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Location: Cooking
Discussion: Foraging and cooking in North America
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 Numaul |
Foraging and cooking in North America
May 28 2008, 2:34 AM EDT I'm listing here an (hopefully) alphabetized list of edible plants that grow wild (all the ones I could think of while doing paperwork today) and how to cook them. Most of these can be replanted if you gain a taste for them. Acorns - Sun bake for one day, shell, eat. (Bitter but it's food, no?) Amaranth - Can be converted into a grain and baked for breads. Also, the greens can be eaten when cleaned properly. Apples - There are several varieties and all can be eaten raw after a quick cleaning. Arrowroot - Dry and ground roots into a powder. Use as a thickening agent (I've tried this with a tea made from acorns and thyme. It made a tasty cream.) Asparagus - Clean and eat raw, add to a stew, or boil and eat. Beechnut - Press for oil. Roasted and ground for coffee. Peel and eat fresh. Blackberries - Eat fresh. Crush for juice (mix with water to make it last) then use the rest in an easy to make jam/jelly. Blueberries - Same as blackberries. Burdock - Clean, shave and dry roots. They can be eaten raw or added to anything that you're cooking to add a great flavour (and some health benefits as well) and volume to it. Cattail - The roots can be cooked just like potatoes (about ten times the starch though). The roots can also be ground into a flour for cooking. In early spring, the young new shoots can be picked and cooked like asparagus or eaten raw. Boil or steam immature flower spikes in early summer and eat like corn-on-the-cob. Pollen from mature flowers can be used as a vitamin supplement or thickener for broths. Chestnut - Shell and bake. Shell and boil. Pierce or shell and roast. Shell and crush into a stew. Chicory - Raw. Saute with oils from wild nuts. Chufa - Clean and eat tubers raw. Bake or boil like potatoes. Press tubers for cooking oil. Corn - If you don't know how to cook and eat corn....... To be continued... 4 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you? |
 SuperSoldierRCP |
RE: Foraging and cooking in North America
May 28 2008, 2:52 AM EDT ill find u the link for a webpage like this already, i have 5 website that are totally help ful when i find it i'll send you the links 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Numaul |
RE: Foraging and cooking in North America
May 28 2008, 3:37 AM EDT Continued: Dandelion - Leaves can be cooked like any greens or made into salad. Unopened buds (no yellow showing) can be eaten raw or in the salad. Roots can be eaten in salad, dried and ground, or sliced into other recipies. Daylily - Unbloomed buds can be eaten raw or boiled for great flavouring. Nettle - Saute or lightly boil until limp. The stalks also makes good improvised rope. Pears/Apples - If you can eat an apple or pear... Persimmon - Raw or baked. Plantains - (Southern USA) Boiled at any stage of ripeness. Fried into chips when still green. Can be baked and ground into a thickener as well. Pokeweed - Boil the sprouts three to four times (fresh water each time) and eat. Prickly Pear - (Where cacti grow) Steam over boiling water for a few minutes, slice and eat or just eat it raw. Purslane - Entire plant is edible raw but makes a good soup, salad or additive to bread. Sheep/Wood Sorrel - Both have edible leaves that are a great salad addition. Sassafras - Dried, ground leaves as seasoning or thickener. Strawberries - Same as all other berries listed. Thistle/Artichoke - Remove outer layers of bud until the immature insides are revealed, steam or boil and eat. Water Lily/Lotus - The root can be eaten raw after cleaning. Goes well with spicy dishes. Wild Onion/Garlic - Exactly the same as cultivated versions. Wildrose - Edible leaves. Rose hips are edible in autumn but they are full of seeds. Sap (Maple, Birch, Walnut, Sycamore, Etc) - Boiling of saps makes syrups. Ratio of sap to syrup is about 35 litres to 1 litre. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Numaul |
RE: Foraging and cooking in North America
May 28 2008, 3:40 AM EDT I'm just running this off the top of my head and from my cook books that consist of my mad experiments in the kitchen and the frantic scribbling I do when it turns out well. It figures that I found a website that has lists (not as detailed) like these. http://foragingpictures.com/ 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |