COMMON MILKWEED – Asclepias Syriaca, Perennial Forb/Herb

Common Milkweed (Asclepias Syriaca) has always intrigued me since I became aware of its edibility as a teenager.  It has a very distinct look about it and stands out from other plants as if it is saying "look at me, I am different", and different is good; at least" I taste very good and smell very good". 

Family - Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed Family), Genus - Asclepias (Milkweed)

COMMON MILKWEED, Asclepias Syriaca

I can't remember if the first picture of Milkweed I saw was in my Army Survival Manual back then as a child or if it was in my first pack of edible wild plant survival playing cards, but either way, I can remember the exact location of the first time spotting it.  It was a single plant about two feet tall growing at the edge of my parents front yard.  I still remember the milky white sap that came out as I broke one of the large leafs off the main stem.  However, I didn't eat it until years later and I had never eaten the flowers until  this weekend in Herbal Class with Darryl Patton, the Southern Herbalist near Gadston, Alabama, showing us how it's done.  He took me and the rest of the class by the largest stand of milkweed I have ever seen in my life.  You see, Common Milkweed just isn't as common in the south after all.  It is much more common in the northern U.S.  and that is truly our loss and their gain because it is a very important food plant if found in quantity.

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Milkweed's Fragrant Flowers Attract Monarch Butterflies and Bumblebees

The flowers of this plant are easy to recognize both by looks and their very fragrant smell. To my nose, they smell like Gardenias which is one of my very favorite smelling flowers. Monarch Butterflies and other insects basically live off the flowers.

Common Milkweed is found in dry soils, along roadsides and woodland margins, fields and meadows in the southeastern U.S. but it is much more densely populated (common) in the northern U.S. and southern Canada.

It is a perennial plant with upright downy stems and can grow up to 6 feet tall although I've never seen it over a few feet in height. The leaves are opposite, thick and leathery with wavy margins. The plant has a white milky sap or latex that is visible when breaking a piece off and the flowers grow in dense heads that can be dull rose, purple or greenish white. The smell of the flowers is extremely fragrant. The fruits come later on and are clusters of green warty/hairy pods having seeds attached to a feathery like structure.

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Flower Umbels Important Food for Many Insects

The flowers have high glucose content and can be used as a sweetener. The inner bark can be used to make a very strong cordage and fiber. It was used a lot by the Native Americans and its fiber quality has been compared to hemp in studies.

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The Leaves Grow Opposite of Each Other

Common Milkweed is in just about every edible wild plant book that I own but the truth is that there are 175 species in the Milkweed Family in the United States. The troubling part of that statement is that many of these species could potentially be poisonous. That is why it is so very important that you take the time to properly identify this plant as Common Milkweed and let me tell you, it is well worth the little bit of trouble as it's a very valuable food plant and it's not very hard to properly key out its identification. This plant has been wrongly attributed in many books over the years as being bitter until boiled several times. This nasty rumor was started by the foraging author Euell Gibbons in the 60's in his book Stalking the Wild Asparagus. Some think he may have mistakenly eaten either Dogbane or some other Milkweed besides Common Milkweed. That one mistake led other foraging authors to quote the same mistake for many years afterward.

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Easy to Distinquish Leaves

Notice the leaf margin and easy to distinquish leaf veins.

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Preparing the Flower Umbels for Cooking

The fragrance of the flower umbels will absolutely amaze and refresh  your senses.   The smell of these flowers remind me of Gardenia and that's a good thing because Gardenias have one of the best smells.

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Warty/Hairy Green "Pods" Form Later in the Season

The green warty/hairy pods are edible when young, but later are full of seeds connected to a feathery like structure.  The pods later dry and open releasing the seeds that are individually connected to a white fluffy/feathry type material which helps disperse them across larger areas by the wind.

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Adding Flowers to the Egg

In class we cooked the flowers two different ways; in an omelete, some may call a quiche, and also we dipped the flower umbels in batter and then fried them. 

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Easy to Cook - Add Cheese as Desired

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HMMMM..... Time to Eat

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Batter Frying the Flower Umbels

My favorite was the batter fried Milkweed flowers.  Unlike fried Elderberry umbels, you can eat the entire flower umbel, stem and all.

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Yes, It was Very Good

The final product tasted better than it looks in the above picture.

Although most books only mention Common Milkweed as edible, Daniel Moerman discusses a few more species of Milkweed that the early Native Americans utilized in his book "Native American Food Plants". Knowing which of the 175 species of milkweeds are edible is important as there are many of them that are considered poisonous.

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias Incarnata) - Range covers most of the U.S. except the west coastal states.  Unspecified "heads" used in deer broth or added to cornmeal mush.  Unspecified food cut and the dried heads stored for use in winter.

Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias Verticillata) - Range covers most of the U.S. except the west.  Unspecified leaves and young shoots boiled with meat.

Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias Viridiflora) - Range covers most of the U.S. except the west.  Unspecified fresh roots used for food; plant also used to spice soups and pieces of root stored for winter soups.

Young leaves and young shoots can be eaten as a vegetable.  Flowers can be eaten as shown here or like preserves after being cut up and stewed.  Immature flower clusters can be cooked and seasoned with salt, pepper and butter and then used in soups.  Properly prepared "young green" pods can be used like okra in soup or boiled as a vegetable.

As you can see, there are many uses for Common Milkweed.  I only wish more of it grew here.  There were other plants that we sampled raw or cooked and ate during class this weekend.  I'll be posting more pictures and writing more blogs over the coming weeks about the other edible wild plants we ate, and also more of my own edible wild plant cook outs using locally found edibles.

If you are interested in learning more about plants, particularly their medicinal qualities and how to properly identifiy them, then I highly recommend that you look into Darryl Patton's Herbal Class which is located in Gadsden, Alabama.  I've had wild plant foraging as a hobby since being a teenager, and I have to admit, until finding Darryl's class, I just haven't found any other people that are that interested in my hobby and that has really suprised me over the years because it is such a fun and very fulfilling hobby.  It just doesn't make sense that as many avid outdoorsman there are, more aren't interested in this particular hobby.  I can remember getting bored or feeling guilty sitting up in a tree waiting on a deer to pop out which didn't have a chance once I got it in my sites, but with edible wild plants you can get adrenaline "hunting" for certain plants and you never know what you will find that tastes good.  It is most certainly a hobby that opens up your food menu to a vast array of diverse tastes which you won't find on the menu elsewhere.  That alone should get some of you more interested.

If you would like to contact "The Southern Herbalist", or find out more information about Darryl's herbal, survival or homesteading classes, look him up at http://thesouthernherbalist.com/ .  Darryl Patton apprenticed under the late Tommy Bass and literally spent thousands of hours studying under him.  He's also a published author and has numerous books and CD's under his belt.  If you'd like to learn more about the great herbalist Tommy Bass, Darryl has a great biography of him at http://thesouthernherbalist.com/tommie-bass-1 .

STINGING NETTLE – Urtica Dioica, Perennial Forb/Herb

One of the most nutritious and best tasting wild vegetables in the southeast is called stinging nettle, botanical name Urtica Dioica. There are several subspecies of this Urtica Dioica, an there are numerous other "Urtica" species which are edible but certainly not all nettles in the Urticaceae (Nettle) family are edible, and some may even be toxic, so as long as we stick to the edible ones we will be just fine.

 

Stinging Nettle - Urtica Dioica

There are actually a couple of subspecies of Urtica Dioica here in the eastern United States; Stinging Nettle, U. Dioica ssp. Dioica and the California Dioica ssp. Gracilis. As you can see from the picture above the leaves are toothed and usually pair off in twins off the main stem. The other thing to look for is the stinging hairs on the stems, hence the name stinging nettle.

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Stinging Nettle - Urtica Dioica



Notice above that the leaves alternate with Stinging Nettle, unlike false nettle and wood nettle.

Don't let the "sting" scare you away because usually after a short period of time after picking the plant wilts and the stinging sensation completely leaves, but if not it is most certainly removed by boiling, and there are really no poisonous look a likes that has these leaves AND thing stinging hairs on the stems. There is a plant called false nettle that resembles wood nettle, however false nettle does NOT have the stinging hairs but instead has smooth stems.

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Stinging Nettle "Stinging Hairs" on Stem

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False Nettle - No Hair on Stems - DO NOT EAT THIS

The False Nettle in the picture above is NOT edible that I am aware of.  I boiled some, just like I boiled Stinging Nettle and I can tell you that this plant produced a brown, tea like water while boiling and Stinging Nettle produced a green liquid.

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Stinging Nettle Leaf (Top), False Nettle Leaf (Bottom) - DO NOT EAT FALSE NETTLE

Stinging Nettle grows in open fields, yards, gardens, roadsides and other similar settings. Wood Nettle and False nettle both usually grow in shaded canopies with filtered sunlight and look more similar to each other than False Nettle and Stinging Nettle. Always keep in mind to look for the stinging hairs.

The leaves are completely edible and can even be eaten raw under the right conditions.  Young stems and leaves can be cooked as a vegetable or steamed.

Some references say to stay away from the older leaves on older plants in summer and fall because their prolonged use may contribute to developing gritty particles called cystoliths which can irritate the kidneys. The gritty particles are noticeable, and the older leaves have a much stronger taste anyway, so it won't be hard to tell what's what.

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Mess of Stinging Nettle Ready to Clean

It's easy to prepare the leaves, just pick off the stems.  Young and tender stems can also be eaten as well, but obviously the older ones are too fibrous to eat.  Stinging Nettle is very high in minerals which are easily digested, particularly iron and the vitamins A and C. 

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Steaming with Water, Butter, Salt and Pepper

I placed a little water and some butter in the boiler to be steamed.  I only steamed them for about 4 minutes.  Any water that is collected is also nutritious. 

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Sautee with Butter and Seasonings

I sautéed some of the leaves in butter as well. I added salt, pepper and garlic. I have to admit, they were good, but a bit strong on the butter and garlic side. Half and half with oil and butter and less garlic would have been better. This plant doesn't really need much to season as they are good by themselves.

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Finished Product, Absolutely Delicious and Nutritious

There are other ways to cook this plant. The leaves can also be dried and used later in soups or in making an herbal tea called nettle tea. Nettle soup is a very popular wild soup in Europe.

This is one of the top vegetables as far as taste, edibility and nutrition. It has other valuable uses as well. Leaves may be dried for winter use and were often used to make the nutritious nettle tea. Also this plant has chemical properties allow it to be used to curdle milk. The plant has been popular for making cordage over the years and also has medicinal uses.



"Yaupon Holly", Ilex Vomitoria

Yaupon Holly (Ilex Vomitoria) grows in the southeastern United States, north to Virginia and west to Texas.  It is in the Holly family and is often planted as an ornamental tree, even though it grows wild.

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Yaupon Holly, Ilex Vomitoria
Fresh right off the Tree

Yaupon Holly (Ilex Vomitoria) makes great tea. No, I didn't say American Holly, which is much better known for making a great tea. American Holly does not have caffeine at all, however, it goes back to the early American Colonists and was used extensively in the eastern U.S.  It was especially popular in the south during the civil war when supplies were cut off from the north. Matter of fact, American Holly tea was recorded as being drank right down the road from us in Alabama's first capital Old Cahawba. As popular and historical as American Holly is, Yaupon Holly goes back even further than that and was used extensively by the early Native Americans, particularly in the southeast, oftentimes during purification rituals.

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Yaupon Holly, Ilex Vomitoria
Fresh right off the Tree

And Yaupon has a lot of caffeine, just as much if not more than coffee. Matter of fact, it is said that it has more caffeine than any other plant in North American and after drinking a couple of glasses of this delicious tea, I believe it.  Not only does it contain the caffeine, but it also contains theobromine which is another stimulant that is found in chocolate and some types of tea leaves as well.

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Yaupon after air drying for a couple of months.

Because of the high caffeine content, one must be careful not to drink too much. One expert told me six small leaves per cup. That is probably about right, although I used 6 large leaves per cup which tasted good, but may have had a little too much caffeine.

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Yaupon Holly, Dried Leaves

The Native Americans would use it for purification ceremonies and to test their manhood, so to speak. They would fast for days and then make a very thick and rich concoction with the leaves and drink it. Eventually they would throw up (hence the Vomitoria part of Ilex Vomitoria). The man left standing without throwing up, well, was the man.

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Yaupon Holly, Crushed Dried Leaves

Now, because of the "vomitoria" history of the plant, some people are a little gun shy and will tell you that you must air dry the leaves until brittle and then roast the leaves or you might experience the vomiting sensation, but keep in mind that the Native Americans fasted for days and did not eat anything, and then they made a very "thick" brew. Personally, I just air dried the leaves for a couple of months and then boiled them for five minutes, then poured the tea in a pitcher and boiled them again for another five minutes.

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Crushed Dried Leaves inside a Tea Bad on to Boil

I had absolutely no bad feelings at all, only a slight caffeine buzz after a couple of glasses. The tea was delicious. I have since found out that roasting half of the leaves and air drying the other half would have given a different, maybe even better taste, but to me, it tasted better than tea you buy in the store, which leads one to wonder, "Why did people get away from Yaupon Tea to begin with?". Maybe coffee replaced it, or maybe the "Vomitoria" part scared people away, but either way as the old saying goes "your loss is my gain".

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Alternate Way - Crushed Dried Leaves in Strainer Submerged in Boiling Water

I like this tea so much that I want to plant a Yaupon Holly in my yard and incorporate it into my life style. Not only is it good, it is full of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and packed with antioxidants.

"Man of the Earth" or "Wild Potato Vine", Ipomoea Pandurata

Wild Potato Vine is also called "Man of the Earth" or "Man Root", Morning Glory and Bigroot Morning Glory.  It is a perennial vine with heart shaped flowers and purple stems.

As before, make sure to check out my disclaimer at http://www.thedewberry.blogspot.com/2012/05/disclaimer-eat-at-your-own-risk.html

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 White  funnel shaped flowers with ruby/purple throats are a good indicator.

Wild Potato Vine and I have a history.  It has been eluding me for years.  Yes, I have been searching for this plant with the giant edible tuber for at least  seven years, in my spare time of course, and today, I finally found it so I couldn't wait to cook and try it.  So today is a great day and I feel wonderful.  If I were still the deer hunter I was in my youth, it would be like bagging a trophy buck.

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The heart shaped "morning glory" shaped leaves are another indicator.

The Latin name for Wild Potato Vine is Ipomoea Pandurata.  Daniel Moreman states that the Cherokee Indians ate the roots for food.  Elias talks about the edibility and so does the Peterson Field Guide, which also states the raw root is a purgative, so I'd suggest cooking first.

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The large edible tuber is the final indicator.  It even smells like a sweet potato.

The trouble with locating the wild potato vine is that it is part of a very large family of vines called morning glory that all look very similar; matter of fact, there are around 68 species in the morning glory family.  I have dug up many a morning glory over the years only to be disappointed not finding the large edible tuber associated with "Man of the Earth".  However, like most edible plants, once you locate it and eat it the first time, you'll never forget it so it makes it much easier to find.

Once you find the tuber, you will know it.  They grow up to 24 inches long straight down and there is a little bit of digging involved but it's worth the trouble.  This particular tuber was 12 inches long and 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

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I know this looks like you might need a chainsaw to cut, but a kitchen knife is all that's needed.
The root/tuber looks like a large vertical yam and wild yam is also a vine with heart shaped leaves, although some wild yams are poisonous.

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 Boil out any bitterness in the older tubers with a few changes of water.

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Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake 40 minutes like baked potatoes

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It looks like a tree, but it's actually tender and pliable.

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Cut off the outer bark and cut the inner tuber into smaller strips. 

These tubers smell like sweet potato.  The baked strips above feel slightly sticky.  I ate a few unseasoned and I have no comparison to the taste as it has a taste all its own.  The texture however, reminds me of steak, or maybe roast. 

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The final product with butter, salt and pepper.  Delicious.




If you look at the above picture, it should remind you of meat.  It does me.  Actually, Man of the Earth has a texture that reminds me of eating meat; maybe a roast, thick porch chop or even the texture of steak.  The smell is like sweet potato, but not the taste.  I truly enjoyed cooking and eating this.  It was definitely not a starvation food for the Native Americans because it actually tastes really good and it is very nutritious.   The tubers are usually one of the most nutritious parts of just about any plant.  It is where the plants energy is stored.  In the plant kingdom, this would have been a great find for any Native American as it would have supplied food and calories for him for several days.

I read that the root was often cut into strips, dried and stored for later use.  The size of this plant supplied way to much food for me to eat, so I will dry it in the sun and try it later just like the Native Americans did.

Wild Spinach, also called Lamb's Quarters or Goosefoot – "Chenopodium Album", Annual Forb/Herb

This was a fun weekend as I went canoing with friends down the Cahawba River.  Along the way we saw beautiful scenery including Bald Eagles, beautiful fern covered soapstone banks and beautiful edible plants including Spotted Ladysthumb (Polygonum Persicaria), wild grapes, Broadleaf Arrowhead (Sagittaria Latifolia) and one of my favorites, Lambsquarters (Chenopodium Album).

As before, make sure to check out my disclaimer at http://www.thedewberry.blogspot.com/2012/05/disclaimer-eat-at-your-own-risk.html

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Lambsquarters "Chenopodium Album"

Lambsquarters is also commonly spelled also Lamb's Quarters.  Other common names for this plant are Goosefoot, Fat Hen and even White Goosefoot mainly because the shape of the leaves resembles  goose's feet.  The plant is in the Chenopodiaceae (Goosefoot) family.

C. Album is not the only plant in the Chenopodium genus that is edible, but it is the only plant I will be talking about today.  Lambsquarters is also called wild spinach probably because its taste resembles spinach and it is also rich in oxalic acid, vitamins A,  C and other minerals and proteins making this plant a very valuable nutritional source.

Lambsquarters is located in waste places, cultivated grounds or gardens, old fields and I have seen it a lot growing along the Cahawba River.

This weekend I went with a few friends on a two day float down the Cahawba River and we had a blast.  Along the way we stopped on a few sandbars and I spotted some wild spinach right way.  Being an annual it often grows in stands together as the seeds/grains often drop near the original plant.

Here is the group that went on the float this weekend...

 
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We started this trip in Centerville, Alabama November 2010 traveling over 30 miles in three days.  This time the water cfs was higher and we made 26 miles in just 1 1/2 days making the final journey into Selma, Alabama.

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Beautiful scenery the entire trip.

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This was a 2' drop a couple of years ago.  The water was higher this time, but it was still fun.   However we were wearing life jackets here due to the high cfs and suck hole nature of the drop.

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There were multiple eagles following us downstream for miles.

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Can't live without a good cell phone and gps battery.  Go solar :)

So, anyway, back to the plant of the week, Lambsquarters;  It was real easy to prepare and cook.  I took a large zip lock back, so I took the leaves and minor tender stems and placed them in the Ziploc bag with some bottled water, zipped the bag and shook vigorously to clean the beach sand off the leaves.  I then drained and placed the leaves on a propane burner with some water, a little garlic, salt and pepper to boil for about 6 minutes.  Lambsquaters is completely edible raw in salads so the boiling was not to necessarily make it edible, or even more tender.  It was really about trying to get my friends to try some, and Aaron did.  Shane and Jason just aren't the "spinach eating type (I think they are meat eaters mainly).

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Wild Spinach on the campstove - Cahawba River

There was one poisonous plant that looks similar to wild spinach when "young" growing on the river banks in great abundance and that plant is cockle burr.  The younger plants are the only ones that have leaves resembling the "goosefoot" but with close inspection you'll notice the hairs and rough texture on the plant.  You'll probably look around and notice older plants with much larger and wider leaves as well.  Stay away from this plant.  There are books that say the oil extracted from the seeds are edible, but I do not know of anyone trying it, but I have read that farm animals have died from eating cockle burr.  Another poisonous look-a-like that grows in the south is nettleleaf goosefoot (Chenopodium murale), so stay away from that plant as well.

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NOT lambsquaters.  This is young cockle burr and is poisonous.




Don't let it discourage you that there are a few plants slightly resembling Lambsquarters.  Just learn your plants.  Lambsquarters has dark green leaves with a silvery underside and sometimes the upper leaves have a powdery or "frosted" like appearance.  Also, the leaves are waterproof and water should "bead" up on the leaves.

It can be boiled or eaten raw in salads.  Below is another picture of a salad I made previously combining regular lettuce, wild green amaranth (pigweed) and lambsquaters.

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Wild Pigweed and Wild Spinach (lambsquaters) salad

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Amaranth (Pigsweed) Left and Wild Spinach (Lambsquaters) Right

Without a doubt, this plant tastes good, is easy to prepare (eaten raw or boiled) and is one of my favorite wild vegetables.

Smilax and the Greenbrier Family, Perennial Vine/Shrub

The Greenbrier genus (Smilax) contains approximately twenty-five species, but for right now I will focus on the species Bullbrier (Smilax Bona-nox) and Greenbrier (Smilax Rotundifolia) in the Smilacaceae (Catbrier) family.

Be sure to read my "Disclaimer - Eat At Your Own Risk" at : http://www.thedewberry.blogspot.com/2012/05/disclaimer-eat-at-your-own-risk.html

Both of these are a popular trailside nibble.  Matter of fact, it is one of my favorites along the trail.  A few things that make it so popular with me are that it they are quite tastey, very nutritious and there is absolutely no cooking required for the tender young shoots, although cooking is also good if you have the time.

Bullbrier and Greenbrier are sometimes just called Smilax (referring to the genus).  Bullbrier is also sometimes called Sawbrier or Saw Greenbrier and Greenbriew is sometimes called Common Catbrier, Common Greenbrier or Roundleaf Greenbrier.

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Bullbrier (Smilax Bona-nox)

Smilax grows in the spring, summer and fall here in the southern U.S. It is the tender young ends that are both tender and completely edible. It is the tender new growth that you eat. You will see some with tender growth over a foot long in the spring and early summer, although it's been my experience that they average 6 to 8 inches long. Just break them off like asparagus. If it does not break easy, then you tried to get too far down the stem where it starts to get hard. Simply break closer to the end.

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The tender young ends are easy to distinguish.

 Saw Greenbrier (S. Bona-nox) , Roundleaf Greenbrier (S. Rotundifolia) and other Smilax species have a long history with the Native Americans on this continent.  According to Daniel E. Moerman's research, the Choctaw and Houma Indians used S. Bona-nox roots to make bread and cakes by drying and then making flour out of the roots.  In my opinion, it would take a lot of work as the large tubers of Smilax are very large and hard.  I would be interested in knowing how the gained more calories from eating the cakes they made than they actually spent in digging the tubers up and going through the difficult process of getting the flour out of the underground them.  In reality, many foragers contend that you burn too many calories getting the starch out of the roots and you receive back in nutritional calories eaten, but I am sure the Native Americans found a very efficient way to get the starch out of the large tubers, but that information may have been long lost.

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Above is a very large Smilax tuber I recently dug up.  You can get an estimate of the size by comparing to the shovel in the picture.

As far as I know, there are no poisonous look-a-likes for smilax, but there is something that looks similar which is poisonous. If you look close and pay attention, there's no way you can mistake this plant for young Cinnamon Vine, also called Chinese Yam. Remember Smilax is a brier, which means there are thorns. Cinnamon Vine also called Chinese Yam does not have thorns and the young shoots are very different than the smilax shown below.

Here's another picture of the tender young shoot; this one with longer tendrils.

A nice little batch of Smilax shoots.  Ten minutes to gather enough for a meal.

Cut it up (or just snap like green beans) to fit in your pan

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Melt butter, add a touch of water, a clear lid and steam on low for about 4 to 5 minutes.

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Finished product.

Add a little pepper and salt if you like.  This dish is absolutely declicious.  My whole family tried some and enjoyed it.  It is nutritious and easy to collect, prepare and eat.  The closest thing I can tell you it tastes like is asparagus, but truly it has a flavor all its own.

Disclaimer - Eat at Your Own Risk

Disclaimer – Eat at your own risk and watch for snakes while you’re foraging. Well, it's not quite that simple but the fact remains there are some wild plants that will kill you and many more that can make you sick growing among the nutritious and delicious edibles but you can virtually eliminate all risk by studying and learning how to identify the thousands of edible wild plants that exist in the wild and absolutely not eating something if you aren't 100% for sure what it is.  Another tip to live by is not to forage too close to main highways or even lesser traveled roads because auto-exhaust gets on the nearby plants and the pollution is not good for you, but likewise it isn't good to plant a garden right next to a well travelled road as well.  On the other hand, there are many wild edible plants that grow along roadways and they are a great place to spot new plants and get to know them, just don't eat them.  Make sure your edible plants have not been sprayed with herbicide. Don't eat raw edible wild plants out of water in case the water's polluted or you could get a good case of upset stomach from a bacteria and that same rule applies to drinking the water. Also, keep in mind that any time you are exposed to a new food, there’s a small chance that you will have an allergic reaction to it. There are some way more prone than others and there are many who aren't allergic to anything. You probably have heard of people being allergic to peanuts, strawberries, or coconuts; many of them didn’t learn about the allergy until they tried to eat the food for the first time. Another thing is don't pick a non-edible by accident along with the edible plants you are gathering.  An example of this is that Queen's Anne Lace and Water Hemlock and even Elderberry have very similar umbels of white flowers and I have seen them all growing together.  With a little knowledge however, they easily stand apart in appearance.

You make the choice. We all know that a man (or woman) has to eat and with every type of baby food your mother fed you early in life, with each of them there was a chance you would have an allergic reaction and today, you are still alive. I suppose if your skin broke out in a rash or you got sick, she wouldn’t feed you that particular food again. Later in life you picked your own foods and you probably did alright. However, odds are someone told you that it was edible so you ate it. But when you forage, books are telling you what is edible and the pictures just aren't always that good and neither are the descriptions always the best. You may get impatient and eat it anyway before you're absolutely positive. That's like playing Russian roulette. Don't do it.  If a bird eats it, is doesn't always mean you can eat it.  If it smells good and tastes good, it doesn't mean that it won't make you sick.  Study your plants and start now.

Truth is there are a lot of books out there on the subject of edible wild plants and those books came from many years and accumulation of knowledge. Before writing was invented knowledge was transferred by word of mouth. On this continent the Native Americans gave us much information about the edibility and medicinal uses of the native growing here. Also, plants that were introduced to our continent from other countries often brought edibility and medicinal knowledge with them. Back before books, word of mouth was used and word got around pretty quickly if someone ate a plant and got sick, and got around even quicker if they died after they ate it.  Likewise word got around if they were healed.  Well, the same thing happened if a plant was found edible, especially if it tasted good, and people were hungry.

So, if you want to experience edible wild foraging, then you have to make that decision all by yourself. I will say that we take risks every time we get in a vehicle and drive down the road. I personally love to forage. I get enjoyment every time I find a new plant that I have read about. However, I know the risk, but that risk is almost eliminated if you check a couple of sources, positively identify the plant in question, and prepare it properly. The most important thing is proper identification. Plant foraging is not a hobby where you can always safely walk up on a plant that is unknown and take a bite because it “looks good” or you saw an animal eat it. It is a very fulfilling hobby if you study pay attention and properly identify the plant.

Simply, if you are not 100% certain it is the plant you think it is, then do not attempt to eat it. Don’t listen to some who say put a little under your tongue to test if you don’t know what it is. Why take the risk with an “unknown” when there are thousands of “known” edible plants; all you have to do is properly identify and prepare them.

Even if you do not eat the plants, identification can be a worthwhile hobby.  Consider two of the most poisonous plants in the country (maybe even the world) grow right here in the south.  A small piece of poison hemlock or water hemlock leaf the size of your pinkie nail can kill an adult dead within hours and there's no turning back.  One of the two plants kills you very quick, while the other takes you through hours of the most tormenting pain a person could ever imagine.  Also, one Rosary Pea which also grows in our area will kill an adult.  Would you want that plant growing in your yard with your young children?  I think you would need to know.  Likewise, why not learn about edible plants as you do not have to water them, fertilize them or pamper them like you do garden plants as they grow on their own with little or zero maintenance. 

Wouldn't it be nice to design and build your own Garden of Eden and walk in from work every day and spend five minutes to gather up supper out in the yard and eat a meal that hasn't been sprayed with herbicides or other chemicals or plants that have not been genetically engineered and are more delicious and nutritious than plants you buy at the store?  If you do, then start learning and designing now because we aren't getting any younger are we?