Edible plants, trees, berries and roots.

The aim of this thread is to make a single post to pass on your knowledge about 1 single plant type you know is edible. The post should if possible have a picture contained within it to identify it to others.

The aim is for a thread to develop where people who know can share with those that do not.

Please contain the following information within your post.

Location of said edible plant, the seasons it is available, how to prepare it for consumption and a picture with a description of identifying features for the reader, and also any nutrional benefits of said plant. i.e. if it is rich in vitamims or minerals or possibly both!.

That said, I am going to start this thread with a simple recipe for that most awesome of staples in the field, nettle tea.

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First gather up your young nettle shoots. You must use young shoots no larger than 6 inches high, because as nettles age they become increasingly bitter to the pallette. With your young nettles gathered, wash them to remove soil and insect life and then strip the leaves from the stems.



Add the leaves to a pan of water, making sure there is just enough to cover them, but not an excess, as this will ruin the flavour of our tea.

Bring the water to the boil and keep a nice rolling boil going until the water has become a nice shade of green. Your tea is now ready for you to consume.
Remove the nettles at a colour that suites you (I like mine real deep green, but those not used to it may like it weaker) and add wild berries of your choice to sweeten, or drop an apple slice in it if its the season.

Now you have a beautiful, calcium and iron rich warm drink, and also you can eat the leaves as you would a plate of boiled spinach.

Alliaria Petiolata aka Garlic Mustard.



A very tasty green leaf that when young can be eaten raw off the plant, has a very distinct flavour and can really add some thing to a plate of greens. The older leaves can still be boiled down with other leaves for food stuff, or can be mulched and added as a side 'dip' for other blander foods.
The flowers can be eaten as can the seeds, but these, well these have a real strong kick to them, so use sparingly!

They have young leaves twice a year in spring and autum, are very common across the whole of the UK.

Try to avoid those you find by the road side, as with all wild food stuffs, as they will contain alot of pollutants and be covered in the gunk and debris of the passing vehicles.

Lime tree leaves.



This is a common tree across Uk and Europe, and the tender green leaves in spring and summer are sublime. The have an almost sweet sappy taste to them, and once washed make a great filler or green to add to a mix.

Nutriton wise I am not sure of their benefits, but they are deliciouse! so I would (and do) add them to a boiled or cooked fish dish with a few flowers and seeds of the garlic mustard ground down and sprinkled on top.



[edit on 24-8-2008 by Dan Tanna]

Trout Lilly.



This bright and beautiful flower is hiding a secret. The tubar and bulb of this species is a great replacement for cucumber as the taste is almost identical. I ate loads of these as a kid as my grand mother had a field of these growing wild in the UK by the river until it got ploughed under in '88 for house building.

(Do not eat the flowers as they are disgusting and very unpleasent after taste.)

It is found native across the entire North American continent, and is a spring time plant near the waters edge or in a damp woodland habitat.

I dont know how to upload a picture yet so please bear with me


CARROT

an orange root vegetable with green foilage

high in fibre and vitamins

related to other root vegetables

you eat the orange root and discard the green stalk and leaves

great eaten raw or squeezed into juice

can be boiled fried or casseroled

most excellent shreded with white cabbage onion and mayonaise and known as coleslaw

available all year round from grocers and supermarkets

can be grown in the garden with seed from the seed shop

it is alledged that this root vegtable is excellent in maintaining good eyesight, it must be said I have yet to see a rabbit wearing spectacles

Great!
I would like to know more about wild harvesting!
In America, we have
wood sorrel, oxalis,(I always knew of it as billygoat grass.)



Wild strawberry;



also, huckleberries, blackberries, wild ginseng, Muscadines,(paw-paws...>although I've been looking, I haven't found any wild, here.)

Would LOVE to have more, that I don't know!

[edit on 24-8-2008 by Clearskies]

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Warning: Do NOT use the leaves / bark / berries from the Yew tree. It is poisonous. The yew tree has bright red berries on it and dark green needles. This is a picture of a Yew berry and needle.



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PINE NEEDLE TEA.

This tea offers 100% of the daily recommended vitamin C intake in a natural easy to procure harvest.

Pine needles.

Get your self a steel mug or what ever you are going to drink out of, and fill it 1/4 full of pine needles from the tree. Those needles closest to the trunk are the ones richest in vitamins, so low and close gets the best harvest!

get your fire going, boil your water and drop in your pine needles and bring up into a nice rolling boil for 10 -15 minutes.

Strain out the needles and sup up. Scurvy will not get you thats for sure, and you will also have the benefit of a nice natural warm drink from a resource thats bountiful.

Note: White pines make the most sublime tea you will ever had tasted. If you can, try it.
This is what white pine needles look like albeit a frozen variety!

I am now going to show you a survival tip that I ask people not to try unless you have access to a newly fallen white pine tree OR it is a real emergency and you are going to starve...

Pine bark 'chips'.

Thats right, we are going to make a delicious nutrient rich food stuff from part of the pine tree trunk. Heres how.


First off you need to find a freshly fallen (or in a survival situation use a living tree you have felled or a still standing tree. Please be mindful that if you do this to a still standing living tree there is a good chance you will kill it - Hence, emergencies only) white pine tree or any pine BAR A YEW TREE AS IT IS POISONOUS.(see yew tree post above).

Right, so we have our fallen tree. Time to break out the hatchet you carry in your survival gear.



Cut a large square of top bark off of the tree, going all the way down to the wood. make sure you get a good sized chunk, and remove it. You will be looking at very light white fibrous material when you remove your piece and flip it bark side down. Taking your knife or hatchet and cut off strips of this white fibrous layer, cutting it as thinly as you can, but not too thin they break off, as remember, we want this as a food!. Now, with your fire going, place these strips over the fire or on a tree twig as your roasting fork. Cook till a golden crisp colour and texture.

Enjoy.

N.B, if you have a fish or fowl, you can actually use the fat to fry these strips in till crispy like potatoe chips as you call them in the USA!

So... not only do we have vitamin C rich tea, we also have sweet chips of nuttrient rich inner bark. Hows that for a nifty survival resource?

[edit on 24-8-2008 by Dan Tanna]

Here's my list of wild edibles that are fairly common through out Texas and the Southwest.

Mesquite bean pods
Acorns
Pecans
Prickly pear fruit and new leaf
Nut grass
Cat tails
Chile' pequin aka bird peppers
Purslaine
Dandelions

Water Lilly root.

Pretty easy to find - just look for ponds/marshy areas. To harvest, follow the stem down to the mud, get a good grip, and pull. Generally people tend to eat the root, and leave the stem.

To prepare - clean well (using boiled water, if water quality is an issue). Peel if you want to, it's not mandatory. They can be roasted or boiled.

They're pretty bland, tend to be starchy, and have a little bit of vitamin C. I've found that they're a good easy way to add bulk to a meal - like potatoes, pasta or rice. They do a good job of filling your belly, but you're not going to want to live on them.

reply to post by crgintx


Could you pick one and do a smal piece on it? Like where its found, how to prepare it and maybe a small pic?

I had a dream last night that I made the Pine Needle tea and it was excellent. This morning, I had a cup of coffee ( I normally have tea) and the coffee tasted the way pine trees smell! I couldn't believe it. What a neat experience!

Can I use any type of pine needle? I live in the Pacific Northwest (USA). We have a wide variety here.

Use any but YEW because they are poisonous. All parts of the Yew tree are poisonous to humans. See the above post about pine needle tea and the pic of the Yew tree.

I am assuming that one can use a fir tree the same way that a pine tree can be used for.
The reason I ask is that pine trees, although they are around, are much less common around here, but fir trees are everywhere.

I've heard of monks who lived by eating coniferous trees, they didn't eat well, but stayed alive.

PS, they young leaves of the willow tree I read years ago, can be eaten as a survival food. I need more data on this.

Oh, and if you need meat, porcupines are an easy to get meal. I don't know what they taste like, but if I had to I'd find out.
And don't forget worms, but I don't think they have much fat. Fat is important in a cold climate.

Any specie of pine or fir tree can be used for needle tea bar the YEW tree. It is important that you remember this as all parts, green , bark, berries are poisonous to human beings.

Same as before, and add sweet fruit if you have it or want it.

reply to post by Dan Tanna



Here's a link: www.desertusa.com...

Mesquite bean pods cab be eaten raw when harvested off the tree. Flavor ranges from sweet to bittersweet. Honeybean of course lives up to its name and screwbean is bitter sweet but all species are edible and loaded with protein and low in carbs. I spit out the seeds but the whole pod can be ground into flour after drying.

I have some wild things growing in my yard. First, I have wild blackberries.





And then I have mulberries. I have 4 mulberry trees in my yard. I suspect they are wild, because I know they weren't planted. They are in odd places--along the fence line. They are nice and sweet, but once while eating them, I discovered teeny tiny bugs crawling on them. Yuck!




I also have wild grapes, but they are really small and they are sour! I've got wild strawberries, too. I've got other stuff in my yard that I have no idea what it is.

If I post pics of the ones that are unknown, would anyone be able to tell me what they are?

[edit on 26-8-2008 by virraszto]

[edit on 26-8-2008 by virraszto]

CAT-TAIL /BULLRUSH

Typha latifolia

Very widespread worldwide and a good indicator of water when scanning landscape.

A real multi-tasker of a wild food and a life-saver in winter.

Roots can be eaten raw or boiled like potatoes..

Chop up root into small pieces and boil with water to make a sweet syrup..

Grind root into powder-protein rich.Mix with wheat flour for all your fave bready-type snacks.

Stem..Remove outer and base of mature plant as a substitute asparagus..mmmm.. my favourite veggie.. Tastes like pea-pods but with more substance..

Seeds are small and a little insubstantial but can be ground for a flour substitute with your root flour too.

everything2.com...

Medical..

The medicinal uses of cattails include poultices made from the split and bruised roots that can be applied to cuts,wounds, burns, stings, and bruises. The ash of the burned cattail leaves can be used as an antiseptic or styptic for wounds

Other uses.

The utility of this cattail is limited only by your imagination. The dried stalks can be used for hand drills and arrow shafts.

www.backwoodshome.com...
(Makes good tinder too.)

Nutritional value

The root contains about 80% carbohydrate (30 - 46% starch) and 6 - 8% protein.

www.pfaf.org...

Mis-Identification.. Only when they are young shoots.. Do the taste test..If it's nice eat.. if it's not.. spit

Caution: Young cattail shoots resemble non-poisonous calamus(Acorus calamus), and poisonous daffodil (Amaryllidaceae) and iris (Iris species) shoots, which have similar leaves. If a stand is still topped by last year's cottony seed heads, you know you have the right plant. In spring, the cattail shoot has an odorless, tender, white, inner core that tastes sweet, mild, and pleasant—a far cry from the bitter poisonous plants, or the spicy, fragrant calamus. None of the look-alikes grows more than a few feet tall, so by mid-spring, the much larger cattail becomes unmistakable, even for beginners.

www.wildmanstevebrill.com...

Edit to add lost nutritional details.
Helps stave off 'Rabbit-starvation/Ketosis/Nauseau due to too lean diet'

'Wabbits n Cat-tails' will keep you doing that 'living-thing' that people like so much.

[edit on 26-8-2008 by AGENT_T]

Now thats what I call a nice aded bonus.

Thanks AGENT_T, appreciate some input from others.

reply to post by virraszto


Our wild blackberries have LOTS of thorns, just like a rose bush.
but, I've also found mulberries growing, too.
They grow into trees (from what I know).

The little bugs you mentioned,if they are orange, might be 'chiggers'.
They're hateful little bugs that create problems when they bite you.

The tiny, bright red larval chigger can scarcely be seen as it scurries along the skin surface seeking an attachment site. When it finds a suitable location, such as a skin pore or hair follicle, it attaches its mouthparts to the spot. On people, the chigger prefers places where clothing fits closely over the skin or where the flesh in thin or wrinkled. Contrary to common belief, it does not penetrate and burrow into the skin or suck blood. Instead, it injects a digestive fluid that disintegrates skin cells so they can be used as food. A feeding “tube” formed by the chigger secretion and skin cells of the host permits the chigger to extract food until it is engorged. After leaving the host, it undergoes further development on the ground.

So, use A REPELLANT!
Something not poisonous to YOU.
Here's what our blackberry bushes look like.





We also have Maypops otherwise known as passion flower


I have some in my front yard, right now.
You can eat the fruit, when it turns yellowish.

Local indians would use acorns as a meal or flour product, by boiling them and pouring off the tannic acid and then roasting or drying them.

Of course, you may know of poke salad?


I've cooked it a few times, but, I'd have to be hungry to like it!
I know those that LOVE it.
I'll try to get more stuff, later!

[edit on 26-8-2008 by Clearskies]