Edible Wild Plants

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc while out walking? Can you recommend a good
book for identifying which are edible? Otherwise, is there
a forum for such things?

Here's a good place to start tinyurl.com3erwhOpen ↗ The
link will take you to an Amazon page featuring Food For
Free by Richard Mabey, whereon there are other links to
similar books.

Enjoy :-)
--
Fran If you need my email address please ask.

Stuart M said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc while out walking? Can you recommend a good
book for identifying which are edible? Otherwise, is there
a forum for such things?

First of all there are probably more plants that are edible
than most people give credit for. Richard Mabey details a
number of them in his book _Food For Free_ but it isn't much
good as a guide for identification.

Apart from the odd blackberry and gooseberry I haven't
collected anything myself when walking. However I do
encounter plenty of nettles, burdock and dandelion all of
which are edible. You can apparently make a coffee substitue
out of dried dandelion root, but as I don't drink normal
coffee I would not go within 10 feet of such a brew.

--
Andy Leighton => [email hidden] "The Lord is my
shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

Not sure if it is still in print, but try getting a copy
of Food For Free, by Richard Mabey. It used to be
published by Collins.

Although the book does stress the user of the food needs
to make positive identification of plants before eating,
it does have some good illustrations of plants. It also
suggests the best way to prepare all sorts of plants.

Not sure if they still do, but a few years ago, Royal
Marines used to carry copies of this book in their
Burgens. If it is good enough for them......!

Paul

"Stuart M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:2gpsikF4i69nU1@uni-
berlin.de...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc

while

Quoted message said:

out walking? Can you recommend a good book for
identifying which are

edible?

Quoted message said:

Otherwise, is there a forum for such things?

Thanks

Stuart

Roger Philips' Wild Food is pretty good..his mushrooms book
is pretty good for identifying Fungi.

Pete

Stuart M <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:2gpsikF4i69nU1@uni-
berlin.de...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc while out walking? Can you recommend a good
book for identifying which are

edible?

Quoted message said:

Otherwise, is there a forum for such things?

Thanks

Stuart

"Stuart M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc

while

Quoted message said:

out walking? Can you recommend a good book for identifying
which are

edible?

Quoted message said:

Otherwise, is there a forum for such things?

In addition to the Richard Mabey and Roger Phillips books
already mentioned it might be worth having a wee look at
Hugh Fearley-whatsisname's books since he used wild food a
lot, not great for ID though. My experience is you need to
combine the recipe books with straight-forward plant ID
books to really get into it. But the Mabey and Phillip's
books are a good start, just be awful careful about the
plants which are in the same family as hemlocks. Ray Mears'
books have a little bit of info

As for a forum, you'll probably like the forums on
www.bushcraftuk.co.uk although the server is currently
knackered, apparently should be back up and running from
tomorrow, if not tomorrow check through the week.

HTH Andrew

* Stuart M <[email hidden]> deigned to grace uk.rec.walking
* with their presence by declaiming:

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc while out walking? Can you recommend a good
book for identifying which are edible? Otherwise, is there
a forum for such things?

I've eaten Samphire/Glasswort in Norfolk (pronounced
'samfur', locally) off the marshes. Just pick and eat -
deliciously refreshing, though a bit salty. I've also tried
a little Reindeer Moss (at least I think it was) in The
Cairngorms. It was uncooked and was like eating Scotchbrite!

Regarding poisonous toadstools, mentioned in other
followups; the nasty thing is that the most dangerous -
Death Cap (Amanita phaloides) and it's relation Destroying
Angel (Amaninta virosa) are _deadly_. After initial symtoms
of nausea and vomiting the patient appears to make a
recovery. After a few days the symptoms recur and the
patient dies with massive destruction of internal organs.
There's no antidote.

Wild mushrooms are often not worth the bother; they have
little nutritional value and are generally full of maggots.
I break wild edible mushrooms and examine the flesh for
maggot tracks, which will be found in 9 out of 10. Perhaps
I'm a bit fastidious!

Regards: Jim Ford

Stuart M said:

Can you recommend a good book for identifying which
are edible?

I have a very good book: Edible and Medicinal Plants of
Britain and Northern Europe by Edmund Launert / Hamlyn
...but I'm being a bit perverse mentioning it because
(checking Amazon) its out of print.

However, searching the above site reveals several titles:

mazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688114253/qid=1084776038/sr=2-
1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-9012181-4212661

Amazon often have reader's reviews, the above book gets good
reviews, check out the others as well.

SteveO

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"Stuart M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc while out walking? Can you recommend a good
book for identifying which are

edible?

Quoted message said:

Otherwise, is there a forum for such things?

Wow, this is more widespread than I had thought. I have a
picture in my head of the URW expeditions as being somewhat
like a herd of grazing cattle! : )

I was out walking on Saturday around Ivinghoe Beacon. We
found some wild garlic which was delicious. As I was digging
it up, a couple walked by and said they had wondered what it
was as it was everywhere. They seemed very pleased to learn
that it was edible, which was nice. I have added nettles to
stews before when I lived on a boat and had very little
money. I've had an interest in learning more ever since but
never got round to it.

Thank you all for your help

Stuart

"Stuart M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc while out walking? Can you recommend a good
book for identifying which are

edible?

Quoted message said:

Otherwise, is there a forum for such things?

Thanks

Stuart

Just come back from a Ray Mears trip. Here's what I remember
of our 'wild plants' session.
1. Generally, wild plants in the UK aren't very
appetising / tasty.
2. Nettles are very good; you can make tea with them, or
boil them up for a Spinach experience. You can also make
natural cordage out of the stems.
3. Thistle roots can be eaten; a sort of tuba type thing.
4. You can do all sorts of stuff with Dandelions; 'coffee'
can be made with the roots (though it's a closer
approximation to black water than actual coffee).
5. Cat's Tail (water-dwelling) is very useful; the root is
a tuba type thing, and the stalks can also be eaten.
6. You can make tea out of pine needles (but I didn't)
7. Beech leaves can be eaten in small doses.
8. Various types of sorrel that can be used for flavourings
- though eating lots isn't so good for you.
9. A lot of seasonal variation; the further on in the year,
the more bitter most salad/leafy type things get.
10. Don't eat Ragwort - it's very poisonous.
11. Avoid mushrooms unless you *really* know what you are
doing. Apparently, mushroom identification shouldn't
only be learned from a book because as mis-
identification (for example, in different lighting
conditions) is very easy.

BTW, don't take my word for it; my memory is rubbish, and
plant knowledge/identification was the thing I was worst
at *by far*.

Andy Leighton wrote:

Stuart M said:

Quoted message said:

Does anyone in this group harvest and eat wild plants,
mushrooms etc while out walking?

Yep. I generally avoid the mushrooms though, although I have
eaten puffballs and field mushrooms. Fungi is a big danger
area. You need to be really careful. Don't risk it unless
you are absolutely certain. There are a huge variety of
mushrooms and I've not found a book that covers them all.
Many can be extremely similar to common types but be
different in just one small way, they are extremely
variable. In particular you should watch out for small
mushrooms that haven't developed fully. Some deadly
mushrooms look very similar to edible mushrooms before they
grow up and open out. If there are no "adult" mushrooms
nearby, do not risk it.

Having said that, most mushrooms fall into the "non-
poisonous but not very tasty" category. Deadly poisonous
mushrooms are quite few in number, so if you are really
interested, learn to recognise all of the deadly ones. That
way the worst that can happen is that you'll become ill, but
at least you won't die.

Another factor to consider is that there is very little
calorie content in mushrooms, so as a survival food they are
not even worth the effort of picking them. Certainly not
worth the risk for a few meagre calories.

As a cautionary tale, not so long ago my brothers picked
some wild mushrooms, fried them up and ate them. Within an
hour or two they began sweating profusely and started
suffering from blurred vision. I drove them to hospital but
by that time it was too late to pump their stomachs. One of
my brothers vomited profusely. Both of them became
temporarily blind. None of the doctors knew what to do,
mushrooms weren't their speciality and they didn't know
which ones they'd eaten. They had to consult the internet to
get information.

The good news was that my brothers had become ill quickly.
Apparently the really deadly ones have no immediate effect.
You feel fine for days and then suddenly drop dead. So the
fact that they got ill straight away was a good sign and the
doctor didn't seem to worried after a while, he even joked
about it, "why didn't you go to Tesco instead?". After a
very uncomfortable night the symptoms passed. My brothers
won't be picking any wild mushrooms again. I doubt I will
either after seeing the state they were in. It's just not
worth the risk.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Can you recommend a good book for identifying which are
edible? Otherwise, is there a forum for such things?

First of all there are probably more plants that are
edible than most people give credit for. Richard Mabey
details a number of them in his book _Food For Free_ but
it isn't much good as a guide for identification.

No, that book is a disappointment from that point of view.
The illustrations are next to useless. I have another book
about the medicinal uses of various plants which is very
good, but it's not much good for simply edible plants. Seems
to be a gap in the market for that kind of book.

Quoted message said:

Apart from the odd blackberry and gooseberry I haven't
collected anything myself when walking. However I do
encounter plenty of nettles, burdock and dandelion all
of which are edible. You can apparently make a coffee
substitue out of dried dandelion root, but as I don't
drink normal coffee I would not go within 10 feet of
such a brew.

Nettles are good for nettle tea. Good for the blood.
Doesn't taste very nice. Dandelion tastes horrible. Eaten
plenty of that for my liver complaint. I've tried drying
the root for tea, it tastes disgusting. Not recommended.
Buy real coffee instead.

Berries are good. I've often picked bilberries, lovely they
are. Especially when you can find them in large quantities
(there are certain prime spots in the Beacons). Crowberries
are edible too, but very bitter, not so nice. Blueberries
and wild strawberries are lovely if you can find them.

Scurvy grass is good for vitamin C, but it tastes pretty
revolting, a kind of sharp mustard taste - not the sort of
thing you'd eat for pleasure.

What I would recommend is Rock Samphire. Grows on sea
cliffs. Very easy to identify, pic here. anniesannuals.comb%20Open ↗
%20c/crithmum_maritimum_rs.htm

Perhaps an acquired taste, it has a lemon or sulphurous
smell (I tend to think the former). I enjoy eating it raw,
but it's very nice lightly fried with a little butter.
Traditionally it used to be pickled. Apparently there was
once quite a large local (Gower) trade in pickled rock
samphire sent to London. Did I mention that it grows on sea
cliffs. *Very* common around the Gower coast.

From another website;

"Rock samphire, sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum --
Family Apiaceae)

Rock samphire is considered to be the more imporant of the
samphires, and grows on rocky shores. Known as the true
samphire, the rock samphire originated in the Mediterranean
region. It is a small woody shrub with long, thin, fleshy
leaves which have a powerful resinous aroma that is
reminescent of varnish or sulphurous. Whichever, neither
inspires the thought of consumption. However, this
undesirable aroma disappears when it is pickled and made
into a tasty relish. Both the Greeks and the Romans used it
raw in salads, and lightly steamed it for use as a
vegetable. In the 1st century CE, Pliny wrote that Theseus
had eaten it before leaving to fight the Minotaur. The
pickled form was once so popular that men risked their lives
to collect it from the cliffs. Robert Turner wrote of such
adventures in 1664 on the cliffs of the Isle of Wight. By
the 19th century, this popularity had waned only because of
its scarcity."

Scarcity? Did I mention that it's common around the
Gower coast?

Paul
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Paul Upham said:

Although the book does stress the user of the food needs
to make positive identification of plants before eating,
it does have some good illustrations of plants.

I didn't think the illustrations were very good. Best to get
a good plant identification book in addition. Collins do
some very good guides.

Paul
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Pete said:

Roger Philips' Wild Food is pretty good..his mushrooms
book is pretty good for identifying Fungi.

Just to stress this point, if you want to meddle with fungi,
don't worry about being able to identify every single
mushroom, just learn the main edible types and *all* the
deadly poisonous ones. Don't ever eat any mushroom unless
you have a 100% positive identification. 99% isn't good
enough, there are too many variations.

Best way to learn is from an expert rather than just
trusting a book. Apparently there are guided "fungi walks"
that you can go on. The expert can show you what to look for
and where to look, and can positively identify anything you
find. May be worthwhile if you are serious about fungi. A
friend of mine went on such a walk and found a giant
puffball - the "expert" had never seen one before. It was
about the size of a football, really impressive. It took us
about a month to eat the whole thing - I ate most of it
myself, everyone else got sick of it - I was frying up
puffball steaks in butter - wonderful!

Paul
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On 16 May 2004 21:30:23 GMT, Jim Ford <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've also tried a little Reindeer Moss (at least I think it
was) in The Cairngorms. It was uncooked and was like eating
Scotchbrite!

hehehe, that's because in that state its inedible and toxic
(in large quantities... which no-one's ever going to
achieve ;-)

You obviously never watched Ray Mear's "The Real Heroes of
Telemark" part of which recounted the experience of four
Norwegian Resistance fighters coming close to starvation on
the Hardanger plateau in winter where they hid for something
like four months. They were reduced to eating Reindeer Moss
just to stay alive.

To make Reindeer Moss edible you have to, apparently, boil
it for ages, twice, and even then its said to be fairly
unappetising. Another, quicker, route to get yurself some
humanly-edible Reindeer Moss is to take it from the stomach
of a reindeer; all the hard work's already bin done for you!

home.earthlink.netnorway1.htmOpen ↗

The fourth photo down has this caption

"The Hardanger Plateau seen from the Oslo-Bergen railway.
Ice still covered the lakes despite being early June."

and gives this link to a slighlty bigger pic.:

home.earthlink.netn02.jpgOpen ↗

SteveO

NE Climbers & walkers chat forum;
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NMC website: thenmc.org.ukthenmc.org.ukOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Wild mushrooms are often not worth the bother; they
have little

nutritional

Quoted message said:

value and are generally full of maggots. I break wild
edible mushrooms and examine the flesh for maggot tracks,
which will be found in 9 out of 10. Perhaps I'm a bit
fastidious!

Do I understand you correctly? You throw away the mushroom
and eat the maggots instead? Good tip, thanks.
: )

On Sun, 16 May 2004 21:59:41 +0100,

Paul Saunders said:

serious about fungi. A friend of mine went on such a walk
and found a giant puffball - the "expert" had never seen
one before.

Really, I remember seeing a number of them when I was young.
I didn't think they were anything unusual

Quoted message said:

It was about the size of a football, really impressive.

They can get quite a bit bigger than that.

--
Andy Leighton => [email hidden] "The Lord is my
shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

Stuart M said:

Quoted message said:

Wild mushrooms are often not worth the bother; they have
little nutritional value and are generally full of
maggots.

Quoted message said:

Do I understand you correctly? You throw away the mushroom
and eat the maggots instead? Good tip, thanks.

Quoted message said:

)

He's right, they usually are full of maggots. I've often
wanted to try Boletus but never found any that weren't
maggot infested.

Sainsburys do a good range of exotic mushrooms, far simpler.

Paul
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* Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> deigned to
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* with their presence by declaiming:

Quoted message said:

He's right, they usually are full of maggots. I've often
wanted to try Boletus but never found any that weren't
maggot infested.

Sainsburys do a good range of exotic mushrooms, far
simpler.

But they're probably maggoty - it's just that when they're
dried and shrivelled up you can't tell!

Regards: Jim Ford

* Ken <[email hidden]> deigned to grace
uk.rec.walking
* with their presence by declaiming:

Quoted message said:

8. Various types of sorrel that can be used for
flavourings - though eating lots isn't so good for you.

Contains oxalic acid (ethanedioic acid) which combines with
calcium in the blood to form insoluble needle-like
crystals, which I believe can cause kidney damage. Rhubarb
and spinach also contain the acid. Nice to nibble sorrel to
quench thirst, but don't pick near a path in case a dog's
peed on it!

Regards: Jim Ford

Ken said:

Just come back from a Ray Mears trip. Here's what I
remember of our 'wild plants' session.

Kewl, which one did you do and where/what was it like?
I'm on the "cancellations list" but never get to the web
site in time to take advantage of the recently available
space <doh!>

SteveO

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