Wild Edibles

[Coffeeboy09]

If so, Natchez or Bdavison, could you make this a sticky?

Wild edibles can be great snacks while on the trail. Some are full of sugars, others of starch, and others may be full of vitamins, mineral, or other key nutrients.

Great caution should be taken when handling, preparing, and eating wild plants. If you're not 100% certain of what you're dealing with or whether it's safe to eat or not, do NOT eat it.

Now, please post and wind plant edibles you know of.

My first on the list is something my grandparents showed me when I was very young, and is practically EVERYWHERE around here. The Saw Palmetto. Not to be confused with the Palmetto palm tree. The Saw palmettos are the short bushes. The have fan shaped leaves, and stems with sharp serrations on the sides.

if you find a shoot that has not yet grown into a leaf, pull it out. Some are quite hard to extract, but the bottom tan colored bits are soft and taste similar to raw potatoes. They're full of starches.

The fruits are also edible.

Next on my list is Prickly Pear cactus. I actually ate one the other day on a day hike. Try to find one of the big, fleshy "leaves". Small one's aren't worth it due to the preparation.

First, cut off the rim of the entire leaf. Now "skin both sides, making sure you cut off enough to remove both the long spines AND the tiny irritative hairs. If you don't remove these, they will give you a bad day.

The juicy inside of the leaf is what you can eat. It tastes quite like watermelon rind. It's also cool and juicy. I have heard that they're known to lower body temperature, so be careful if you're in the cold.

The fruits of these are also widely eaten, but I've never tried one myself, so I can't say much about it.

[natchez]

Thanks Coffeeboy I can say the fruits are d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s B) Be very careful on your hands when peeling them though.

http://blog.tapuz.co.il/rakodrega/images/1048365_148.JPG

[bdavison]

Blackberry, Blueberry, Dandelions are my personal favorites.
Almost everyone has devoured blackberries, and blueberries.
Dandelions are best when they are not fully grown, they have a nice sweet honey flavor, the fully grown ones are kinda sour.

All roses are edible,the darker the better, but I dont perticularly like them.

There is always radishes, and wild onions around that can add flavor to whatever you are cooking.

Cattail is good also, it tastes like cucumber in my opinion.

For anyone thinking about chowing down on natures finest...Unless you are ABSOLUTLY POSITIVE that the plant is safe to eat, DO NOT EAT IT!

If you are truely interested in eating edible plants, you should take a course. NOT a video, NOT a book, NOT your friends word. You need an instructor...PERIOD.

If you dont heed this advice, you can end up DEAD. Many plants can kill you, with just one bite.

[JayMMM]

I may get a book or guide to be more knowledgable of this for my next hike. But after reading "Into the Wild", Chris seems to have been done in by eating something he should not have.

[swoosh]

pine needles provide a high amount of vitamin C and give a decent flavor to tea. i have to research this a bit further though. i think some are ok, some aren't

[MKD]

Always now your environment. If you plan on hiking in an area your unfamiliar with, get a book about local plant life to educate yourself first. There are some local plant species that can be mistaken for something where you come from that are DEADLY!

My father was a survival instructor for nearly 30 years. Naturally I grew up in the woods trying to soak up as much knowledge that I could. If you are in a survival scenario you can use some tests to determine whether something is edible. The first thing is to make sure you have enough of whatever you are considering to to make best use of your time.

Roots and fruits are your best source for food where as leaves and stems take more and usually take longer to either consume or prepare. Stay away from any milky white sap. Most are inedible and just arent worth the risk. You can taste test if your in a pinch.

I prefer the rub method first. Rub a leaf or shoot in a tender skin area, armpit, inside of the elbow, backside of knee. Wait for a red spot or tenderness to develop in about 15 minutes and then move on to taste test. Rub it on your lips last and see if there is any numbness. If nothing, move on to taste test.(wait a few minutes)

Taste test; taste for bitterness and again numbness around mouth area. If your good here you can chew a little and spit out. Wait for syptoms of nausea and again numbness.(wait for a few minutes)If your good here eat a small bite. Again wait for nausea. After this increase the amount each time until you feel comfortable in eating. Never gorge yourself on anything eat small amounts waiting an hour or so between meals to make sure your body wont react to it. Now you can see the importance in making sure there is an abundance of what your testing. You would hate to find out you dont have enough to keep you going after taking so much time to test!

Post edited by: MKD, at: 2009/04/10 17:56<br><br>Post edited by: MKD, at: 2009/04/11 03:32

[takingahike]

JayMMM--yeah I was just thinking the same thing. He seemed like he had his stuff together, but you can never be too careful

[alexfuller101]

When I was hiking in Hawaii, the trail we were on had tons of ripe little guava fruits that we kept picking right off the bush, they were so good!

[Jchwoodsy]

Shrooms rule! They almost always non-poisonous.

and even those that are a bit poisonous are o-KAY by meeee!

[GDeadPhans]

Dandelion. Ginko Biloba, Yew (roots, make sure they are not wilted!) or anything in the carrot family from my understanding is edible.