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Thread: Wild Edibles in Southeastern US

  1. #1
    Senior Member xjosh40x's Avatar
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    Default Wild Edibles in Southeastern US

    Wanting to gain more knowledge about wild edibles in my region. I know a good bit from my military training and books I've read. I know about acorns, pine, grass and bamboo. Mushrooms are completely out of my comfort zone and I'm pretty afraid of tying any. I want to know some other opinions and preferences. No book can out do first hand experience and knowledge. Any one have know of some good stuff?


  2. #2

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    I highly recommend buying Samual Thayer's 2 books, and John Kallas' book. They go into the deep detail really needed to "know" a plant year-round, and to be able to fully utilize it.

    Also, join the eattheweeds.com forum--a wealth of sharp minds over there. Not sure about Mississippi, but there are several very active members from Alabama.

    Most of all, eat the stuff! I made a pact with myself to eat something wild every day. This has helped me more than anything. When you manage to ID a plant, you will forget it in time. But if you really eat it, you will learn when it is available, when it is best, and you will never forget it.
    "everything's temporary if you give it enough time" J Kilcher

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  3. #3

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    What part of Miss are you in? Southeast, AL here.

    OK - Here's a few that are likely to be around you depending on time of year, and exactly where you are in Mississippi:

    Greenbrier tubers (lookup Smilax), yucca, cattails, dandelion, several different edible thistles. You could probably find fiddlehead fern, wild onion, dewberries, mulberries, chicory, curly dock, blackberries and wild strawberries. The young top greens of pokeweed can/must be steamed, but don't harvest if plant is over 15 cm high. Whole plant is poisonous after that point. And definitely a seasonal, more opportunistic food source for late spring.

    You can make a drink using a mature sumac plant's red flowering top, but be careful to not confuse with poison sumac.

    Just a few that could get you started...
    Last edited by BushTech; 12-29-2013 at 06:01 AM.

  4. #4

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    Nevermind on those yuccas. A lot aren't that great for eating, you need positive ID from someone experienced to find the edible species.

    Don't do anything until you've read this: http://www.wilderness-survival.net/plants-1.php

    Oh, and we have have a lot of muscadine growing here in SE AL.
    Last edited by BushTech; 12-29-2013 at 05:36 AM.

  5. #5

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    The best-tasting greens (that I know of) in your area are curly dock, broadleaf dock, wood sorrel, and sheep sorrel. The docks are "bittersweet" much of the year, and the sorrels taste like sweet tarts year-round. These are the ones my kids will really mow down with a smile. These 4 are also a great place to start because they are very distinct--easy to ID.
    "everything's temporary if you give it enough time" J Kilcher

    www.HoofRehab.com

  6. #6
    Senior Member xjosh40x's Avatar
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    I know all the summer berries. I'm looking more into greens, not interested in mushrooms. They frighten me cause I've seen what they can do. When I was a teen starting out being interested in surviving off what Mother Nature provides I ate clovers, clover leafs, dandelions, cannon roots and wild onion. And none was from books, just experimentation. Most of the things you guys have mentioned I don't know off. I'll have to buy a book like what was mentioned.

  7. #7

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    I'd start with John Kallas (Edible Wild Plants, Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate). That was my 6th (or so) edible plant book. I wish it had been my first.
    "everything's temporary if you give it enough time" J Kilcher

    www.HoofRehab.com

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    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    All those books are good and I own a copy of them all!
    If you are in SE AL, I'm just across the river from you. Perhaps we could do an edibles hike in the spring at Landmark Park?

    Study the books, and don't eat ANYTHING until you can identify it WITHOUT the book. And please try to learn the latin names. Many common names are ambiguous.
    Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. Helen Keller

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