Natural wild foods

In the discussion about grits, there were references to the foods that came from the Americas, and somebody mentioned potatoes as if they were European. Nope from the Americas. The whole world now eats some of those foods, but there are several that are still only regional dishes, or little known.

For instance last year for the first time, I tasted paw-paws and also persimmons for the first time. Didn't care for either. But I grew up eating a relative of the tomato which I believe in England is called the Cape Gooseberry, lovely little orange berries tasting slightly sweet and citrus like.

A few years ago, I tasted a mayapple for the first time. It was dead ripe and about the tastiest most aromatic fruit I ever picked in the wild. Had cat tails a few times, both the heads steamed and served with a little butter and the tubers steamed like potatoes. In West Virginia the whole state seems to go nuts every spring over ramps. We have sheepsheads in the fall and eat dandelion in the spring.

Every February we tap a few maples and a few walnut trees for syrup. In july we have wild red berries similar to rasberries but the are covered with a fuzzy husk until just before they get ripe. Locals call them Wineberries and they are quite good.

What wild plant foods have you tried?

Huckleberries, chokecherries, gooseberries, currants, yew berries (only the red fleshy part as the seed is toxic), pine/fir needles (as tea) & inner-bark, pine/fir pitch, yarrow as tea and medicinal remedy, cattails (leaf, root and head), wild apples, quinces, dandelions, mint, thimbleberries, serviceberries, haws, wild asparagus, fir seeds, blackberries, raspberries, wild onions, camas root, bear-berry (kinnikinnick) leaves and berries, elderberries, oregon grape, seeds from the Arrowleaf balsamroot (a relative of the sunflower), shaggy-mane mushrooms, puffballs, and morels are what come to mind at the moment.

Persimmons, morel mushrooms, coral mushrooms, grapes, May apples. Some kind of hanging berry. :idunno: Probably more I can't recall. Now, ask me about meat. :grin:

Here in Ohio, the Paw-Paws and persimmons are really good, but only in the few days window when they're perfectly ripe.

raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, gooseberries, mountain ash berries, mulberries, currents, asparagus, wild onions, ramps, wild garlic, dandelion greens, dandelion flowers (in the form of wine), maple sap (in the form of both wine and syrup), wild rice, wild oats, morel mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, chicken mushrooms, cattail root, and I'm sure there's more.

gooseberries, currants, cattails , serviceberries, wild asparagus, blackberries, raspberries, elderberries, pinion nuts, King Bolete, muscadine grape (1st time was this summer for the grape).
That's all I can name off the top of my head. Dang kinda a short list

Let's see...
It took a while but I think this list is pretty complete, here is what/how I tried but with additional options:

gooseberry
blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)
raspberry
blackberry
boletus
woodland strawbeery
daisy (Bellis perennis) in salad and just for snack
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)
common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) sirup and salad, my mom told me they used the roots after the war to make somewhat like coffee
wild garlick
beechnut
watercress
mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) only after the first frost or cooked as jam and in liquid refined through fire
blackthorn liquid refined through fire, possible as jam
sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) jam and tea
wild brier raw and jam

That's about it.
A lot of it was as a child - but now thinking about it I might have to dig into natures reserve a bit more these days.

Silex
:wink:

All of the above but I haven't seen elder berries on the list so I'll add that

Also wild rice, wild onions, poke salad, cactus pads and cactus fruit.

yours, satx

I forgot about the prickle pears I had when visiting in New Mexico., they were amazing!

The prickley pear is what satx was referring to with "cactus pads & fruit". Prior to the Spanish, some of the minor native groups are said to have real knock-down, drag-outs over big patches of the things, and if you ever hear a Texan talking about 'pear burning' it's a reference to burning off those spines so the cattle can eat them. this is usually a 'drought time' only procedure. to the over all list, I'll add the Mustang Grape, a purely native variety that makes "Chateau Bayou"...you don't want to know! :wink: :haha:

Rev I had elderberries you were just slow up the trail & I ate them :rotf:

Forgot all about prickley pear, I tried those & rose-hip after reading Louis L'Amour.

Add to the list:

Tomatillos,
Agave (for pulque),
Wild grapes of several sorts
and
Wild plums/prunes
(Hernando De Soto said in a letter to the king that, "I have found a purple to black shriveled fruit, the eating of which in excess is superior to those who cannot go.")

yours, satx

From which came the expression, "So it goes and so do I!" :blah: :rotf:

CHUCKLE.

In all seriousness, "chronic constipation" was a REAL health problem then & while it wasn't the much sought after "fountain of youth", it was a significant "find".

yours, satx

"Diarrhea is hereditary, it runs in your jeans!" :shocked2: :rotf:

I've also had plantain, clover, chickweed, and chickory.

Some freakin' stupid :cursing: of a state official had all of the persimmon trees killed off in the state lands where I sometimes hunt. As the property 60 years ago was a farm, and the farmer planted the persimmons, the state decided they weren't "native to Maryland". Now I understand why in some parks they killed off the Asian bamboo (so much for my fresh bamboo shoots for the stir fry), but the persimmons were a proper species, even if planted by humans.

Word to the wise..., if you choose to try some of these foods, be sure that you do identify them well. The wild carrot and Queen Anne's Lace are very similar and Queen Anne's Lace smells like a carrot, but it's toxic. Also, be sure the ground where you harvest is not been treated. If you look at a bag of Weed-n-Feed at the list of the "weeds" it kills... most of them are edible for humans, and the chemicals in that product are very carcinogenic. Chickory loves to grow by the side of the road here, but I won't use it unless it's from a field, as I don't know if it's picked up road salts, etc., and I also check to be sure the farmer hasn't put his bull out in the pasture before I enter to harvest. :shocked2:

LD

RotflmRao!!!

yours, satx

And for those unfortunates who live "up there", don't make ya'lls coffee out of yellow snow.

yours, satx

Hey, you guys are the ones with the snow thus far, here in Minnesota, we ain't got any. As to your comment on yellow snow, I always thought it was lemon flavored :rotf: .