Central Park, always a great park for foraging, is spectacular in early summer. There are many terrific herbs, greens, and berries in season at the same time.

We'll begin with cattails growing by the lake. With cucumber-flavored shoots, flower heads you cook like corn-on-the-cob, and pollen you can use as flour, this is one of the best of wild foods. And if you're so busy harvesting this supermarket of the wild that you don't notice a mosquito zeroing in on you, you can use nearby jewelweed to cure the bite.

Next we'll proceed to the wonderfully sour-flavored sheep sorrel growing nearby. And if that isn't enough, we'll harvest sweet mulberries and juneberries within site of the sorrel.

Additional wild vegetables also thrive throughout the park. We'll be looking for poor man's pepper, wood sorrel, lamb's-quarters, lady's thumb, purslane, and Asiatic dayflower. We should also find the pungent seeds and bulbs of field garlic.