#wild edibles

[dailybotany]

In honor of a bunch of my friends being served iris rhizomes instead of daylily bulbs at a skills event and puking their guts out all night, here is a friendly reminder about wild edibles:

Do not eat any wild edibles that are at all new to you or you are even a little uncertain about without double and triple checking the ID with a trusted, professional resource. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT feed wild edibles to anyone else that you haven't repeatedly IDed and eaten yourself with no problems.

[zinjanthropusboisei]

At the beginning of the summer, I had big plans to better my plant ID knowledge and foraging, and staggered home from the library with a giant stack of guidebooks. Which went entirely unread until now, unfortunately. Some of them were older books which I'm flipping through more out of curiosity and an appreciation for line drawings rather than for practical advice - this one is from 1973 and I'm supremely charmed by the author's voice, particularly his attitude of "just because I'm writing the book you're reading about edible plants doesn't mean you should trust anything I say."

[evilbotanist]

comprehensive list of edible flowers to celebrate spring!:

magnolias (they taste like ginger)

dandelions (only eat the yellow stuff not the bitter green stuff)

violets (if u make tea from them then add lemon it turns pink! tastes earthy and mildly sweet)

lilac (they're bitter on their own but if you put a flower head in cold water for a couple hours it makes the most divine, refreshing spring drink)

marigolds (kinda peppery, v fun in salads-- used as a sub for saffron in cooking)

rose (the og edible flower, most are very floral and taste like how they smell, they make for an excellent tea as well!)

nasturnium (very peppery, almost like horseradish-- not my fav but if u like it go off i guess)

peonys (mildly sweet, floral flavor and fun to eat off the bush)

wood sorrel (the flowers are small so it barely made it onto this list but they taste like little bombs of green apple so go eat them--also eat the leaves!)

daisy (some say the yellow center tastes like pineapple-- i think its a bit of a stretch but they are sweet and tasty nonetheless!)

red clover (the flower heads can be white or pink-- the pink ones are the sweeter ones)

redbud (these grow on trees in v early spring-- they taste exactly like snap peas.)

always remember to do research before eating any wild plant, and always be 100% certain that u have the right one-- also don't eat stuff that might be contaminated with pesticides

[thebaltimoreyoudontknow]

Pawpaws - not papayas - the only tropical fruit indigenous to the temperate east coast of America.

At the Baltimore Farmers Market

[incognitopolls]

Submit your questions and we’ll turn them alchemylike into anonymous polls!

[astriiformes]

Had a productive walk to class

[ryanscabinlife]

Lowbush Blueberry 🫐 Theres so many of them on the edge of our property but they don’t have a lot of fruits. It’s probably due to the awful spring we had. My guess is all of the wild berries in our area do not have a lot of fruits this year either. So even though I’m aching to pick some to make a tiny batch of jam to put on my french toast, I’m just gonna leave them for the birds and other wildlife for now. Maybe next year, or maybe more will show up by September. Here’s hoping.

27-Jul-2023

[wildlifetracker]

Some edible mushrooms I've found (and foraged) recently! Chicken of the woods, pheasants back, lobster, and golden chanterelles. Unfortunately no morels for me this year, and I'm still looking for oysters

Disclaimer: please do not eat random mushrooms if you are not 100% certain about the identification

[umiagawa]

Dandelion Blossom Fritter.

(Ingredients):

20-30 Fresh Dandelion Blossoms

1 Egg

1/2 teaspoon Corn Starch

1/3 teaspoon Salt

Vegetable Oil

1. Soak the dandelions for 10-15 minutes to remove the dirt and debris. Turn them up side on a kitchen paper to dry completely.

2. Whisk egg, salt and cornstarch together.

3. Heat up oil over medium-high heat. Dip the blossoms in the egg wash; fry on both sides until golden. Serve immediately.

Hope you enjoy this simple wild edible recipe.

[organicmatter]

salmonberry, photo by me

[balkanradfem]

I’ve been out foraging with a borrowed camera, so here’s some edible/medicinal plants you can forage for even in December (if you’re not snowed in).

Clover flowers, they’re edible and you can put them into meals and soups, but never eat a lot at once! They have a lot of estrogen so they can mess with your hormonal levels if you take a lot.

Daisies, they’re medicinal! You can eat them and make tea with them. You can eat both the flowers and the leaves.

This is how Yarrow looks in the winter; in the summer it grows tall with clusters of little white flowers, in the winter it’s very ground-level, but the leaves look just the same. It’s still edible and medicinal even when it’s just leaves, and you can add it to salads and soups.

Dead nettle, it’s good for immune system boost! It’s edible and can be made into teas, it doesn’t sting unlike the stinging nettle, and it grows pretty purple flowers. (I’ve never tried to eat it because the scent is so strong I’m lowkey scared of it)

Rosehips, they’re filled with vitamin C and good to make jam and tea out of. Also a great immune system boost.

Plantain, it has a nice nutty flavour to it, and it’s recommended as a plant to make your blood stronger. It’s also a medicinal plant that helps wound healing!

Dandelion greens are still up even when they’re not flowering! They’re so high in vitamin C, they could get you nourished thru the winter even they’re all you eat. They’re a bit acidic but if you add them to a potato or bean salad they hit just right.

Stinging nettle is still around, it will get smaller after the frost hits, but it’s still a great source of calcium, iron, energy, overall one of the best plants you could possibly add into your diet. You can collect the seeds too and consume them as an addition to dishes!

Chickweed, also a great source of minerals and vitamins! And it tastes amazing, you can use it instead of lettuce and I’d say it tastes even sweeter. Few sources have said that if you have too much of it, it can make your tummy ache, but I have disregarded this and consumed this plant in big quantities and remained unharmed.

Even if you can take the foraged plants only in small quantities, because they’re fairly small and it would take a long time to gather a lot, they’re so much richer in vitamins and minerals than the plants we usually eat, they can serve as a supplemental source of nutrition, and make sure you’re properly nourished and healthy thru the winter.

[veganslivingofftheland]

Sunday, April 14th 2024

Hiked in the woods and sat by creeks, admired plants.

I'll be honest. For the last 4 months, I couldn't tell you what is happening in the world.

I've been out here vibing with plants when I ain't working or doing school.

[thestonedknifeman]

Desert Lilly a.k.a Indian Radish

Been a while since I've seen one.

[evilbotanist]

List of my all time favorite wild edibles:

Wood sorrel-- This stuff is la crème de la crème. It tastes like green apple and you can just munch on the whole plant as a snack (but don't eat too much bc it can make ur stomach hurt if u eat a ton)

Purslane-- This plant is very literally everywhere, as in growing out of sidewalk cracks, and has a great taste- like mild lemon. It is also really good for you and has a crunchy texture that I super love. Its pretty easy to identify, but you've got the wrong plant if its sap is milky white.

Acorns-- You've absolutely got to leach out the tannins in these, but once you have you can make pretty much anything. I would recommend acorn flour, but if you are adventurous you could make acorn jelly!

Ground Ivy-- This plant has a strong and pleasant taste, and is really good made into a tea. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for a snack, but if that's what you like I wont stop you!

Cattail-- Obviously I cant make a list of my favorite wild edibles without including the one and only cattail. All of it is edible (though I wouldn't eat the forbidden hotdog--it's forbidden for a reason) and my favorite way to eat it is to take the immature flower head, which is the forbidden hotdog before it becomes brown, and roast it over a fire. It tastes a bit like corn.

River Grape-- This mostly applies to all species of wild grape, but River Grape is the kind growing in my area. The berries are a bit tart to eat a ton, but you could probably make a mean pastry with them. But the real gold lies in the leaves, which can be crisped like kale chips or turned into fabulous stuffed grape leaves. Sometimes I just eat them straight off the vine. They are just slightly tart.

Wintergreen-- It is always a treat when I find wintergreen growing on the forest floor, especially if its the time of year that it fruits. The taste is strong, like wintergreen gum, and the berries taste the same but milder.

Autumn Olive-- This plant is invasive in my area, so I don't have to feel bad about devastating the bush whenever I find one. The berries are sour, but in a good way, and sometimes they can be just a bit astringent but it depends on the bush. They don't taste at all like olives so I really don't know where they got the name but if you run into this plant you absolutely cannot pass up the opportunity to try it.

And those are my favorites, folks! As always remember to be 100% sure when you identify a plant, and don't harvest from places that might be polluted by pesticides or or other pollutants.

[wildfoodsandmedicines]

[gelerthaver]

just added two locations to this today so i wanted to remind everyone about fallingfruit. it's a collaborative, community driven map of edible forage with pinpoints all around the world directing you to wild edibles growing in your area.

some places have more pins, some have less. if there's not many in your area and you know somewhere that wild forage grows, add it! you don't need an account and can remain completely anonymous while enabling others in your area to collect fresh food that may otherwise not be noticed or enjoyed by anyone, and you may find some spots where you live that you didn't know about before :)