Hey I just wanted to get people writing about their experiances eating wild foods. If people want to post their stories or their knowledge about wild foods this thread is the place for it. If it's something more abstract you could even include pics and referances to help people starting out with wild foods. I figure it's important for any real camper and especially practical for all those people wanting to live in the wild. I may add some of my experiances if people don't cover the plants/foods I'm familiar with.
Alright, just my cup of tea... either the ever popular Sassafras, or pine needle, hemlock pine, black or gray birch, or red clover... all make excellent teas. I went on a hike today and ended up coming home with bags of foraging goodies. Besides the common things in season that I found in the wild, red and black raspberries and blueberries the size of your thumbnail, I also foraged some Wood Sorrel (shamrock) to add to a salad, Garlic Mustard, though out of season, still good to add and cook with dishes like potato's or greens, Sassafras leaves to dry and crush into powder to make gumbo, add to soups to flavor and slightly thicken, and Sheep Sorrel to eat raw in salads or cook like spinach. I found some Jewelweed which I hope to make a salve from, which is the best thing for insect bites, bee or nettle stings, or poison ivy rashes and the like. Instant relief...Ahhhhh. Always remember to do your research on any and all plants you want to eat and get 100 percent familiar with it before trying anything. Get to know any poisonous look a likes as well. Learn about plant parts for easier identification. Look for other things around the plant like soil and water...are they clean enough to eat the plant. Never eat roadside plants as they contain carbon monoxide and other poisons from car exhaust. Forage at least 50 feet from any road or train tracks. Take your time and be safe with all efforts to avoid any serious problems or worse. Some poisonous plants grow along side edible ones, and only one nibble is enough for some of them to be your end. But after you know these wild edibles, the fun begins as you explore tasty plants packed with vitamins unlike the supermarket weighted with water that diluted its properties. Also, you may want to learn the medicinal properties of each plant... just in case that hike or camp out has any injuries. Like the Yarrow I gathered today, dry the leaves and crush them, apply to open cuts and it'll stop bleeding, but if you use it in a tea, it increases the bleeding...but only on a wound. The tea is safe to drink in moderation. Looking forward to sharing more later on... Peace everyone, Spirit Wynd
Believe it or not one of the best guides I've used on the trail was a leftover from Air Force Survival School back in the 80s. It was a US Army Field Guide titled "The Illustrated Guide To Edible Plants" and it is now commercially available on Amazon. I went 14 days without any store bought food once. Just be aware that there aren't many naturally occurring legumes in the PacNW so protein can be an issue. That's why they gave us a rabbit. Growing up in the swamps of central FL, I let the rabbit go. It was slowing me down.
It never fails, every year I'm driven by madness to pick the wild raspberries, and often, I forget to mind my surroundings, and sure enough... I ended up with poison sumac... again!!! I only have four spots where i hopefully have it in check, but I know how fast it can spread if I'm not careful...this time, I'll remember not to scratch. I use witch hazel to clean the rash, then Ivy Dry to dry it up, and finally, I apply a wild plant called Jewelweed to heal it. A great plant to have handy... edible too.
I spent a couple of days in Riomaggiore, Italy 4 years ago. There is a path along the sea that goes up to Monterosso. I walked this path with this chick from California that stayed in the hostel with me. She was showing me all these grapes, fruits and seeds along the way that we could eat. I don't know how she knew Italian wild foods when she was from Bakersfield, but she always ate the stuff before me, so I figured it was safe. I'm a suburban person. Where I grew up its a 30 minute drive to the forest. Sad, eh? Fortunately it was a 5 minute bike ride to the beach, but because of this, I don't know what you can eat out in the wild.
Hey Fawkes, I recommend a great book by Wildman Steve Brill called "Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants" It even has receipe's in the back... Peace man
one of my favorite wild edibles growing up was mint(speaking of smells). would be mowing the lawn at the cabin or sometimes just walking through the bush and you would get a wiff of mint after stepping or mowing over a plant. a careful examination of the plants would usually find more that would always be a joy to munch on. one that i've been trying recently is cattail centers, when they are still growing in the spring you get a good bit of sustenance off them and the taste and texture is quite good. I highly recommend them, good survival food and good snack...
Yeah man, I have Spearmint in my garden, and its growing well. I clipped some stalks, tied them together and they're hanging upside down to dry for tea. As for the Cattail, well, that's natures supermarket. It has an edible part for every season... my favorite is the green tops that can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob, and the lower middle of the stalk, its white inside, it eaten(or cooked) and is tender and tasty. Besides food, the long leaves are great thatching material for walls, roofs, or beds, can be made into rope or blankets. The rootstock between the stalk and the root can be crushed to yield a sticky liquid that's an antisepic and and anaesthetic that can even numb a broken tooth... good to know. And the flowers can also be crushed to treat cuts and burns. A more common weed is the Broad leaf Plantain which the leaves can be eaten, or crushed and used for burns, cuts, rashes... or you can ingest a few seed pods a day, high in the vitamin B group, in a few days you have a shield against bugs like mosquito's. It may be good to know what Yarrow is, and its poisonous look a likes... the leaves of Yarrow will stop bleeding, or chewed to help a toothache. Plants are cool!!!
Pine Needle Tea. Get lots of pine needles and a (tin) cup of boiling water over a fire. Place the pine needles in after cleaned and wait. Let it steep for a while and drink =]
Hey everyone, I found a great remedy for poison ivy and such that works very well... it's a plant called Sweet Fern. Just make a strong tea from it and dab it on the infected area every hour or so. The first day or two will reduce the itch, day 3 or 4 and the rash is almost gone with no more itch, day 5 or 6 and you're cured. This is by far the best remedy I've found... no wonder the indian's used it. I still think Jewelweed is better for the itch though. Oh, and a light tea from the Sweet Fern is edible too. I have some dried and stored for next year... just in case... lol.
Onions are fairly easy to find, but make sure you check each onion for pugent smell to avoid a plant called Death Camas, which sometimes grows with the wild onions, it looks just like the onion, has no odor, and will kill you. Safety first, know each plant well before you forage to eat. Peace man
Dandelion greens (before the flowers shoot up in the spring, cause after that they get bitter), or the roots can be eaten too, or even roasted and made into a coffee. also birch bark cut in a circle can be bound at the top to make it a cone, and used suspended over a fire to boil water for tea or whatever really. The SAS survival guide ( a little pocket sized book) is really handy too. fits in your pocket and has all the basics for survival in pretty much every environment with advice from traps for animals, to short and long term shelter building, edible plants etc. It's not as good as an in depth knowledge of every area, but it does have the basics and does fit in a pocket. hope this helps. tell me if you have any good advice too.
Nice trick with the birch tea... everyone should have a good survival guide, too bad mine don't fit in my pocket like that one, but my knowledge serves me well...i can study at home. I make wild tea all the time, black birch, pine needle, goldenrod, and sassafras mostly. Dandelion roots are good, but boil them , change the water and boil again, this will reduce the bitterness. The flowerheads are good eaten raw, or steamed, even fried in batter. My friend makes wine from them, and a host of other flowers and fruits. If you have cattails in the area in clean water, collect the green tops late spring or early summer and boil them up, serve with butter and salt, eat like corn on the cob....yummy. Also the lower stalks can be peeled to the core and eaten raw or cooked, roots also good for coffee. You can use the long leaves as thatching,weaving, baskets, or rope.
