Everyone knows and longs for sightings of the “Big 5”, but have you ever heard of or seen the Secretive Seven? These 7 creatures are difficult to find. They are rare, shy, cryptic, secretive and nocturnal. If these creatures are so rarely seen, how can one monitor or research them?

It's now officially spring, and while winter weather is still hanging on across much of the country, we can't

Two recipes for using up wild garlic! A wild garlic börek with cheese, and a wild garlic flatbread which is lovely covered with wild garlic butter.

When hosta shoots first poke up through the ground, before their leaves unfurl, cut a few stems and bring them back to the kitchen. They're a wonderful spring green.

Bright, oniony ramps add a touch of springtime to a comforting southern staple.

An invasive species to the US, Japanese Knotweed is native to Japan, China and Korea. Luckily, it is not only destructive but also delicious! In this post I'm covering how to find Japanese Knotweed and

Are redbud tree flowers edible? Are redbud trees poisonous to humans? Learn how to forage for these delicious treats!

Ramp season is fleeting—all the more reason to have a game plan before spring. Make the most of spring with these pastas, fritters, and more.

Follow these rules to ensure the survival of wild ramps - a delicious northeast native plant that is threatened by over-harvesting.

Cattail shoots are a spring treat waiting to be discovered by those of us who typically forage for our food at our local supermarket. Pull on your highest rubber boots and get ready!

Did you know magnolia petals are edible? With a ginger-like flavor, magnolia petals can be pickled and served a variety of ways.

These crispy little fritters taste like a three-way cross between onion tempura, blooming onion, and onion rings. If you can’t find ramps, use thin scallions.

Usnea is an edible lichen, with potent medicinal properties. It grows all over the world, and it's often easy to find and abundant. Often called "old man's beard" or "the lungs of the forest," usnea

This super simple preparation for a vegan daylily recipe uses a little garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil to create a delicious homage to daylily shoots.

Scientific name: Smilax spp. Abundance: plentiful What: tender vines (portion easily snapped off by hand), tendrils, tubers, leaves, berries How: vines and tendrils are eaten raw, steamed or baked; roots are sliced, then pounded and boiled to free starch; berries eaten raw or made into jams or jelly Where: shady forests When: All year Nutritional Value: tubers high in starch & minerals; leaves & stems high assorted vitamins and minerals. Dangers: sharp thorns Leaf Arrangement: The leaves of greenbriar are arranged alternately along the stem. Leaf Shape: Leaves are typically simple and vary in shape, ranging from ovate to lanceolate, depending on the species. Leaf Venation: Palmate venation, with multiple veins running from the base to the edges of each leaf. Leaf Margin: The leaf margin is typically entire or slightly toothed. Leaf Color: The leaves can vary in color but are often medium to dark green. Mottling may be present on some species. Flower Structure: Greenbriar produces clusters of small, inconspicuous flowers. Flower Color: Flowers are typically greenish-white or greenish-yellow. Fruit: The fruit is typically a berry, often round or oval in shape, and can be red, dark blue, or black, depending on the species. Skin is thin but tough, inside is a clear or gray/offwhite flesh that is very chewy. Seed: Inside the berry are small seeds. Stem: The stem is typically climbing or trailing, often with thorns or prickles, for the first 9 feet in height. Two tendrils grow from the base of each leaf. Root: The roots produce large, woody tubers with red-pink skins. Flesh inside the tubers will be white or faint pink when you, turning more red and tough/woody as the tuber ages. Hairs: Smilax are generally hairless Height: Greenbriar is a climbing or trailing vine and can reach varying heights depending on its support structure. Edible tip of greenbriar (bullbriar) vine. Close-up of greenbriar (bullbriar) vine tip. Edible tip of other Greenbriar. Note the thorns and two tendrils at base of leaf. Greenbriars and Catbriars are the only vines with both thorns and tendrils. Greenbriar (bullbriar) tubers and vines. Same tuber body as above after digging up. The youngest, best tuber will be the white one next to where the vine joins the tubers. This is an ideal Greenbriar tuber! Some tubers turned up by a construction crew. Close-up of greenbriar (bullbriar) tuber. Berries in January. They have a slight sweet taste and contain 1-2 inedible seeds. Slicing up a tuber in preparation for collecting it's starch. Dried slices of greenbriar (bullbriar) naturally turn reddish-orange. Leaves of different types of Catbriar. They are all palmate-veined. Edible tip of catbriar. Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping. North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. If there's woods near you there's likely Greenbriar in those woods! Greenbriar is one of the best wild foods available as it can be found in immense quantities all year-round, it's vine tips taste really good, they are very nutritious, and its tubers are a great source of calories. Greenbriars are the only vines that have both tendrils and thorns making them easy to identify. To find the edible tips just pull on the greenbriar vine until you get to it's top end. You can eat any soft, tender portion of the plant (stem, leaves, and tendrils). The vines may grow as a single stalk or branch out into many vines ranging in diameter from 1/8" to over 3/4". Multiple branching vines are more common with smaller-diameter plants. These above ground portions of the plant can all be eaten raw, the leaves and tendrils can also be cooked like spinach, and the vines can cooked like asparagus. Track the thickest vines back to their buried tubers. These tubers can form a mass up to 75 pounds but are difficult to dig due to their many long roots. Due to their highly fibrous nature, Greenbriar tubers can't be used like potatoes. The starch produced from the tubers may have an astringent, odd taste but it is rich in calories. It is exceptionally good at thickening stews and even water to the point of becoming almost Jello-like. Native Americans would slow roast the tubers under a fire for several days, then chew the cooked starch out of the tubers and spit out the fibers. The youngest tubers are the best to harvest. They will be the lightest in color though the color may be white, light pink, light purple or light yellow. The starch was also collected by slicing the tubers into 1/4" disks, letting them dry in the sun for a few days, then crumbing the disks in a large bowl of water. The granules of starch fall to the bottom of the bowl and the fibers float to the top. The water and fibers were discarded and the starch was dried and then ground up for use as flour. It still has a bitter taste but it'll give you calories. The tubers can also be shaved into small pieces and then boiled to make a tea. I prefer to first roast the tubers under a hot fire for a while to the point where their outer skin begins to blacken. Peel off the burned parts, dice up the rest then boil in water to make a vaguely root beer/caramel flavored tea. Getting the right amount of roasting to get this flavor requires some practice. Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

I've learned that Japanese Knotweed is a delicious edible, tasting of green apples and rhubarb with a light vegetal note.

Spiced crabapples make a perfect side dish for roast pork or chicken. And this pickled fruit is also an excellent cocktail garnish!

One of the first trees or shrubs to bud in early spring is the willow. I remember as a child getting so excited to find pussy willows, although back then I didn't liken it to

Did you know magnolia flowers are edible? Learn how to forage & use them

This pretty pink jelly is the result of a local weed problem. Knotweed is an invasive plant that quickly takes over wastelands and riverbeds. My attitude towards this invasive species is that it i…

Fiddlehead ferns are a springtime delicacy. Learn how to safely forage for them, where you can buy them, and how to cook the delicious fronds.

A traditional salad of raw nettles from Turkey. Serves 4

Did you know magnolia flowers are edible? Learn how to forage & use them

Japanese knotweed is a delicious, nutritious plant and also an invasive weed! Here I share tricks for making it edible, legalities and health benefits.

Mullein is one of the most recognizable, medicinal and useful plants. Foraging for mullein is easy and fun!

The daylily plant is an edible flower, and you can deep fry them into a fritter recipe. They taste similar to asparagus and green peas.

Earth Day 2016 approaches. May we suggest that you celebrate it on April 22 by dining on an invasive plant? What weed should I eat? you ask, with a straigh

Burdock Burdock and potato cakes (this is a still from the video that will be here once edited in about 10 days)   ...

We love dill pickles. Real dill pickles. The ones ordered as full or half-sours and pulled from a barrel in New York's Lower East Side. When kirby cucumbers aren't in season, we get our dill pickle fix using garlic, dill and cucumber skin to make Dill Pickle Kraut.

Ramp-infused olive oil is super-easy to make using only 2 ingredients: ramps and extra-virgin olive oil. Use in salad dressing or drizzle over soup.

Garlic Mustard Root = Wild-Style Horseradish

Scientific name: Smilax spp. Abundance: plentiful What: tender vines (portion easily snapped off by hand), tendrils, tubers, leaves, berries How: vines and tendrils are eaten raw, steamed or baked; roots are sliced, then pounded and boiled to free starch; berries eaten raw or made into jams or jelly Where: shady forests When: All year Nutritional Value: tubers high in starch & minerals; leaves & stems high assorted vitamins and minerals. Dangers: sharp thorns Leaf Arrangement: The leaves of greenbriar are arranged alternately along the stem. Leaf Shape: Leaves are typically simple and vary in shape, ranging from ovate to lanceolate, depending on the species. Leaf Venation: Palmate venation, with multiple veins running from the base to the edges of each leaf. Leaf Margin: The leaf margin is typically entire or slightly toothed. Leaf Color: The leaves can vary in color but are often medium to dark green. Mottling may be present on some species. Flower Structure: Greenbriar produces clusters of small, inconspicuous flowers. Flower Color: Flowers are typically greenish-white or greenish-yellow. Fruit: The fruit is typically a berry, often round or oval in shape, and can be red, dark blue, or black, depending on the species. Skin is thin but tough, inside is a clear or gray/offwhite flesh that is very chewy. Seed: Inside the berry are small seeds. Stem: The stem is typically climbing or trailing, often with thorns or prickles, for the first 9 feet in height. Two tendrils grow from the base of each leaf. Root: The roots produce large, woody tubers with red-pink skins. Flesh inside the tubers will be white or faint pink when you, turning more red and tough/woody as the tuber ages. Hairs: Smilax are generally hairless Height: Greenbriar is a climbing or trailing vine and can reach varying heights depending on its support structure. Edible tip of greenbriar (bullbriar) vine. Close-up of greenbriar (bullbriar) vine tip. Edible tip of other Greenbriar. Note the thorns and two tendrils at base of leaf. Greenbriars and Catbriars are the only vines with both thorns and tendrils. Greenbriar (bullbriar) tubers and vines. Same tuber body as above after digging up. The youngest, best tuber will be the white one next to where the vine joins the tubers. This is an ideal Greenbriar tuber! Some tubers turned up by a construction crew. Close-up of greenbriar (bullbriar) tuber. Berries in January. They have a slight sweet taste and contain 1-2 inedible seeds. Slicing up a tuber in preparation for collecting it's starch. Dried slices of greenbriar (bullbriar) naturally turn reddish-orange. Leaves of different types of Catbriar. They are all palmate-veined. Edible tip of catbriar. Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping. North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. If there's woods near you there's likely Greenbriar in those woods! Greenbriar is one of the best wild foods available as it can be found in immense quantities all year-round, it's vine tips taste really good, they are very nutritious, and its tubers are a great source of calories. Greenbriars are the only vines that have both tendrils and thorns making them easy to identify. To find the edible tips just pull on the greenbriar vine until you get to it's top end. You can eat any soft, tender portion of the plant (stem, leaves, and tendrils). The vines may grow as a single stalk or branch out into many vines ranging in diameter from 1/8" to over 3/4". Multiple branching vines are more common with smaller-diameter plants. These above ground portions of the plant can all be eaten raw, the leaves and tendrils can also be cooked like spinach, and the vines can cooked like asparagus. Track the thickest vines back to their buried tubers. These tubers can form a mass up to 75 pounds but are difficult to dig due to their many long roots. Due to their highly fibrous nature, Greenbriar tubers can't be used like potatoes. The starch produced from the tubers may have an astringent, odd taste but it is rich in calories. It is exceptionally good at thickening stews and even water to the point of becoming almost Jello-like. Native Americans would slow roast the tubers under a fire for several days, then chew the cooked starch out of the tubers and spit out the fibers. The youngest tubers are the best to harvest. They will be the lightest in color though the color may be white, light pink, light purple or light yellow. The starch was also collected by slicing the tubers into 1/4" disks, letting them dry in the sun for a few days, then crumbing the disks in a large bowl of water. The granules of starch fall to the bottom of the bowl and the fibers float to the top. The water and fibers were discarded and the starch was dried and then ground up for use as flour. It still has a bitter taste but it'll give you calories. The tubers can also be shaved into small pieces and then boiled to make a tea. I prefer to first roast the tubers under a hot fire for a while to the point where their outer skin begins to blacken. Peel off the burned parts, dice up the rest then boil in water to make a vaguely root beer/caramel flavored tea. Getting the right amount of roasting to get this flavor requires some practice. Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

This foraged refrigerator pickle is bright, crunchy, and lemony. Follow this simple recipe to make Japanese Knotweed Pickles.

Day lily or tiger lily shoots served in the classic Japanese style tossed with gomae dressing.

Chances are, you've seen cattails growing on the edge of your local lake or stream at least once or twice. Instead of just passing these plants, try foraging for and cooking them to create delicious seasonal dishes! The following excerpt is from The New Wildcrafted Cuisine by Pascal Baudar. It has been adapted for the