With woodland trails, a lake, and recreation areas, this is a great place for wild foods in late fall. Some fruits are good to eat in late fall.
Autumn Olive Berries
- At this time of the year, we’ll be enjoying the sweet-tart autumn olive berries, which grow in unlimited quantity near the entrance to the parking lot.
- These red, spherical, spotted berries are as easy to recognize as they are tasty.
Sassafras Leaves
- Cold-weather wild greens of early spring will also be reappearing in grassy areas and along trail edges. We'll be looking for lemon-flavored sheep sorrel and curly dock, garlic-flavored garlic mustard, corn-flavored chickweed, spicy field garlic, and tasty, young dandelion greens. In addition, we'll hunt for culinary and medicinal herbs such as common spicebush, jewelweed, common- and long-leaf plantain, and yarrow.
- Sassafras is a tree that makes hundreds of saplings, all of which soon die unless they happen to be growing in full sunlight. You can use the outer layer of the saplings' roots as a seasoning, or simmer the whole root to make tea or start root beer. We’ll be finding this native tree along the edges of the woods.
- This common tree has 3 kinds of leaves: an oval leaf, one shaped like a mitten, and one with 3 lobes, like a T. rex footprint.
Tree Ear Mushrooms
- If it has rained enough beforehand, late fall mushrooms, such as savory blewits, delicious pear-shaped puffballs, seafood-flavored oyster mushrooms, and gelatinous tree ear mushrooms could be growing anywhere.
- Wrongly considered less than mediocre in the mushroom world, this fungus, used for texture in Chinese soups, is actually delicious baked with a savory or sweet coating.
With so much in season, this is a tour you're not going to want to miss!
Please Note:
- Participants should be dressed for the weather, and be aware of very bad subway service. Trains are often canceled due to track work.
- No sandals (there are mosquitoes, thorns and poison ivy). Everyone should have plastic bags for veggies and herbs, paper bags for mushrooms, which spoil in
- plastic, containers for berries from late spring through fall, water and lunch, and extra layers when it's cold. Digging implements and pocket knives are optional.
- Dogs are permitted. Children are encouraged to attend.
- There's no smoking whatsoever at any time.
Meeting place:
The 3-hour foraging tour of Belmont Lake State Park begins at the benches between the building with the concession stand and the parking lot, off exit 38 of The Southern State Parkway, in North Babylon, NY.
School Notes:
If you can't attend the class you signed up for, please call or email "Wildman" Steve Brill a day before the start of the class. No-call/no-show creates an inconvenience to all participants since we can’t tell if absentees are having transportation issues, and this delays the start of the tour/class.
Kindly note that price posted is our suggested donation only.