PURSLANE AS FOOD PLANT:
The salad plants & potherbs growing wild on this continent or others among which the trailing.
Purslane with its yellow flowers is often regarded less highly than others, are so abundant that when one stays hungry for very long it is with a good reason, which is; he doesn't know better, thus he MUST learn.
BIRCH THE SPAGHETTI THAT GROWS ON TREES:
The widely distributed Birches have other culinary uses. The Inner Bark is especially sweet & sustaining. (It fills you up.)
BIRCH IS CREDITED WITH SAVING ACTUAL HUNDREDS OF LIVES UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS ON THIS CONTINENT ALONE.
This #Cambium# is enjoyable Raw. It is also bland enough either to chop into bits or to cut into spaghetti-like length for adding to soups & stews. It retains its aromatic spiciness even when dried for storing or carrying.
Young leaves & twigs, the soft formative tissue between bark & wood & the thin bark covering the roots are all steeped in hot water to make a favourite backwoods tea. When we sip this beverage it has the perfume & flavour of winter green.
UNEXCELLED TINDER = BIRCH:
UNEXCELLED FOR STARTING CAMPFIRES UNDER EVERY SORT OF ADVERSE CONDITIONS.
Its bark which can be pulled harmlessly off in small dry wisp by the fingers alone.
Great sections of the bark are valuable in the farther place as a flexible emergency waterproofing material. It will & does serve for utensils shelters, water-craft, even clothing and food.
BIRCH SYRUP:
Just like Maple syrup can be secured in spring, using a #gimlet# to pierce the bark, you attach any can or container underneath the hole which will drip its watery sap. (Use a nail above the hole to secure your can.)
In those holes made by axe gashes or bored by a knife you introduce a wooden peg which will help the sap to flow off into your can.
You have to check regularly the cans so that they don't overflow, you then either drink the sap or make it boil until you get a thick syrup.
It takes tons of steam & a lot of work to get this marvellous syrup but it's worth it if you have time & means.
This sweet delicately spicy syrup may be well worth the time & effort if only for its Psychological Uplift.
FORESTS OF FOOD: PINES
The lodge pole pine, together with other pines, has an eatable inner bark that is preferred fresh by some & sun-dried by others. Some like it best when scraped from the South side of a young tree while the spring sap is rising
POPLAR AS FOOD: (They are POPULAR.)
The Poplar sweetish sap layer is also eaten both Raw & cooked. This too lies between the wood & the outside bark, the latter being intensely bitter with salicin which for some reasons is relished by beavers & moose & is also an ingredient for some tonics for the benefit of mankind.
#POPLAR# #2:
All Poplars including the #faux tremble# of the Rockies and the # Liard from the Prairies# and of the North as well as the #saules# have saved many a life in the past.
THEIR INTERNAL BARK IS VERY NOURISHING/ COULD MAINTAIN YOU ALIVE FOR MANY WEEKS.
IT CAN BE EATEN Raw, in infusion or boiled like noodles in long strips. You can also dry it and make a flour.
Also REMEMBER that the INTERNAL BARK of the Pine, Birch and #Genevrier# is EQUALLY COMESTIBLES.
ROSE HIPS:
The thorny vines & bushes of the wild rose of sweet fragrance, develops a reddish orange berry-like fruit that clings for months. Their delicate taste is reminiscent of domestic apples which is another member of the rose hip.
Rose Hip can be Very valuable part of wilderness diet because of their abundant Vitamin "C" that both avoid & remedy scurvy.
WILD ROSES:
This plant grows in dry forest particularly along water bed and its slope. Easy to recognize with its thick branches.
Its fruits called #Cynorrhodon# appears in mid-summer and last till falls sometime till winter and even till beginning of spring. Its colour ranges from red to orange.
In spring and winter this fruit is dry and hard, yet EDIBLE & VERY NOURISHING.
STRAWBERRY #BAIE DES CORNEILLES#
:
The last one being blue or black ARE EDIBLE and good to EAT too.
CLOUDBERRY:
Also EDIBLE yet to define a little more.
ROSES BY OTHER NAMES:
(Berries) Photofamily
Other members of the rose: Blackberries, Raspberries, Cloudberries, Salmonberries Thimbleberries. Even botanists have a hard time to differentiate among all the closely related species.
All are composed of clusters of juicy little fruits drawn together like a cap over a central head at the end of a stem.
Each individual droplet contains its own tiny seed. Ripened colours vary from salmons & red through blacks. Also considerable range in taste.
Many animals love them, actually during the hunting season you will find Deer in Raspberry patches. (Good place to hunt!)
If you take the trouble to peel & taste some of the young shoots of the raspberry you will discover why they are A GOOD EDIBLE EMERGENCY FOOD IN THEMSELVES.
Young leaves tossed into boiling water & set away from the fire to steep make a very good tea.
PECULIARITIES OF THE HIGH-BUSH CRANBERRY:
This roundish red berry, like some of the more expensive hors d'oeuvre, usually requires a cultivated taste. You pop one of the bright little ovals into your mouth & bite down on it experimentally.
The odd sourness perhaps constrains you to spit it out. The flavour that remains, however is provocative. You try again & let us hope again.
Then as likely as not you find yourself looking forward to the unusual tartness of the fruit.
You are apt to come to appreciate it particularly when thirsty, for the juice from a mouthful of high-bush. Cranberries quench dryness like no other wild berry I know.
On sub-zero days the berries melt against the tongue like sherbet. They also make good jelly with none of the bitterness you get in the familiar vine Cranberry.
CRANBERRY FAMILIAR VINE #2:
This firm red Cranberry which grows on thin vines which creep over innumerable acres of marsh & moist woodland has one drawback for emergency food, its INEDIBLE bitterness.
Yet stewed with an added sweet such as the Blueberries which often grow nearby then you get it right.
Frontiersmen still gather them by the bushels using flat-bottom scoop with series of long V-shaped teeth so as to strip the vine more easily.
Then on long night you empty the bails onto a stretched slanted blanket. Leaves, stems & other debris are thus caught & later shaken away, while the ripe Cranberries roll into containers for later uses from pies to bannock.
BLUEBERRIES THICKEN SOUPS:
There are scores of different species of Blueberries, known in different names; #Worthleberries, Huckleberries# etc., some crowding tall bushes, others fill tiny shrubs only 3-4 inches from the ground.
Blueberries are one of the most valuable foods of Indians who have long eaten them as is, dried, with meat, as a thickening for soup, used in pies etc.
OTHER WILD FRUITS:
They are so numerous, that it is a bit impractical to list them all. So all of us should make it our business to learn what is edible around our favourite woodland or in strange land when one visit.
GOOSEBERRIES & CURRANTS:
The Indians used dried Currants extensively to flavour Pemmican which is essentially equal parts by weight of dried meat & rendered fat. The Serviceberry is another fruit that was included in Pemmican.
ELDERBERRY:
This dry, bland, reddish Bearberry IS EDIBLE but practically tasteless, yet they can add to your daily food.
DANDELIONS:
Free coffee Taraxacum Officinal
This member of the Chicory family is relished entirely as a young plant leaves and roots are GOOD EATING both Raw or in salad.
When it is older than after it has been boiled just long enough to become tender. To many the clean bitter tang is stimulating. Those who don't care for it can throw away the first water & finish the boiling in fresh water.
You can also gather a pan of roots, dry them, roast them in oven & grind the shrivelled results. It is universally used as coffee stretcher or coffee substitute.
The same thing applies to Chicory, often mistaken for Dandelion in its youth stage except that Chicory instead of being stemless has a stalk. Chicory later has a large usually blue flower. (Morning blues, without coffee hum?)
DANDELIONS LEAVES #2:
The leaves of the #liondent (?) Dandelions to check up#, in the fall these leaves of the #liondent# contain 25 times more Vitamin A than the tomato juice and 50 times more than the Asparagus. Boiled in 2 waters replace better the Spinach.
It GROWS ABOUT EVERYWHERE, Young leaves are tender and its buds are delicious & contain one of the BEST SOURCE OF A & C VITAMINS.
The adult leaves MUST be boiled in 2 waters to remove the bitterness. You can have a doz. of petals steeped in hot cup of water as good drink.
WILD CHICORY: (ALL OVER)
From Europe and Asia now grows in USA and All Over the World along roads & in fields.
Its leaves similar to Dandelions although thicker, gather themselves close to the ground and cover a root looking like a carrot.
Its stem gets up to 1.2m high and crown itself in spring with numerous and splendid blue flowers looking like Dandelions.
Its young and tender flowers are eaten as lettuce, grounded its roots are used to replace coffee.
PIGWEED BY SEVERAL OTHER NAMES:
Just as the succulent dark meat of Muskrat is sometimes preferred when served as Swamp Rabbit, so is Pigweed more attractive to us when called Wild Spinach, Lamb's Quarters.
ITS MILD FLAVOUR AND WIDESPREAD HABITAT MAKE IT ONE OF THE MORE IMPORTANT WILD GREENS.
Stalk, leaves, flowers & grains are All nourishing both Raw or cooked. No domestic green equals its taste.
The seed like those of the green Amaranth which is also called PIGWEED may well relieve the monotony in the bannock & other bread stuffs, lending them a Caraway-seed effect. They can also be dried & grounded for uses as meal.
PLANTAIN IS GOOD! TO EAT:
AN ALMOST UNIVERSALLY DISTRIBUTED WEED WELL KNOWN BUT RARELY CONSIDERED AS FOOD.
This is the short stemless plant with broad green leaves rising directly from the root about a straight central spike. Use the leaves of the herb cooked up into greens.
FIREWEED = FREE TEA:
It is also another Herb difficult to mistake, especially when the single multi-leaved stalks brighten with purplish flowers.
Thousands of acres of burnt lands turn to magenta so thickly does Fireweed bloom there, when frost leaves the ground. The young stems when they first appear are tender enough to cook as asparagus.
More mature stalks are peeled & their sweetish not Sweetish interior are eaten Raw. Young leaves make a passable greens. Dried, Fireweed leaves boiled in kettles, from which after they have been infused are poured as tea.
TABLE MUSTARD:
Mustard which thrives wild in most of the world is familiar because of its brilliant yellow flowers, in California we have seen it equalling telephones poles in height, we dare say too: (In Texas of course they are even higher!)
Mustard is best as green when it first appears. These slightly peppery leaves are enjoyed Raw, so are the young yellow flowers. The entire plant goes well when cooked.
Table mustard can be made from the seeds by grinding them between 2 stones & adding enough water to make a paste.
Commercially prepared condiments often containing such additional ingredients as flour, vinegar, salt, various spices & horse-radish. The seeds are also used for mixing with various meals & flour as flavouring.
CLOVER:
The sweetish roots are used after being smoked over a fire. Honey can be sucked from the white, yellow or reddish flower.
It is rich in protein and can be easily Raw but hard to digest. The Indians used to dip flower & leaves in salted water. Easier to digest when boiled.
For 4 persons you can melt 4 tbs. of margarine then add 6 cups of clover leaves & flowers then add 1 cup of water, cover up & cook till you feel it is ready & stir occasionally you can even add the roots to get an even milder taste.
REMEMBER NOT ALL FLOWERING PLANTS ARE EDIBLE, MANY ARE POISONOUS.
NETTLES = GOOD:
They seem to be unlikely candidates for greens yet THEY ARE VERY GOOD. It is another tall green herb hard to mistake, especially because of its stinging hairs thus the hands MUST be protected when nettles are gathered preferably when they first appear in Spring.
Leather gloves & knife makes it easier, or use 2 sticks as tongs. You only have to drop the young shoots into a container of boiling water then set away from the heat.
As soon as the dark emerald greens have cooled enough to be eaten, they may be forked out and serve.
HORSETAIL FOR EATING & CLEANING:
ONE MORE FOOLPROOF WILD FOOD, ESPECIALLY EASY TO IDENTIFY.
You may have noticed this small green plant that thrives in abundance in brooks, or other damp locations, giving the impression of miniature evergreen forest or dwarfed bamboo exist in 2 forms.
The Infertile horsetail consists of a single stem, which resembles the trunk of a tiny pine tree, because of the green shoots that branch out from it in series of levels.
The fertile horsetail thrust up in one straight stem which ascends in joints that a lot of us have found ourselves pulling apart junction by junction.
The fertile horsetail is also known as the scouring rush because the gritty surfaces of the older plants make them excellent articles to grab by the handful for use as scouring pads.
The outer tissue can be removed from the young shoots of the Horsetail & the blandly sweet interior eaten Raw.
NORTHERN CACTI FURNISH FOOD & DRINK:
The fruits & fleshy sections of N. American Cacti ARE EDIBLE raw, boiled, roasted even fried. Yet be very careful in removing the bristles & spikes usually this is done easier by heat or by cutting off the outer tissue.
SWISS PINE:
Widely spread in Europe and northern Siberia. Its needles grow in #panicule# and its nuts are hidden inside these apples that grow alone or in grape at the end of branches. CAN BE EATEN RAW OR ROASTED.
the following has Canada/ Tundra mixed up and some repeat from above to check good later whenever it comes Some even cover 4/5 continent
#NENUPHAR# OR WATER LILY: #Nenuphar species#
Roots with many ramifications CAN BE EATEN once peeled & boiled. The pods or tusks real good when young. You MUST boil them using 2 waters, meaning throw the first & boil again.
SEEDS & GRAINS: N. America
Grains of numerous plants such as the #Sarasin, the Ragweed#. The Amarante, poulette grasse#, the beans and peas CONTAIN OIL WHICH IS RICH IN MUCH PROTEIN. (FAT???)
You can smash them between 2 rocks then to mix them with water and cook them to obtain a gruel. You can also roast them. Once roasted the corn grains keep well.
Among other native plants in N. America with comestibles seeds, see #Muguet#, Bamboo, Rice, Slowly cooked gives better taste.
FRUITS in NORTH AMERICA & VEGETABLES:
Myrtille, Mulberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, #groseilles#, Cherries, Apple, Tomato, Cucumber, Pepper, Aubergine, Okra, Blueberry # Cerisier tardif#, Pensilvania & Virginia Cherry, #Aubepine#
Oven cook the tough fruits (thick skin) and boil the fruits which are juicy. Beware of place using shit as fertilizer.
WHORTLEBERRY OR BILBERRY, MYRTLE AND BERRIES:
End of summer the wild Myrtle grows in Northern European TUNDRA, in Asia and America as well as farther south in #septentrional zone.#
In the Northern Tundra these wild berries grow on very low shrubs, while in the South they grow on small trees up to 2m high. When ripen the fruits are red, blue or black.
MULBERRY:
Grow in North and South America, in Europe, Asia & Africa. In wild state found in forests, along roads and habitated areas.
Up to 20m high but in shrubs as well, its fruits colours vary from red to black, 2.5 to 5cm long and 1cm thick are delicious, try it as wine.
WILD RAISINS VINES:
Found East and South USA, Canada, Mexico, Mediterranean regions, Asia, West Indies, Australia & Africa.
Its leaves are well cut up looking much like the cultivated vines. Its fruit rich in sugar grows in grapes and contains water.
WILD APPLES:
ABUNDANT IN CANADA, USA & ASIA, grow wooden land, along or close to woods or in the fields. Easy to identify look like cultivated apples.
This apple is slice thin and made to dry up and kept as a reserve or mixed with other stuff to make pie or bread, cake. Etc.
#CAPER# :
Plant grows as a shrub or small tree up to 6m high. Very abundant in north Africa, India, Arabia, Indonesia.
The caper good with fish appear at the end of the branches without leaves but cover with thorns and flowers. Buds are also comestibles.
WILD FIG:
Found sometimes in Desert of NORTH America. More info needed
LITTLE KNOWN EDIBLE PLANTS:
YET VERY GOOD.
#Vesse de loup, panais sauvage, tilleul, oinion doux, riz sauvage, arum, ail sauvage, patate a chapelet# .
WILD PLANTS N. American: (pix)
These CAN BE EATEN Raw: Young leaves of chicory, mint, mustard, #arroche, pourpier, cresson, orpin# specially# orpin rosat, oseille, bourse a pasteur, claytonie, cresson de fontaine.
Laitue scariole et diverse espece de cochlearia# which plant is strong in vitamin C. The adult leaves of those plants are excellent when cooked or made ready as for spinach.
However those of #bourse a pasteur, chicory & mustard, badane, souci d'eau, ascepiade and phytolaque of America# are bitter and hard & you MUST then boil them till tender then strain them and boil them again in clear water.
As for the other above plants either eaten Raw or boiled only once with just a little water quickly nearly as you steep tea is excellent, if boiled too long you loose vitamins.
To this you can also add #tussilage, rumex, plantain, chou gras or named under chenopode blanc (chenopodium album)#
#MOURON DES OISEAUX# :
Grows across Europe to check where else especially in the prairies, fields and damp woods. Its little leaves are rich in iron & vitamin C stay fresh and green under the snow.
Its leaves & the stems CAN BE EATEN all year long Raw or boiled but don't boil them too long since they loose their delicate taste.
#POIREAU, CIBOULETTE, SIL DES BOIS# :
Use them as spices but BEWARE of the #Zigadene Elegant# which looks much like Wild Onion but that does not have the odour and IT IS DEADLY!
ROOTS, STEMS, BUDS:
In the spring the young buds of the # acorus roseau, de la mache rouge, de l'alciepiade (asperge sauvage), gratte cuis?# and the juicy fruits of the #gaultherie of Canada# CAN BE EATEN Raw or cooked.
#BARDDANE# :
All the part of the #Bardane # CAN BE EATEN but for its #capsule epineuse et brune si familiere qui colle aux vetements. Son envelope est toute fois amere.# Peel and cook the roots which don't have #de pedoncule en fleur# as you would cook cabbage.
In the spring peel and cook the roots which look like rhubarb & eat them Raw or cooked or boiled as you would for celery.
Contrarily as to the #rhubarb# its leaves are not toxic. In the summer the #moelle blanche de l'epais pedoncule# is an excellent substitute to the potato. Slice the stem and fry it or boil or roasted in the oven.
#Les racines poivres de la mache rouge, le penacs a saveur de navet, les petits tuvercules en forme de chataignes de la calytonie et les rizhomes a petits renflements en forme de pois du clicentre a capuchon sont tous meilleurs quils en ont l'air# and they can easily replace the potato.
#Quant aux racines feculentes de certaines plantes aquatiques: sagitaire, quenouille et nenuphar# they are better when gathered by cold weather.
The Indians used to gather them using their feet. They would walk in the water among the plants and gather the young plants which were coming to surface, so for once don't use your head but your feet.
#RACINES DE SAISIFIS# :
They have an astonishing oily taste. So to use this property and to prepare a meal using this false oil, rub and scratch a few young roots.
Cut them in slices of about 0.5cm and pour over just enough milk to cover them over and add salt then cover it all up and cook it till the roots are tender.
TEA / COFFEE SUBSTITUTE:
The infusion of the #Gaultherie (the des bois)# give a good tea also the young branches of the #merisier rouge# give this result just pour hot water in a 1 litre container filled with small branches broken up in pieces about 2 to 3 cm let it seep till all its cold then filter it using some filter made of cloth and warm over the juice.
The young leaves of all the varieties of mint make an excellent drink you just have to cover them up with boiling water and let them infused to your taste.
The leaves of #tussilage# are treated the same way. Now as for the #the du Labrador and the du New Jersey, du houx glabre et du cassina# let them dry up in front of a fire or use #un four a reflector# then powder them before you infuse them.
NOTE: #le Houx# is one of the rare plant in Canada to contain caffeine. Also the #graines de Tournesol, les fruits de granetterons ou des racines de chicoree, de souchet comestibles, de pissenlit or de saisifis# roasted on a small fire then powdered before you infuse them will give you good drink.
OAK GENEROSITY AS FOOD:
Because of their sheer abundance the #glands de chene# are or were USED BY SEVERAL INDIAN NATIONS AS BASIC FOOD ELEMENT.
Break the thin shell of the fruit lengthwise using rock or #pliers# and then to extract the bitter taste let the almonds boil for two hours MAKING SURE to change water when it becomes yellowish.
Let the almond dry out and then grind them down. Now put this flour in a burlap bag and pour boiling water over it to get rid of the possible bitterness left over. The flour thus obtained can be used as such or mixed with others, giving a taste of nuts.
NATIONAL BAMBOO OF NORTH:
#L'EXTRAORDINAIRE QUENOUILLE#:
ALL THE PARTS OF THE #QUENOUILLE# CAN BE USED WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
In America there are 4 different types and ALL ARE EATABLE. (EDIBLE)
The natives Indians were using them all year long for food as well as for making diverse objects among which #tissage et vannerie#.
Easy to recognize and it grows in swamps and shallow waters all over Canada. (Check if found elsewhere)
In winter and fall use the #aigraite as insulants ou bourre#. In the beginning of summer cut the young buds at the moment when they turn from green to yellow.
Remove the seeds, make them boil and eat them as you would for corn. From mid fall to mid spring the rhizomes under ground roots make a network which links them up to one another.
These rhizomes are rich in starch which can replace advantageously the potato.
Once dried and grounded they make an excellent flour. Use a sharp stick to pick them up. You can also gather the young green buds called Russian #Aspergus# and boil them in salted water.
Remove the #gaine spongieuse du rhizome# and you will find the starch inside as a white thick mass.
During the summer the #inflorescence (heads)# of an acre of cattails can give as much as 3 times more flour than one acre of wheat.
The pollen which is rich in vitamin and delicious to taste is yellow. In order to gather it you will cover up the #inflorescence# with a plastic bag and just shake the plant.
The #pollen# thus collected CAN BE EATEN as such or mix with flours. In the spring gather the young buds (40-50cm) at the base of the plant near the #rhizome#.
Peel them and eat them Raw or slice them up and cook them as green peas They have the carrot texture and the taste of cucumber. The leaves are not comestibles but are used in vanneries or used to put over roofs.
CACTUS:
All North American cacti are GOOD! TO EAT for their fruits & their fleshy content.
The best fruits are from the one called #la raquette (Opuntia?)# Cut its extremities to open it lengthwise and to remove the flesh but beware of the thorns.
If you want to eat the #raquettes# themselves they are comestibles you just have to burn the thorns before cutting open the shell. The flesh CAN BE EATEN Raw or cooked.
#CHARDON# : (Tissel ??)
This plant is biannual and is an excellent source of food from early spring to late fall. In the first year his leaves form a tender #roset# but they have shards which you can remove easily and then you can eat the leaves Raw or boiled.
During the second year appears a purple flower at the end of a thorny stem which has a taste similar to the #artichaut#. Peel the stem, cut it in long slices & let it boil.
The root is also nourishing but rather tasteless and CAN BE EATEN Raw or cooked. The roots of the very young plants are the best in flavour.
#L'OSIER ROUGE# : ARCTIC
This shrub with persistent leaves is an Arctic specie used as a substitute for tobacco rather than for food. It grows in high altitude and in the Northern forests.
Its small red fruits are GOOD! TO EAT when the food is scarce, they appear in the fall and will stay on the shrub all winter long under the snow.
Good food although somewhat tasteless. Its leaves once dried up and made into a tea are astringent and rich in vitamins.
MISO: (Soya beans)
Vegetable plant called #MISO# those who eat it suffer less if not at all from radioactive effects this is from survivors of Hiroshima and also very nourishing. Unfortunately I have not been able to get more data on this, yet it's well worth investigating.
SASKATOON BERRIES:
Saskatoon berries are the fruit that made life on the prairies possible. Indians in the Prairies used them extensively in their pemmican preparation, drying them & incorporating them in it. Thus getting their protein, vitamins & sugar all in one big bite. (Big Mac Attack?)