More wild eats
Keith "Catfish" Sutton with a list of what to chow down on outdoors
By Keith Sutton
In
my last post, I talked about foraging for wild plant foods. It's
important to use caution when using parts of plants you are unfamiliar
with because many are poisonous or can cause digestive upset. But if
you learn how to identify many commonly available wild eats, you can
enjoy delicious and healthy meals free from nature's larder. Here are
some tips that might come in handy on your next foraging trip.
Nature's Vitamins
The
hips, or fruits, of wild roses contain up to 24 times as much vitamin C
as oranges. They're also rich in Vitamin E and B-complex vitamins.
Collect them year-round for use in a variety of ways. Dried or fresh
hips can be boiled 10 minutes to make a healthful tea that's tasty when
sweetened. Raw hips can be made into jelly, wine, syrup or even just a
side dish of cooked fruit.
Shake Them 'Simmons Down
Unripe
persimmons are among nature's most bitter and unpalatable foods, yet
when fully ripe, these orange fruits are very tasty. To get the best
ones, shake a persimmon tree after the first frost. Only the ripe ones
will fall to the ground.
Coffee Substitutes
Few
wild plants make good substitutes for coffee, but some were used by
early American settlers in this way. These include beech nuts, the root
of chicory, the seeds of the Kentucky coffee tree and honey locust,
dandelion roots and berries of the horse gentian. One should bear in
mind, however, that all of these make very inferior substitutes for
real coffee, and caution should be used in trying them.
The Use-It-All Cattail
The
cattail, which grows in shallow waters throughout the U.S., is one of
the woodsman's most useful plants. In spring, young sprouts can be
boiled and eaten or pickled in vinegar. The tuberous root can be eaten
raw or boiled or can be dried, peeled and ground into flour. Root
fibers can be used to make string. The cigar-like seed head can be
boiled and eaten like corn on the cob when still green.
Nature's Tea
Tea
can be made by steeping leaves or roots of many plants in hot water.
Some have medicinal properties but most are used simply because they
taste good.
• Sassafras: Tea made by steeping the aromatic roots in
hot water has long been used as a spring tonic. One of nature's most
flavorful drinks.
• Wild strawberry: Tea made from leaves is exceptionally high in
Vitamin C.
• Blackberry and dewberry: Leaves can be steeped to make an excellent
tea.
• Bee balm, or Oswego tea: Leaves of this wild mint make an
invigorating tea supposed to induce sleep.
• Sweet goldenrod: The anise-scented leaves can be used fresh or dried
to make a healthful tea.
Taters
Many wild plants have starchy roots, corms or tubers that can be
boiled, fried or baked as potato substitutes.
• Yellow pond lily: This aquatic plant's large root was an important
food for eastern Indian tribes.
•
Spring beauty or fairy spud: The marble-sized corms of this little
flower have a nut-like flavor and are excellent when boiled or used in
stews.
• Arrowhead: Dig tubers from the mud with your toes and collect them as
they float to the surface. Cook like potatoes.
•
Jerusalem artichoke: The tubers of this plant, which is naturalized in
parts of the U.S., make an excellent potato substitute and can be eaten
raw, pickled or sliced into a salad.
Wild Chocolate
The
American basswood or linden tree ranges throughout much of central and
eastern North America. A very good chocolate substitute can be made
from a paste of its ground fruits and flowers. Attempts once were made
to market this product, but they failed because the paste is quick to
decompose.
Nature's Spices
Many
wild plants have parts that can be prepared to make excellent
substitutes for various herbs and spices. For example, unopened buds of
the familiar redbud tree flavor foods in the same way as capers. The
dried and powdered rhizome of the sweet flag has a spicy flavor and was
once used as a substitute for ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The seed
pods of shepherd's purse can be used as a peppery seasoning, and the
fresh or dried root is a ginger substitute. The dried and powdered
fruit of spicebush can be used in place of allspice. And the pungent
seeds of peppergrass are used, not surprisingly, as a pepper substitute.
Wild Chewing Gum
Before
the chewing gums we know today were widely available, people often
enjoyed chewing the hardened pitch or resin of trees such as the sugar
pine, ponderosa pine, white pine, white spruce, western larch, red fir
and sweetgum.
Hickory Milk
Nuts
of shagbark hickories were a staple for many North American Indians.
The nuts were pounded into a mash and boiled in water, causing a white,
oily liquid to separate from the broth. This liquid, called hickory
milk, was said to be as sweet and rich as a fresh cream and was used in
cooking cornbread, hominy grits, soups and other foods.
Eating Acorns
Ever
wonder why people don't eat acorns? The main reason is because acorns
contain bitter, unhealthful tannin. The nuts can be freed of tannin,
however, by boiling in several changes of water until the water ceases
to turn brown. The shelled nuts then can be roasted or dried and eaten
as is or ground into flour.
