Slinging.org Forum - More Wild Edibles

Stabyhoun

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Re: More Wild Edibles
Reply #30 - Jun 21^st, 2024 at 9:42am

Rat Man wrote on Jun 20^th, 2024 at 9:27am:

Please don't try this at home unless you know what you're doing. I have been foraging literally since I was two. Often wild edibles have poisonous look-alikes growing nearby. If you look at some pictures online then go off into the woods eating stuff there's a good chance you'll get sick or worse. It would be best to go foraging with someone who has experience.

That's exactly why no-one eats any of these, they have no-one to teach them. If you aren't sure it is better/easier to tell your kids to not touch anything that isn't from a supermarket.

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IronGoober Interfector Viris Spurii Offline ...and now, No. 1, the larch... Posts: 1789 California Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #31 - Jun 22^nd, 2024 at 1:06am You're right, they were wild strawberries. I've think I've seen ground strawberries (aka mock strawberries??) but never knew if they were edible. They grow pointing upward, correct?
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Rat Man

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Re: More Wild Edibles
Reply #32 - Jun 22^nd, 2024 at 12:37pm

IronGoober wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2024 at 1:06am:

You're right, they were wild strawberries. I've think I've seen ground strawberries (aka mock strawberries??) but never knew if they were edible. They grow pointing upward, correct?

Yes. They are edible but as I mentioned, they don't have the sugar content of regular Strawberries. If you know this in advance they're not so bad the first time you eat one.

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Rat Man

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Re: More Wild Edibles
Reply #33 - Jun 22^nd, 2024 at 12:40pm

Stabyhoun wrote on Jun 21^st, 2024 at 9:42am:

Rat Man wrote on Jun 20^th, 2024 at 9:27am:

Please don't try this at home unless you know what you're doing. I have been foraging literally since I was two. Often wild edibles have poisonous look-alikes growing nearby. If you look at some pictures online then go off into the woods eating stuff there's a good chance you'll get sick or worse. It would be best to go foraging with someone who has experience.

If you aren't sure it is better/easier to tell your kids to not touch anything that isn't from a supermarket.

Absolutely.

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Teeth

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Re: More Wild Edibles
Reply #34 - Jun 29^th, 2024 at 11:01am

At the beaches here in Australia there's usually lots of bower spinach. It's got a sour taste to it, but it's very tasty and absolutely packed with nutrition.

This is pigface, another plant I sometimes eat at the beach.

Both of them are juicy, abundant, and hardy coastal trailing plants that have been used and eaten by Indigenous Australians for ages. I haven't seen any fruits yet, but I've heard they both grow tasty ones! Hopefully I'll get round to trying them, and maybe even growing them too.

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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 14011 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #35 - Jun 30^th, 2024 at 3:30pm Unfortunately neither Bower Spinach or Pigface can be found near New Jersey. Pigface does grow on the Pacific coast of North America though.
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Rat Man

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Re: More Wild Edibles
Reply #36 - Jul 8^th, 2024 at 5:19pm

There is one gaping hole in my knowledge of wild edibles... mushrooms. As children Mom made us terrified of wild mushrooms. She had us convinced that if we so much as touched one then put our finger in our mouth hours later we'd drop dead on the spot. That fear has stayed with me. My grandmother had been a Lithuanian farm girl before she escaped to America when she was twelve. She knew everything about wild edibles, medicinal plants, and mushrooms. Unfortunately none of her mushroom knowledge was passed down to Mom or us. I am mushroom ignorant.
In an emergency I'd take a chance on eating Puff Balls or Hen of the Woods Mushrooms. They both have a very distinctive look to them. I'm pretty sure I could harvest them safely.
I wished Morphy lived closer. I could go mushroom picking with him and learn something.

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slingbadger Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Don't Badger a Badger Posts: 3237 Akron NY Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #37 - Jul 9^th, 2024 at 6:05am Puffballs are one of the best mushrooms. They grow almost anywhere. They can grow to the size of soccer balls. They have a good firm consistency. The only caveat with them is that they should be a creamy white in the center. If they are any other color (blue, brown, black) reject it. It's too old and inedible.
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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 14011 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #38 - Jul 9^th, 2024 at 3:23pm Thanks.
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Klydd

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Re: More Wild Edibles
Reply #39 - Jul 12^th, 2024 at 11:03am

This seems to be a continuation of another thread (?) but stinging nettles and red clover are two good ones.

I dry my nettles in a dehydrator then crush them to a powder in a small mixer and use it on pasta. Preferable to basil imho. Also works well to make pesto with. I tend to do a slush-mix of it though by cooking the nettles in water then just adding a tiny bit of milk before mixing it as is.

Red clover nice to eat as is and a pretty garnish as well.

Edit: wild garlic also nice but be sure to go by smell and don't pick Lily of the Valley instead (similar). Also heard that wood ear is a good eat in Asia (was planning on growing these at my grandmother's). Should be dried first and then rehydrated in some way apparently.

Finally, though have not tried these yet either, liberty caps seem fun. 🙂 If any of the above can be found near you depends on where you are obviously. The first two suggestions are difficult to mistake for anything else. Also dandelions (for syrup and lemonade). Try to avoid picking near roads, where people might piss and/or where there might be pesticides obviously.

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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 14011 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #40 - Jul 13^th, 2024 at 1:35pm I love White Clover. It's sweet and delicious. I tried Red Clover a few years ago and thought it was horrible. Like really horrible. I assumed it was inedible. I just looked it up and apparently Red Clover is fine to eat also. I'll have to try it again. I don't know what went wrong or why the Red Clover I tried was so awful.
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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 14011 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #41 - Jul 13^th, 2024 at 1:43pm Here's one that's extremely abundant and easy to identify... Plantain Weed. It grows everywhere. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/plantain-weed
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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 14011 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #42 - Jul 13^th, 2024 at 4:24pm Klydd wrote on Jul 12^th, 2024 at 11:03am: This seems to be a continuation of another thread (?) but stinging nettles and red clover are two good ones. We've talked about wild edibles on several other threads.
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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 14011 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: More Wild Edibles Reply #43 - Jul 13^th, 2024 at 7:42pm Klydd wrote on Jul 12^th, 2024 at 11:03am: Try to avoid picking near roads, where people might piss and/or where there might be pesticides obviously. Good sound advice.
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Rat Man

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Re: More Wild Edibles
Reply #44 - Jul 13^th, 2024 at 8:03pm

In all of the almost seventy years I've been foraging I only screwed up once. I might have told this story here before but if I did it was years ago.
I was two years old and playing in the woods by myself. Today that sounds negligent but back then it was pretty common. I was about a half mile away from my house in a swamp eating blueberries and huckleberries. Growing right in with the huckleberries and blueberries were sticker bushes. These sticker bushes also had berries. They looked just like one of the varieties of huckleberries I had been eating so I tried some. They didn't taste anything like huckleberries. They didn't even taste good. That should have been an obvious red flag but I was two. So I ate them anyway.
I went home and the rest of the day is sort of a blur... like a dream of constant vomiting. Lord only knows how much I threw up. It was all afternoon. Obviously I didn't die but it was a rough ordeal. And a lesson well learned.

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