The Bonnie Blue Forager: Stop to Smell the Locusts!

  So yesterday, my brother and I went and grabbed a ladder and a strainer.   Heading out into our back yard, we both stopped to inhale the lovely fragrance of Black Locust blooms wafting down, along with the soothing hum of busy bees.  We couldn't wait to get started, as I had never harvested this kind of wild edible!  We excitedly set up the ladder (an old roofing ladder of about 12 feet) and attempted to climb it.  I found out pretty soon that this tool was unstable, so my enthusiastic brother ran and grabbed a stand-up ladder.  I was soon high up in the evening breeze, and picking clusters of white flowers, being careful to not get poked with the notoriously painful thorns.  As I dropped clusters of these beauties down, my brother gently picked them up and placed them in the colander.  When we thought that we had enough, we headed back to the house.  As soon as my sous chef tried one, though, he ran outside and picked a good deal more, eating every single one.  I carefully, but thoroughly washed each set of precious and fragrant blooms, and put them in a small bowl.  Later that night after dinner, I proudly presented the refrigerated flowers, and we all enjoyed this pretty delicacy.
  If you want to try some of these delectable "weedy tree flowers," now is the time. They only are good for a week and a half, and are well worth the trouble of taking time to get out there and snatch them up.  Only harvest the flowers that have a bright yellow spot on the uppermost petal, as the duller  or faded yellow spots on the top petal or wrinkly brown edges mean that they are far gone and will be bitter.  If there is a shower of flowers on the ground as if it had just snowed, then you have come too late.  When you are harvesting, be VERY careful, as the long spikes that naturally occur as the tree's defense hurt and burn for a long time after the puncture occurs.  The flowers look somewhat like a mixture between a sweet pea and an orchid, and have a strong, sweet fragrance.  They are all white, except for a slight yellow dot on the upper petal, and grow in clusters somewhat like Wisteria flowers.  They taste a bit like vanilla, and have an aftertaste somewhat like a sugar snap pea.  My family all really enjoyed them!  If you happen to harvest them, they are better when fresh, and do not last very long in the fridge.  The bark has pronounced wrinkles, and very harmful thorns as mentioned above.  Their leaves grow on one stalk, and are ovular in shape and bright green.  These leaves are rather soft and feel smooth.  Black Locust trees like growing together in clusters themselves and are very pretty. They make great fence posts as the wood takes quite some time to rot and is extremely hard and strong. To tempt you, here are some identification shoots!  (Sorry, could not resist that joke)!