Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,051
Ok, first off I am going to add in a disclaimer here...
The plants shown below are edible as far as I am concerned...that is to say that I have eaten them myself on several occasions now and I am still alive. This in no way says that they are edible by everyone because we have more food allergies these days than I could have imagined when I was a kid. I never imagined anyone being allergic to wheat or peanuts when I was a kid, pretty much everyone brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for school lunch at one point or another. Now days people die from both. So if you want to try these you should follow the standard rules of testing plants before actual consumption.
If you see these odd little flowers growing in your woods they are not some alien life form they are onion flowers and the early onions are blooming now and more will bloom through the summer.
The onion's roots go deeper than you may expect, so it's best to whittle a digging stick for harvesting them. A knife will work in a pinch or a rush, but it will dull the knife. Dig around the base of the onions and loosen the soil before pulling and don't pull too hard.
If you don't dig and don't loosen the soil you'll probably just pull up a stalk.
But digging them up can net you some nice edibles.
Another similar looking plant that is flowering right now is wild garlic. You can pull this with less chance of breaking most of the time, but still better to use something to dig with. The wild garlic is not only a good addition to a meal, but the oils rubbed onto hands and clothing will help keep some of the insects at bay.
Wild carrots, or the roots of Queen Anns Lace, are another common wild edible that are widely dispersed
The Queen Anne's lace is pretty easy to spot in my opinion, but some say that it is easily confused with some hemlock plants. One thing to do is the scratch and sniff test. Scratch the root and smell inside, if it doesn't smell like carrot, don't eat it.
So, with a little time spent foraging you can find some nice edibles this time of year that are good alone or in a mixed salad of wild greens.
Or, if you bag some of the wild game out there...would make a nice stew.
.
The plants shown below are edible as far as I am concerned...that is to say that I have eaten them myself on several occasions now and I am still alive. This in no way says that they are edible by everyone because we have more food allergies these days than I could have imagined when I was a kid. I never imagined anyone being allergic to wheat or peanuts when I was a kid, pretty much everyone brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for school lunch at one point or another. Now days people die from both. So if you want to try these you should follow the standard rules of testing plants before actual consumption.
If you see these odd little flowers growing in your woods they are not some alien life form they are onion flowers and the early onions are blooming now and more will bloom through the summer.
The onion's roots go deeper than you may expect, so it's best to whittle a digging stick for harvesting them. A knife will work in a pinch or a rush, but it will dull the knife. Dig around the base of the onions and loosen the soil before pulling and don't pull too hard.
If you don't dig and don't loosen the soil you'll probably just pull up a stalk.
But digging them up can net you some nice edibles.
Another similar looking plant that is flowering right now is wild garlic. You can pull this with less chance of breaking most of the time, but still better to use something to dig with. The wild garlic is not only a good addition to a meal, but the oils rubbed onto hands and clothing will help keep some of the insects at bay.
Wild carrots, or the roots of Queen Anns Lace, are another common wild edible that are widely dispersed
The Queen Anne's lace is pretty easy to spot in my opinion, but some say that it is easily confused with some hemlock plants. One thing to do is the scratch and sniff test. Scratch the root and smell inside, if it doesn't smell like carrot, don't eat it.
So, with a little time spent foraging you can find some nice edibles this time of year that are good alone or in a mixed salad of wild greens.
Or, if you bag some of the wild game out there...would make a nice stew.
.
The little San Mai BK-1 is really sweet, one of the best early birthday presents I've ever gotten!