When I was a child, I remember how on chilly mornings in early spring, solitary figures armed with sharp knives and paper bags would leave their West Side homes on a mission both secret and urgent. This clandestine army would walk or drive along roads and parks, woods, fields, and empty lots, looking for a plant that reminded them of Sicily. They were in search of wild gardoons, sometimes called cardoons, garduna, even carduni, depending on where your people were from. If you were lucky enough to find a good patch, you kept it close to the vest, sharing the prized location only with your closest family members.
Gardoons here in the US are not the same plant as in Sicily. It is actually burdock, a close relative of the Italian cardoon, which tastes like artichoke and looks and cooks a lot like celery. The long stringy stalks of the wild gardoon must be peeled and boiled before its edible. Many dredge it in eggs and breadcrumbs and fry it. Some even freeze it in its raw form, to make sure there is some available to serve on the Feast of San Giuseppe (patron saint of Sicily), in mid-March.[1]
My Sicilian grandmother also liked to cook dandelion greens, particularly in spring when they were young and tender. Far more plentiful than gardoons, they could be found in yards all over the West Side. While delicious simply sautéed with olive oil and garlic, I remember eating them with scrambled eggs and parmesan cheese. I’m not sure my grandmother knew this, but dandelion greens are a great source of vitamins A, C, E and K and contain small amounts of B vitamins as well as several minerals.[2]
Not long ago, during one of our master gardener conferences, we had an expert talk to us about foraging, also known as “wildcrafting.” This is the ancient practice of searching for and harvesting plants in their natural habitat for use in the kitchen or for medicinal purposes. The expert talked about a growing movement in the US focused not only on the benefits of foraging, but also the need to protect these valuable plants from overharvesting, invasive species, and unfortunately in some cases, theft.[3]
A number of European countries host similar movements. According to one such group, “Plants for a Future,” there are over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world, but fewer than 20 species provide 90% of our food. They argue that the changing world climate warrants a greater diversity of food sources, and encourage what they call “woodland/forest gardening.”[4]
Wildcrafting enthusiasts, sensitive to the repercussions of overharvesting, recommend taking only the fruit, flowers or branches of wild plants, and leaving the living plant to replenish itself. If a whole plant must be taken, they suggest removing only a few plants and leaving the rest of the patch intact.[5]
In West Virginia, where we now spend many weekends, we hunt for wild delicacies in the Appalachian hills. Ramps—stinky wild leeks that taste like onions with a hint of garlic—grow in the woods, as do morels, a funny-looking mushroom that comes in both “black” and “blond” varieties. It is possible to find both ramps and morels at West Virginia farmer’s markets this time of year, but it is much more fun to find them on your own.
Much like the wild gardoon sites in urban Buffalo, the location of a ramp or morel patch in the hills of West Virginia is a closely guarded secret. It almost takes a sixth sense to discover your first one. So whenever I set out to find one, I channel the spirit of my ancestors, the first foragers I ever knew, on the West Side of Buffalo.
Have you or your loved ones ever foraged for food? Tell me about it! I would love to hear your stories.
Moxie Gardiner is a writer and gardener who grew up on the West Side of Buffalo, NY. In a previous life she was a journalist, magazine editor, speech writer, and policy wonk. Back in the day she made three solo parachute jumps, flew in an F-15 fighter jet, and crawled through mud pits at the Jungle Operations Training Course in Panama. She now meditates and practices yoga. She is almost ready to publish her first novel, set in Buffalo.
[1] Never cooked gardoons? Here’s a great article in Smithsonian Magazine to get you started. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-heck-do-i-do-cardoon-180950301/
[2] For more on the benefits of eating dandelions, see https://sunwarrior.com/blogs/health-hub/11-health-benefits-of-dandelion-leaves-and-dandelion-root
[3] For more info on wildcrafting check out https://botanicalstudies.net/wildcrafting/
[4] See their website, https://pfaf.org/user/AboutUs.aspx
[5] For more information on “considerate foraging,” check out https://www.foragers-association.org.uk/index.php/principles-and-practice
I remember back to the time, over 50 years ago now when I was a preteen growing up in a small town in the Southtowns (towns south of Buffalo, that my family was introduced to the delicious taste of gardoons.
A good friend and neighbor lady excitedly came to visit my mom with a big brown paper bag filled with a large bundle of dark green stalks that she said were gardoons. What a strange name!, we thought. She explained that a new friend of theirs, an older Italian man, had gathered these wild plants to eat and that they were very highly regarded as a tasty and healthy food that was hard to find but well worth the search. This friend of theirs had been out in the woods and fields gathering this strange new vegetable that early spring. He had been very successful and wanted to share this abundance of the traditional Sicilian treat. He had made a dish with the gardoons fried with an egg coating and It was delicious and regarded a very healthy vegetable. We enjoyed our first taste of gardoons. The places were he had found these plants was secret so we didn’t ever have them again. We knew what burdock plants looked like but we never went out to find and gather them, although I thought about it. The next thing that came close to the gardoon experience occurred when lived in SE WA State I had moved into a duplex and met my new neighbors, one of which eventually asked me if I wanted to gather wild asparagus with her. I gladly accepted and she told me she would take me if I could be ready early in the morning. It was early spring when we went. She picked me up and told me that I shouldn’t tell people about the place because there was a limited supply of the plants in the area. We did a lot of walking through high grass and weeds on slightly soggy soil. It was so gratifying to find the sprouts of wild asparagus popped up out of the ground here and there and cutting the stalks close to the ground with a sharp knife. Oh that sweet goodness when steamed and coated with sweet butter! They reminded me of the gardoons I’d enjoyed so long ago. I’m now in TN and I don’t know if either one of these delicious springtime vegetables grow here. It seems very probable. Enjoy the gardoons and wild asparagus if and when you can find them❣️
So glad my daughter found this site. My mom taught me about Gardoons. My grand parents were from Sicily. They ended up in Mississippi and then Chicago where my grandfather took on a job for the railroad. Mom said he’d hop a train on the weekends with his burl lap sack and head for the suburbs we’re at that time was all fields. He’d bring funny sacks home and mom said the Gaurdoons feed the family of 11! I fried some today!
Around Memorial Day is when they are ready to pick in this area. We are always on the lookout for Them!