Foraging Wild Foods

[Ryan Bailey]

Foraging: Introduction, Getting Started, and Experiences 

 

If you are here on this forum, then you are likely a fan of food, its preparation, and how it impacts performance. In addition to your typical meal prep, have any of you ever foraged your own food, you know, partaking in the act of harvesting your meal outside in its living state, outside of the grocery store or restaurant? Ever picked a wild raspberry or sampled a wild Hazelnut during a hike? Maybe you are a trained chef, or one who simply takes pride in your preparation, maybe looking for a couple wild greens or flowers to accent and liven up your dish. Have you ever made a complete meal from your own doing, foraging all ingredients with your own hands from the land? If you have, you know the immense pleasure of that food; as with each bite, the explosion of memories return of the exact moment you were outside searching for that rewarding meal. 

By request, I have been asked to share some of my experience and a little how to get started for those interested. I have a few essays soon to be released on this thread that shed light on the ingredients that may be harvested outside throughout the various food seasons of the year. Of course being able to forage a wild food and being able to prepare it safely for consumption does not happen overnight. The physical skills of foraging, walking outside and confidently picking a wild food takes dedication and 100% accuracy; no room for errors with this activity. Yes it takes time and hard work, but it's worth it. Many of the wild constituents that athletes consider for performance meal planning can be found in abundance such as antioxidants, Vitamin C, B12, and DHA.   

After all, what is wild? 

Is wild only a remote island, uninhabited, in the middle of a far off lake; yielding only the foods of your traditional forefathers? (Although, this reminds me of a meal I had with family and friends on a Canada, fly-in fishing trip full of Walleye fish, raw Cattail hearts, and boiled Dandelion spring greens with a little butter and salt) But "wild" can also be the edge of your garden, the unintentional wild edibles found in your flower garden or pots next to your house. Wilderness can also be the walk to your favorite park, where you find yourself barefoot, surrounded by shin-high plants. Are those plants poisonous, giving you fear because you lack knowledge of their identity? Or, are a handful of those plants more nutrient dense than the most sought after domestic greens in your typical salad from the local, organic grocery store? Maybe those plants you do not currently know, will soon give you a new love of eating vegetables. How will you ever know? Truth is you will only ever feel completely comfortable in your outdoor edible setting, once you are able to identify with 100% confidence, those edible plants as comfortable as you can identify the common banana. 

 

Foods Collected 

 

If interested, and as a background to this thread, here is a partial list of some of the wild fruits, veggies, and other foods I have collected in my region.  

(As wild foods and the edible parts differ from their domestic counterparts, I have attempted to group the types of wild foods I have gathered, into the following categories and time of the year collected for interest) 

 

FRUITS 

Black cherry Prunus serotina, August, Serviceberry/Saskatoon - Amelanchier laevis, July, Hawthorn - Crataegus macrosperma, August, Wild Raisin - Viburnum cassinoides, August, Gooseberry - Ribes missouriense, August, Virginia Rose Hips - Rosa virginiana, September, BlackBerry - Rubus allegheniensis, July, Red Raspberry - Rubus idaeus, July, Common Elderberry - Sambucus Canadensis, August, Cranberry - Vaccinium macrocarpon, September, Nannyberry - Viburnum lentago, September, River Grape - Vitis riparia, August, Chokecherry - Prunus virginiana, August, Pin Cherry - Prunus pensylvanica, August, Highbush Cranberry - Viburnum trilobum, October, May Apple - Podophyllum peltatum, late August, Black Nightshade - Solanum ptychanthum, August, Strawberry - Fragaria virginiana, July, Thimbleberry - Rubus parviflorus, August, Red Currant - Ribes rubrum, July, Autumn Berry/Olive - Elaeagnus umbellata, September, Mulberry - Morus alba, July, American Wild Plum - Prunus americana, August, Crabapple - Malus spp., August, Black Currant - Ribes americanum, August, Bristly Dewberry - Rubus hispidus, August, Chokeberry - Aronia melanocarpa, August, Black Raspberry - Rubus occidentalis, July 4th 

 

GREENS 

Goosefoot/Wild Spinach/Lamb's Quarters - Chenopodium album, June, Purslane - Portulaca oleracea, July, Shepherd's Purse - Capsella bursa-pastoris, May, Stinging Nettle - Urtica dioica, May, Violet, Blue marsh - Viola cucullata, May, Mallow - Malva neglecta, June, Wintercress - Barbarea vulgaris, April, Garlic Mustard - Alliaria petiolata, May, Spring Beauty - Claytonia spp., May, American Linden/Bass wood - Tilia americana, May, River Grape, May, Wild leek - Allium tricoccum, May, Common Milkweed - Asclepias syriaca, June, Toothwort - Cardamine diphylla, May, American Trout Lily - Erythronium americanum, April, Dame's Rocket - Hesperis matronalis, April, Ox-eye daisy - Leucanthemum vulgare, June, Wood-sorrel - Oxalis montana, June, Smartweed - Persicaria maculosa, June, Plantain - Plantago major, May, Sheep sorrel - Rumex acetosella, May, Curly dock - Rumex crispus, May, Stitchwort - Stwllaria media, June, Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale, April, Red Clover - Trifolium pratense, May, Virginia Waterleaf - Hydrophyllum virginianum, May 

UNDERGROUND VEGETABLES (Tubers, Roots, Bulbs) 

Arrowhead/Wapato tuber - Sagittaria latifolia, Fall, Groundnut/Hopniss tuber - Apios americana, Fall, Wild Leek bulb, August, Wild carrot taproot - Daucus carota, Spring, Burdock taproot- Arctium lappa, Spring/Fall, Trout Lily bulbs, Spring, Dandelion root, Spring, Spring Beauty root, Summer, Cattail Rhizome/laterals - Typha latifolia, August, Parsnip taproot- Pastinaca sativa, Spring, Lotus - Nelumbo lutea, July  

 

SHOOTS 

Japanese knotweed - Fallopia japonica, April, Red Raspberry, May, Burdock, Asclepias syriaca, May, Cattail shoot/heart, June, Thistle stalks - Cirsium spp., May 

 

Seeds/Grains 

Common Evening-primrose - Oenothera biennis, September, Elm samaras/seeds - Ulmus pumila, May, Lamb's Quarter flower buds/immature seeds, summer 

 

FLOWERS 

Black Locust - Robinia pseudoacacia, May, Dame's Rocket, May, Dandelion, May, Red Clover, May 

 

Sugars/syrup 

Maple syrup - Acer saccharum, March 

 

NUTS 

Shagbark hickory - Carya ovata, October, Black walnut - Juglans nigra, October, Acorn of bur Oak - Quercus Macrocarpa, September, Hazelnut, Hickory Nut Milk, October 

 

TEAS 

Eastern White Pine - Pinus strobus (tree needles), Eastern hemlock - Tsuga canadensis (tree needles)Dandelion (root), Stinging Nettle (herb), Chaga (mushroom) 

 

Other foods 

Fern fiddleheads - Ostrich Fern - Matteuccia struthiopteris, April, Spruce/Pine tips, May, Pine Pollen cones, June, Maple fruit, May, Staghorn sumac - Rhus hirta, branchlets in May, or (citrus flavored infused water via fruits) in August, Grape tendrils – May, Plantain spikes, summer, Mallow peas, summer, Cattail spikes, June, Asclepias syriaca - immature fruit pods and wild, broccoli-like flower buds, pictured next to the backyard, garden broccoli: 

 

 

 

Foraging: Getting Started  

 

Take a moment to think of our ancestors physical involvement in food...    

how they ate, how they moved, how they searched for the next meal.   

100% of their foods were harvested outside in the foods living state.  

What percentage of food do we collect today for our meals while being outside?  

How many foods do we collect that are still alive when we see them?  

I believe we are hardwired for this search and for this experience. Our answers, however, are obvious... things have changed. We do not need to harvest food in the wild, actively collect, or have the skills to know how to feed ourselves while outside our homes or grocery stores.  So, is foraging a thing of the past? In sustenance I say, "I am afraid so".  In relevance I say, "absolutely not".  It is relevant today. It may only present as a single food item that you collect in the wild just once a year to add to your meal. With this appreciation and with this knowledge of you collecting a wild food, there is need and desire that builds to have these living foods around for the next generation. We tend to protect and cultivate those things we love. There is no other way to appreciate the landscape more than to eat or use it. Look at the landscape around you. It is the product of our cultural appreciation. The farmland, the industrial land, the business land. We create the landscape we use. When we eat it, we propagate more of it. If you eat from, and gain sustenance from a single wild food, your appreciation of that living species grows. And with that, the landscape will change.   

The start of this year's foraging season is quickly approaching. In fact, Spring may have started where you live already with the new growth of fresh, wild food. The succulent vegetables, or mouth watering berries may soon be ready for you to eat. Whether its Arizona, Washington, Colorado, Italy, Japan, Australia, New York, the UK, or Finland, there is something that is edible, and alive outside. Not so much where I live, however; the ground is still frozen. But that will change soon as next week warms, and the excitement grows. Either way it's a good time to start thinking about the basics of foraging and how to get started for those interested.    

A few points for getting started towards this year's foraging experience:  

 1)  Observe and learn 1 edible plant really well this year:    

-a wild green, vegetable, fruit or maybe a type of nut in your area. Take a picture of it. For a fun exercise that everyone can do this year, start with learning just this one edible plant extremely well. Learn it so well that you are as confident identifying this food as you are picking out your favorite fruit or veggie in the grocery store.   

Observe the plant from its beginning stages of growth, all the way until its final stages throughout the year.  (No need to go crazy this first year if you are just starting to forage. In fact if you get really into this activity, you may find yourself learning up to 4 or 5 wild foods this year) But how do you know what the plant is? Or, if the plant is safe and edible?  

   

2)  Identification: The hallmark starting place if you expect to actually eat something you have decided to pick out of the ground and put it in your mouth. The key is to learn from a professional instructor of wild foods; one who has a great deal of experience eating the foods that are taught, not just reciting information from various books in order to make an interesting foraging article. There will be no adequate learning of a specific wild food to eat from me, or others, on this forum.The internet is not a good place to learn foraging. But of course, I can offer recommendations on getting started.  

   

3) Gather Resources: I recommend finding a book on wild foods in your area, wherever you may be living in the world. Look up the plant or berry you are discovering from step 1.  

Learn the following:  

-The identification of the wild food, 

-Its historical use as a food in your area, 

-All the different stages of growth of that food throughout the year, 

-Which food parts of that plant is edible, and  

-How to prepare.   

Sounds like a lot, but it is important. One of my favorite vegetables is edible when the pod is less than ~2.5 centimeters long, but becomes poisonous as the seeds mature and harden. This is the intellectual reality our ancestors continually faced throughout the year. Identification is crucial. Staging of the plant and your relationship with that life throughout its growth cycle is crucial. Remember those traditional cultures that lived before us probably did this on a continual basis. Now with modern day grocery stores and markets we are able to choose foods care free with printed identification labels (as well as increasing prices); no longer needing to use the intelligence of identifying a growing living food.   

As far as authors and resources for getting started, I have a few recommendations. In fact I recommend devouring all information from this following author prior to eating a wild food: 

Samuel J. Thayer:  

He presents an apologetic and extremely enjoyable description of wild foods, how to begin, and how to use your head. If you want to cut to the chase in looking for a good resource and how to forage, read this:  

1: "Nature's Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants" by Samuel J. Thayer 2008.  

 

as well as his first book:  

2:  "The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants" by Samuel J. Thayer 2006.  

It is important to have a wild edible book such as "Nature's Garden" for learning a specific pathway to forage safely, but also having at least one technical field manual for cross referencing your identification. Learning the plant, even if it is only for a hobby, is not a casual experience. The basics of botany must be taken seriously to learn the keys to identifying all parts of the plants as well as knowing similar "look-a-like" plants in your area. Plant and wild edible manuals for your area may be found in the public library. For myself, I have Arthur Haines identification manual (It is very detailed, and probably as large as a graduate textbook:)  

"Flora Novae Angliae" Arthur Haines, 2011  

 

Arthurs Haines also has a very interesting wild foods book called:  

"Ancestral Plants: Volume 1: A Primitive Skills Guide to Important Edible, Medicinal, and Useful Plants of the Northeast " 2010  

Volume 2 to be released soon.  

   

Another book I thoroughly enjoy is by John Kallas, PhD.   

"Edible Wild Plants"  

 

The book is purely on wild greens and presents research of the constituents of both wild and domestic vegetables, comparing Wild Spinach and Garlic Mustard to Kale or Broccoli. I will be discussing more on this when I post soon about the benefits as well as an introduction on wild edible greens that appear in Spring.   

 

 So, it is time to head outside this year for your GymnasticBodies Foundation warm-up walk or run, to search for wild foods that may be added to a post workout meal or shake. Begin step 1 and observe your wild edible for the year!  Take the camera and capture a picture of the next wild food you are going to know as well as the back of your hand. If you are interested in following along, you will experience my favorite part; the calming yet physical demands of foraging: 
Simple hiking, crouching, crawling, bending, reaching, climbing, twisting, in general higher volume, low-load activity not always trained in current fitness protocols and absent in many of today's meal plan preparations. 

What an incredible experience when you are able venture outside to look into a landscape and confidently pick the wild food that adds something special to your meal for yourself, friend, or family. Maybe you choose to not eat one of these foods if starting out the first year; it can be a bit intimidating at first. But the observation and skill of knowing your edible surroundings is a tremendous comfort in itself; and is a very addicting endeavor. Who knows... your growing appreciation of your welcoming, outdoor wild foods, may just add to the conservation and the propagation of your magnificent, living landscape.  

 
Ryan Bailey 

Physical therapist with a passion for the physical activity and enjoyment that is involved when procuring your own food; specifically foraging the live ingredients with dense constituents and diverse palatability, that is discovered out in the wild. 

 

Additional Note: 

I am hoping to learn more on this forum as there is a very diverse group of members from around the world, with different backgrounds. I am hoping not to only hear a few of my own foraging experiences, but hope in this thread to learn about wild foods from other states and around the world. What have you found outside to eat or drink? Who has made tea while camping, or climbed a tree to sip from a coconut? Do you or others around you physically harvest or prepare their own foraged wild foods?

[Daniel Taylor-Shaut]

Got me feeling like I'm reading excerpts from Hemingway's personal memoir...

[Jeff Serven]

Looking forward to reading more. Thanks Ryan. 

[Daniel Taylor-Shaut]

Dude, you're like Thrive Level: Sensei. 

 

(Although, this reminds me of a meal full of Walleye fish, raw Cattail hearts, and boiled Dandelion spring green leaves with a little butter and salt, I had with family and friends on a Canada, fly-in fishing trip) 

And again, with the Hemingway reference, when is your memoir coming out? I'm interested. 

[Douglas Wadle]

Hi Ryan. Great thread. I get all my meat from hunting, except for some fish that we buy. I enjoy foraging for wild foods as well. I live in Montana, so this time of year it's pretty much limited to cattail tubers, rose hips, and pine needle tea. The rest of the year can be quite productive, though. Salad greens of course, but also some favorites that I'll point out: Huckleberries in August (put blueberries to shame), stinging nettle pesto in early summer (believe it or not, better than basil, with a nutty flavor), wild asparagus in the spring. Of course there are hundreds that were used by the native Americans, but most of my foraging is limited to about 20 of the tastiest and easiest to prepare. If you'd like any more info on what we do up here in the frozen northern mountains I'd be glad to share. Look forward to hearing more about your experiences.

[Ryan Bailey]

-Holy moly MT Nordic, you are getting me pumped! Of course I want to hear more about the northern mountains, its wild foods, and your experiences if you don`t mind. Would you like to share your stinging nettle pesto and other wild food recipes sometime on this thread? You are right, its a fairly slow time of the year for foraging, so maybe when in season, with pics of your harvest/how to prepare? And I definitely want to hear about your main, favorite wild foods.

Maybe others, trained chefs or selftaught cooks, could eventually add to the discussion of our recipes or techniques ect. for feedback as well. That would be awesome. After all, I don`t want just my experiences on here. In fact, I haven`t shared much publicly about personal experiences before, but this incredible forum and its members, have motivated me to shed a little light on foraging.

-So, Daniel Taylor-Shaut, when is the "memoir coming out"? Haven`t thought about that... I guess you are reading them ;-)

More to come...

[Douglas Wadle]

Pesto is awesome.  I don't eat it with pasta because I rarely eat processed foods.  So I eat it as a sauce on top of meat (elk loin topped with a dollop of pesto is magical).  I also put it in vinaigrette salad dressings or on top of eggs w/ some cheese for breakfast.  It's a good dip for veggies as well.

 

Stinging Nettles need to be inactivated by dipping in boiling water, so after harvesting w/ gloves on, dip for 30 seconds in boiling water, then remove with tongs. now can be handled w/ bare hands.  remove a couple handfuls of leaves (quantity is not important) from the stems and place in food processor.  throw in a couple garlic cloves, and squeeze half a lemon in.  pulse and add olive oil to get proper consistency.  add parmesan cheese if desired, which will require a little more EVO to get back to proper consistency. mix with walnuts.  (pine nuts fine, too, but i think walnuts go better w/ nettle pesto).  use immediately, or freeze in an ice cube tray to be in proper proportion size to defrost in future. once frozen, can put together in a bag or tupperware in the freezer to minimize freezer burn.  

 

So Ryan,  your turn to share one of your favorites!

[Ryan Bailey]

Excellent MT Nordic, I really enjoyed reading that recipe and your uses of stinging nettle. Thanks for sharing; I may have to borrow some of those ideas as spring approaches. Also, I figured you may have some Elk where you are. Mainly whitetail deer here, but there is a small, protected wild herd of Elk up north trying to get reestablished.

Speaking of ruminants, and warm recipes that I have had on my mind, I was reminded of this:

Wild Game Bone Broth

Hike into the woods, hunt and harvest. Drag out of woods, then after the next few hundred yards to the destination, dripping of sweat with heart pounding into your chest, the preparation begins.

Now, back at camp: skin hide, fully butcher, and set aside bones, preserving the joint connective tissues and cartilage. Choose striking tool or hammer and crack open bones, exposing the marrow. Place bones on roasting pan and brown in the oven, 30-45 minutes.

Place bones of wild game in large crock with water, end pieces of left over garden carrots, onions, and other vegetable scraps previously saved and frozen for stock pot moments like this, with a small amount of vinegar, bring to boil, reduce and simmer for 1-2 days.

Makes a very rich, darker broth, excellent warm drink this time of the cold year with a dash of garlic powder or salt, or whatever soupy flavor ingredients one likes to add.

The gelatin-rich broth is excellent as a soup base, and can also be saved as you mentioned in ice cube trays, or smaller containers for the freezer. This makes for a nice size to warm up for a drink or to add flavor to a roast. I also use the stock for braising shoulders or leaner cuts of meat.

After the initial simmering, the broth can be placed in the refrigerator for a day to cool. Here the stock thickens and jells completely; thick enough to sample with a fork. (I also want to make a french onion soup using this stock sometime with wild leeks, any recipe advise from chef's out there?

I also completed this stock process for wild pheasant, as well as with our home raised, pastured, organic chickens this past year.

Well MT Nordic, now your turn to share another favorite.

[Douglas Wadle]

Bone Broth! Nice!  

 

I'll pass on one that is apropos to our coming season.  Around here, in march or april, the cattails start to get their new shoots.  This is a thickened area like a finger coming out of the root area.  Peel or scrub these suckers, then dice and steam for about 5 mins to soften them up so they are al dente.  saute with some bacon, oil and spices (caraway seeds are good), and apple cider vinegar.  throw in a few handfuls of wild greens (lamb's quarters, dandelion, miner's lettuce, sorrel).  once the greens start to soften, take off heat and serve. salt/pepper to taste. quick and easy, and excellent alongside a wild game steak or with some fish.  sometimes i substitute balsamic vinegar if I'm having it with red meat.  Making me hungry for all the fresh veggies that come with the spring reawakening.  Down in your neck of the woods, these may be coming out soon.

[Daniel Taylor-Shaut]

On 2/27/2016 at 10:32 PM, Ryan Bailey said:

Foraging: Getting Started

 

 

Take a moment to think of our ancestors physical involvement in food...  

how they ate, how they moved, how they searched for the next meal. 

100% of their foods were harvested outside in the foods living state.  What percentage of food do you collect today for your meal outside?  How many foods do you collect that are alive when your see or touch them?  I believe we are hard wired for this search... and for this experience.  Our answers, however, are obvious... things have changed.  We do not need to harvest food in the wild, actively collect, or have the skills to know how to feed ourselves while outside our homes or grocery stores.  So, is foraging a thing of the past?  In sustenance I say, "I am afraid so".  In relevance I say, "absolutely not".  It is relevant today.  It may only present as a single food item that you collect in the wild just once a year to add to your meal.  But without this appreciation, without this knowledge of you collecting a wild food, there is no need to have them around for the next generation.  We tend to protect and cultivate those things we love.  There is no other way to appreciate the landscape more than to eat or use it.  Look at the landscape around you.  It is the product of our cultural appreciation.  The farm land, the industrial land, the business land.  We create the landscape we use.  When we eat it, we propagate more of it.  If you eat from, and gain sustenance from a single wild food, your appreciation of that living species grows.  And with that, the landscape will change. 

 

The start of this year's foraging season is quickly approaching.  In fact, Spring may have started where you live already with the new growth of fresh, wild food.  The succulent vegetables, or mouth watering berries may soon be ready for you to eat.  Whether its Arizona, Washington, Colorado, Italy, Japan, Australia, New York, the UK, or Finland, there is something that is edible, and alive outside.  Not so much where I live, however;  the ground is still frozen.   But that will change soon as next week warms, and the excitement grows. 

Either way, its a good time to start thinking about the basics of foraging and how to get started for those interested.  

 

Here are a few points for getting started towards this year's foraging experience:

 

 1)  Observe and master 1 edible plant this year:  

-a wild green, vegetable, fruit or maybe a type of seed or nut in your area. Take a picture of it.  For a fun exercise this year, start with learning just this one edible plant extremely well.  Learn it so well that you are as confident identifying this food as you are identifying the common banana in the grocery store. 

Observe the plant from its beginning stages of growth, all the way until its final stages throughout the year.  (No need to go crazy this first year if you are just starting to forage.  In fact if you get really into this activity, you may find yourself learning up to 4 or 5 wild foods this year)

But how do you know what the plant is?  Or, if the plant is safe and edible?

 

2)  Identification:  The hallmark starting place if you expect to actually eat something you have decided to pick out of the ground and put it in your mouth.  The key is to learn from a professional instructor of wild foods;  one who has a great deal of experience eating the foods that are taught, not just reciting information from various books in order to make an interesting foraging article.  There will be no adequate learning of a specific wild food to eat from me, or others, on this forum... The internet is not a good place to learn foraging.  But of course, I can offer recommendations on getting started.

 

3) Gather Resources:  I recommend finding a book on wild foods in your area, wherever you may be living in the world.  Look up the plant or berry you are discovering from step 1.   Learn the following: The identification of the wild food, its historical use as a food in your area, all the different stages of growth of that food throughout the year, which food parts of that plant is edible, and how to prepare.  Sounds like a lot, but its important.  One of my favorite vegetables is edible when the pod is less ~2.5 centimeters long, but becomes poisonous as the seeds mature and harden.  This is the reality our ancestors continually faced throughout the year. Identification is crucial, staging of the plant, and your relationship with that life throughout its growth cycle is crucial.  Remember, those traditional cultures that lived before us, probably did this on a continual basis.  Now with modern day grocery stores and markets, we are able to choose foods care free with printed identification labels (as well as increasing prices); no longer needing to use the intelligence of identifying a growing, living food. 

I have a few places to start: In fact, I recommend devouring all information from this following author prior to eating a wild food. 

Samuel J. Thayer:

He presents an apologetic and extremely enjoyable description of wild foods, how to begin, and how to use your head.  If you want to cut to the chase in looking for a good resource and how to forage, read this:

1: "Nature's Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants" by Samuel J. Thayer 2008.

 

as well as his first book:

 

2:  "The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants" by Samuel J. Thayer 2006.

 

It is important to have wild edible book such as Nature's Garden, but also having at least one technical field manual for cross referencing.  Learning the plant is not a casual experience.  The basics of botany must be taken seriously to learn the keys to identifying all parts of the plants as well as knowing similar "look-a-like" plants in your area.  Plant and wild edible manuals for your area may be found in the public library.

 

For myself, I have Arthur Haines identification manual (It is very detailed, and probably as large as a graduate textbook:)

"Flora Novae Angliae" Arthur Haines, 2011

 

Arthurs Haines also has a very interesting wild foods book called:

"Ancestral Plants: Volume 1: A Primitive Skills Guide to Important Edible, Medicinal, and Useful Plants of the Northeast " 2010

Volume 2 to be released soon.

 

Another book I thoroughly enjoy is by John Kallas, PhD. 

"Edible Wild Plants"

 

The book is purely on wild greens.  I will be discussing more on this when I post soon about the benefits as well as an introduction on wild edible greens that appear in Spring. 

 

So time to head outside this year for your GB Foundations warm-up walk or run, if you'd like.  Begin step 1 and observe your wild edible for the year!  Take the camera and capture a picture of the next wild food you are going to know as well as the back of your hand.  What an incredible experience when you are able venture outside to look into a landscape and confidently pick the wild food that adds something special to your meal for yourself, friend, or family.  Maybe you choose to not eat one of these foods if starting out the first year as this can be a bit intimidating in the first year. But the observation and knowledge of knowing your edible surroundings is a tremendous comfort in itself;  and is a very addicting endeavor.  Who knows... your growing appreciation of your welcoming, outdoor wild foods, may just add to the conservation and the propagation of your magnificent living landscape. 

 

Best of luck on this journey of discovery! 

 

Ryan

This deserves a sticky. @Cory Fair? 

[Gabor Kulcsar]

I am amazed to see that the topic "Foraging wild foods" does not even mention the world of mushrooms!

In this part of the world (Middle/Eastern Europe) it is quite commonplace to go hiking to collect mushrooms - for personal consumption or even for selling them. Even though there are hundreds - if not thousands - of mushroom species, it is actually fairly easy to learn to recognize a couple of common edible species and learn to ignore the rest. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the US species - but quick googling tells me that you can find similar mushrooms there too (http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/wild-mushrooms-what-to-eat-what-to-avoid).

They are an excellent source of protein, also great for using them as spice (some have very distinctive taste).

(Attached is a personal photo from last autumn, a string of the species called "amanita muscaria" - these are poisonous, albeit some people collect them for their "psychedelic" side-effects...) 

[Douglas Wadle]

Nice post, Gabor, and very true...mushrooms are a big source of people's foraging.  I'm not a big mushroom fan, but the famous morels are an exception.  Find them the year following a forest fire in the burned area.  They don't last long, and are seldom present even the following year.  The amanita species you showed is particularly interesting from a medical standpoint, because a whole class of acetylcholine receptors are named after it (acting on these receptors is where the hallucinations arise).  A related species, amanita phalloides is important to differentiate as it is a cause of fatal liver failure.  Patients who eat amanita mushrooms are fine for a couple days, then their liver starts to fail,and they're often dead within 5-7 days unless they get a liver transplant.  That's why I like Ryan's suggestion of learning a new plant each year, becoming master of that plant and its uses.  Most of the time toxic look alikes are not a problem, but you do want to know what you're doing, especially with regards to mushrooms.  Not in any way to dissuade people from learning this skill.  It's easy and not at all as scary as people think it is. kind of like canning.  people always worry about botulism, but with a few simple rules it's almost unheard of.  with either, it's just respecting the process and not flying by the seat of your pants.  

[Travis Widmann]

I'll just emphasize really paying close attention when identifying mushrooms. I don't know anything about foraging personally, but I have been accidentally poisoned when a friend picked the wrong mushroom for a dinner party. It was only (bad, bad) food poisoning, so at least we've got a funny story now. They were delicious, but strangely I'm not a big fan of mushrooms these days. 

[Ryan Bailey]

Gathered over 9,000 mg of magnesium today as well as high amounts of manganese and B2. Some zinc, and antioxidents as well. But once you find out that its a form of sugar, it seems to be a buzz-kill regarding nutrition.  I do not know how to fit this wild food into a meal plan for performance and weightloss.

Should all added sugars be abolished? Or, do some use added sugar as part of their meal plan?  

All sugars are not created equal. Maple syrup is a traditional food, but should it be avoided completely?

 

 

Edited March 14, 2016 by Ryan Bailey

[Jeff Serven]

Thats pretty cool Ryan!

[Douglas Wadle]

Hi Ryan. I guess your question about jams and sugar uses never really got addressed. I treat it like a special treat. Don't eat it regularly, and give a lot away. Use it in tea on occasion (small spoonful melted in hot tea is quite tasty after dinner). I think, like most things, if you don't eat it regularly and save it for special occasions it's not a problem. The main reason I've really cut down on my jelly consumption is because I almost never eat toast anymore these days. But of course there are lots of other things to do with your preserves. Put a dollop on a steak sometime .  Nice work, by the way. It is really fulfilling to store away your own food and feel like you're doing something people have had to do for thousands of years. It's a vanishing skill and I love that you're doing it. 

[Ryan Bailey]

Hi Douglas, Thanks for your thoughts and sharing your balanced use of the ever controversal sugar. That picture above was from the 8.5 gallons of pure maple syrup (containing sucrose as the primary sugar content) I canned a few Sunday's ago. I actually have not tried making preserves or jams. That last post I made was also before I joined Thrive. I had many questions, and still do, regarding placements for certain foods. As I work through the beginning stages of Thrive, I am focused on seeing how these wild foods can blend into Jeff's format. I am very excited about this, so for now, I have place the syrup on the back burner (pardon the pun). I am looking at what can be incorporated as I find it. For example this:

Look what I found outside this morning as yesterday's snow was melting!

I know you know the identification of this one Douglas. This is at the best stage to collect, young, tender, still with its purple hue!

Ready for a short cook for dinner:

Great hearing from you Douglas,

Ryan

[Douglas Wadle]

Awesome, Ryan.  and call me Doug.  Enjoy your pesto 

Haha, I completely knew you made maple syrup, and then I saw all those jars there and my mind switched over to what I do with those, which is make jam!  

[Ryan Bailey]

Sounds good Doug.  I'm still used to the ol' "MT_Nordic" username. Jam takes a sh#% load of sugar to make from what I hear. Obviously why it's so tasty.

[Coach Sommer]

Some food for thought.  

Not exactly relating to maple syrup, but does relate to including natural sugars in the diet.  During one of our many long wide ranging conversations, Robb Wolf mentioned to me that the diet of the Hadza of Tanzania is quite high in honey.  Estimates range from 8-15% of total calories.  

It should be pointed out however that obtaining the honey is quite work intensive and results in honeycombs not gallons of pure honey, so the quantity that could be gathered at any one time was substantially less than our current modern harvesting techniques produce.  Here is a very good article on Hazda honey gathering:  http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-surprisingly-sticky-tale-of-the-hadza-and-the-honeyguide-bird

Check out the video clip in the article above, a Hadza youth is chewing/eating the honeycomb itself.  I hadn't considered that.  Would be interesting to see the nutritional content of the comb itself.  In addition remember that the honeycomb contains not only honey and comb, but bits of larvae as well.

I also found it quite interesting that according to Robb the Hazda diet varied tremendously throughout the course of the year depending upon the season from mostly meat to mostly tubers.  For example in the dry season they eat a great deal of meat when hunting is easier as the animals tend to cluster around the remaining water holes.  In the wet season, the animals disperse making hunting much more challenging so tubers become their mainstay.   

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Douglas Wadle]

I love that article, coach.  we can learn a lot from our ancestral ways.  Interesting aside, the hadza in one picture is smoking the bees out of the trees.  i used to keep a few bee hives, which was a neat and educational hobby.  But then we moved to town and I haven't set them back up.  The smoke used by beekeepers, and the hadza, is actually to not let them smell their own alarm pheromones.  It keeps them calm and just minding their own business.  Without them smelling others' alarm scent they don't even mind you prying out big chunks of their home.  Awesome that ancient man figured this out.  wonder the trials and tribulations they went through leading up to that!

[Sean Murphey]

How is foraging beneficial to athletic performance?

You probably burn more energy than you collect (unless you are gathering alot of starch and nuts).

[Si Hoang]

 

Just now, Sean Murphey said:

How is foraging beneficial to athletic performance?

You probably burn more energy than you collect (unless you are gathering alot of starch and nuts).

I think you need to look at the context in how this great post by Ryan started. It's basically an offshoot of all the discussions in the Thrive subforum around nutrition. The program is based off the fact that natural whole foods are better for our health and longevity. Vegetables and fruits especially so. And of course what better way than to get as close as possible to the goodness than to forage things yourself? It would also be good to have someone with Ryan's skills around if a zombie apocalypse hits us as well. Would make him/her a very valuable person.

As for athletic performance I think it would be good for the soul to get out there and enjoy the great outdoors with a purpose. Beats running for cardio. Also I imagine all the squatting down and reaching now and then to pick stuff would be good for hips and mobility generally. Helpful for those looking to lose body fat too.

I didn't know s**t about this skill set before but would love to have the time to learn more and get a chance to apply the knowledge.

[Ryan Bailey]

10 minutes ago, Si Hoang said:

It would also be good to have someone with Ryan's skills around if a zombie apocalypse hits us as well. Would make him/her a very valuable person.

Got a good laugh from this. I would first want Jeff's skills of a Navy Seal though, in order to survive the first day, then look for food once the Zombies are all clear .  Have more responses to the above posts when I get a minute, but I was easily distracted by Si's Z-scenario.

[Leonhard Krahé]

3 hours ago, Sean Murphey said:

How is foraging beneficial to athletic performance?

You probably burn more energy than you collect (unless you are gathering alot of starch and nuts).

 

2 hours ago, Si Hoang said:

 

I think you need to look at the context in how this great post by Ryan started. It's basically an offshoot of all the discussions in the Thrive subforum around nutrition. The program is based off the fact that natural whole foods are better for our health and longevity. Vegetables and fruits especially so. And of course what better way than to get as close as possible to the goodness than to forage things yourself? It would also be good to have someone with Ryan's skills around if a zombie apocalypse hits us as well. Would make him/her a very valuable person.

As for athletic performance I think it would be good for the soul to get out there and enjoy the great outdoors with a purpose. Beats running for cardio. Also I imagine all the squatting down and reaching now and then to pick stuff would be good for hips and mobility generally. Helpful for those looking to lose body fat too.

I didn't know s**t about this skill set before but would love to have the time to learn more and get a chance to apply the knowledge.

I remember listening to one of Robb Wolf's podcasts a while ago, the topic was "primitive survival". He talked about taking part in a "experimental archaeology/documentary" kind of thing called "I, caveman" where the group basically re-enacted living (and, of course, foraging) in the paleolithic era. He said he lost quite a bit of weight and his strength (by numbers in the weight room) overall went down - except his grip strength which greatly increased due to all the actual hard physical work they would have to do.