Explore 70 edible wild plants in our guide! Learn to identify, forage, and prepare backyard weeds and wildflowers, and discover their delicious, nutrient-rich benefits.
The Greenbrier genus (Smilax) contains approximately twenty-five species, but for right now I will focus on the species Bullbrier (Smilax Bona-nox) and Greenbrier (Smilax Rotundifolia) in the Smilacaceae (Catbrier) family. Be sure to read my "Disclaimer - Eat At Your Own Risk" at : http://www.thedewberry.blogspot.com/2012/05/disclaimer-eat-at-your-own-risk.html Both of these are a popular trailside nibble. Matter of fact, it is one of my favorites along the trail. A few things that make it so popular with me are that it they are quite tastey, very nutritious and there is absolutely no cooking required for the tender young shoots, although cooking is also good if you have the time. Bullbrier and Greenbrier are sometimes just called Smilax (referring to the genus). Bullbrier is also sometimes called Sawbrier or Saw Greenbrier and Greenbriew is sometimes called Common Catbrier, Common Greenbrier or Roundleaf Greenbrier. ~Click Picture Above to Enlarge~ Bullbrier (Smilax Bona-nox) Smilax grows in the spring, summer and fall here in the southern U.S. It is the tender young ends that are both tender and completely edible. It is the tender new growth that you eat. You will see some with tender growth over a foot long in the spring and early summer, although it's been my experience that they average 6 to 8 inches long. Just break them off like asparagus. If it does not break easy, then you tried to get too far down the stem where it starts to get hard. Simply break closer to the end. ~Click Picture Above to Enlarge~ The tender young ends are easy to distinguish. Saw Greenbrier (S. Bona-nox) , Roundleaf Greenbrier (S. Rotundifolia) and other Smilax species have a long history with the Native Americans on this continent. According to Daniel E. Moerman's research, the Choctaw and Houma Indians used S. Bona-nox roots to make bread and cakes by drying and then making flour out of the roots. In my opinion, it would take a lot of work as the large tubers of Smilax are very large and hard. I would be interested in knowing how the gained more calories from eating the cakes they made than they actually spent in digging the tubers up and going through the difficult process of getting the flour out of the underground them. In reality, many foragers contend that you burn too many calories getting the starch out of the roots and you receive back in nutritional calories eaten, but I am sure the Native Americans found a very efficient way to get the starch out of the large tubers, but that information may have been long lost. ~Click Picture Above to Enlarge~ Above is a very large Smilax tuber I recently dug up. You can get an estimate of the size by comparing to the shovel in the picture. As far as I know, there are no poisonous look-a-likes for smilax, but there is something that looks similar which is poisonous. If you look close and pay attention, there's no way you can mistake this plant for young Cinnamon Vine, also called Chinese Yam. Remember Smilax is a brier, which means there are thorns. Cinnamon Vine also called Chinese Yam does not have thorns and the young shoots are very different than the smilax shown below. Here's another picture of the tender young shoot; this one with longer tendrils. A nice little batch of Smilax shoots. Ten minutes to gather enough for a meal. Cut it up (or just snap like green beans) to fit in your pan ~Click Picture Above to Enlarge~ Melt butter, add a touch of water, a clear lid and steam on low for about 4 to 5 minutes. ~Click Picture Above to Enlarge~ Finished product. Add a little pepper and salt if you like. This dish is absolutely declicious. My whole family tried some and enjoyed it. It is nutritious and easy to collect, prepare and eat. The closest thing I can tell you it tastes like is asparagus, but truly it has a flavor all its own.
Explore 70 edible wild plants in our guide! Learn to identify, forage, and prepare backyard weeds and wildflowers, and discover their delicious, nutrient-rich benefits.
After a long, cold winter , spring is soon to arrive to push us outside to collect new green leaves and dig up fat roots. This is the time, ...
Introduction to Foraging These are guidelines that I follow whenever I go foraging to make sure that the wildcrafting that I do is safe and sustainable. You should be 100% confident in being able to answer the following questions to yourself. If you don't know, gather more information before you start gathering plants
Explore 70 edible wild plants in our guide! Learn to identify, forage, and prepare backyard weeds and wildflowers, and discover their delicious, nutrient-rich benefits.
Though they grow at the same time of year, that’s where their similarities pretty much end. Goldenrod vs. Ragweed. Learn how to identify the two plants.
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Almost every book, blog post, or article about foraging for wild edibles will contain a warning: Do not eat a plant unless you are 100% sure of its identity. The majority of plants are safe to eat,…
Learn where to find wild ramps - a sought-after spring delicacy - and how to harvest them sustainably.
Learn to forage for hawthorn fruit. Identification, Timing, characteristics. This is an excellent item to forage for in late fall and early winter.
Learn about another common edible plant that grows wild in most of the US. Purslane is easy to find wild and to grow in your garden.
Welcome to Blog Castanea ~ a collection of herbal writings, recipes, materia medicas, and musings from the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine.
Wildflowers and wild fermentation come together to create a delicious and delightful spring-inspired cordial.
Discover the incredible health benefits of Japanese knotweed tincture and learn how to make it at home with our step-by-step guide.
Introduction to Foraging These are guidelines that I follow whenever I go foraging to make sure that the wildcrafting that I do is safe and sustainable. You should be 100% confident in being able to answer the following questions to yourself. If you don't know, gather more information before you start gathering plants
In a survival situation, foraging for edible plants will be key for a sustainable diet. But many of these wild
Discover burdock's magic in our blog: uncover its history, skin and digestive benefits, and ways to enhance well-being with this healing plant.
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The internet can be a fantastic place to learn about herbs—with a significant caveat: anyone can share any sort of information that they want, free of qualifications or checks and balances. That’s why we’ve coralled our most-trusted online herbal resources for you to peruse. Materia medica, plant identification, recipes, research articles—it’s all here.
Learn about the history of pickles, plus a comparison between two common pickling techniques: lacto-fermentation and vinegar pickling. Recipes too!
A professionally-vetted list of the best foraging books on wild foods and herbs, written by experts in the field.
This is a Cattail A Cattail is regarded as one of the Fantastic 4. One of 4 plants that could save your life. Know what the other three are? Here are the parts of the Cattail that we are going to …
One of my favourite seasonal treats from the forest garden is the hostas. No, no spelling mistake: hostas are really edible. In fact, they are a near perfect forest garden crop. Woodland is the nat…
Chickweed uses abound for both edible and medicinal projects that are sure to please the palate and soothe the body.
Plantain weed has been called "life medicine". We'll show you how to use the fresh leaves and dried leaves for natural remedies such as salve and tea.
Il y a plein de fruits et de plantes que l'on peut cueillir dans la nature. Mais attention, on ne cueille pas n'importe quoi avec la cueillette sauvage! Les fruits appartiennent peut être à quelqu'un et les plantes sont souvent toxiques.
Create your own personal list of top ten medicinal herbs, tailored to your climate and health concerns. Build a dream medicinal herb garden!
Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) is one of our most prolific invasive plants, it spreads by producing copious winged seeds in the fall and through underground rhizomes. Colonies of knotweed advance and can puncture up through the pavement in the spring, making them especially hated by public works employees who will try to cut down the stalks and poison the heck out of the plant. When gathering some knotweed shoots in the spring for consumption, try to get them from untreated areas and away from roadsides. They should also be picked before they are 12" tall; when they are still thick and have not unfurled too many leaves is the best time. To eat them raw, we prefer to peel the stalks, which can be difficult since the stalk is hollow like bamboo. When they are younger, the stalks are thicker and the peel comes off rather easily with a knife or potato peeler. For this fruit leather recipe, you can use smaller unpeeled stalks, or peel the larger ones with a stringier skin. Since we purchased a better blender, we can make this fruit leather without the peeling step. Peeled knotweed stalks The color is not particularly appetizing, olive green, but the flavor is similar to sour apples, without any of the knotweed's typical vegetal qualities. Our daughter, Gillian, really enjoys this snack and we had trouble keeping her away from the fruit leather long enough to take a picture. I tried two different methods of drying the fruit leather: the oven and the dehydrator. We have a cheap 1990's Ronco dehydrator that works just fine, using the fruit leather plastic tray. I then tried spreading the puree on parchment in the Ronco and it worked, but was a little more brittle. Then I spread some puree very thickly on some silicone baking mats on a sheetpan in the oven and it worked, but took the longest to dry. Once I removed it form the drying surface, I just rolled them up to store them in some glass jars. Update: We finally saved enough money to purchase a good Excalibur dehydrator. This recipe makes enough puree to fill 2-12" square trays lined with the silicone liners. I use the fruit leather setting, about 130º F until the leather has darkened and dried. The old Ronco still works too! This recipe is available in our book, available Spring 2016. http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/book/?GCOI=60239108626260& Pile of knotweed peels
Je n'entends parler que de ça ou presque ces temps-ci. Je ne sais si cela est lié au retour des beaux jours, mais ils n'ont que ça à la bouche : du cru du cru du cru. Complètement mordu Pour comprendre, je suis allée interroger mon ami Grégoire, crudivore depuis quelques semaines : c'est dans … Continuer la lecture de « Les obsédés du cru »
Acorns have been eaten and revered for their nourishment the world over—by Celts, by Koreans, by the native people throughout North America. Perhaps your ancestors were acorn eaters – you might be surprised.
Herbs, foraging, cooking with herbs, herbal medicine, herb crafting and wildcrafting information from our herb magazine.
There are quite a few plants that look like carrots. Some are poisonous, others are perfectly edible and delicious.
April in de moestuin Wat gaat het seizoen al weer snel, het is al weer april. April is een echt groei maand, alles schiet nu de grond uit. Geweldig om te zien en van te genieten hoe de natuur weer zoveel groen weet aan te maken. Wat doe je tegen onkruid Mijn Engelse moestuinheld ‘Monthy … Lees verder Onkruid in de moestuin →
Sorrels are like McDonald’s restaurants: No matter where you are on earth there’s one nearby. That’s because the sorrels, properly Oxalises, comes from a huge family. What’s huge? There are some 850 different species of them, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. No, that’s not a record. The biggest family is the Composites, you know, plants […]
Mit ihren warm-gelben Blüten ist die Königskerze ein Symbol für langes Leben. Besonders bekannt ist ihre Wirkung gegen Husten, Heiserkeit und Halsschmerzen.
