Wild Foods/Forage Foods
| Primary Author: Diane Zirger |
A Mid-Spring's Walk (05/13/12)
Most
people living in town have lawns gracing their property. Clover grows
everywhere, and soon the white blossoms will be present. The leaves
are food right now, as will be the white blossoms later. According to
Linda Runyon, author of “The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide,”
clover is an excellent source of vegetable protein, and can be dried
and ground as flour.
Everyone
is familiar with the common Dandelion. The leaves are nutritious as
are the roots, but the blossoms are so sweet! Firmly grasp the yellow
fuzz and pull out of the hips and enjoy a delicious, delicate flavor.
This plant is also rich in vegetable protein. I used to eat the
entire blossom, but decided the “hips” were too bitter for my
taste, and now concentrate only on the yellow fuzz.
Mullin
has become my best friend again this year. Because allergies never
seem to go away for me, I never forget about my friend Mullin,
remembering, “Oh! My fuzzy,
furry
friend!” Every time I go walking or jogging, particularly in the
spring, I pick at minimum two or three leaves and enjoy immediately;
because it is similar to chewing on a piece of wool fabric, it takes
some serious chewing time. Linda has one word for Mullin that says it
all: “antihistamine!”
Almost
every block in my neighborhood has at minimum a couple of birch trees
gracing property, and the Birch Catkins are a wonderful spring
resource. Because Linda warns of their aspirin attributes, one needs
to limit the intake of Catkins to a reasonable quantity, but when
dried in a food dehydrator, they are crunchy and have a delicate
flavor. The bark can also be an emergency food as well as the leaves.
In her book, she states, “Hundreds of Confederate soldiers were
saved during their retreat to Monterrey, Virginia, when they used
birch bark as food!”Harvesting wild Amaranth into flour
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Wild Amaranth likes to grow next to the edges of cultivated fields
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Cut the Amaranth near the base of the main stem to preserve as many of the branches as possible
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Wash thoroughly with water (I use the spray attachment on the hose outside) to clean off the dirt and debris resulting from traffic on nearby roads and air pollution
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Lay outside on a table for a minimum of 24 hours on white material (such as a pillow case) which will induce evacuation of bugs
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Allow to dry thoroughly in direct sunlight for four to six days (I lay on the back ledge of my car or on the front seat of a truck in direct sunlight with the windows shut; this results in a nice hot oven temperature)
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Slide thumb and fingers along each of the stems in the direction of the “grain,” removing seeds from the stems
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Bake in the oven no deeper than 1” at 300 degrees for 20 minutes to kill bug larva
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Grind in stone grinder twice to make fine flour
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Store in glass jars
This is free flour. This grain is not a GMO product which means you are not consuming denatured grain. The Mayans and Aztecs used this grain for centuries; if it was good enough for them to use, it’s certainly good enough for me!
Every spring, I watch for wild violets, and they taste so good! The best are the wild purple ones, which are sweet and have a slight crunch to them. Those pictured are right outside my office door, and are delicious on fresh fruit as the perfect breakfast.
