Jul 19

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE – Identifying Wild Edible Plants in Your Neck of the Woods

Posted by HGEL on 19 Jul 2011. Filed under Garden Care, How To Guides, Plant Resources View Comments

Here are some reliable links from university cooperative extensions and other sources around the country.

As the plants will vary regionally it is important to seek out information pertaining to your specific region. REMEMBER: some plants are toxic at various levels of ingestion…single ingestion or cumulative. Always use caution when identifying and using wild plants and, of course, NEVER eat any plant that may have been sprayed with pesticide.

“The prime directive in foraging for wild plants for consumption is simple, yet its violation has led to illness and even fatalities. You must never consume any part of any plant whose identity is questionable. There are a number of plants whose look-alikes are toxic and whose identity must carefully be ascertained before they are used. Certain parts of some edible plants may be poisonous. Some plants are edible when young but become toxic later on. Some plants are edible during certain seasons but toxic during others. ” Familiarizing Students with some Edible & Poisonous Wild Plants, Barry s. Kendler, Dominick J. Pirone, Manhattan College, Bronx, NY, · The American Biology Teacher Vol. 51, No. 8 (Nov. – Dec., 1989), pp. 463-471 Published by: University of California Press.

How To Forage For Wild Edible Plants on Howcast

When in doubt, don’t eat it.

How To Forage For Wild Edible Plants on Howcast

USA

ARKANSAS
http://www.uark.edu/ua/arwia/arwomeninag/presentationwebsite/T.%20Walkingstick%20handout.pdf

CALIFORNIA http://www.jstor.org/pss/4448990 (Fee to get the full text of this article)
http://www.laspilitas.com/classes/edible.htm

FLORIDA:
Central Region
http://www.nbbd.com/godo/ef/edibles/index.html

MAINE: http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/4060.htm http://umaine.edu/publications/4060e/

NEW HAMPSHIRE: http://extension.unh.edu/resources/category/Home_and_Garden#48 (see Forage Crops)

NORTH CAROLINA: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/General_Principles/gpin004/gpin004.htm

OHIO: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3303.html (mushrooms)

OREGON: Harvesting and Marketing of Wild Edible Plants – Steve Clements, Oregon State University

UK

http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancient/wild-food-guide.php

USEFUL GUIDES AND BOOKS:

http://www.arnatural.org/Wildfoods/Bibliography_Books.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/039592622X/ref=ase_theforagpress-20/102-8252659-9756110?v=glance&s=books
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&CMD=SALL+%22wild+plants+edible%22&CNT=25+records+per+page
http://www.wildfoodadventures.com/
UK – Food for Free (Collins, 1972) Richard Mabey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mabey

Edible Wild Plant, etc. Bibliography – a very good bibliography compiled by Russell A. Cohen, November 10, 1999

Links to Helpful Articles:

UC Davis Forager Explores the Wild Side of CA The California Aggie, UC Davis May 19, 2014

Dandelions: Eat Your Weeds – Making Melanoma Self Destruct Washington Post, Health & Science, Spring 2011

Try Foraging For Your Thanksgiving Meal! NPR Nov. 21, 2010

Lambsquarter: Wild Spinach In Your Yard Mother Nature Network mnn.com

What You Should Know About Wild Onions The Survivalist Blog dot net thesurvivalistblog.net

Good Questions: Dude, Where Can I Score Some Purslane – LocalForage.com

Weed Gallery: Miners Lettuce UC Davis Integrated Pest Management

http://foraging.com/ (Lists foraging guides books for many regions of the U.S.)

Food Foraging: Find and Enjoy Wild Edible Plants – Mother Earth News

A Remedy for Weeds – Eat Them – Washington Post

How to Identify a Wild Dandelion– TacticalIntelligence.net

A note from HGEL:

The inherent risk in ‘wildcrafting”, “foraging”, or “forest farming”, unless guided by an expert, is illness or even death by mistakenly eating a plant that is toxic, a toxic plant part or a plant that is in its toxic phase. Therefore, HGEL strongly recommends cultivating safe wild plants from seeds bought from a reliable seed company. I have begun a listing of these plants and seed companies here and will update this list from time to time.