Foraging for Food in the Wild, or in the Back Yard

[Ken Anderson]

We've touched on the subject in a few threads, so I thought we could use a thread dedicated to foods that can be found, not grown, in the wild or in the backyard. I don't expect that any of us are living off the land in the sense of gathering a large percentage of our food in the wild, but I know that some of us supplement our food with stuff that we can gather in the woods or backyard. There are a lot of tasty edibles available in most parts of the world.

 

[John Brunner]

I did a tour of a botanical garden, and the guide picked some nasturtium petals and passed them around for us to eat. I would eat foraged stuff if someone who knew what they wee doing picked it, but I would no more do it myself than I would eat wild fungus. I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

[Don Alaska]

I did a tour of a botanical garden, and the guide picked some nasturtium petals and passed them around for us to eat. I would eat foraged stuff if someone who knew what they wee doing picked it, but I would no more do it myself than I would eat wild fungus. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Just learn a few wild foods very well. Know 2 or 3 mushrooms very well and ONLY pick and use those. Wild mushroom people say to always cook mushrooms, even cultivated ones, as some people react to ingesting any fungus raw. Here is a good beginning book for that study:

mushrooms


You can't expect to become a @Mary Stetler overnight

 

[Ed Delabama]

Good afternoon to all-

Through the years, I've picked and eaten a fairly wide range of "wild" foods. And I'm still here to tell about it.

For instance, I have eaten a lot of poke salat- yep, that's the way it's said and spelled- and handled properly, poke is good. The young leaves are best, and when stewing the greens, the water needs to be changed at least three times as the greens cook. But cooked right with sliced hard-boiled eggs on top, poke is quite good. And my daughter values the purple poke berries for a strong natural dye for her yarns.

I have picked and eaten many pounds of morel mushrooms- wonderful things cooked with beef steak. Of course, since we left the Ozarks for Deep South, we can not find morels any more- that's a great loss.

And while it's not plant based, I have waded in shallow salt water many times to grub up oysters to crack open and gobble down raw- delicious along with a can of cold beer...

There's a lot of food out there growing wild for the taking- but you have to know what you're eating...

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

 

[John Brunner]

Good afternoon to all-

Through the years, I've picked and eaten a fairly wide range of "wild" foods. And I'm still here to tell about it.

For instance, I have eaten a lot of poke salat- yep, that's the way it's said and spelled- and handled properly, poke is good. The young leaves are best, and when stewing the greens, the water needs to be changed at least three times as the greens cook. But cooked right with sliced hard-boiled eggs on top, poke is quite good. And my daughter values the purple poke berries for a strong natural dye for her yarns.

I have picked and eaten many pounds of morel mushrooms- wonderful things cooked with beef steak. Of course, since we left the Ozarks for Deep South, we can not find morels any more- that's a great loss.

And while it's not plant based, I have waded in shallow salt water many times to grub up oysters to crack open and gobble down raw- delicious along with a can of cold beer...

There's a lot of food out there growing wild for the taking- but you have to know what you're eating...

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

We used to get morels when I was a kid in Indiana. My mother would put them up in some sort of clear liquid in a canning jar, but I have no idea what it was. Wild onions (ramps) are popular out in this part of the country. My father used to make birch beer and my mother has made dandelion wine. Other than that, I've not had foraged food.

I've been clamming in the shallows at Assateague Island, but would much have rather been standing next to you slurping down fresh raw oysters, Ed. I'm not much on clams, but I do love raw oysters.

 

[Mary Stetler]

My first and absolute favorite book on wild foods was Stalking the Wild Asparagus. The pictures are not photographs but even photographs can leave questions to identification. Then it went out of print. Well I just peeked at amazon and some copies seem to be back.
Everyone knows burdock. The second year plant makes those annoying sticky burrs on very tall stalks with leaves on them. The leaves look like rhubarb in the first year, but the stems are green. You can't confuse them with other plants and if you eat the leaves, you won't like them but they won't hurt you. My sheep love them. The first year roots in the fall are what I want but they are a pita to dig. The roots find the worst soil and can go down FEET. But if you get the top 8 inches or so you are lucky. That is the thickest part, easier to peel and work with. Don't throw away the water you boil them in after cutting them up and removing the outer fiber. It is excellent as a drink or a vegetable broth.
The biggest deterrent to harvesting wild foods is that it is much easier to pick up a bag of frozen veggies at the store.
I think I've told about one church dinner where I made the most diverse spread of edibles, ever, The woman who gave the blessing thanked God that we didn't have to eat like that.
I could have been insulted. But I laughed. I knew she meant that she was glad we did not have to forage and could just go to the store.
I'm usually the one who puts my foot in my mouth.