_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________ 1

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

________ _____________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

______________________________________________

__________________________________________

_______________________________________

_____ ___________________________________

_________ _______________________________

_____ _______ ____________________________

Wild Edible NoteBook

wildfoodgirl.

________

May2012

ARCHIVE

wildfoodg rl.com

Copyright © 2012 Erica T. Marciniec aka “Wild Food Girl.” Revised edition, 5/2014.

Text & photos by Erica T. Marciniec with additional photos by Gregg DavisGuest writers: Wendy Petty, Brad Purcell

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

While the author has prepared this chapter to the best of her ability, users should take necessary precautions including referencing multiple guide books prior to consuming wild plants. The stories in this notebook may not be applicable to your locale. Consult with a professional when appropriate. The author shall not be held accountable for what you choose to consume.

For more information,please visit:

35

Liver fl ukes

COLORING PAGE

34

COLORING PAGE

Curly dock

Hi and thanks so much for checking out the Wild Edible Notebook, a monthly

collection of stories about foraging and using edible wild foods.

This issue, which was originally published in May of 2012, features that ubiquitous weed curly dock, examined both in light of its edibility and its designation as an invasive species. Then I interview conservation biologist Joe Roman about his invasivore project. Next comes “My Boyfriend, the Liver Fluke,” a lighthearted take on the touchy subject of those creepy crawlies who might be invading your watercress right now. There’s a wild edible poem by correspondent Brad Purcell, a recipe for dock enchiladas by the inimitable Butter of Hunger & Thirst, and a handful more cooking ideas for dock and watercress to boot. I dug into the archives to put out this free edition, which has been revised and updated as of May, 2014.

The fi rst Wild Edible Notebook dates back to 2011, but much has changed since then. The current Notebooks feature a larger page size than this archived edition, an easier-to-read two-column layout, and more content over all. They are now available for iPad and iPhone in the Apple Newsstand, or in various PDF formats including screen-reading and print-and-fold versions at www.wildfoodgirl.com for the subscription price of $1.99/month, with proceeds supporting the ongoing development of this publication.

If you like this issue, I cordially invite you to consider purchasing a subscription. Several recently released Notebooks are included in the subscription price, followed by a brand new edition featuring several plants and foraging topics each month. They can only keep getting better.

As always, input, stories, and refl ections are most welcome. Email those to erica@wildfoodgirl.com.

Sincerely,—WFG

Wild Edible NoteBook

4 33

Free Classifi eds

Trying to fi nd your foraging soulmate? Hawk some wild

product? Take advantage of free ads and classifi eds in the Wild Edible Notebook. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity! Send your ads/information to erica@wildfoodgirl.com today...

BC KelpBC KELP is a small business specializing

in wild edible seaweeds, all natural, hand harvested, dried, premium quality kelp and seaweed, located in BC, Canada.

www.bckelp.comPO Box 274 Prince Rupert BC, V8J 3P3 Canada

bckelp@bckelp.com(250) 622-7085

Foragers Against Wasting Weeds (FAWW?) I’m not married to the name, so if you come up with something better, more power to you. I was just thinking this land could use some foraging groups whose mission is to trade free weeding of organic spaces in exchange for the opportunity to consume the weeds. Prevent weed poisoning and weed waste altogether. Call your local farmer and get started today!

Midwest Wild Harvest FestivalThe Midwest Wild Harvest Festival

established by Sam Thayer in 2005 has been resurrected thanks to Melissa Price of Forager’s Harvest and some others. It is held annually in late summer/fall in Prairie du Chien, WI at the Wisconsin Badger Camp.

Melissa writes: “There will be foraging classes specifi cally for children and childcare available for very young children (toddler-4 years).” Each year features a keynote speaker. There’s also a wild food potluck and cooking contest, with judging based on taste, percentage of wild ingredients, and appearance.

Download the registration form and brochure at: www.wildharvestfestival.org. Space is limited.

32

May is Wild Asparagus Month at Hunger & Thirst for Life

Attention wild foodies: Check out the recipe-sharing action at

hungerandthirstforlife.blogspot.com. The May 2012 Wild Things Round Up

features wild foraged asparagus (Asparagus offi cinalis), the object of Euell

Gibbons’ stalking. Wild asparagus is exactly the same species as the store-bought

variety, made a million times tastier by virtue of the fact that it grows wild and free.

Visit the site for

a wealth of wild

culinary gems

to add to your

recipe box.

Gregg found this giant asparagus in an overgrown

creekside location in Aurora,

Colorado. We even ate the tough

lower stalk by cutting the cooked

piece lengthwise and sucking out

the soft inner fl esh. It was way

too good to waste.

5

Stare out across the empty lots and fi elds on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado and you will see scattered clumps of dark green leaves towering above the grasses. These young, albeit sizeable plants are in rosette form, the not-yet-fl owering offspring of older plants. Nearby, new leaves can also be found growing from the base of prior years’ dried, rusty-red fl ower stalks. Over time, they send up multiple fl ower stalks, becoming even bushier and more apparent than they were in rosette form.

The plant is curly dock (Rumex crispus), a rhubarb relative in the buckwheat family known alternately as sour or yellow dock. The “curly” moniker comes from the wavy or crisped margins that often characterize the leaves and “sour” speaks to their lemony fl avor.

Curly Dock: An Edible Agricultural Invasive That Makes a Good Mouthful

May 2

Denver curly dock clumps. Learn them when they’re big so you know them when the young,

new leaves emerge. Look for this and related species coming out in the Colorado high

country in late May/early June.

By WFG Reprinted with permission from eattheinvaders.org

6

Bad Farm Forage, Good Folk FoodCurly dock is good forage for humans, though such is not the case for

livestock. Many is he in farm country who has spent days clearing pastures of the stuff, for, USU Extension explains, the leaves of curly dock are poisonous to cattle and sheep; the seeds and vegetation of curly dock are toxic to poultry and can cause dermatitis and gastric problems in cattle; and curly dock is an alternate host to many crop diseases. It is also indicted for toxicity to horses.

The non-native plant is found in agricultural landscapes throughout the U.S. and listed as invasive in 15 states, though author Sam Thayer (personal communication, 2012) suspects it to be only “marginally invasive” since “it does not tend to invade natural habitats” like more harmful foreign species such as garlic mustard (Allaria petiolata) and kudzu (Pueraria spp.).

“Nobody with a serious dock problem will try to get rid of them by eating them,” said my friend Sam, shooting a hole through my entire argument.

May 2

31

It’s amazing how quickly the green breaks forthwhen winter begins her retreat.Watercress, though green all winter, stands up a tad straighterand says: “Here I am, look at me!”And it no longer looks like a limp wet mop. Sounds which didn’t dare peep when coldhave lost their inhibitionsand are downright bold, as they proclaim the season change.I’m not saying it’s spring; you know we’ve been teased before...but perhaps it has – just a little bit sprung.

-Brad Purcell

“A Little Observation...”

30

Watercress Tea SandwichesIngredients:

Amazingly clean raw watercress leaves and stems

Real butterSliced bakery-fresh or

homemade bread

Instructions:

1. Sandwich fresh watercress between two pieces of buttered bread and eat all fancy-like.

7

Still, if you must pull it out of your pasture so the cows don’t get sick, why not eat curly dock while you’re at it?

Among its nutritional components, John Kallas (2010) explains, curly dock leaves are high in vitamin C, beta-carotene, and zinc and the seeds are rich in calcium and fi ber while low in protein and fat.

As long as it is collected from a location free of herbicides, excessive car exhaust, or other pollutants, it is free, organic green fare. Wildman Steve Brill (1994) points out that curly dock became important as a vegetable during the Great Depression when people were hungry.

Last but not least, curly dock is yummy, lauded as “an abundant delicacy that widely passes for a weed” by Kathryn G. and Andrew L. March (1979). I personally make use of it and other Rumex relatives throughout their growing seasons, including blanching or sautéing and freezing batches to last through winter.

Native Species are Not InvasiveThere are many edible docks in the Rumex genus, some native and some

introduced. Curly dock (R. crispus), patience dock (R. patientia), bitter dock (R. obtusifolius), and domestic dock (R. domesticus) are introduced species, whereas willow dock (R. triangulivalvis / R. salicifolius) and Western dock (R. occidentalis) are native (Thayer, personal communication, 2012). Rumex

May 2

The noxious, edible weed, garlic mustard invades natural habitats and is a true ecological problem.

Curly dock, however, usually only invades habitats disturbed

by human hands.

8

species can be diffi cult to tell apart by leaf shape alone, he indicates, though the fruits can be used to distinguish between them. Flavors vary among species, with several authors reporting a preference for curly dock.

The plants are perhaps easiest to locate by the presence of the previous year’s rusty brown stalks and fruits, from the bases of which emerge young, edible leaves in spring. Curly dock’s basal rosette leaves are “elongated lanceolate or nearly linear,” and “rounded or tapered at the

May 2

Above: A fl owering dock. Check out the crisped margins of the “curly” leaves. Below: Tasty new leaves emerge from the base of last year’s stalks.

29

Dock Stuffed VeggiesIngredients:

Butter or oilChopped onionsChopped garlicChopped dockStewed tomatoes and their juicesWild mushrooms (chopped and cooked)Bread crumbs (I make them with leftover

stale bread in the food processor.)Bell peppers, zucchini, or other veggies

you can hollow out and stuff

Instructions:

1. Sauté onions and garlic in butter or oil until translucent.

2. Stir in dock and sauté until tender.3. Stir in tomatoes, juice, and pre-cooked wild

mushrooms (optional). 4. Add bread crumbs and mix until moist. If it’s

too wet, add breadcrumbs. If it’s too dry, add liquid—water, salad dressing, tomato sauce, you name it!

5. Stuff into a halved pepper, hollowed out squash, or other veggie. I’ve also had success wrapping it in a big dock leaf, securing with a toothpick, and brushing with oil before baking, though Kallas (2010) reports his dock leaves dissolving into goo upon a similar attempt.

6. Bake at 350 degrees (F) until the stuffi ng is browned and crusty and you can get a fork through the veggie.

Above: An otherworldly dock and wild mushroom stuffed pepper.

Below: I tried this non-native bitter dock (R. obtusifolius) on my trip

east one spring. It was not lemony like the other docks; it was bitter.

Go fi gure. Still, Dad’s fi rst comment was, “You know what this would be

good in? Stuffi ng.” I owe much of my cooking prowess to Dad.

28

Simple Dock SautéI realize how insanely simple this

recipe sounds, and that’s because it is. Can I help it if I’m not a chef, if I like my wild veggies tasting a lot like they fi rst did when I pulled them from the ground? It’s certainly a good way to get a sense of this wild vegetable’s lemony fl avor.

Ingredients:

Young curly dock leaves, laid lengthwise and chopped into whorls

Olive oilChopped garlic or onions

Instructions:

1. Sauté onions or garlic and dock until the leaves get soft and grey-green in color, then serve as a side dish or add to other recipes.

2. If you’d prefer a little crunch, continue to sauté on low heat for a while longer until the leaves take on an almost translucent sheen and are mildly crunchy when you bite them.

Chopped dock whorls. This particular batch is Rumex

densifl orus, a native species that grows in the Colorado high

country. Collection methods, preparation, and fl avor are comparable to curly dock.

Yet another edible species of dock. Alternately called R.

triangulivalvis or R. salicifolius depending on which taxonomist

you ask, the narrow leaves of this native dock are also edible and yummy. I fi nd them easiest

to collect before fl owering, when they are thick with basal leaves.

9

May 2

base” (Thayer, 2010), ranging in shape from broad to less so (Kallas, 2010). “At the base of the petiole there is a papery sheath called the ocrea,” writes Thayer. “It surrounds the stem and holds a bunch of slime when the plants are young but becomes dry, brown, and brittle later on.”

Dock Trials, Errors, and TriumphsAs with any unfamiliar wild plant, a certain amount of trial and error is

expected. For example, my fi rst dock taste tests came from old, tough specimens collected along a dusty road; they took eons to wash and boil until chewable, and then turned out slimy and repugnant despite all my efforts.

“A well-hydrated plant that has healthy great-looking leaves is more likely to have leaves that cook into greatness,” Kallas (2010) writes, and the point is well taken: Look for plants with healthy leaves—not old, dirty ones riddled with bug holes—just as you do when picking vegetables from a garden.

Thayer (2010) says to get leaves just as they are unfurling or recently unfurled, a point that went a long way towards my success with curly dock. I now take newly-emerged leaves while they’re still rolled up, slightly unrolled leaves, and

Eat young leaves like these newly unfurling babes.

10

light green, newly unrolled leaves—leaf stems, midribs, and all. New leaves of spring or new leaves growing from midsummer plants are all game—just as long as they’re young and clean. Furthermore, slime is a good thing, Thayer indicates. It means the leaves are fresh and ready to harvest.

Another bit of information that served me well early on was the “built-in identifi cation check” reported by Kathryn G. and Andrew L. March (1979) for the three docks featured in their book, including curly dock. “All three kinds turn grey-green when boiled,” such that “grass or anything accidentally mixed in will stay bright green and can be easily removed,” they write. This also proves to be the case with other cooking methods.

I like to lay curly dock leaves lengthwise on a cutting board and chop them into whorled slices, sauté them in olive oil with garlic, and serve them as a side dish. I have also added sautéed dock to egg dishes, stuffi ngs, stir fries, cream sauce, cracker spread, potato soup, bean dishes, saag paneer, and pizza. For cooking ideas from a range of contributors, including recipes for dock seeds, check out the March 2012 recipe share at hungerandthirstforlife.blogspot.com.

A bounty of Denver curly dock greens.

May 2

27

Below: Delicious wild dock enchilada platter by the inimitable Wendy Petty, aka Butter. Facing page: A rare sighting of my foraging

arch-nemesis. Check out more wild writing, including recipes, by Wendy at zesterdaily.com or hungerandthirstforlife.blogspot.com.

leaves and salt, and cook them until they have completely wilted and become a deep green. Remove the pan from the heat.

3. Combine the dock and onion mixture with the queso fresco, half of the shredded jack, and the sour cream.

4. Time to assemble. Fill each tortilla with approximately two tablespoons of fi lling (eyeball it), roll, and place into an 8”x8” pan. I was able to fi t seven across, two on the top, and cut the last one in half to fi nish fi lling the corner.

5. Top the bundles with the enchilada sauce and remaining shredded cheese. Cover the pan with foil and bake in a 350˚ oven for 30 minutes or until heated through and the cheese looks bubbly.

6. Serve your dock enchiladas topped with a big spoonful of crema, a side of homemade refried beans, and jicama salad (jicama matchsticks tossed with chopped cilantro, lime juice, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of sugar).

26

Dock Enchiladasby Wendy PettySPECIAL TO THE NOTEBOOK

You know the “eat more kale” guy, migrane to the Chick-fi l-A mega-corporation? I’m gonna start a campaign even more confounding to the suits than the promotion of kale. You heard it here fi rst, I say eat more dock! Seriously, folks, if dock grows plentifully near you, there is no reason to be spending your hard-earned cash on fancy store-bought greens during its growing season. When it is young and tender (in spring and also briefl y again in the late fall), dock gives and gives plentiful greens, enough for you to stick into any old recipe you please. When in doubt, substitute it for spinach in traditional recipes, like spinach lasagna. Or here, in my dock enchiladas.

Ingredients:

10 corn tortillas1/2 batch quickie enchilada sauce4 handfuls of dock, washed and chopped1/2 medium onion, chopped1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup queso fresco, crumbled2 cups Monterey jack, shredded1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions:

1. Either on the grill or in a dry cast iron skillet, reheat your tortillas until they are soft, then place them in a tortilla warmer (alternately, wrap them in a dish towel).

2. In a heavy skillet, heat a spoonful of lard over medium heat. Throw the onion into the pan, stir, and let it cook until translucent. Add the dock

11

First time dock eaters should of course follow wild food procedure and use multiple guides or expert advice to confi rm their identifi cation, then do a lip test (rub it on the lips to see if there’s a reaction) and a personal edibility test (eat a small amount and wait 24 hours) before consuming in greater quantity.

Like spinach, docks contain oxalic acid, and therefore should not be overindulged upon in one sitting. A plate of food per meal is probably a reasonable portion, as opposed to eating several pounds at a time.

That said, I once served curly dock dinner dishes for fi ve days straight without incident—with the exception that my boyfriend eventually begged for respite from the lemony Rumex.

I always forage curly dock judiciously, selecting only the choicest leaves so as not to stress the plants. If you’re trying to rid a fi eld of it, however, you might as well go ahead and grab every spring leaf you see and dig up the medicinal root while you’re at it. After all, that is the point of eating an unwanted invader.

Connecticut curly dock greens, April 2012. They’re nice and all, but why bother when Denver gives such good dock? (For the record, I did fi nd nicer specimens than this while I was out east.)

May 2

If you like the

WildEdible NoteBook

Consider subscribing for only

$1.99/monthDetails at www.wildfoodgirl.comA new issue comes out each month. Subscriptions support the ongoing development of this publication, and you can cancel anytime.

Thank you so much!—WFG

25

Recipes

24 13

Eat the Invaders Before They Eat YouMany of us are omnivores. Others are herbivores. If you love wild plants,

perhaps you are also a locavore. But here’s a question: Have you ever considered being an invasivore?

Invasivore (n): A person who eats invasive species.

If the idea sparks interest, check out eattheinvaders.org, a project and website featuring information specifi cally geared towards the consumption of unwanted invasive species, both plants and animals.

The site is the brainchild of conservation biologist Joe Roman, a researcher with the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics and author of the books, Listed: Dispatches from America’s Endangered Species Act (2011) and Whale (2006). Roman holds a PhD in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard and a Masters in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida. He studied invertebrate conservation in Brazil on a Fulbright Scholarship, and also researches the role of whales in ocean ecology, specifi cally “how protecting whales can help save the oceans,” he said.

Beyond that, Roman has been interested in invasive species—those non-native creatures which propagate and compete with native species upon introduction to a new habitat—for nearly two decades.

Eco-Friendly EatingThe idea to eat the invaders came to

Roman while he was in Nova Scotia searching for invasive green crabs. “I saw a local fi sherman collecting periwinkles along the shore,” he said. “I knew that these intertidal snails were also not native and damaging to local species. I thought: We have so many fi sheries that are unsustainable, here’s a chance for people to get out in the fi eld

Joe Roman

14

and learn about a major conservation problem. And, since I happen to be a foodie, this was a great chance to help develop some really good, ecologically friendly meals.”

So, while the website for Eat the Invaders includes a growing list of edible invasive species descriptions including ecological range and identifi cation instructions, it also contains a wealth of enticing wild recipes to boot.

How hungry does a nation have to be to eat its way through an invasive species epidemic? Very.

“…Fighting invaders requires a killer appetite,” Roman concedes in “Bon Appetít,” his 2006 Conservation in Practice article, “but just look at our track record: Atlantic cod, bison, manatees, and Pismo clams have all but disappeared under the weight of human demand. So why not put our destructive streak to good use for a change?”

Among edible invasives, the best candidates might be those “who have arrived recently…are especially tasty, and have a fairly high profi le,” Roman said. “I’m thinking snakeheads and lionfi sh.”

“As far as I’m concerned, if we get people thinking about invasives—how we can stop them from getting here in the fi rst place, and get [people] out in nature (whether that’s a city park or a wild coastline), the site is a success,” he added.

Eat the Invaders is a team effort including also Debora Greger, the poet and “Armchair Invasivore” who wrote many of the species profi les and dug up the cookbooks of fi rst lady Martha Washington, whom Roman refers to fondly as “one of our country’s fi rst invasivores.” The site’s “tournant” (a swing cook who fi lls in as needed) is Caitlin Campbell at UVM, and the design is by Fred Gates. “And then we have biologists, chefs, and foragers who have all contributed recipes and ideas,” Roman said.

Perusing the site, I come to fi nd out that I have been an unintentional invasivore of several different plants for some time. Now, I am happy to be on the verge of graduating to intentional invasivore—for I have been imagining eating Colorado’s rusty crayfi sh (Orconectes rusticus) and Eurasian-collared doves (Streptopelia decaocto) ever since.

My friend Butter has eaten both of these species, incidentally. She says the breasts on the dove are really small but quite tasty nonetheless—and of course you can’t beat the good feeling you get inside when you know you’re doing Mother Nature a favor by chowing down.

23

May 13

place—it turned out fairly yummy. I sprinkled deli Parmesan cheese on top and served it with Ritz crackers.

So yeah, what I’m saying is that I ate the urban/farmland irrigation ditch watercress against all better judgment. I’m not saying I’ll do it again.

In the meantime, if I fi nd myself in possession of a liver fl uke for whatever reason, you’ll be the fi rst to know—and with none of the gory details spared, mind you. Which reminds me: Have I ever told you the story of my post-Mexico Giardia test, when I lost the stool samples en route to the doctor? Thank goodness for good Samaritans who have the decency to return found poo to their local lab, or I’d have had to go through the whole messy process a second time around.

Watercress and mallow cream soup experiment—not bad, though I’m not entirely sure what distinguishes cream soup from sauce anyway.

22

Albeit less common, acute infections are both possible and potentially lethal, so it makes sense to take extra care in endemic areas where fascioliasis is known to infect humans. “The possibility of becoming infected in the United States should be considered” too, writes the CDC, “despite the fact that few locally acquired cases have been documented.”

Fortunately, “the disease rarely kills in humans,” Tidy writes, and “the prognosis is excellent with adequate treatment.” The infection is usually diagnosed by fi nding Fasciola eggs in fecal specimens under a microscope, though people generally don’t pass the eggs until several months after infection (CDC).

When the parasite migrates to and through the liver, early symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting, sometimes accompanied by fever, rash, and diffi culty breathing, can occur. After the fl uke settles into the bile ducts and liver, symptoms might include infl ammation of the bile ducts, liver, gallbladder and/or pancreas, though the condition is often asymptomatic. In children, Tidy writes, it can be associated with anaemia.

Fascioliasis can be treated with triclabendazole, available in the U.S. from the CDC under an investigative protocol.

A Coloradoan Drinks from the Horse Trough Okay, so now it’s time for the confession. Knowing everything I just wrote

about, I still drank from the horse trough. First, I sterilized the watercress using both a vinegar bath and by cooking it. In fact, I cooked the daylights out of my fi rst batch—to the point that it was nearly inedible. I can’t imagine a larvae living through that, encysted fortress or not.

Chemical pollution is another story, of course, but could it be any worse than the stuff that gets on my hands from a cash register receipt, or the stuff that goes into my food when I microwave it in plastic? Possibly—but you see, such was my justifi cation.

The fi rst recipe I tried was Butter’s creamed watercress, made by sautéing chopped watercress and drowning it in a cream sauce seasoned with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. The fl avor turned out good but I couldn’t chew the watercress on account of cooking it so much.

For the second batch I attempted cream of watercress soup, incorporating Butter’s nutmeg idea and adding fi nely chopped mallow (Malva spp.) to thicken. Despite the odd texture that resulted—perhaps from my complete and utter lack of understanding as to how one makes a cream soup in the fi rst

May 13

15

Perhaps it is because I fancy myself a wordsmith that I invent so many nicknames for my signifi cant other, but lately I have been calling him a liver fl uke. As in: “You’re a liver fl uke!” and “Who’s my liver fl uke?”

I guess that’s not very fl attering. Liver fl ukes (Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica) are trematode parasites that occupy the livers and bile ducts of mammals, including humans. They can grow to 3.5 cm x 1.5 cm, explains Colin Tidy, author at Patient.co.uk, wreaking all sorts of havoc in the process. The resulting infection is called fascioliasis.

Although more widespread in animals than humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the number of infected people at between 2.4 and 17 million in endemic areas, with the highest known rates occurring in the Andean highlands of Bolivia and Peru. The primary means of contracting it is by eating raw aquatic vegetables, among which watercress (Nasturtium offi cinal syn. Sisymbrium nasturtium-aquaticum) is a major culprit.

My Boyfriend the Liver Fluke

My boyfriend, the liver

fl uke.

May 13

16

So—the whole name-calling thing started after I found a lush, green stand of watercress growing out of an irrigation ditch on the outskirts of Fort Collins, Colorado. So excited was I that I snipped a grocery bag full, turning a blind eye to the handful of bottles, plastic bags, and bits of trash accumulated around the nearby drainage.

You have to understand: I love, love, love watercress. Dainty watercress tea sandwiches are among my favorite things to eat (see Recipes). I imagine I am eating watercress sandwiches at a tea with Mr. Tumnus in a Narnia hollow. Thoughts of the raw, fresh, crunchy-soft and pungent

Above: Prolifi c Colorado irrigation ditch watercress—treasure or curse? Below: A

delicious young specimen from Ithaca, New York.

May 13

21

that it needs to be a “true” spring, not water popping back up after going underground at a horse farm a mile away.

Wild food writer Steve Brill went so far as to have a freshwater spring tested so that he could enjoy its gift of watercress. “Never eat wild watercress raw unless you’ve had the water tested,” he writes in Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places (1994). “Otherwise, you risk serious infection by pathogenic microorganisms.”

Testing water for liver fl ukes involves using a microscope to search for the little buggers in water or their cysts on aquatic vegetation. Presence of the snail is also an indicator, but it has to be a snail that is a host species for the parasite, and the other conditions must be present as well. Veterinary labs test animal feces for the presence of eggs, since fascioliasis can be a real threat to livestock.

Another good practice is to collect only the above-water parts of the plant. “The rule I have always gone by is not to eat any portion of watercress that’s under or within two inches of the water,” writes Thayer (personal communication, 2012).

One comforting point to know is that as a dicotyledon, watercress grows from the tips rather than the base. “The larval cercariae cannot climb,” explains Richard Torrens (2009) at Food for Free (www.torrens.org.uk). Since they encyst on plants near the water level, “the encysted cercaria cannot be lifted up the plant but will remain at the water level where they fi rst encysted,” he writes. “Therefore, as long as the water level has not fallen signifi cantly since they encysted and the growth is young and vigorous…the fresh tips of the watercress should be quite safe to eat as they are well above the water level.”

Gossack made a similar point, albeit more hesitantly: “If the plant’s growing out of water, what’s out of water never grew in the water. …If the water level hasn’t dropped, and you’re just harvesting above the water I guess you could minimize your risk of exposure.” Of course it is also important to take other microbiological contaminants and pollutants like pesticides and fertilizer into consideration as well.

TMI to Keep You Awake at Night“I am currently in an Asian hospital with liver fl uke that was not diagnosed

for eight months, by which time my liver was damaged signifi cantly,” writes an anonymous commenter at www.wisegeek.com. “It is hard to catch and diffi cult to diagnose as it is so rare; the doctors I went to did not know to look for it until it was too late. …If you suspect liver fl uke, ask for a test. This was caused by watercress which I have only had twice in my life, both times from the same place.”

May 13

20

Getting Watercress Safe to EatCooking food seems to be the best way to rid it of parasites, but what of this

I read regarding raw vegetables in Tidy’s article: “Water-grown vegetables should be washed with 6% vinegar or potassium permanganate for 5-10 minutes, which kills the encysted metacercariae.” Apparently, encouraging local folks to do this is a much more successful approach to controlling the infection in endemic areas than asking them to stop eating raw veggies altogether.

Gossack thought the rinse solution too weak. “It comes down to concentration and contact time. Go with a higher concentration,” he said, whether you’re washing wild or store-bought veggies. “If you have a higher concentration you can soak or rinse for a shorter period of time.” In place of vinegar, he recommended soaking veggies in a solution of one teaspoon plain Clorox bleach to one quart of water for 5-10 minutes, saying, “It will kill a lot.”

As Gossack predicted, however, I cannot stomach this idea. There’s no way I’m washing my wild organic vegetables in Clorox bleach, end of discussion. The best thing to do, of course, is to collect watercress and other water plant edibles from a clean source like a spring, though Gossack cautions

Watercress wonder jungle, Ithaca, NY.

May 13

17

peppery herb laid between two buttered slices of fresh-baked bread elicit a strong reaction from my salivary glands…but then, alas, the drooling stops as I am confronted with the image of an army of liver fl ukes invading the livers of everybody I ever loved.

Life Cycle of a ParasiteSpecifi c conditions must be present for fascioliasis to occur. As the CDC

explains, infected mammals must fi rst pass the parasite’s eggs in close enough proximity to a water source for the eggs to make it to water. There, they hatch a parasitic form known as the miracidium, which infects a snail host.

The genera of snails that act as intermediate hosts include Galba, Fossaria and Pseudosuccinea according to the CDC, and Lymnaea according to Tidy. Lack of snails means the end of the road for my beau’s bold namesake.

Under optimal conditions, however, bouncing baby cercariae are born fi ve to seven weeks later. They swim to a plant and encyst as metacercariae (infective larvae) thereupon, losing their little tails in the process. The hard outer walls of the cyst help the larvae to survive for “prolonged periods,” so long as the environment remains Disturbed watercress laying fl at

in the water. Ithaca, New York.

May 13

18

moist and 50°F or above. To complete the cycle, a mammal then consumes the tainted plants, giving the immature fl ukes a route into the body. There, they encyst in the duodenum and then migrate through the intestinal wall, abdominal cavity, and liver tissue into the bile ducts and liver, where they develop into mature egg-producing fl ukes, the CDC explains.

The Microbiologist Made Me Squirm“Do liver fl ukes live in Colorado?” I asked microbiologist Skip Gossack at the

Colorado Department of Public Health and Education. Sure enough, F. hepatica is found in Colorado. In fact, the parasite is

found in more than 50 countries and on every continent except Antarctica (CDC), though the infection is most prevalent and widespread where growing conditions—including the presence of livestock—favor it. Tidy indicates that although F. hepatica is most common in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Egypt, it is also found in European countries including the UK, France, Portugal, and Spain, and that furthermore, the incidence of the parasite has increased in the last two decades. In the western United States, the snail Fossaria bulamoides is a host for F. hepatica (CDC).

“Let’s say a person ate one bite of raw watercress from a Fort Collins ditch,” I asked Gossack. “What is the chance they could contract an infection?”

“From microbiologist’s standpoint, you’d be nuts,” Gossack replied. “You’ve got one rule: You don’t want to get sick? Cook your food.” Though professing not to be a liver fl uke expert per se, he gave this by way of analogy: “People out there are saying, ‘Let’s go back to drinking raw milk.’ But there’s a good reason life expectancy is [higher now]. We outlawed the sale of raw milk and life expectancy jumped 10 years. Don’t do it.”

Watercress grows both in and above water.

May 13

19

May 13

“I used to love clam chowder,” Gossack continued. “Then I became a microbiologist. There’s a reason clams live in the bay: It’s so nutrient rich because of all the sewage that’s been dumped there. Clams are fi lter feeders on sewage. I haven’t eaten clams or oysters in 20 years.”

“There’s no way I’m giving up my clam chowder,” I replied, taken aback, at which point he conceded that clam chowder is safe because it is cooked—but that the whole matter just grossed him out a great deal.

In terms of whether foragers should eat raw water plant life with the threat of fl ukes or other parasitic infection, Gossack said this: “Anywhere that animal defecation meets water upstream should be taken as a warning sign for aquatic vegetation foraged downstream. There’s a lot of livestock in Colorado and the Mountain West. It would be hard to fi nd a location not downstream from livestock.”

Then he paused for a moment and added: “But I tell people, ‘Hey, we live in Colorado. If you want to drink from the horse trough, drink from the horse trough.’”

Colorado ditch watercress, May 2012.