Are wild plants tasty - and healing?

[Dolcezza]

http://www.freefoodandmedicine.com/

Hello there,

just watching a fab video from Markus Rothkranz, a nutter who is on a raw food diet and is also a good film maker. He is also mad about 2012 but that's another story (he thinks that only people on a raw foood diet who know about wild plants will survive the coming calamities)
I am trying to get into a raw food diet as much as possible and I was almost struck when I saw this video.

He and other "experts" talk about wild plants as a free source of food which grows naturally in your own garden. They say you can blend them and drink the whole thing and for most plants the list of healing properties is huge so they specify which plant to use for which remedy etc.

It's all interesting so I wondered the obvious: are these dandelions and other wild plants TASTY? Or do they taste yucky and bitter?

(I have none of them in the garden probably!)

If you have ever tried any would you share the truth about taste and healing properties?

Thanks!

Dolcezza

[Ligure]

For the most part it will require an adjustment of your pallet to eat wild greens. There are some wild greens like lambs quarters that can taste better than lettuce. Generally they taste "green". Our western pallet is way too accustomed to the sweet taste and not much on bitters. You will find in the case for dandelion that it can be bitter depending on when you gather.

No worries. Your pallet can adapt to bitters and you will be healthier for it.

Ligure

[Justme]

I've heard if you pick dandelions young in the spring they aren't too bad but I must have never got them young enough, all I have tasted are extremely bitter. I guess if you are starving you would eat them even if bitter.

We have at times harvested many wild berries (small alpine strawberries, currants, wild gooseberries, elderberries, chokecherries, and a few others) in the western United States but I would hate to have to rely on the quantity. Some years they produce in abundance and other years there are none. Instead we grow apples, pears, plums, and raspberries in the yard and started strawberries this year. Maybe grapes next year. We are also learning to garden but couldn't survive on our produce yet.

[Ligure]

The "sweetest" part of the dandelion is the flower.

If you want a good book on the subject check out Of the Field by Linda Runyon. She lived off of wild food for 15 years and has recipes and best ways to use them. The book is not a field guide but it is still worth getting to know what to do with what you find. Like clover can be a main staple and can be ground to flour.

Ligure

[Toni]

The leaves from elm trees are pretty tasty. The smaller leaves are best. I've eaten them several times and the fact that they sprout up easily could make them a lifesaver.

I don't know how filling most of the leaves and flowers are (roses, pansies, and I forget what else).

These are not necessarily wild plants in some/most areas, but they are reputed to be edible:
Bergamot, Calendula, lavender, mint, Nasturtium, rosemary, sage (in the west, we call some plants "sage" that aren't - I don't know if those are edible or not), assorted cacti (more for those in the western U.S.)

Cattail, chickweed, clover, dandelion, burdock, marigold, milkweed, mustard, violet, wild garlic, wild onion http://www.essortment.com/all/ediblewildplan_repo.htm

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/plants-1.php and it's newer version http://www.wildcrafting.net/


IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT WILD EDIBLE PLANTS

* Be sure of your identification of the wild edible plant BEFORE you eat it! Some wild edible plants have very poisonous look-alikes.
* You may be allergic to some wild edible plants. If you are at all unsure if you will be allergic to a particular plant, eat just a little bit at first.
* *YOU* are 100% responsible for properly identifying and properly preparing wild edible plants that you eat. NOT me!
You should supplement the information on this website with real-life practice at identifying these plants, preferably along with one of the excellent field guides that are available, and with the help of competent people who know plants.

# Blueberry (fruit)
# Garlic Mustard (green plant)
# Gooseberries (fruits)
# Indian Cucumber Root (tubers)
# Jerusalem Artichoke (tubers)
# Mayapple (fruit)
# Nettles (young whole plant) (& cordage)
# Ostrich Fern (fiddleheads) (young plants)
# Trout Lily (tubers)
# Wild Carrot (roots)
# Wild Garlic (whole plant)
# Wild Leeks (whole plant)
# Agave Root (root)
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/food/edibleplants/index.html

[Dolcezza]

Thanks to all! I guess I will have to find out what grows here and what's the taste like - but I won't try nettles.........last time I got stung I laid on the floor with in shock for 30 minutes! LOL

And I didn't know you can sprout leaves? Wow!

[prairiemom]

We tried nettles for the first time this year. They were pretty good--much better than expected. I treat them as I do peppers--wear plastic gloves while gathering, but once you have them picked and rinsed they won't sting. We had a couple meals with nettles and then I dried leaves for tea and have a gallon jar filled with dried nettles.

Bergamot makes a great tea. Yes, calendula, nasturtium, dandelion flowers are all tasty. They taste "flowery" just like the greens taste "leafy". I like lemon juice, butter and salt to minimize the bitter flavor. Steaming them with bacon fat also helps. But then you want to do raw food, so I guess you'll have to learn to like bitter.

[Dolcezza]

Thanks! Why nettles don't sting after being rinsed? Then when it rains they also lose their power? I thought they must cook first. Hmmm.....I will try the others....and no, bacon has come out of my list last year. A big study was done and definitely linked bacon eaten 2-3 times a week with stomach cancer so it was easy not to miss it!

When I don't like bitter I can always add honey....or just not eat it! LOL

[Toni]

And I didn't know you can sprout leaves? Wow!

Obviously I didn't word that very well. What I meant was that, in many places, elm trees are considered a weed because they grow easily and, so I'm told, will take over an area.

I got what I thought was Moroccan mint one year, in a tiny pot. (It didn't smell minty.) Well, that plant grew pretty quickly and the next year it was taller than me! It grew fast. By then, I had figured out it was not a mint. I tasted one of the leaves. Elm. It had grown from a seed to 6 feet tall in about one and a half years. (Apparently the original plant had died and one of the elm trees had dropped a seed in the pot, which was faithfully watered by the nursery.)

However, you can plant from leaves. They're called "slips" over here, but they have to have the stem with them. I can't remember which plants will do it. I think grape vines are one kind.

[prairiemom]

Thanks! Why nettles don't sting after being rinsed? Then when it rains they also lose their power? I thought they must cook first.

No, I think it's once they are picked they lose their stinging potential. They still have the fine hairs which can be irritating, but after rinsing them I had no problem handling them barehanded.

[Dolcezza]

Perhaps because of my past experiences I wouldn't dare touching them, LOL!