Subject: Eating Wild Plants

From: [email-masked] (cetfers)
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 10:53:47 PST

Anyone have any experience collecting wild plants, and cooking with them? I am 
interesetd in stuff one can collect in California, any plant you can find in 
the wild.

Please E-mail to [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Ken Buscho)
Date: 21 Nov 1994 19:10:26 GMT

>Please E-mail to [email-masked]

I've been collecting & eating wild stuff for probably 20 years, and you 
should know that there are old wild plant eaters, and bold wild plant 
eaters, but no old & bold wild plant eaters...  Know _EXACTLY_ what you 
have before you before you take a bite.  Go out & collect with someone 
who knows what they are doing.  Avoid collecting with anyone who says 
things like "All plants with X are edible." There are no such 
generalizations.   Contrary to myth, you can't eat it just because 
animals do; squirrels _love_ both Poison Oak berries and the mushroom 
_Amanita_phalloides_ (The Destroying Angel), which should say volumes...

I used to be a member of the bold school until I started taking Botany 
classes & started speciallizing in taxonomy; I concluded that I was 
lucky to still be alive.

If you study edibles, also study the poisonous ones as well, so you will 
know what's what.

Until you are a pro, avoid the Carrot family (Umbelliferae); the 
differences between toxics & edibles is often too subtle unless you are 
trained in this stuff.

Now, after sounding like the proverbial wet blanket, I would recommend 
that your first wild plant to test is cattail.  It's easy to ID, hard to 
confuse, and with proper precautions for flukes and the like, easy to 
prepare and eat.  

Good luck...

Ken Buscho
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Nick Maclaren)
Date: 24 Nov 1994 12:06:42 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Herbs WA) writes:
|> In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ken
|> Buscho) writes:
|> 
|> Our restaurant specializes in the foods of this region of America (the
|> Pacific Northwest). In the spring, before our kitchen gardens come into
|> full production, we do a series of 9-course dinners called "The Spring
|> Forager's Dinners".
|> 
|> We are usually able to collect and turn these wild edibles into esculent
|> dished: cattail shoots, wild ginger, thimbleberry shoots, nettles, dock,
|> chickweed, wild truffles (black and white), morels, maple blossoms,
|> Douglas fir needles, dandelion crowns, purslane, cow parsnip (be careful!)
|> and so forth.

To enlarge on a previous warning, learn something about the safe
guidelines before starting this.  There was an interesting article
in Nature recently about the death of some 19th century explorers
in Australia, who ate the right foods in the wrong way!  A lot of
pioneers etc. had quite serious problems from applying the safe
guidelines in one continent to another.

A specific warning is don't experiment with fungi, unless you are
100% sure that you don't have one of the killers.  Few plants in
the northern temperate zones will kill you with one taste, but
the same is NOT true of fungi.  Nor is it true in the tropics.

This last has had interesting historical effects.  The humid
tropics have vastly more food available than the temperate zones
(except in autumn), yet invaders, explorers and stranded people
>from  the north have serious difficulty in living off the land.
This is one of the reasons that the jungles were regarded as
impenetrable barriers for so long.

Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.
Email:  [email-masked]
Tel.:  +44 1223 334761    Fax:  +44 1223 334679

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From: [email-masked] (BILL HILBRICH, ST. CLOUD, MN)
Date: 24 Nov 1994 06:22:47 GMT

>Please E-mail to [email-masked]

One of America's more visable and vocal (Tonight Show, Books, etc.) natural
food advocates, Neull Gibions, Died from a heart attack in his EARLY 60's ..
If you really want to know what is safe to eat, consult a Marine Corp. Survival
Manual.

Bill

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From: [email-masked] (Herbs WA)
Date: 23 Nov 1994 13:45:29 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Ken
Buscho) writes:

Our restaurant specializes in the foods of this region of America (the
Pacific Northwest). In the spring, before our kitchen gardens come into
full production, we do a series of 9-course dinners called "The Spring
Forager's Dinners".

We are usually able to collect and turn these wild edibles into esculent
dished: cattail shoots, wild ginger, thimbleberry shoots, nettles, dock,
chickweed, wild truffles (black and white), morels, maple blossoms,
Douglas fir needles, dandelion crowns, purslane, cow parsnip (be careful!)
and so forth.

A lot of fun. And educational too!

---

From: [email-masked] (Stephen Bloch)
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 03:23:50 GMT

>interesetd in stuff one can collect in California, any plant you can find in 

I can't help much with California plants, as I didn't do any foraging
when I lived there.  But in the Appalachians I ate stinging nettles and
rock tripe (a kind of lichen) frequently, and tried Solomon's Seal,
Indian cucumber, and chicken-of-the-woods (a kind of tree fungus) once
each (when I found them in abundance).  I also came this close to eating
some things I later identified as seriously poisonous.

I especially liked the stinging nettles -- not just because they provide
vitamins, constitute a fresh vegetable you didn't have to carry, and
smell nice and minty while cooking, but because I enjoyed the feeling of
revenge of picking, cooking, and eating the things that had stung my
legs all day.  You have to pick them with gloves, of course (or, as I
did, with an inside-out plastic bag which, turned right side out, becomes
a carrying bag), and simmer them for about ten minutes to get rid of the
"sting".

I believe one can find rock tripe almost anywhere in the world,
especially (it seemed to me) on vertical rock faces.  According to
Peterson's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants, you have to soak it in
several changes of water for several hours, then simmer it for a while.

--
                                                 Stephen Bloch
                                           [email-masked]
                                        Math/CS Dept, Adelphi University

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From: [email-masked] (elin edwards f)
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 19:37:25 GMT

I'm currently in the frenzy of writing a PhD dissertation on Gene 
Stratton-Porter, early 20th century popular novelist from Indiana.
One of the main threads in _Her Father's Daughter_ is the heroine's 
writing columns for an imaginary women's magazine (probably similar to 
McCall's or Ladies Home Journal, both of which Stratton-Porter wrote for) 
based on native and wild California foods, including such things as, of 
course, various cacti, miner's lettuce, and "indian potatoes".  
Stratton-Porter considered herself a naturalist first and a novelist 
second, so I assume the information was as correct as possible for the 
time period (c. 1920).  Several of the "columns" are part of the text.  
The book is still around, available in reprint if not in an original copy 
in your public library or tucked on the cottage shelf.  BTW, if you 
check it out, don't let yourself get distracted by the 
not-particularly-politically-correct concern with the "yellow peril" that 
shows up in the book, a rather intense fear at that time period.

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From: [email-masked] (steve hix)
Date: 1 Dec 1994 02:07:46 GMT

In article [email-masked], [email-masked] (Charlie Sorsby) writes:
:In article <[email-masked]> (Stephen Bloch) writes:
:= cetfers <[email-masked]> wrote:
:= >Anyone have any experience collecting wild plants, and cooking with them? I am 
:= >interesetd in stuff one can collect in California, any plant you can find in 
:= >the wild.
:= 
:= I can't help much with California plants, as I didn't do any foraging
:= when I lived there.  But in the Appalachians I ate stinging nettles

Available here. And *great*, lightly steamed, when young. Sort of like
a cross between spinach and asparagus in taste. (Here is San Francisco
Bay region. North is better, south is drier.)

:= Indian cucumber, and chicken-of-the-woods (a kind of tree fungus) once

The Sulfur polypore (or chicken fungus)? We find them out here occasionally.
When found, they go straight to my frying pan, with a bit of soy sauce. I
have staked out four or five trees where they appear most years. There used
to be a huge specimen on an old trunk above Silverado Trail near Napa, but
that was a long time ago.

:As, Stephen, I'll not be any help for CA.  In my youth in WV,
:though, we had things like these:
:
:Elderberrys grew wild along the roadsides.

Got 'em here. Some people have trouble eating the berries, but he juice
doesn't seem to bother them.

:Blackberries, of course, wonderful tangy wild ones, not those wimpy 
:flavorless things you can buy, frozen, at the supermarket.

Also thimble berries out near the coast, or gooseberries at higher
elevations. And wild grapes along watercourses.

:Don't forget the lowly dandelion--either as salad greens (pick them
:*young*) or in a white sauce as in creamed spinach.

Hmmm....

Immense quantities of wild mustard in the spring. The buds before the`
flowers break out are like broccoli, but more tender. The leaves are good
steamed most of the year. The smallest leaves along the upper stalk below
the flowers are often bitter, I strip them off.

Then there are always cattails, wild onions, brodaea (but not as a habit,
they're being depleted in some areas, probably by wild pigs digging up the
bulbs).

:And Paw Paws.

Now that's something I'd like to try. Don't seem to do well out here,
even with help.

:Is _Stalking the Wild Asparagus_ still in print?  I can almost
:think of the author's name but not quite.  Of course, that was
:published long after the end of that youth described above.

I think it's still around. Euell Gibbons was the author.

There are several other books available on wild plants, some of
them even concentrate on the West. Backpacking and mountaineering
shops, such as REI usually carry some.

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From: [email-masked] (Par Leijonhufvud labtek)
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 06:54:45 GMT

Dandelion (Taraxacum vulgare):

Cut the root in small pieces and let soak in cold vater for at least 2 
hours. Then cook (in fresh water!) for 15 minutes. Supposedly 20-25% 
carbohydrate by fresh weight, if gathered in the fall.

/P{r Leijonhufvud.

-- 
N.B. New email adress!

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:   Paer K.G. Leijonhufvud          Tum pultus sicissentem ur ne lus

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From: [email-masked] (Charlie Sorsby)
Date: 30 Nov 1994 20:21:11 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Stephen Bloch) writes:
= cetfers <[email-masked]> wrote:
= >Anyone have any experience collecting wild plants, and cooking with them? I am 
= >interesetd in stuff one can collect in California, any plant you can find in 
= >the wild.
= 
= I can't help much with California plants, as I didn't do any foraging
= when I lived there.  But in the Appalachians I ate stinging nettles and
= rock tripe (a kind of lichen) frequently, and tried Solomon's Seal,
= Indian cucumber, and chicken-of-the-woods (a kind of tree fungus) once
= each (when I found them in abundance).  I also came this close to eating
= some things I later identified as seriously poisonous.

As, Stephen, I'll not be any help for CA.  In my youth in WV,
though, we had things like these:

Elderberrys grew wild along the roadsides.  Blackberries, of
course, wonderful tangy wild ones, not those wimpy flavorless
things you can buy, frozen, at the supermarket.

Don't forget the lowly dandelion--either as salad greens (pick them
*young*) or in a white sauce as in creamed spinach.

And there's "tea" from sassafrass roots (dried) and sugar.

And Paw Paws.

My family never would try them but others used poke leaves.

**** Clearly, nowadays, it is prudent not to pick anything that
grows along the road side, what with government preferance for
spraying poisons as an alternative to mowing.

Is _Stalking the Wild Asparagus_ still in print?  I can almost
think of the author's name but not quite.  Of course, that was
published long after the end of that youth described above.

-- 
Best,

Charlie "Older than dirt" Sorsby				"I'm the NRA!"
	  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (John E. Taylor III)
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 1994 07:16:54 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]

> If you really want to know what is safe to eat, consult a Marine Corp. Survival

I don't recall Ewell Gibbons  advocating wild food for _health_ reasons,
but rather because it was an interesting and close-up way to become
acquainted with the environment.  Besides, do you _really_ believe his
heart attack was related to eating wild food, and not genetics?  I'd
recommend any of his books, especially _Stalking the Wild Asparagus_, for
both general interest and recipes.

--
John Taylor    (W3ZID)     |  "The opinions expressed are those of the
[email-masked] |   writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company."