Wild Edible Plants

[WVH1977]

Hello All,

My wife and me have been researching and using wild edibles found on our property recently. We have a native sumac that produces small clusters of red/purple berries late summer that make a drink that is as good or better tasting than lemonade.

We also have a lot of nice American Beauty Berry bushes that she has used to make jelly. This jelly has a mild fruity sweet flavor and tastes very good.

Lastly, she has been making her own cough medicine from plants on the property and the kids love it and it really does help with coughs and colds.

I am currently clearing really wide trails on our property (at least 50 ft across) and we are going to start planting more medicinal plants along with nut and fruit trees. I already have some apple trees and black walnut growing nicely. I am really enjoying doing these kind of things that our ancestors did long ago. There is so much growing out there that can benefit us and probably a lot better than all the processed junk we get now.

So what are you doing on your land? Anyone else delving into the weeds???

 

[Eagle1]

Hello All,

My wife and me have been researching and using wild edibles found on our property recently. We have a native sumac that produces small clusters of red/purple berries late summer that make a drink that is as good or better tasting than lemonade.

We also have a lot of nice American Beauty Berry bushes that she has used to make jelly. This jelly has a mild fruity sweet flavor and tastes very good.

Lastly, she has been making her own cough medicine from plants on the property and the kids love it and it really does help with coughs and colds.

I am currently clearing really wide trails on our property (at least 50 ft across) and we are going to start planting more medicinal plants along with nut and fruit trees. I already have some apple trees and black walnut growing nicely. I am really enjoying doing these kind of things that our ancestors did long ago. There is so much growing out there that can benefit us and probably a lot better than all the processed junk we get now.

So what are you doing on your land? Anyone else delving into the weeds???

Elderberry - cough syrup
Wild Black Cherry - the best jelly YMMV
Autumn Olive - Jelly
WIld Plum - Jelly
Rose hips - Medicinal
Willow bark - Pain tincture
Wild grapes - Jelly
Wild blackberry, black raspberry - table treats and jelly
Mushrooms - Morel, Chanterelles, Chicken of the Woods, and others

Need to try the Sumac we have lot but it is an important wild life food.
Wife does other things I can't think of right now she is the plant user, I deal with the meat and drive the tractor for harvesting things up high.

 

[oosik]

Mushrooms - morels, shaggy mane
Wild onions
Oregon grapes - jelly
Wild blackberries

One must be careful and KNOW YOUR PLANTS. I have plants that can be very toxic - poisonous.

Sumac, Night Shade, couple species of the Aminita. Death Cap and False Parasol. And one other Aminita - red cap with white spots.

 

[ponytug]

Mushrooms - morels, shaggy main
Wild onions
Oregon grapes - jelly
Wild blackberries

One must be careful and KNOW YOUR PLANTS. I have plants that can be very toxic - poisonous.

Sumac, Night Shade

Lucky you! I love morels. I'm impressed that you have morels! I would have guessed your climate was too dry. Do yours come up under the pines?

Not a great deal to forage here. Elderberries, plus pine nuts, and some sunflower relatives for seeds, and every few years, edible mushrooms. There is a patch of introduced watercress near here, and blackberries, but none on our property.

And some really poisonous plants and mushrooms. The local mushrooms get a few people every year. Some folks just don't know the local mushrooms well, and some mistake poisonous ones for small puffball mushrooms.

All the best,

Peter

 

[oosik]

I should have also added - Puffball mushrooms. Morels are seldom found here and only in damp, shaded areas. I'm lucky if I can find morels - once every three or four years. I check the same area every year.

There is a short section of my driveway ~200 feet - where the shaggy mane grow in abundance. Well drained incline - coarse sand - liquefied cow poop draining down from neighbors field. I've gone to some lengths to "improve" this short section.

I never get as many mushrooms as I would like. But - that's just the way things are.

 

[Oaktree]

My father used to go mushrooming when I was a kid, I'd usually go with him. Only knew the "good ones" by their Russian names, and have forgotten most of them. Mother would fry them in butter...mmmm! I don't think any of my friends would even try them

 

[LHF2019]

Add horsenettle to your list of things to try.

 

[BackRoad]

I'm all in on using holistic natural herbs and remedies...I've several books, such as "Be Your Own Doctor".

That said, I had a morning newspaper route back in the late 60's early 70's. Got very proficient at reading the front page news as I was folding them for delivery.

Read of an entire extended family in CA which died from eating poisonous wild mushrooms...ever since reading that, I only pick my mushrooms from the market shelf.

 

[Smokeydog]

Watercress year round. Polk, black walnuts, mushrooms morels and chicken of the woods, persimmon, lambs quarter, purslane. Sometimes the forest floor is covered in pine nuts and muscadines.

Many edibles are subsistence and take work. White oak acorns need a long soak in the creek to leach out tannins but are good tasting afterwards.

Apples, pears, blueberries, blackberries, various nut trees.

Be careful just because they’re plants or natural doesn’t mean they are safe for all.

People get sick or die from grocery store food too.

 

[Eagle1]

Yeah, anytime you try something take bit and see how you react. Some things are not compatible with your gut at first try, others may never agree with your system.
Mushrooms take some knowledge some like Morels and Chanterelles are pretty easy to identify. Others like Chicken of Woods, Maitake have some that look similar but are not tasty or could be harmful. The coral type mushrooms are easy to find and identify but I don't find them tasty enough to pick.

 

[Jstpssng]

Every book I've read on mushrooms says to learn a few well, and focus on picking those. I pick chanterelles and Bear's Head fungo... The guide book I checked said that nothing else can be confused with the latter. My favorite way of cooking those is to use them instead of noodles in chicken noodle soup.
Ink Caps are one which I recognize but have never eaten. They cause you to be sick when consumed with alcohol, one book I read said that they are used to treat alcoholism. Presumably on the same theory as your father making you smoke the entire pack when he caught you in back of the barn with a cigarette.

 

[ponytug]

Every book I've read on mushrooms says to learn a few well, and focus on picking those. I pick chanterelles and Bear's Head fungo... The guide book I checked said that nothing else can be confused with the latter. My favorite way of cooking those is to use them instead of noodles in chicken noodle soup.
Ink Caps are one which I recognize but have never eaten. They cause you to be sick when consumed with alcohol, one book I read said that they are used to treat alcoholism. Presumably on the same theory as your father making you smoke the entire pack when he caught you in back of the barn with a cigarette.

There are several different species of mushrooms with the common name "Inky cap". The one with the toxic chemical (coprine) is Coprinopsis atramentaria.

I have cooked a different one, Shaggy Mane Inky caps, (Coprinopsis comatose) with wine in the past, and I can't say that I noticed anything.

Having traveled around, I do notice variations in species by locale sometimes, or at least enough of an appearance of variation to put me off collecting.

All of which I think goes to the point of "know your mushrooms".

When collecting, I remind myself that the only treatment beyond palliative care for deadly Amanita species is a prompt liver transplant. (E.g. Amanita bisporegia, Amanita ocreata, and Amanita phalloides)

All the best,

Peter

 

[garry1p]

Northern MS

Poke salad
Muscadine
Apple
Pears
Blueberry
Pecans
Persimmons (only when real ripe)
Black walnuts, Line them up in the driveway and run them over with the mower to crush the outside hulls what a pain, but you don't really need many, very strong flavor.

Mushrooms, I have read articles about Asian families dying from eating American mushroom so I pass on them.
Used to have peaches and nectarines.

When I was young living in MA I remember gathering and eating dandelions.

 

[kenmbz]

What is the easiest way to harvest and get the nut from black walnut?
Tired of having black fingers.

How do you make autumn olive into Jelly, we have an overabundance of autumn olive as a invasive.

Are multi-flora rose good for anything?

We have lots of dandelions. As a kid all the locals (in MA) would have us kids pick for dandelion wine.
They also made wine from every berry that wasn't poisonous.

We have wild strawberry and raspberry, good for pies.

I just planted apples, have peaches and pears (the pears have really been struggling last 2 years).

I planted 2 almond trees, one got killed by a blown hydraulic hose (Hydro fluid not good for trees). Other one is still pretty small after 3 years.

We also have hickory nuts, Never tried to harvest them so far.but would like to. Are they hard to shell?

Lots of other plants I am sure would be good for medicinal, just barely touching on what I find growing around here.

 

[Eagle1]

What is the easiest way to harvest and get the nut from black walnut?
Tired of having black fingers.

How do you make autumn olive into Jelly, we have an overabundance of autumn olive as a invasive.

Are multi-flora rose good for anything?

We have lots of dandelions. As a kid all the locals (in MA) would have us kids pick for dandelion wine.
They also made wine from every berry that wasn't poisonous.

We have wild strawberry and raspberry, good for pies.

I just planted apples, have peaches and pears (the pears have really been struggling last 2 years).

I planted 2 almond trees, one got killed by a blown hydraulic hose (Hydro fluid not good for trees). Other one is still pretty small after 3 years.

We also have hickory nuts, Never tried to harvest them so far.but would like to. Are they hard to shell?

Lots of other plants I am sure would be good for medicinal, just barely touching on what I find growing around here.

My wife is the plant guru but ..
Autumn Olive Jam and Why You Should Make It
Autumn Olive Jam
There are more recipes on line to get you started. The small berries (like wild black cherry) are labor intensive but may just be worth the effort for a unique treat

Mulit-flora is just a native rose and the hips are similar (and prefered by some)
Rose Hips: Edible Treats After the Rose Fades
Search will get you a ton more.

Hickory is a lot like pecan just much harder shell. Big hammer works but make a mess. I leave them for the squirrels and eat them instead. The Black walnuts here always have worms so I quit trying. Not a big fan of nuts in general.

For starter ideas check with your wildlife agency they should a regional guide like this for MO https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/WildEdibles.pdf
Once you figured out what you can or will use from there, there is a ton of wild resource guides on line that cover plants. As always not all information on any site will be accurate, best to find the common ground among several sites. Try anything new in small amounts until you know how you react.

 

[newkiotiguy]

Spring time ramps and fiddleheads around here. I don't care for mushrooms. This is Alfredo with chicken and grilled ramps. Fiddleheads boiled then fried in a cast-iron.

 

[ponytug]

What is the easiest way to harvest and get the nut from black walnut?
Tired of having black fingers.

How do you make autumn olive into Jelly, we have an overabundance of autumn olive as a invasive.

Are multi-flora rose good for anything?

We have lots of dandelions. As a kid all the locals (in MA) would have us kids pick for dandelion wine.
They also made wine from every berry that wasn't poisonous.

We have wild strawberry and raspberry, good for pies.

I just planted apples, have peaches and pears (the pears have really been struggling last 2 years).

I planted 2 almond trees, one got killed by a blown hydraulic hose (Hydro fluid not good for trees). Other one is still pretty small after 3 years.

We also have hickory nuts, Never tried to harvest them so far.but would like to. Are they hard to shell?

Lots of other plants I am sure would be good for medicinal, just barely touching on what I find growing around here.

After the usual washing, hulling, and drying, and if you are willing to sacrifice a pot, boiling black walnuts keeps the nut meat in bigger pieces, and makes them easier to shell, but be forewarned that the liquid from the hulls makes a great fabric dye.

I know of decompression shellers, but I have never priced one. I would look for a sheller specifically for black walnuts, as they need to be very robust. E.g. Grandpa's Goody Getter

All the best,

Peter

 

[Oaktree]

Ink Caps are one which I recognize but have never eaten. They cause you to be sick when consumed with alcohol,

Are they the ones that turn black when you slice them? That was one of the types my father used to pick, though he had a different name for them (long forgotten).

When I was young living in MA I remember gathering and eating dandelions.

Dandelion, also milkweed leaves. Best eaten when very young, if they've blossomed they become tough & bitter. Tried making tea from dandelion blossoms...was kind of nasty. I think the root can be dried and used for tea. Some people make wine from the blossoms.

Spring time ramps and fiddleheads around here.

Never heard of ramps, but fiddleheads YES! I usually just steam them.

 

[JeepHead]

Some of the wild things I eat from my woods include: morels, puff balls, oyster mushrooms (every bit as good as morels), chicken of the woods, turkey tail mushroom, lions mane, and chanterelles, and also hen of the woods. I also have blackberries, hickory, walnut, and acorns (I don't eat the acorns), paw paws, 3 huge persimmon trees, pear and peach trees, sassafras, and several edible plants.

 

[garry1p]

What is the easiest way to harvest and get the nut from black walnut?
Tired of having black fingers.

I spread them out on the drive way and ran over them several times to get the green outer hull off.
Put on disposable gloves to separate the nuts out.
There is no easy way to get the nut cracked you can use a vice, hammer, commercial cracker, whatever
they are a pain but like I said we didn't eat them so much as used them in cooking and the flavor is so strong it takes very little as a spice.