Blackberries grow wild around here and are fodder for my steam juicer, along with red raspberries freely shared by friends.

Crab Apples 2013

I am becoming known for my delicious jams, jellies and preserves. Friends and neighbors drop by to choose from my pantry and donate to the coffee can six or seven dollars for each half pint so that I can continue to do what I love best.

2012 Jams, Jellies and Preserves

I’m sure I’m missing many more fruits of this barrio-land. I still have a lot to learn. By harvesting outside the bounty of my own little garden, I expand my culinary horizons and make use of more of what Nature has to offer.