wild edible plants thread
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gogofast
Addicted Member
I thought I should consolidate recent pickings to this thread....
While hiking Snoqualmie Mt yesterday, I found these little berries. Sweet and tangy. Picked about a small sandwich bagful in the end. Couldn't see anything at the top because of rain and clouds, but the berries made up for the weather.
While hiking Snoqualmie Mt yesterday, I found these little berries. Sweet and tangy. Picked about a small sandwich bagful in the end. Couldn't see anything at the top because of rain and clouds, but the berries made up for the weather.
Someone said persimmons. They grow around these parts, and I've been making wine for a few years. The most stunning is Persimmon-Chardonnay using a can of Chardonnay concentrate. Hard to describe - it's not like any grape-only wine anywhere, and the complexity and aroma boggles the mind of any dry wine lovers I feed it to.
Working on learning the ropes on mushrooms. I've eaten about 4 different kinds so far. Being very cautious in case anyone is wondering.
Working on learning the ropes on mushrooms. I've eaten about 4 different kinds so far. Being very cautious in case anyone is wondering.
gogofast
Addicted Member
You are blessed to have those around you. I grew up eating those. We'd go on a day long pheasant hunt and find those wild persimmon trees covered in snow.
If you find a lot of those, you can dry them and eat like raisins.
I've seen a purselane and basil pesto. I wonder how it'd taste.
illinoisteve
Super Member
On our place, and surroundings, wild black raspberries and blackberries are very common, gooseberries are also. Very small wild strawberry plants grow near the dry south end of one field, but the wildlife must get all of them. You can make a strong jam from choke cherries, but they have very little flesh around the seed. Quite a few red mulberry trees are in the area, but only some of them have berries. Birds get most of the berries on the high branches. My goats like to eat the mulberry leaves, twigs, and bark if I trim back those very invasive trees. My entire region goes bonkers over morel mushrooms each spring; people sell messes of them on craigslist.
gogofast
Addicted Member
I've seen mostly red chokeberry plants in the woods but never tried it. Maybe next time I see them, I should find out what they taste like. I love morels, too, but nearest proven location is about 3 hours drive. They seem to be selling for reasonable price around here in stores - so I usually buy a few pounds each time.
Mulberries! Best ones I've had were in Nebraska, half as long as your pinkie. They taste a lot like blackberries. Around here (MO) they are usually pretty bland, although you can blend them with blackberries or blueberries in a cobbler and they do just fine. Except for ONE tree in the woods next to my office: best mulberries in MO. Unforch, the idiot groundskeeping gorillas trimmed it up so high I can't reach em anymore. Sooo good.
Elderberries are also common here. Excellent jelly, or Blended with a red grape for a dry red. I had a Concord vine up until a couple years ago, used to make dry Concord Elderberry. It was darn good.
Chokecherry's, my house is surrounded with them, they make an excellent jelly. In the Snowy Range West of Laramie, Wyoming in the Fox Park area there are the best wild red raspberries that make the most exquisite jams. We also have wild garlic but we have to be careful we have another plant that grows with it called Death Camis that is it's visual twin. You cannot tell them apart until they bloom. If you have an, Android, or iOS device, iPhone, iPad, here is a fantastic app for you wild mushroom hunters; http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/
GuyK
Addicted Member
We're lucky in this area since there are so many berries to chooses from. Off the top of my head we have several varieties of wild blackberries, black elderberries on occasion, gooseberries, currants, salmonberries, wild strawberries of 2 varieties (I very much like the beach strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis; they're little flavor bombs!), wild raspberries, salal, huckleberries, blueberries, cranberries...we even have Juniper berries, but while those get cooked with, they are not really eaten.
yardanimal
Active Member
Lactuca serriola, wild lettuce, prickley lettuce. great bitters for salads.
trhee
ㅇtㅈyㅅr
Perilla leaves have always been a favorite for me. Living here in Korea now, I tend to eat it on a more regular basis.
Tong Ho (Chinese) or Shingiku (Japanese) is another nice one. Basically edible chrysanthemum leaves. Popular in Asian cooking and can be eaten raw or cooked with a slight bitter, peppery flavor.
Tong Ho (Chinese) or Shingiku (Japanese) is another nice one. Basically edible chrysanthemum leaves. Popular in Asian cooking and can be eaten raw or cooked with a slight bitter, peppery flavor.
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bowtie427ss
Lunatic Member
Tried something new this year, Queen Ann's Lace jelly, it tastes amazingly like honey.
illinoisteve
Super Member
I didn't say chokeBERRIES, rather chokeCHERRIES. Choke cherries are trees and they grow in fencerows or woodland edges, but not in mature woods, where instead you would find their close cousin the larger black cherry tree. Birds love the wild cherries and deposit the seed when perching or flying, that's why there are so many cherry saplings and trees. If a cherry branch comes down in a storm, and the leaves wilt, those leaves can be highly poisonous to livestock, however. A concern now that I have goats. As for "chokeberries" I'm not sure what they are, and don't recommend tasting them.
gogofast
Addicted Member
Sorry for misreading.
I actually meant to say "chokecherries". I see them on hikes while those white blooms are present in the summer.
mushroom season here is about to begin. i usually end up with a few pounds per year, of butter boletes, yellow chantrelles, black chantrelles, blewits, and the occasional king bolete. the drought has killed the seasons the last two years, though, i hope the early rains we're getting (last week a half inch, this week another) will help reinvigorate the mycelia.
gogo, are those matsutake, the pine mushrooms?
other things hereabouts, mostly on my property: kaki persimmons (the type that have to get completely soft to eat), wild strawberries, blackberries. no easy place to get fern tips, though i'm tempted to try next spring.
the kakis we eat fresh, freeze, and dry. dried they taste a bit like dried mango, but with no added sugar. almost addictive.
gogo, are those matsutake, the pine mushrooms?
other things hereabouts, mostly on my property: kaki persimmons (the type that have to get completely soft to eat), wild strawberries, blackberries. no easy place to get fern tips, though i'm tempted to try next spring.
the kakis we eat fresh, freeze, and dry. dried they taste a bit like dried mango, but with no added sugar. almost addictive.
gogofast
Addicted Member
Yes, they are matsutake mushrooms. I wasn't expecting much this year with so few rain, but was surprised to see a lot of species already above the ground.
Do you have any special way you eat your boletes? I usually saute them and mix with pasta. I've spotted some kings earlier this month.
