GOOD EATS

Above: A ghost plant found in Ohio; left: A ghost plant found along the Appalachian Trail, McAfee Knob, near Roanoke, Virginia. “They’re pretty common but also pretty easily overlooked, as they have no bright colors to catch one’s eye,” says Jim McCormac, retired from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and one of Ohio’s leading botanists. “They tend to bloom during the dog days of summer, when not as many people are traipsing about the woods with all the heat, humidity, and biting deer flies. The plant’s been documented in at least 50 Ohio counties and probably occurs, or has occurred, in all 88.”

An herbaceous perennial, ghost plants are usually waxy-white, sometimes a pale pink, and often flecked with black specks. Even more rare, such as Wilson Rawls’ storied fern, a few ghost plant variants can be colored a deep red.

Ghost plants lack the green coloring of most plants because they do not produce chlorophyll. Rather, they are (big-word alert) mycoheterotrophs, simply meaning they feed on fungi associated with certain trees, often beeches. This parasitic relationship allows the ghost plant to live on the forest floor in areas of dense canopy cover, where summer sun cannot penetrate.

Usually, several individual plants grow in a group, as high as a foot tall, looking like white, scaly clay pipes that have been stuck into the ground on their stems. A good time to search for ghost plants is a few days after a rainfall.

Now, mid- to late-summer, is the time of year to look for a ghost plant. Take a hike at a state park, state nature preserve, or another mature forest location to search for one. And to prepare for the experience, you just might read Where the Red Fern Grows. If you happen to know of any food or medicinal value associated with ghost plants and would like to share that information, you may contact me by email at whchipgross@gmail.com. I will then, in turn, share the information with other OCL readers in a future online “Ask Chip” column.

Ask CHIP!

Email Chip Gross with your outdoors questions at whchipgross@ gmail.com. Be sure to include “Ask Chip” in the subject of the email. Your question may be answered on www.ohiocoopliving.com!

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Salad days!

Grand-prize winner’s recipe is best when strawberries are at their ripe, juicy peak.

LEAD PHOTO BY DEMI MARTIN; RECIPE PHOTOGRAPHY BY CATHERINE MURRAY

Catherine McSwain has made her Strawberry Fields Steak Salad for years — it’s her husband’s favorite meal, after all. The day she got a little tired of — it’s her husband’s favorite meal, after all. The day she got a little tired of serving store-bought dressing with it, however, was the day it went from serving store-bought dressing with it, however, was the day it went from really good to exceptional. really good to exceptional. McSwain’s entry earned the top prize — a KitchenAid stand mixer — in this year’s Ohio Cooperative Living reader recipe contest that asked for your best salad recipes.

Continued on page 16

Grand-prize winner

STRAWBERRY FIELDS STEAK SALAD

Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 10 minutes | Servings: 2 For dressing:

4 tablespoons orange marmalade 5 tablespoons white wine vinegar 3 tablespoons grapeseed/canola oil 2 tablespoons water ¼ teaspoon garlic powder 2 pinches kosher salt

Mix all of the above in any order you like … it tastes great no matter what you put in first.

For salad:

4 cups arugula or romaine ½ cup shredded mozzarella

8 ounces sliced strawberries 6-ounce ribeye steak Grill or pan-fry ribeye steak that has been salted liberally. Set aside until ready to cut into thin strips. Prepare strawberries by slicing into pieces. Arrange salad topped with mozzarella cheese; add strawberries and then strips of steak on top. Dress with marmalade mixture to finish.

Continued from page 15 More than 300 submissions rolled in from around the state, ranging from simple garden salads to mayo-based egg or tuna concoctions, and a surprising number of gelatin-based dishes mixed with anything from maraschino cherries to cottage cheese — there are lots of different kinds of dishes referred to as salad.

Catherine, a member of Adams Rural Electric Cooperative in West Union, says her salad is especially popular in early summer when she gets strawberries that are at the peak of ripeness — but oh, that dressing! “The orange marmalade dressing just came to my mind one day when I was having a craving for something a little bit different than the usual dressings I buy from the store,” she says. “I had been watching cooking shows for a few years and felt adventurous enough to give making a concoction of my own a whirl.”