My Latest Kerfuffles

[rwc1969]

As I was kerfuffling through the woods I found a couple new edibles to add to the list.

When looking for wild edibles I'm searching for abundant, healthy, tasty food sources that can be easily identified, gathered and prepared. If, throughout the season, the plant or animal in question has multiple edible or otherwise useful parts then that's just icing on the cake. I think these all fit that criteria to a T, a kerfufflish T.

So, please let me introduce them to you, if, that is, you have not yet formally been introduced.

Maple seeds!

They're completely edible, pod and all, when green. Once they mature a bit the pod or wings become a bit bitter, but are still edible until completely dry. The seed inside remains edible even upon drying, but may require further processing into flour or the like to be palatable.

I failed to mention it, but the leaves and flowers are also completely edible. I've yet to try the flowers, but the leaves, even when young, seem a bit "not good" to me. FYI! The leaves I ate were of the Red maple tree, not box elder as seen in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4xk1...eature=related

Never fear though, because there is another plant growing right next door to the maple with leaves that are completely edible and quite tasty, even the fully mature leaves while still fresh are perfectly edible. As the leaves mature the ribs become stringy and tough, but there is no noticable bitterness that my tastebuds can distinguish. Nevertheless, the younger leaves, while still glossy are the sweetest and most tender.

I hear tell the distinctly bracted flowers are quite tasty too. Not to mention, this plant is valuable for so much more, carving and cordage come to mind. However, of these three things I have no experience, but, there is more than enough documentation to support this.

What is it?

Basswood!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v69QDpgUFuY

And finally, how could one talk of abundant multi-use plants without mentioning Cattails.
I'm not even going to go into all the uses of this Genus of plants, one with experience could certainly write an entire book on the subject, if you have this experience I suggest you do just that.

Simply, I enjoy eating the recently emerging delicate cucumber flavored white central portions of the leafstalks that are hidden within the layers of green leaves. I prefer to rinse mine well, or cook to ensure no nasties are hiding inside. I have seen and read that they are perfectly safe to eat fresh from the pond as long as you don't contaminate them with the usually quite nasty stagnant water which they generally inhabit, this can be hard not to do.

If you pick some you will notice a clear gel-like substance within the layers of leaves. This substance has proven anti-septic values and feels great on sunburned or dried skin. I've used it straight from the most stagnant swamp one could imagine with no ill effects, your mileage may vary, so use at your own risk. "Dammit Jim, I'm not a doctor!" But, I'll say it sure felt good on my red lobster skin last year, much like aloe vera gel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD0zzrEdUPs

Disclaimer:

In the vids you may see a railroad bed behind me. I don't typically gather from near roads or railroad beds due to the possiblilty of human made contaminants. But, considering the nature of many of these man-made substances, and the amount of time they've been in use, and their abilty to last for centuries, one has to ask the question:

If gathering wild plants from beside a railroad is unsafe then wouldn't all plants and animals in that entire area also be unsafe? Wouldn't all the farmfood and animals that utilize water that has flowed under or alongside a railroad also be contaminated? Wouldn't the groundwater that feeds your well be unsafe? Do farm tractors leak oil, antifreeze, gasoline and such onto crops? Is that unsafe? How do those crops get transported to the store, what are those crops fertilized with, washed with, decontaminated with?

What does driving to and from work every day for your entire life breathing in exhaust fumes as you sit in a traffic jam networking on your Iphone with high tension electrical grid wires buzzing overhead do? Is it safer than eating a few cattails from a stinky marsh located next to a contaminated railroad bed which is situated along an entire watershed?

I don't know! But, it is food for thought.

[Winnie]

Very Interesting, I agree, Bulrush(Cattail) is yummy. Try thickly slicing the shoot and add to a stir fry!

[your_comforting_company]

To be honest, I do consider the contamination, but really... my GARDEN is only about 30 yards from a major traffic artery. Are my vegetables unsafe?? well.. if they are I'm still eating them. I've eaten onions from right beside the highway with no noticable ill effects. I suppose after many many years, heavy metals could accumulate in my system, but then I think about all the other junk I put in my body, like coffee, cigs, and whiskey, and think "It has to be AT LEAST as safe as that stuff, right?"
I consider the far side of the ditch to be the beginning of the "safe zone".
With cattails and hyacinth and those floaty things in aquatic habitats, I give much more consideration because upstream of us are several paper mills and a nuclear power facility; even a sewage treatment plant up in Albany... I try to gather such things from ponds and creeks that are not directly connected to the river.