Urban Foraging: Part 1

Today I took a class at The Public School with Urban Forager Ava Chin. She taught us the basics of identifying a few very prolific "weeds" growing right here in the streets and parks of NYC. I'm going to share some of these findings here, but before I do, I'd like to remind you that it's best to forage in elevated green spaces away from houses and streets. You never know just how much lead may be in your soil...

One of the tastiest plants we found today was Poor Man's Pepper. Don't let it's name fool you. Poor Man's Pepper has an amazing wasabi like punch. Ava first spotted it poking through the side walk as we strolled down Willoughy Street. We opted not to taste the pods of this particular specimen as it was literally breaking through the street, but we found a less threatening patch right outside the wall of Fort Greene Park. Poor Man's Pepper tends to grow in thin stalks with a number of bottle brush tops where the flat green pods and white flowers of the plant sit. The pods are where the punch is... have a bite, and you won't be disappointed.