backwoods menu/Wild tea.

[Rick]

Kingfisher - Here is a link to cook up just about anything you catch in your traps, except your fingers, of course.

http://www.wildgamerecipes.org/

[Ole WV Coot]

Tried both, and I can't say much about them except you don't have to chew. They have enough grease to kinda slide down your throat. Possum is decent if you bake them for 4 hrs on a fresh pine board, throw away the possum and eat the board.

[Rick]

That is too funny! Clearly, the fresher the pine board the better.

[Stealth]

haha, ive heard the same recipe for dogfish (bowfin).... its delicious.

[Two Rivers]

Yes, Racoon is edible. Though I've found the meat most satisfying when hunger is creeping in. Not that they arent good any other time but because of the grease. 3 or 4 days on the trap line and the grease is more than welcome and the drippings makes a great oil candle to light your immediate surroundings on a cold winter night. All mammals are edible.

[Two Rivers]

I catch myself looking for mayapples whenever I'm squirrel hunting. Sometimes finding them before the deer get to 'em is a chore though. Snapping turtle is another tasty treat though a lot of work to get to. Crawdads....oh boy.

[Tony uk]

Rosehip syrup is very easy to make and tastes delicious. It also contains 20 times more vitamin C than oranges. When the supply of oranges dwindled during the second world war, many schoolchildren picked rosehips which were then turned into syrup.

Rosehips produce their wonderful berries much later than many other plants and Jeremy picked these on the last day of October. Don't pick all of them on the bush as birds rely on them for food during the winter.

1. Wash about a kilo of berries and break off the stalks

2. use a juicer and chop up the rosehips

3. The chopped rosehips should be put into 1.75 litres of boiling water as quickly as possible as the vitamin C begins to break down as soon as the rosehips are damaged.

4. Once the chopped hips are boiling, turn off the gas and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Then pour the mixture through a jelly bag - or, if you don't have one, you can use a pairr of tights, or, a clean tea towel.

5. The syrup that comes out looks remarkably like tomato soup. Add about 750g of sugar and bring to the boil again. Put the chopped rosehips back in the pan, add another litre of water and repeat the straining process. You could probably do this three times and still get goodness out of the rosehips.

6. Bottle the syrup in sterlized bottles. Best to use small ones as the syrup will go off if the bottle is open for too long. Store in a dark place and refridgerate after opening.

I take one of these bottle when i go camping for some time and dont bring much food, Its very good for warding off clinical scurvy (On shorter trips you have a next to nothing risk of getting this) Also it tastes pritty good to

On another note as this was something i was going to mention in another post Honey is everlasting survival food, even when it goes hard you just warm it or break it into little chunks and suck on it (very good for sore throats)

[trax]

that's awesome

Quick question though, what quantity of honey...if you know...can I use to replace the sugar? Or is it a good idea?

[trax]

I've noticed a couple of responses here, that well....all furbearers/mammals are edible, but some of them taste like s**t, I've never tasted possum, I find raccoon greasy, otter is tough and tastes fishy, because that's an otter's diet. Beaver is greasy, muskrat's kind of spicy and not as greasy as beaver. None of them taste like chicken, lol. Anything those animals ingest is going to affect the taste of their meat. If I shoot a moose or deer in southern Manitoba it's going to taste different than one shot in northern Manitoba or northwestern Ontario or Minnesota etc, the difference in their diets is that great.

Just my two cents worth.

[Tony uk]

Ive never tryed to replace the sugar, However if you want to try i suggest that you see how man tabelspoons of sugar it takes to get the ammount then add that ammont of tabelspoons of honey. Thats just an idea tho and it might not work

[trax]

yeah, I think you'd probably use less honey than sugar, but maybe there's some chef on here who knows a conversion formula.

[Rick]

Well, honey....er..a....What I mean is:

According to:

http://www.realfoodliving.com/sugars.htm

1.2. What are the substitution ratios for the different sugars compared to regular table sugar?

Honey: Substituting honey for sugar seems to be a matter of taste. Some people use it cup for cup, others prefer 1/2 cup - 2/3 cup of honey per cup of white sugar. Reduce the amount of other liquids by 1/4 cup for every cup of honey used. Lower the oven temp about 25 degrees F to prevent over-browning and add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of honey to your batter.n (Honey is naturally acidic and the baking soda tempers it.)

[trax]

Gee thanks Rick, that was sweet

[Rick]

Bee nice, Trax. Don't want any rumors to start buzzin'.

[trax]

Yeah, especially in a thread about syrup and honey....don't want things to get sticky....

[Rick]

Uncle! I give.

[RobertRogers]

coon is very good eating. Fat rich meat in the fall. One of the best.

[wareagle69]

there are four basic easily identifiable mushrooms without any look a likes that if ppl take the time to educate themselves you do not have to be an "expert" to id shrooms, isn't the point of us being here is to learn so take the time and read something, buy a book, look it up on the net, find someone with experience, go to a school but always, must i stress this always keep an open mind an an attitude of willingness to learn.

always be prepared..

[Rick]

Okay, and they would be?

[wareagle69]

1-shaggy mane

2- morrels, easy to tell/learn between the true and the false

3- giant puffball


4-chicken of the woods or sulfur shelf.

look each up on the net or in a book then go out and look. the puffball is the hardest to find, unless you live near farm feilds and cows.

another easy one to learn are the boletes, but would recomend seeking knowledge on those, next year i can walk you thru them easily on the site, with my videos.