Twisted Stalk, A Snack for the Whole Summer

            When I was a kid on the homestead, my mom liked to take afternoon walks this time of year and gather her ‘rabbit food’. She would take a basket and paring knife and walk out on the margins of the clearing for dandelion greens and fireweed sprouts then enter the forest for fiddleheads, miner’s lettuce and watermelon berry vine. She would toss the mass of greens she collected in a salad or wilt them in hot vinegar heated in an iron skillet.  We called it her ‘rabbit food’ because when brother Mike, self-appointed devil’s advocate, would say, “ How do you know that you’re not poisoning us?” She would respond, “If the rabbits eat it we can! And besides, it will cure what ails you.”  But she said that about most things we didn’t want to eat. We were unconvinced.

            Most of the greens were harsh tasting and coarse and her comment didn’t contribute to the taste. The only one of the rabbit greens I liked were the watermelon berry vines, which I found to be succulent, tender and sweet tasting both when picked very young or mature.  I still like to pick these when I’m hiking and munch on them as I go or gather and bring home to enrich my salads.  Every spring I pledge to try fiddleheads again. Unfortunately, the spirit is willing but the body is weak, and procrastination is not an option with fiddleheads.  Today I picked a few that hadn’t moved past usable and will steam then tonight and douse with butter. 

            My true favorite of the wild things is the watermelon berry vine, which goes by many names: twisted stalk is what is is called in Alaska Wild Plants by Janice Schofield— a great source for people interesting in eating wild in Alaska. Our friends the Fishers use the term scoot berry and others call it wild cucumber.  According to Schofield, the term twisted stalk is a variation on the scientific name, streptopus amplexifolius, which means “the twisted stalk with the clasping leaf”.  I don’t think of that when I look at this delicate member of the lilly family. Instead I can relate to the crisp cucumber flavor of the stalk, and the tiny watermelon treat of the berries. 

            I collect these in May and June to for my salads am trying to get the grand kids to munch them when we hike but without much luck. By July I’ll be snacking on the berries and for those I will complete with the kiddos.

By the way, it turns out, the ‘scoot berry’ term is a reference to using the berries as a laxative, something to think about if you and your kids are munching them along the trail. I have eaten bunches without noticeable effect.   
Another good source for edible plant info is Alaska’s Wild Berries by Verna Pratt, a truly pocket sized illustrated guide, Pratt suggested adding the berries to other berries as an extender. My mom tried to make a pie with the berries once, and it was a disappointment so mixing them with others makes sense.  Next time you hit the trail try a snack of twisted stalk and maybe take some home for dinner.