This exceptional park offers incredible opportunities for foragers during the mid-summer season. Over the course of a full day, we'll explore multiple distinct habitats, including cultivated areas, pristine seashore environments, and thriving woodland sections.
The most remarkable discovery available in this park grows within view of the ocean. Numerous blackberry bushes flourish in nearby thickets, producing thousands of exquisitely flavored wild berries. These small berries, though seedier than their mass-produced commercial versions, deliver such superior taste that they'll make you forget about your smartphone.
Wild fruit abundance extends far beyond blackberries. Black cherries reach their flavor peak during this season, and we'll likely be able to harvest common elderberries from the hillsides overlooking the shoreline as well.
The waters of The Sound provide additional culinary treasures in the form of edible seaweeds. Irish moss, commercially utilized as a thickening agent in cosmetics and ice cream products, also produces outstanding puddings. Rockweed works beautifully in soups or incorporated into seafood substitutes and can even be baked into crispy chips. The delicate, translucent green sea lettuce is superb when sautéed with garlic, and it may even be candied for a unique treat. Everyone who samples the distinctive flavor of sea rocket, a spicy and succulent mustard green found exclusively on sandy shores, becomes an immediate fan; at this time of year, it tastes remarkably similar to its relative, wasabi.
Additional foraged foods thrive away from sandy areas. Both common spicebush and sassafras flourish along the woodland edges, as does the northern bayberry bush, which grows in thickets near the shore. We may encounter herbs and greens, including sheep sorrel, wood sorrel, Asiatic dayflower, field garlic, yarrow, and mullein, which flourish along trail edges and open fields, ready for harvest.
When sufficient rainfall has occurred beforehand, abundant gourmet mushrooms of exceptional quality appear throughout the woods. Our search will focus on magnificent chicken mushrooms, savory boletes, delicate gem-studded puffballs, and unbelievably delicious chanterelles.
Meeting Location:
The 3-hour foraging tour of Sunken Meadow Park assembles at the benches located between the bathhouse and the adjacent parking field number 1.
