"Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible."

i was reading a thread this morning, and saw a video that made me think of Euell Gibbons.
i was a kid back when he was alive so i didn't pay much attention to the man other than the quote used in the title.

i do know that he wrote many books on wild edible plants, he wrote on how to find them and prepare them in a well stock kitchen.

although he didn't practice being a survivalist, i was wondering if any one has ever read any of his books and tried his recipes, and wondering if the stuff tasted like sh@@, of course if alone cold and hungry in the woods without the benefit of spices that might even taste good, i mean wild plants, not the sh@@.

i was thinking, knowing which plants would be very helpful, and he was doing this a long time before it became a fad/ fashion statement, so i think he would have been more down to earth about it.

here is the wiki on him, down at the bottom is a list of his books.

Post Grape-Nuts cereal featured Gibbons asking viewers "Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible." While he recommended eating Grape Nuts over eating pine trees (Grape Nuts' taste "reminds me of wild hickory nuts")

Euell Gibbons

ETA: well i guess he did capitalize on it being a fad/ fashion statement.

Although Gibbons longed to be a writer, he had difficulty getting published. However, capitalizing on the growing return-to-nature movement in 1962, his first book, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, became an instant success. From the cover blurb:

none the less, he didn't strike me asa flower child or survivalist type.

Never eaten a tree, but used the sap for glue, and a firestarter, and made tea from the needles. Full of vitamin C.

And collected pine cones as a child, obviously!

khimbar
Never eaten a tree, but used the sap for glue, and a firestarter, and made tea from the needles. Full of vitamin C.

And collected pine cones as a child, obviously!

never made the tea, but did all the other and pine straw will make a fire burn quick.

Quick answer, yes.
Tea from the needles is pretty good.
Trying to make flour from the inner bark of white pine is like eating sawdust.
Might work if you used it sparingly as an additive to extend your flour. Say 1/4 - 1/3 pine the rest something edible.
The pollen anthers aren't bad if young, eat them in summer.
Pollen can be gathered and used as flour as well.
Tiny rootlets can be eaten in moderation and are better than starving.
Pine nuts are a gourmet treat though I have yet to find a pine on the east coast with seeds of a size worth going after.
The ones you buy in stores come from the Pinion pines out west.

Isn't pine needles or oil or some aspect deadly poison like it says on the pinesol warning, skulls and bones warning.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


I've eaten pine nuts heaps of times, and pine needle tea is obvs good.. as mentioned above pine pitch glue is great stuff too, i've made and gathered it in various ways and hafted various point and blades with the stuff, i know a guy who made a varnish with the stuff too - it looked excellent but was apparantly a somewhat edgy process due to the VOC's, more so than glue making.

Pine trees are mad useful!

ETA: there are also Pine Rosin Potatoes.

reply to post by Unity_99


Pine needles are a major vitamin c score.
Boil the water then add the needles.

I have it most mornings in the woods...its good and it won't kill you.

The ironic thing is the people that came here and died from scurvy were sleeping on the very thing that could have saved them....pine needles.

I don't know about the poison part...I only consume what I know won't kill me.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


Pine nuts are delicious when added to my pasta dishes. I am curious about the pine needle tea. Recipe anyone? Do needles need to be dried first?

reply to post by GNOarmy


www.practicalprimitive.com...

reply to post by GNOarmy


Take the needles,boil the water and then add after the water is boiled.
I toss a teabag in with mine as well.

Unity_99
Isn't pine needles or oil or some aspect deadly poison like it says on the pinesol warning, skulls and bones warning.

here is the NIH page for Pine Oil Poisoning.
Pine Oil Poisoning.

reply to post by GNOarmy


you want fresh needles for tea.
Like many aromatic plants they lose their scent and taste when dried.
Just chop up a small palmful and add to boiling water.
Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
I much prefer black or cherry birch tea made from the bark.
Amazing wintergreen flavor.

Unity_99
Isn't pine needles or oil or some aspect deadly poison like it says on the pinesol warning, skulls and bones warning.

I read where you need to learn how to identify edible pine trees from those that are poisonous. The poisonous types are loblolly and others are mentioned in the link below.

www.fcps.edu...

www.ehow.com...

I would stick to learning how to identify a few of the non-toxic pine species within your area.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


I eat the nuts here from yellow pine and loblolly. I have two Stone Pines (about 3') in pots, which I will be transplanting to our farm this next week. These are the trees which the commercial pine nuts come from. They are trimmed and sold as miniature Christmas trees in places like Lowes and Home Depot every year, which is where I got mine. They are awesome trees and will flourish in my zone. The cones actually take 36 months to mature, the slowest of all cone producers. Check out what they look like when mature on line. I would upload some pics but have trouble accomplishing that on my phone.

yamammasamonkey
reply to post by Asktheanimals

 

I eat the nuts here from yellow pine and loblolly. I have two Stone Pines (about 3') in pots, which I will be transplanting to our farm this next week. These are the trees which the commercial pine nuts come from. They are trimmed and sold as miniature Christmas trees in places like Lowes and Home Depot every year, which is where I got mine. They are awesome trees and will flourish in my zone. The cones actually take 36 months to mature, the slowest of all cone producers. Check out what they look like when mature on line. I would upload some pics but have trouble accomplishing that on my phone.

edit on 31-10-2013 by yamammasamonkey because: (no reason given)

edit on 31-10-2013 by yamammasamonkey because: (no reason given)

Upon further research, I am getting conflicting opinions whether loblolly is edible or not, so, if in doubt...don't eat it.

Unlike most eastern/northern white pines, the inner back of the loblolly pine is not considered a source of food/calories, which is a bummer because the cambium layer (inner bark) of white pines is delicious after cooking.

In the spring yellow pine pollen coats everything around these trees. This pollen is chemically almost exactly identical to the male hormone testosterone and can be purchased over the internet as a testosterone supplement. Native American warriors would carry a small bag of this pollen with them to eat before battles to "pump them up" for the coming fight.

www.foragingtexas.com...

reply to post by InTheLight


I had no idea that the pollen contained something similar to testosterone.
Anyone here know how to collect the pollen,what it looks like etc etc???
For a second,I thought they meant the resin.

Can anyone elaborate on this??

reply to post by InTheLight


The part of the loblolly that is poisonous is the cambium. I eat the nuts (and have for 40 yrs) which are fine. The needles are good for tea, but will cause miscarriage. The pollen is nearly identical to humane testosterone and used for medical treatments. There is usually two sides to a story, the whole truth usually resides in the middle. I eat nothing if I am not 100% confident in my knowledge. I love hunting mushrooms and have for many years all over the country. If you do this, especially in different regions, in which mushrooms mimic each other, you learn you can never be too cautious. One bad mushroom can kill everybody.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


If you live in the deep south you know it when you walk outside and everyone's car is the same color (no matter what the paint color). Yellow. You can sweep a quart off only a couple cars if it doesn't rain during peak pollination.

yamammasamonkey
reply to post by DrumsRfun

 

If you live in the deep south you know it when you walk outside and everyone's car is the same color (no matter what the paint color). Yellow. You can sweep a quart off only a couple cars if it doesn't rain during peak pollination.

yep, and no need to try and wash it off, it will right back in a day or two.
it get so thick, when you wash it off the water is yellow.

i just wait until it stops falling.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


Few people realize that our modern diet uses only 40 or so varieties of eatable plants. There is a whole other world out there from which we can harvest bountious amounts of food.
Of course, as has been said before, you had best learn what is safe before you eat something.
Survival does not look kindly on experimentation!