The foraging thread - No such thing as a free lunch?

[Hongourable Madisha]

I would look up cooking instructions for the specific type of wild mushrooms. Some are ok, but other's need to be cooked thoroughly to degrade the toxins. There was some mushrooms I saw on a bike path that looked like ones in a grocery store, but I'm not mushroom expert so I didn't mess with it.

I'm still debating on if I should forage for raspberries this year, I never find a whole lot in my area.

Yeah you definitely can't eat it raw, I've seen some recipes that say to parboil or blanch chicken-of-the-woods before further cooking it. I just fried it but it was cooked through, I'll try boiling it first and then letting it dry and cool off when I cook some more, before I bake or fry it.

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

I did it lads, tendies of the woods.

 

[Justtocheck]

How do I plant a Big Mac tree that'll give me hamburgers in 10 years?

 

[Helvítis Túristi]

How do I plant a Big Mac tree that'll give me hamburgers in 10 years?

I would probably say when scientists can get plants to produce actual animal meat. So we would first have to perfect the pigs growing human organs and then test to see if plants can then do it. From there it's just get the right animal parts and fat to grow from the plant. Of course, it would be an abomination and I don't think you could ever get a perfect plant substitute for meat.

 

[White Baby]

It's still best to err on the side of caution if you're unsure, because polluted mussels can fuck you up good for the rest of your days.

I'm a bit late on this, but out of curiosity can you just put mussels in homemade saltwater and let them filter the clean water through or is the pollution generally too much for that?

 

[Helvítis Túristi]

I'm a bit late on this, but out of curiosity can you just put mussels in homemade saltwater and let them filter the clean water through or is the pollution generally too much for that?

If you mean chemicals or the red tides, then no. Most of the toxins you have to worry about with marine life stick with them for life, but the lower food chain organisms have lower amounts.

Edit: I stand slightly corrected, you can apparently reduce the PSP toxins to a degree. The article is called

"Detoxification of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in naturally contaminated mussels, clams and scallops by an industrial procedure" ​

But the process is so tedious and requires an autoclave that I would not recommend it. It also doesn't reduce the toxins to European safety levels.

 

[Coffee Druid]

Got lots of native persimmons growing. Not related to Asian persimmons. Once these turn black they’ll be ripe, but it will probably be another month or two. I’m going to at least make jam with some, and look up other recipes if enough survive the birds.

Once ripe they stain everything brown. Maybe it could be interesting to use the skins to dye some cotton fabric or yarn?

 

[ShortPoppy]

Went for a wander along the creek the other day and found tons of watercress. I don't recall finding any last year ... but I'm pretty new to foraging, I probably saw it and didn't realise it was edible. And delicious!
Other pickable plants are still fairly small and/or sparse, seeing as it's still pretty early in winter. Will give the wild fennel a couple more weeks to grow out its new shoots.

There's one patch under a particular tree where I found a couple of stinging nettles last year. I came back a couple of times to gather new shoots, before the park maintenance crew cleared them out (which was fair enough since they were close to a well-trafficked footpath). There are a few baby nettle plants growing there now - I'm tempted to dig one up and take it home with me, and see if I can grow it in a pot.

So, most of the plants I forage are invasive European species (just cleaning up the local environment lol), but I'm trying to find out which native species are worth harvesting from too.
I just picked a few kangaroo apples for the first time (attaching a photo from a botanical archive as I don't have a working camera right now, also image embedding isn't working for me):

The tree is part of the solanaceae family, so the fruit's actually more like small tomatoes than apples. Soft flesh with hard seeds, mild sweet taste a bit like guava, slightly bitter skin. Despite the name the fruits are eaten mostly by birds (and humans in the past). I need to go and find some more, I want to try drying them ...

 

[Lil' Misogynist]

Found these while walking along a mountain trail last Saturday. I wish they were bigger but I’m not about to refuse free food, and they tasted pretty damn good.

 

[Nig Kang Theory]

It's good that we have this thread because I'm sure not signing up for a separate forum just to post about foraging. Here's some of my tidbits from this year.
In my area I noticed all the easy finds like fruits and berries were nowhere to be seen most of the year since people are out nature walking and foraging more due to covid.
Earlier in the year, I collected a bunch of maple whirligigs and leached and roasted them to see what they were like. Pretty strong flavor, but when brewed as a tea it tastes remarkably similar to a dark green tea and I like it. It was a little time consuming but worth it for a new occasional tea option.
I found that some people can be allergic (!) to wild grapes. Turns out I'm one of those people. Information on this seemed pretty scant to me, so here's a PSA. There's some kind of toxic compound in wild grapes that doesn't effect everyone, and is apparently rendered inert once you cook them. I tossed mine because my hands began to itch and sting simply from devining them, better safe than sorry.
Currently trying my hand at making acorn flour. I've been shelling for hours, I smell like an acorn and I may be starting to have some regrets. I'll come back and edit this with the results.

 

[Coffee Druid]

The chile pequins in my area have been doing well. I picked a cup of them to pickle soon. Their season is running out though and they're starting to dry our on the bush.

I have a lot of these 'Indian tea" plants in my backyard. They have a bunch of tiny leaves that are fragrant like herbs when crushed or rubbed. I don't know if the name comes from people actually using it to make tea in the past, but I might research more into it.

I'm sad we didn't get any agarita berries this year. It must have been the frost from last winter. Maybe next year.

 

[Jaded Optimist]

Berries: every year I get enough blackberries to make crumbles, jams, and liquor. Rose hips to make tea for when me or my husband are sick.

Mushrooms: we have a great spot, and usually get 15 to 17 lbs of chantelles. Usually dry some, freeze some, eat some, and sell some. Also have a small oyster mushroom tree.

Veg: dandelions, stinging nettles, fiddleheads, and pine needles for tea.

Meat: deer, grouse, sometimes squirrels, local freshwater and ocean fish, plus crawfish, clams, prawns, crabs, etc...

 

[Coffee Druid]

Berries: every year I get enough blackberries to make crumbles, jams, and liquor. Rose hips to make tea for when me or my husband are sick.

Mushrooms: we have a great spot, and usually get 15 to 17 lbs of chantelles. Usually dry some, freeze some, eat some, and sell some. Also have a small oyster mushroom tree.

Veg: dandelions, stinging nettles, fiddleheads, and pine needles for tea.

Meat: deer, grouse, sometimes squirrels, local freshwater and ocean fish, plus crawfish, clams, prawns, crabs, etc...

Sounds like you live near some nice resources. I'm pretty landlocked and the nearby lakes here aren't as great for fishing (or are catch and release). I had some dewberries along my fence. But they were sparse and only enough for me to grab a few to snack on as they ripened.

We had a TON of thistle stalks here thus past summer. I know I've heard of parts of them being eaten but not sure how to prepare em. I have a log in my chicken run for them to play on. Funnily enough, I think it's been growing a patch of hen of the woods mushrooms. But it's small.

We do have an abundance of deer where I am (in fact one of them is an invasive species that's huntable all year long). I don't have any experience hunting but I have a friend who does and has offered to take me on a trip sometime when we find a good place nearby that allows it. I like venison a lot, and want to try cooking with it myself.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

Kiwifarms is good for information, so I'll ask the smart foragers in this thread a question. What's that barley-looking plant that grows by the side of the road in the Eastern US? It turns golden in the fall, turns red by late October, and then falls apart and regrows in the spring. It usually grows only like 4-5 stalks but sometimes in the median of larger roads it grows into big patches of it.

Is it any good to harvest? It does look like a lot of work to process it into flour.

 

[Intensening Rapeye]

It sounds like a type of wild-grass. But since all grass is bitches AVOID.

 

[Orange Rhymer]

Kiwifarms is good for information, so I'll ask the smart foragers in this thread a question. What's that barley-looking plant that grows by the side of the road in the Eastern US? It turns golden in the fall, turns red by late October, and then falls apart and regrows in the spring. It usually grows only like 4-5 stalks but sometimes in the median of larger roads it grows into big patches of it.

Is it any good to harvest? It does look like a lot of work to process it into flour.

Are you talking about Amaranth ?
I accidentally-on-purpose grew a ton this year. I am currently harvesting seeds. I will let you know how good of a grain it it.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

It sounds like a type of wild-grass. But since all grass is bitches AVOID.

Is it just a pain in the ass to process or is it likely to be infested with ergot or some other fungi that'll fuck you up?

Are you talking about Amaranth ?
I accidentally-on-purpose grew a ton this year. I am currently harvesting seeds. I will let you know how good of a grain it it.

I'm pretty sure I've seen patches of some sort of wild amaranth (not the bushier kind), but they're smaller. I always thought amaranth was always red and didn't change colors so fast in the fall.

 

[Orange Rhymer]

Is it just a pain in the ass to process or is it likely to be infested with ergot or some other fungi that'll fuck you up?

I'm pretty sure I've seen patches of some sort of wild amaranth (not the bushier kind), but they're smaller. I always thought amaranth was always red and didn't change colors so fast in the fall.

Chinese Amaranth is red. I had blue and purple this year. Never growing it again.

it's a pain in the ass to harvest, separate the grain from chaff, and dry, 1/2 quart of grain took me an entire weekend, resulting in a gamey flour.
Not worth it.

 

[Super Guido]

There's a place relatively nearby that has staghorn sumac, but I'm worried about contamination from the cars since it's growing near an expressway. I've been wondering if it's safe to harvest - a lot of places don't say much. One source mentioned possible cadmium contamination.

 

[Orange Rhymer]

There's a place relatively nearby that has staghorn sumac, but I'm worried about contamination from the cars since it's growing near an expressway. I've been wondering if it's safe to harvest - a lot of places don't say much. One source mentioned possible cadmium contamination.

iirc cars used to make lead contamination. In the days of leaded gas.
Never heard cadmium.