foraged foods that were surprisingly good / that you regret not trying sooner?

Miner's lettuce. Twice as good as Whole Foods greens at none of the price.

For me absolutely mulberries, they’re so plentiful and so sweet and scrumptious. I made a jam and some little pies with them last year but honestly I just wanna munch on the straight berries

Service berry. Not sure what type. Some are really good, like sweet blueberries, others are a little blah. But I lived way too long without them. 

I thought I didn’t like walnuts until I tried black walnuts. So much better than English walnuts.

Dandelions believe it or not. Never tried them, I’ve made tea with roots and leaves but after 10 years of foraging I decided to pop the flower into my mouth yesterday and it was delicious.

Wood sorrel! God it’s so delicious. I make a foraged pesto with it and spruce tips in the spring time!

Redbud buds & slightly opened blossoms.

Talk about adding a sweet, colorful & pea-nutty crunch to salads, spring rolls, stir fries… Garnish for almost any spring meal.

Purslane!

Hostas shoots and fiddleheads

The white part of Ganoderma tsugae is edible and tastes like pork belly when sautéed and browned nicely. Blows me away every season.

Stinging nettles, morels, garlic mustard

Wild grapes, especially Mustang Grapes since they're a summer crop and harsh summers sometimes kill off the fall grapes before they can finish growing around here.

They are so abundant, I don't understand how it took me so long to even notice them. And no shade to Concord grapes, but jam/jelly made with wild grapes is so, so good.

I always hated grocery store variety mushrooms, but a friend told me wild mushrooms taste different so I found some oyster mushrooms and fried them up and they were really good!

I’m obsessed with field garlic. I made some field garlic oil this year and it’s like crack. I think people don’t get as excited about it because it’s super abundant and people see it as very comparable to chives/scallions, but there’s really so much you can do with it.

I also love daylily shoots. You can make a great gomae with the earlier shoots. Later in the season, you can stuff daylily blossoms and fry them like squash blossoms.

Virginia Bluebells! Learned that they are edible too late last year to enjoy them. After foraging some this year, i can say I am a big fan!!

(Southern) Dewberries. I made a dewberry cobbler for my FIL's birthday last year and it was so good that while the party was still happening at our house, I was scurrying around to the known clusters gathering more to whip up a second one as quickly as I could haha.

Wild plums. I'm not huge into jams because they're usually too sweet, but the tang of the wild plum jam I made last year from the ones that grow here was just perfect. Toast, smoked or grilled meats, desserts, even on cheeses!

Oxalis/wood sorrel. I love it because I'll be out in the back of the property and just reach over and get a snack. I mostly do that to make my husband shake his head at me, but I do love when they get big and they go fantastic in salads or even on sugar cookies!

I also just learned about Prairie Tea and realized I have quite a decent amount of it, so I want to see how well it will hold up as a basil substitute for pesto. It definitely smells basil-y!

Honorary mentions: dandelions, chickweed, redbud buds, bull thistle, wild alliums, mustang grapes (for wine) and more that I can't think of off the top of my head, I'm sure!

Lamb’s Quarters are indeed SO good. They grow like crazy in my garden every year, and I just let them go to seed wherever they want. It’s like the best tasting spinach I’ve ever had!

I found and tried some thimbleberries for the first time last year—incredibly tasty and divine! Can’t wait to try making jam from some of them this year. I’m propagating some on my property since I want to encourage more native plants in my neighbourhood. Hoping to catch sight of the local birds enjoying them too!

Fuligo septica (dog vomit slime mold) is edible and not bad, it has a strong earthy flavor.

Edit to add a few more:

• poke salat is delicious and abundant near me, and the process of boiling it in a few changes of water is not that fussy

• yucca flowers are so delicious and crispy and fresh, they are so much better than the seed pods

• cattail shoots really do taste like cucumbers

• Frost’s bolete, I did not realize how deliciously sour they were

Back in college I had a hobo friend named Scurvy and he convinced me to go dumpster diving behind a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse one night. He made a stew out of like 10 lbs of untouched freshly tossed steak and veggies that had been sent back to the kitchen. The stew was very VERY good lol. He said some restaurants and grocery stores were kind to hobos and would keep "good" food isolated from spoiled food. I learned ALOT about life from Scurvy.

Stinging nettles. Most mushrooms

Japanese Knotweed. We make an excellent bread according to “Green Dean” website. (Is he still active?)

Also, choke cherry, though they vary significantly from tree to tree.

I tried magnolia blossoms for the first time this spring but unfortunately I didn’t care for them. Nice crunch, weird taste.

Lamb’s quarters is one of my favorites. So abundant and so yummy!

I wish I had started mushrooming sooner. Now I have about six species I can reliably ID and I really enjoy it. Mushrooms are some of my favorite foods.

Pine needles. I didn't know they were edible for the longest time and it's a great flavor to cook with not to mention tons of vitamin C... I feel like you can sub it in for mint in most things. Plus they're easy to get year round. Want Christmas cookies that actually taste like Christmas? Pine needles. Great for tea, soda, and mixed drinks too. Also take some bb cones this time of year and make mugolio - yum!

Wild Service Tree fruit. An underrated gem for the European foragers out there. Let them dry for a week on a south-facing window ledge and they're deliciously sweet.

Redbuds and wood sorrel, easily. Hell of a salad.

Lamb’s quarters. We make saag and freeze it. Tastes better to me than collards or kale.

Juneberries are absolutely wonderful, and I never would have tasted any if Philadelphia hadn't used them as street trees.

I just found out about magnolia blossoms thus spring. We have two 30+ year old trees and a huge supply. Its my favorite tea atm.

Shagbark hickory syrup. It’s so easy to make and it has this incredible smoky note that pairs well with so many sweet and savory items. It also plays well with whisky.

Mullberries. I didn’t know how awesome they were until three years ago. They produce better than blackberries with significantly less work

Nettles make delicious soups that I love. I make a pureed soup with rice, as well as just nettle leaves and potatoes in chicken stock.

Also cinnabar chanterelles. Incredible flavor when sauteed with butter.

Well, this doesn't seem to be against the rules, so here goes. A couple of years ago I was doing some wilderness kayaking with friends and one of us had caught some fish. I grew up on a freshwater lake and have probably prepared a thousand fish for myself or others over many years. But on this trip I got it into my mind that I was going to try to prepare fish head soup. So I essentially just put a medium-sized fish head into a pot and boiled it slowly for a long time (probably about an hour) on the campfire.

It was actually pretty good! In all my previous decades of eating fish I could never stomach the idea of eating the head (gills, eyes, brain, etc). Also, I didn't die and actually felt pretty good the next day. The only downside was that there were a ton of small bones I had to deal with. I haven't figured out what the right approach is there -- if you strain them off you're going to end up losing a lot of meat too.

If this is not strictly considered foraging, then please delete or let me know and I'll remove the comment.

Garlic mustard greens and lambsquarters. Basically free spinach

Foraged wild violets and made wild violet jelly today! So yummy!

Chickweed tastes a lot like arugula. It makes a good salad green and grows abundantly in spring.

Big mushroom nerd here and my recent favorites are honeys (Armillaria spp.). They're so abundant and tasty and I overlooked them for years.

Other favorites are black trumpets and enoki (Flammulina velutipes)... the latter is a rare find for me and surprised me with it's sweet nutty flavor first time so that one's a little special personally.

Nettles! I always thought of them as the stinging danger plants of the forest but omg they’re so good cooked up in butter.

Wood ears, we dry them and grind up a handful to add to meals while cooking things like spaghetti Bolognese, curries etc. the whole family like them

Wild garlic. I had the most delicious homemade pesto pasta last week from foraged wild garlic

Cottonwood buds. Not for eating but for making the most wonderful smelling salve. It’s called Balm of Gilead.

Prickly pear. Also, mallow as a green veg is great.

Australian native, Warragul Greens is perhaps the best substitute for spinach

Exidia crenata

Fiddleheads!

Ramps. Get you some if you can find them, an Appalachian delicacy.

Hop shoots

milkweed pods.

Cleavers as a cold infusion , they are surprisingly sweet. Or warm cleaver tea with cream and honey . Delicious and good for your lymphatic system.

Paw Paw fruit makes a delicious bread (think banana bread) and sorbet. It’s one of my personal favorites.

Cow parsnip and thistle stalks.

I have a bunch, but I haven't seen common milkweed or curly dock here so I'll include those. Curly dock is just such a nice tart, tender green that is awesome in soups and broths, and milkweed is so sweet and crunchy, especially the juvenile pods! Both are a big green that I use now. Picking the milkweed in layers also has the added benefit of keeping the milkweeds all at different growth stages and keeps them thinned out, both of which are perfect for monarchs!

Lilacs.. always put them in a vase to throw away after pruning trees and never new they make great syrup. So many lilacs wasted…

So I was very "meh" about blackberries before I started foraging. Then I tried them right off the vine. None of the more sour tang I'd get from grocery store blackberries and just fresh tart berry. No "pesticide flavor" as I call it. I can't enjoy grocery store blackberries but foraged, absolutely.

I'm so pumped for summer blackberries and wineberries this year.

Plants in the Apiaceae family due to scaremongering. Particular favourite is Heracleum sphondylium aka common hogweed. A lot of unwarrented fear got in the way of learning this plant family.

Three leaf toothwort and pork of the woods!

oxeye daisy leaves. they're so sweet

Spiderwort and beautyberries

Lamium amplexicauli.  Primus Mexicana. 

Service berry (Juneberry or Saskatoon berry) is like blueberries met almonds.  Good luck getting them before the cedar wax wings, Cardinals and Robin's though. 

Mayapple is the north American version of passion fruit/mango. Good luck getting them before the deer, squirrels and rabbits though. 

Korean dogwood is a new one to the game. Also called a Kensa dogwood I think? It makes golf ball red pods in the late summer that are like custard when opened. 

Cutleaf toothwort is amazing. Like adding horseradish to a spring mix lettuce. 

Lambs quarter is prevalent and I like it better than spinach for many things. 

Paper mullberry

Haws! They taste like a sweet organic apple

Fiddleheads, dipped in thousand island or tossed in a salad

Sage blossoms!

Three cornered leeks. I would transplant them into my garden to have them all the time if they weren't so invasive.

Nopales cactus pads (it sucked the first time I made them though, definitely something where the cooking method really matters)

Miners lettuce and chickweed

Apios Americana (Hopniss, American Groundnut) flowers and tubers. The flowers taste just like peas and are GORGEOUS. The tubers are like a nutty, buttery, potato. 10/10

yucca flowers!

I just tried pineapple guava flower petals for the first time recently. They taste like marshmallows. I was amazed.

I love greenbriar or smilax shoots sauteed in a little butter with some field garlic thrown in and salt and pepper.

Last summer I tried may apples on impulse, the fruit smelled absolutely delicious and I felt enticed to try them. I was kind of scared to try them because I've read conflicting things about their edibility, but honestly they were so delicious and I had 0 negative side effects. I'm definitely going to eat them again this summer.

Coastal specific one but pickleweed! Great in stir fries also huckleberries I stock my freezer up each year

Maple blossoms

Dandelion flowers tops and cleaver tea. No bitterness at all. Smooth and satisfying.

Borage

Three-cornered leek taste like the most delicious garlicky spring onion! I chop and scramble them with eggs, leaves stem bulbs flowers and all. Incredibly good, and they spread so fast you'll never run out.

For me: 1. dandelion honey! It is amazing 2. Stinging nettle juice 3. Morell mushrooms

Cauliflower mushrooms. These are my favorite mushroom. They make incredible soup.

Seaside sandwort! I can get it at the beach in the summer. It’s lovely and tastes like green peas!

Black chantrelles

Hosta shoots!

Spruce Tips. Especially when they've been pickled.

Black locust blossoms, in fritters or made into jelly. And pigweed, which is a mid/late summer scourge in my pastures when not a lot else is going on in terms of foraged greens.

Grew up eating Lamb's Quarter--as a kid I thought it was Lamb Squirter! You can make tea from nettles and mullein leaves. We eat a lot of oyster mushrooms. Gooseberries for jam and pie. I have wild persimmons in my yard too--young leaves are good for tea. I did not know you could eat violet leaves--I thought htey were poisonous. I have korean bell flowers which spread a lot. Ive heard they are edible, like even the roots. Mayapples in my yard--only ripe fruit is edible.

Pawpaw.