Eskabar and some wild edibles

John G

John G

Joined
Jul 4, 2008
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Today's woods-walk saw my Eskabar really stopping to smell the roses. Well, not the roses per se, but it did stop to smell (and harvest) some wild edibles. :D

Not much of a workout for the knife, really. I just used it to cut some plants down to ziplock size. But that's the kind of unglamorous everyday task that my knives will be asked to perform. Here's a few pics:

First up, some wild strawberries. The critters always seem to beat me to the punch, but this year I'm really going to try and collect some berries.
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A whole mess o' Burdock w/some wild garlic (Allium canadense) poking up here and there. The allium is the long, thin, blue-green things that look like chives. I collected a few of these today.
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Some snails chowing down on burdock leaves. None for me, thanks. The leaves are no good for us humans.
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Whitetail deer skull.
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Ribs. And me without my BBQ sauce. :barf:
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Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is everywhere right now. Besides being edible, it's an aggressively invasive plant that kicks out native plants. I filled a gallon ziplock bag with some of these leaves and tiny white flowers. I like them on my salad. (also note the burdock at the bottom of the photo)
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Spearmint! Now we're talking. This is the stuff I was looking for today. Makes for some great tea and candy.
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I've never had wild violets, but I think that's what we have here. Time to check my books, confirm, then go back and harvest! :D
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Here's another guy out looking for dandelions.
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I'm glad it stopped raining for half a day so I could get into the woods. Thanks for looking! :thumbup:
 
Some clover. The rain has been good to this stuff. It is everywhere!

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Wow, awesome stuff, man. That is some good pics and good info, thanks for sharing it all with us. I'm scheduling outdoor time in August, as of right now. Its a busy time of the year. Even though I can't get out, glad to know I can at least see what it looks like.:D

Moose
 
I need to learn more about wild edibles in this area. Thats a real weakness of mine.
 
Awesome! I want to learn a lot more about this too, I only know the basics. Anyone have a favorite book for the Pacific Northwest?
 
i just picked up "wild urban plants" - great book to know your weeds.

have been enjoying a number of wild edibles, such as japanese knotweed, violets, mints, spearmints, maple shoots, missed most of the fiddleheads, looking forward to the next round.

things like "backyard asparagus" have gone wild. rhubarb is doing well. in theory my mint patch should be a monster now, as well as the horseradish.

much greens.
 
Captain Airyca said:
Awesome! I want to learn a lot more about this too, I only know the basics. Anyone have a favorite book for the Pacific Northwest?
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there's bound to be a goodly ton of stuff online.

look up japanese knotweed. bound to be some around you :)

also look up plantains, dandelions, sorrel :)
 
Only thing I've ever eaten wild out here in AZ is prickly pear fruit, cholla buds, acacia nuts, and mesquite beans. I know there's a whole lot more out there waiting to git in mah belleh, but I've never done the research. I think next on my list 'cause it's easy is baby prickly pear pads. I'll be out in the wilds with some knowledgeable outdoorsman/women this weekend and I'll try to pick their brains. Too bad I won't be trimming anything off with an Eskabar (since I don't have one).

Also, neat pics!
 
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BRL said:
Only thing I've ever eaten wild out here in AZ is prickly pear fruit, cholla buds, acacia nuts, and mesquite beans. I know there's a whole lot more out there waiting to git in mah belleh, but I've never done the research. I think next on my list 'cause it's easy is baby prickly pear pads. I'll be out in the wilds with some knowledgeable outdoorsman/women this weekend and I'll try to pick their brains. Too bad I won't be trimming anything off with an Eskabar (since I don't have one).

Also, neat pics!
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Backwoodsman magazine had a recepie a few issues back for prickly pear chili! It sounded pretty wild.
 
yeah, as a sturdy green veg I can imaging there are a ton of ways to use it. had pickled pp recently and it was badass. I'll report back after this weekend.
 
For those of you who have wild onions growing all over - keep a close eye out the next few weeks, especially in the northeast. With all the rain and cool weather you should be right around time for scapes. These are when the onion puts out a longer shoot with a flower bud at the end, sometimes curly.

Google onion scape - you want to nab these with the little pointy bulb, not with the flower.

They are a little milder than the wild onions themselves and are less stringy / tough. Use the same as green onions.

I am picking these right now in WV. YMMV by a few weeks depending on weather.

Onions, garlic, shallots will all make scapes - wild or not - I am really waiting for my garlic scapes, but that is probably 3-4 weeks out.
 
Thanks for the tip.

It's been raining almost non stop here in Toronto. I plan on going on a little hike to see what I can find this weekend.
 
Sure. Also, it's a corm, not a bulb. Allium canadense i believe is it's binomial. As far as colloquial names, I alternate btween "wild onion," "wild garlic", and "Canadian garlic," since it tastes like the first two and is technically the latter.
 
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