Pawpaw
With a custard-like texture and mango-banana flavor, the fruit works great in ice cream and desserts.
Maitake
The mushroom’s firm meatiness makes it an excellent filling for pastas such as ravioli and agnolotti.
Persimmon
The golden-orange fruit is perfect for turning into jam, thanks to its honeyed sweetness and citric zing.
Spiceberry
With hints of allspice and black pepper, the berry works well in meat marinades and wintry baked goods.
Acorn
Dry out and grind the nuts to make a toasty-tasting flour for pasta and pancakes.
Icons by Connie Zheng.
This article appears in the October 2022 issue of Washingtonian.
Nevin Martell is a food, travel, and foraging writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, Men’s Journal, Fortune, Travel + Leisure, The Daily Beast, BBC, and many other publications. He is author of eight books, including Red Truck Bakery Cookbook: Gold-Standard Recipes from America’s Favorite Rural Bakery, Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip, and The Founding Farmers Cookbook: 100 Recipes From the Restaurant Owned by American Family Farmers. When he isn’t working, he loves spending time with his son, foraging for wild foods, and traveling.
