Foraging For Food

Warren Island State Park, Maine
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We're tied up to a state owned mooring at Warren Island. This morning, Nick and I went ashore for a hike on the island which is a Maine state park.

This is a very nice island with great campsites. It is much nicer than Burton Island in Vermont where we have vacationed with family several times before. The campsites are also nicer than those on Cumberland Island Georgia.

Around the far side of the island we found a tidal flat, and the tide was low. We took off our socks to keep them dry and walked out on to the flat and waded ankle deep in the water. It took us only a minute or so to find colonies of mussels. Nick and I both stuffed our pockets with as many mussels as we could carry.

Then we ran in to a group of three women escorting about 30 four year old kids. They must have been on a pre-school outing. The kids appeared to be having lots of fun. Nick and I made it back to the boat around noon; just in time to avoid a rain storm. It has been raining ever since.

Back on Tarawathie we feasted on mussels and snails for lunch. They were delicious. We had so many that Libby had to fill the pressure cooker three times to cook them. Not bad foraging for food. Just minutes to harvest a delicious meal for three.

We've also been feasting on special treats that John brought from Central New York. He brought, sweet corn, salt potatoes, and Stewart's assorted donuts. All three are special favorites of ours.

I can't explain why, but the fresh corn on the cob that one buys in Central New York in August, tastes much better than the corn we buy from any other place. Even Albany, only 120 miles away from Syracuse, produces very different tasting corn. My parents who lived in Oran, NY, used to buy corn from the local farmers in August. The farmers would pick the corn after 1600, sell it at the roadside stand by 1700, for people to bring home, cook and lay out on the table by 1800. No corn ever tasted
so good as that. Of course, our corn this week was two days old, not two hours, but it still tasted great.

Salt potatoes are also a Central New York Specialty. In recent years a few stores in Albany and in Vermont also sell them, but they are still a CNY specialty. What are salt potatoes? They are small potatoes, I think they are called new potatoes in other regions. However, the ones that come from CNY are grown on the strip of muck farms that stretch from Syracuse to Rome. They come out tasting extra good. They are sold in 5 pound bags with a package of salt. One throws the salt in the boiling
water, then boil the potatoes. We eat them whole, and unpeeled, dipped in melted butter. Oh boy are they good.

Stewart's donuts? Well, you'll just have to try them yourself.