Foraging

[Ludi]

I've been collecting wild violets (a good source of Vitamins C & A) and wild onions lately.

Des anyone else on here forage? What do you gather?

[V3gan]

wild onions ? cool

[Ludi]

Yes, there are tons of them, I've been gathering them by the bagful and transplanting them to my garden. I'll never have to buy onions again!

No-one else collects them...I'm the only weirdo forager around here...

[kentauros]

Just don't forage the mushrooms off the cowpatties ;)

By the way, if you have any prickly pear cacti in your area, both the blooms and the "petals" are edible, though you have to burn the spines off of the petals before you can cook them (usually by grilling.) It looks like you know what flowers are edible, but you might look at the edible flowers thread over in gardening for more ideas :)

And, foraging in Houston is pretty much impossible...

[Ludi]

I tried to make prickly pear jelly last year, but it didn't jell, so we had prickly pear syrup instead!

[kentauros]

I tried to make prickly pear jelly last year, but it didn't jell, so we had prickly pear syrup instead!
:lol: How'd that turn out? :)

I've tried jalapeno jelly, but the flavor was so odd, I couldn't understand the appeal/popularity of it...

[Ludi]

It was tasty!

[waliak]

I've been collecting wild violets (a good source of Vitamins C & A) and wild onions lately.

Des anyone else on here forage? What do you gather?
I like munching on garlic mustard in the spring, wild sorrel in the summer, and I dig up every dandelion I can find in the fall (in unsprayed areas, that is)...

I suspect the flora is rather different in Texas than in Illinois, Ludi?

[waliak]

wild onions ? cool
When I lived in California there were beautiful wild onions everywhere (white flowers), but they don't seem prolific here in the Midwest. Garlic mustard, though -- mmmmmm.....

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

Lots of wild greens and huckleberries, blackberries and salmonberries. Is wild berries considered foraging? We freeze or make into jams like crazy...

[anthony11]

Lots of wild greens and huckleberries, blackberries and salmonberries. Is wild berries considered foraging? We freeze or make into jams like crazy...

You like salmonberries? They seem really really bland to me. At my old place (sigh) I'd treasure the thimbleberries that grew in a couple of locations -- for you non-NW types, they're a sort of wild raspberry, and are thorn-free. I'd chow on red huckleberries, too, because they're such a neat shrub, and would eat bittercress, too, if it were somewhere the dog wasn't likely to have been watering. And of course I eat the omnipresent @#$#@ blackberries too.

[waliak]

Wild THORNLESS raspberries... yummmmm... Sounds heavenly. I've found small gooseberries in amongst the wild (black) raspberries, but no blackberries. But grapes... clusters of tiny purple grapes, sweeter than any grapes I've ever eaten.

[waliak]

Lots of wild greens and huckleberries, blackberries and salmonberries. Is wild berries considered foraging? We freeze or make into jams like crazy...
We used to pick wild raspberries and make hand-churned ice cream. :yes:

[spud]

Er, I foraged in a skip where I'm working this week and came home with four pairs of curtains. The next day I got a nice mirror, and yesterday I got a bunch of daffs just before they went in.

[anthony11]

Wild THORNLESS raspberries... yummmmm... Sounds heavenly. I've found small gooseberries in amongst the wild (black) raspberries, but no blackberries.

The thimble berries are indeed heavenly, and very soft. Unfortunately two non-native (boooooooo) varieties of blackberry -- the himalayan and the evergreen -- are *massively* invasive here and tend to outcompete both the native thimbleberries and the innocuous (and delicious) native blackberries. The himalayan blackberries can grow to be 40-50' long, with branches off the main cane just as long, so they form interlocked mounds that can require a dozer to tear through. The things are literally *everywhere*.

[brahmacharya]

There are these lovely little chive-like things that make an excellent garlic substitute...the deer like to eat them too. They grow on rocky areas right by the seashore on the Sunshine Coast, and so they are a little salty, and hollow. I have no idea what they're really called, we just call them "deer chives". The blackberries in the pie in my photo album were foraged, and we get salmonberries here too.

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

Salmonberries ARE a bit bland, but we have TONS of the things around, so we pick them and make jelly - this weird clear, peachy colored stuff that tastes pretty good... people always FREAK when I say "Salmonberry Jelly" ....

"Is that VEGETARIAN?"

hahahahahaha

[brahmacharya]

Salmonberries ARE a bit bland, but we have TONS of the things around, so we pick them and make jelly - this weird clear, peachy colored stuff that tastes pretty good... people always FREAK when I say "Salmonberry Jelly" ....

"Is that VEGETARIAN?"

hahahahahaha

"No, it's a delightful mousse of dead fish and fruit. Check it out on Melba toast!"

[Tom]

I sort of forage. There are several weeds I like to eat here in Upstate NY: dandelion, purslane, lamb's-quarters (another carnivorous-sounding vegetable!)... Someone recently told me that comon plantain is edible too, but I've never tried it. My rabbits like these- well, I haven't given them purslane yet- so I share with them.

You want bland????... I've never had salmonberry, but white mulberry is pretty bland. I like my native grapevine much better. Is anyone familiar with those sour candies, SweeTarts? My wild grapes taste like those. I sometimes eat the leaves, too.

[Ludi]

Dandelions are one of the most nutritius greens. I'm actually going to plant them in my garden, because I don't have them!

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

Dandelions are one of the most nutritius greens. I'm actually going to plant them in my garden, because I don't have them!

You're welcome to forage in my yard ANY TIME!!!

[anthony11]

You're welcome to forage in my yard ANY TIME!!!

I've had people come by where I was living just to grab armloads of the things for their igs, bunnies, etc., because they knew that I never spray poisons.

[anthony11]

[QUOTE=Tom]I sort of forage. There are several weeds I like to eat here in Upstate NY: dandelion, purslane, lamb's-quarters (another carnivorous-sounding vegetable!)[/i]

Lamb's quarters is cogeneric with quinoa, so I'm not surprised that it's edible, too. It grows wild here as well -- perhaps even all over the country.

... Someone recently told me that comon plantain is edible too, but I've never tried it.

We have two varieties here, a wide-leaf with very round leaves, and a narrow-leaf with swordlike leaves. I've heard from a wildcrafter that both are held by some to have medicinal properties, and are sold to tincture-makers for that reason.

Is anyone familiar with those sour candies, SweeTarts? My wild grapes taste like those. I sometimes eat the leaves, too.

(puckers lips) I'm not big on tart/sour stuff for the most part, but know people who are. Do you eat the leaves straight, or make dolmas?

I'm always careful when telling people about the local berries here -- those who don't pay attention could easily end up eating red elderberries or even yew 'berries' instead of the tart-but-edible red huckleberries.

[waliak]

[QUOTE=Tom]I sort of forage. There are several weeds I like to eat here in Upstate NY: dandelion, purslane, lamb's-quarters (another carnivorous-sounding vegetable!)[/i]

Lamb's quarters is cogeneric with quinoa, so I'm not surprised that it's edible, too. It grows wild here as well -- perhaps even all over the country.

And don't forget the garlic mustard! When I lived in upstate New York I picked all those greens you mentioned for salads, but I found both kinds of plaintain not so much to my taste. Never knew huckleberries, but the grapes were never sour. (Or rather, they had just as much sugar as acid! -- very tasty!) WILD BLUEBERRIES AROUND THE LAKES! Tall-bush and low-bush around the same lakes -- bucketfuls... Wild raspberries everywhere. And no matter where I've gardened in the northern US (and that's been a lot of places), I've always found purslane, plantain, garlic mustard, lambsquarters, mustard and dandelions growing -- I just don't weed them out when I do the weeding. (No blueberries in Illinois... sigh...)

[anthony11]

[i] WILD BLUEBERRIES AROUND THE LAKES! [i]

mmmmmmmmm blueberries mmmmmmmm