Foraging in a Nutshell

Table of Contents:

Part #1 - “A Forager's Pathway”

Asking the Right Questions

The First Foragers

The Universal Edibility Test

The Dark Side of Plants

Some Essentials of Plant Identification

Some Essentials of Plant Classification

Some Notes About Scientific Names

Lay of the Land

Lifespan

Pros and Cons

Part #2 - “How Botanists Look at Plants”

Overall Form

Roots and Root-like Parts

Leaves

Surface Features

Flowers

Fruits

Seeds

Looking at Plants in Winter

Part #3 - “Some Important Families of Plants”

The Mustard Family

The Rose Family

The Sunflower Family

The Parsley Family

The Grass Family

Part #4 - “The Best Wild Foods of Michigan”

Wild Foods of January

Wild Foods of February

Wild Foods of March

Wild Foods of April

Wild Foods of May

Wild Foods of June

Wild Foods of July

Wild Foods of August

Wild Foods of September

Wild Foods of October

Wild Foods of November

Wild Foods of December

Summary

References to Edibility

About the book and video:

Originally, this book was intended to be the narration for a 2-hour long video, but a video would need to be about 14 hours long to accommodate this amount of narration. I wanted everything to fit on a single DVD, so I trimmed the content that went into the video version of this book and kept everything else in this written version. Both versions are very similar, but this written version has more content. Also, due to the constraints on web space, this written version had to be text only. This website is massive, but most of the space is dedicated to my other book "The Botany of Survival," which is fully illustrated. The content on this page is centered on the state of Michigan, but many of the species are illustrated in "The Botany of Survival."

A word to the wise:

Although the edibility of all the plants in this class can be verified in published literature (cited at the end), this does not mean that everyone can eat these plants. Eating wild plants is dangerous, and whether or not a plant is truly edible depends on many factors that cannot be predicted, such as the health of the plant and the health of the person eating the plant. Also, keep in mind that misidentification of plants could be detrimental to your health—or even fatal—so always be absolutely sure of a plant’s identity before consuming it. Additional safety tips are on the homepage.

To accurately identify plants in Michigan:

The University of Michigan has a website with keys to all the flora, distribution maps, photographs, and other useful information. It's a phenomenal resource that I highly recommend for identifying plants. The button below will connect you to the website, or you can search for "Michigan Flora Net."

Part #1

A Forager’s Pathway

Welcome to the “Foraging in a Nutshell” foraging class. In this class we’ll learn one of the oldest professions in the world, foraging for edible plants, and we’ll learn it in one of the most incredible places on Earth, the Great Lakes region. Now, even though this class is centered on Michigan, most of the plants we cover grow all over the world, so the knowledge you gain here can be applied far beyond the state line of Michigan.

So, with such an abundance of plant-life in Michigan, where does a forager begin? … Although foraging for edible plants may seem like an impossible challenge to someone just starting out, it’s really not that difficult once you know what to look for—and what to look out for! There’s no doubt that foraging is dangerous, but it’s easy to understand, and the reason it’s easy to understand is because only a small number of plants are truly worth harvesting. Although hundreds of plants in Michigan are edible, only a few dozen of them are common enough and safe enough to be worth harvesting, so the whole key to foraging is knowing those few dozen plants and how to identify them. The ability to identify plants is the foundation that foraging is built upon, so throughout this class we’ll learn the parts and concepts that foragers need to know to accomplish that task, in every season of the year.

Asking the Right Questions:

Since harvesting plants from the wild isn’t exactly like buying them in a grocery store, you should ask yourself a few questions before harvesting them. Questions like: Do any poisonous plants look like this plant? Can this plant be eaten raw, or does it require preparation? And, does this plant have a well-documented history of being eaten as a staple food item? It’s also important to understand that the word “edible” doesn’t always mean “fit for consumption.” In fact, you really need to be careful with that word because it often means “barely edible even after preparation.” If you’ve never tried any wild foods then you’ll probably be surprised by how bad they can taste, how dangerous they can be, and how much effort it can take to harvest and process them. Now, most of the wild foods that we cover in this class are safe to eat, abundant, reasonably palatable, and well-documented in the historical record, but there are some exceptions, and I’ll point out those exceptions as they arise.

The First Foragers:

When you go back far enough, you’ll reach a point in time when everyone hunted and gathered. It was the only occupation, and you really have to wonder: exactly how did the first humans train for that occupation and figure out which plants they could and could not eat? Think about that for a minute. You’re out there in the forest, hungry, some of the plants are edible, most of the plants are inedible, and a few of the plants could seriously harm you—or even worse. That was the problem the first humans had to solve.

So how did they solve that problem? … For the most part, we can only speculate as to what occurred in the early chapters of history, but determining what was safe and unsafe could only have been a process of trial and error, and without written materials, the process of identification had to be based entirely on memory. Now, our sense of taste would have been a useful tool in determining the edibility of plants. Inedible plants often taste bad and this bad taste serves as a warning sign telling us to stay away, and likewise with our sense of smell. Our senses are very helpful, but they are not foolproof, so remember that they neither confirm, nor refute, the edibility of plants.

The Universal Edibility Test:

In the art of survival there’s a procedure for testing the edibility of unknown plants, and this procedure, which is called the “Universal Edibility Test,” is probably similar to how the first humans on Earth figured out which plants they could and could not eat. Now, since this test is good to know, we’ll cover it, but please understand that this test is dangerous and should only be used in an actual life or death situation, so don’t just indiscriminately start testing plants, that’s not the way to figure out which ones are edible! Also keep in mind that in a life-or-death situation, hunting animals would be a safer option than gathering unknown plants—of course that’s assuming you’re not hunting a bear or some other large predator that may be thinking about hunting you! What I meant was safer in terms of edibility. Most animals are edible, but most plants are inedible, so if you’re ever stranded in the wilderness and you don’t know which plants are safe to eat, focus on hunting animals rather than risking your health on unknown plants. It’s also worth mentioning that in the wilderness subsisting entirely on plants is unlikely to meet all your nutritional needs. It’s not that plants can’t meet those needs, but rather, the limited selection of plants in the wilderness will probably fall short of your body’s needs, especially for fats, proteins, and the overall number of calories.

So, with those things in mind, how do we do this “edibility test?” And pass it! Because we certainly don’t want to fail it! First of all, the universal edibility test requires about one day to complete, and it’s only intended to test one part of one plant at a time. And before you test a plant you should be aware that some parts of it can be edible while other parts of it can be poisonous. You should also be aware that some plants are poisonous when consumed raw yet perfectly safe after cooking.

If you decide to test the edibility of a plant, then be sure to choose one that’s common, because there’s no sense in taking the risk unless there’s a good supply of the plant. Also, when choosing a plant, you should avoid anything with strong odors, milky sap, colored sap, spotted stems, waxy leaves, white berries, twin berries, and beans of any kind. In contrast to these things to avoid, what you should be looking for are plants with a starchy, nutty, fruity, or salad-like aroma. Food tends to have a food-like aroma. However, harmful plants can also smell like food, so the aroma of plants is not a reliable sign. Another sign that’s good to look for (but also not reliable) is plants that have been grazed by animals. If you look real close you’ll see signs of grazing almost everywhere. These signs include: torn leaves, plants missing a top section, tree trunks that look gnawed, and holes left in the ground from digging up roots. We’re taught to believe that animals are ignorant, but they know how to survive and they instinctively select what’s edible—at least what’s edible for them. Animals can eat a lot of plants that we can’t eat, so just because an animal can eat a plant does not mean that a human can eat that plant. The point I’m making is that partially eaten plants are better candidates for the edibility test than plants that animals avoid, so by observing what animals eat, we can learn from their instincts and gain a sense of what we might be able to eat in an unfamiliar environment. Please keep in mind that all the signs I just mentioned, good and bad, have exceptions, so please use them with caution.

After choosing one part of one plant for the edibility test, the first thing you do is crush the part, rub it on a small area of your skin, and wait about 10 to 15 minutes. If doing that causes any kind of irritation, then the part is obviously no good and the test is over, but if doing that doesn’t cause any irritation, then you can try chewing a small piece. And if chewing a small piece doesn’t cause any irritation, then try swallowing a small piece and waiting about a half a day. Food poisoning usually doesn’t happen instantaneously. It normally takes a few hours. That’s why you need to wait. If no adverse effects (pain, stomachache, nausea, sweating, disorientation, nervousness, headache, difficulties in breathing, irregular heartbeat, discoloration of the skin, or anything out of the ordinary) occur for a half a day, then you can try swallowing a larger piece of the plant. And finally, if no adverse effects occur by the end of the day, then the part in question can be considered “possibly edible.” Remember, this test is no guarantee of edibility and consuming larger amounts of the plant could still be detrimental to your health. As I said earlier, the “Universal Edibility Test” is dangerous and should only be used in a life-or-death situation.

Quick Summary of the Universal Edibility Test:

Step #1 – Choose one part of a common plant that smells like food.

Step #2 – Rub the part on a small area of your skin to see if it causes any irritation.

Step #3 – If the part doesn't irritate your skin, then chew a small piece of the plant and spit it out.

Step #4 – If chewing a small piece of the plant doesn't cause any irritation, then eat a small piece of the plant and wait half a day.

Step #5 – If eating a small piece of the plant doesn't cause any problems, eat a larger piece and wait

Step #5 – another half a day.

Step #6 – If the larger piece doesn't cause any problems, then that part of the plant might be edible, or at least not acutely poisonous.

The Dark Side of Plants:

Most people already know that plants can be dangerous, but what exactly is in them that makes them dangerous? And even more importantly—is there a way to get rid of those things? The simple answer to this question is that some things are easy to remove, and other things are extremely difficult or impossible to remove. Some common things that foragers will have to contend with include: tannins, saponins, oxalates, alkaloids, glycosides, latexes, and resins. These “things” are actually groups of things rather than single things and there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution for getting rid of them. For the most part, the wild foods that we cover in this class are free of harmful compounds, but some of them are dangerous unless properly prepared, so I’ll always point out any special preparation requirements.

Anyone new to foraging should always consider a plant “poisonous until proven non-poisonous,” and the way to determine that it’s non-poisonous … is to properly identify it. Also keep in mind that plants that are normally edible can become poisonous when infected with molds or diseases that may or may not be visible. They can also become poisonous when growing in soils that contain harmful elements or compounds, so always consider the source when gathering wild foods. Even crystal-clear mountain streams that look pristine can be polluted from industrial operations that occurred many miles away or many years ago.

Another problem is bugs, and the devastation they leave in their wake. It’s not unusual for entire colonies of plants to be eaten by bugs. And the mess they leave behind is another hazard. Microorganisms could also be considered bugs, really small bugs that can cause some serious health problems. Microorganisms are mainly a problem in plants that grow in water, but they can also be a problem in plants that grow in moist soil or in areas where animal manure is prevalent. Fortunately, cooking effectively kills microorganisms, so cooking plants is always a wise precaution. The task of gathering plants can also be hazardous, so be careful out there. You never know what you might run into, or what might run into you!

Some Essentials of Plant Classification:

To succeed at foraging you’ll need to know some things about botany, so we’ll cover the most important things now and some additional things later. “Botany,” since I didn’t mention this earlier, is the science of plants, and the first thing that a forager needs to know about botany is that approximately 275 to 400 thousand species of flowering plants are found on Earth. That’s the big picture. As for the small picture, the total number of flowering plants in Michigan is about 3 thousand species. Now, you may have noticed that I said “flowering plants” rather than just plants, and the reason for that is because not all plants produce flowers. Primitive plants, such as algae, mosses, and ferns produce more rudimentary structures that serve essentially the same purpose as flowers but predate the existence of flowers by millions of years. Flowers, as well as fruits, developed more “recently,” apparently as adaptations that helped plants overcome the challenges of living on land. And just in case you’re wondering, scientists believe that plants moved out of the oceans and onto land about 450 million years ago, a time they call the Ordovician (Or-doh-vi-shin) Period. From a forager’s perspective, virtually everything of interest produces flowers, so flowers should be one of the first things you look for when identifying plants. If a plant doesn’t produce flowers, it could be a primitive plant, which is most likely inedible. Now, it’s true that some primitive plants, as well as some plant-like lifeforms called lichens (ly-kinz), are excellent wild foods, but the vast majority of them either cannot be used as food or the status of their edibility is unknown.

So how do botanists organize so many different species? The simple answer to this question is that species are organized by the features they have in common. Most of the time the features are easy to observe, but they can also be difficult to observe when they’re based on things like chemistry, genetics, or the way that species interact with their surroundings. The main thing that a forager needs to understand about plant classification is that similar-looking “species” are placed into groups called “genera,” and similar-looking genera are placed into groups called “families.” Above that there are groups called orders, classes, divisions, kingdoms, and domains, but these higher groups are of little concern to foragers because the features that define them are generally not features you need to identify plants in the wild.

By organizing plants based on their similarities we simplify the task of identification and minimize the risk of misidentification. I would argue that the system of classification is brilliant and brings order to what would otherwise be chaos. It’s definitely not a perfect order, and not everybody agrees on every aspect of the order, but it does make a lot of good sense, and the more familiar you become with it, the more you’ll see that poisonous plants really don’t look like edible plants. They usually have very substantial differences—even when they’re in the same family.

Some Essentials of Plant Identification:

So how do we go about the process of identification and tell the safe plants from the harmful plants? … Plant identification ultimately comes down to one thing—structure. It’s the overall structure that differentiates the various species of plants, and every part of a plant contributes to its overall structure. In most cases, differences between species are clearly visible and form a unique “combination of features.” No two species have the same combination. They might look very similar, but at least one part will always be different. So remember, always keep the overall structure in mind. Don’t just look at one part, look at all the parts, and how they’re arranged, that’s the key to unlocking a plant’s identity.

Checking all the parts is easy enough, but keep in mind that some of them may not be available at the time you identify a plant, and that can be a real problem. For example, fruits and flowers are usually not available at the same time, yet both of them may be required to identify a plant. So how does a forager fix that problem? … We fix it by observing plants at different points in time. Points when the various parts are available. Remember that when you observe plants, you’re only observing them at a moment in time. It’s like looking at one frame of a movie and trying to understand the whole movie based on that one frame. To identify plants the way botanists identify them you might have to return to a location later in the season, or even the following year, to observe all the necessary parts.

Some Notes about Scientific Names:

Although there’s a lot of technical jargon that we can do without, we cannot do without the scientific names of plants, and that’s because they’re far more accurate than the common names. Common names can actually refer to more than one species, but scientific names always refer to only one species. Foragers should know that scientific names have a formal way of being written. The first part of a name is the genus, and the second part is the species. Both parts are required and may be followed by additional information, such as the author who created the name. Another thing that foragers should know is that species can be divided into subspecies or varieties. For the most part, if a species is edible, then all of its subspecies and varieties are also edible. However, there could be exceptions, so always identify things as accurately as possible.

Example of a scientific name:

Ribes americanum Mill.

Ribes = the genus name.

americanum = the species name (American or wild black currant).

Mill. = an abbreviation for the person who named the species.

Lay of the Land:

When you identify plants, you should always observe the habitat you find them in, and when I say “habitat,” not only do I mean the ground, but also things like the average amount of rainfall, the temperature, the humidity, the elevation, how much sunlight a plant receives, other plants in the area, and the length of the growing season. These things that I’m calling “the habitat” are also called the climate, the ecosystem, the biome, and many other names, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m hereby calling them the habitat.

There’s a good reason why habitats are important to foragers, and if you don’t quite see that reason, then consider this: Although some plants can grow just about anywhere, quite a few plants are very particular about where they grow, and knowing that a plant prefers a certain habitat tells us where to look for it. So simply knowing the habitat makes a forager’s job a lot easier. And another thing that makes a forager’s job a lot easier is knowing that when you search is equally important to where you search. Not only do foragers need to be at the right place, they need to be there at the right time. Everything has a season, and foragers need to be aware of those seasons. Foragers also need to be aware of things that are unripe, because those unripe things are telling us where to search in the near future. Unripe things often blend in with their surroundings. They can be difficult to spot, but spotting them helps ensure that you’ll have a food supply in the near future.

Lifespan:

In addition to habitat, lifespan is also something that a forager needs to consider. Plants that live for one year are called “annuals,” and plants that live for more than one year are called “perennials.” So why would a forager need to know how long a plant lives? … Try looking at this question from a long-term perspective. A colony of perennial plants will be at the same location year after year, and that means a potential source of food at that location year after year. Once you know the location you can return to it every year, and that saves you time and energy in your search for food. In contrast, there’s no guarantee that annual plants will stay in one location year after year. Colonies of annual plants can move or completely disappear. Now, there’s a good chance they’ll stay in one location, but it’s only a chance. Another difference between annuals and perennials is that annuals are more likely to produce seeds. Annuals only get one chance to produce seeds, and if they fail in that objective there won’t be another generation, so they’re highly motivated to produce seeds. In contrast, if perennials fail to produce seeds, they can always try again the following year. It’s not a “do-or-die” situation for perennials. Foragers should also remember that the root systems of perennials are often much more extensive than those of annuals, and since those root systems survive the winter, that means they’re available in the winter, as well as any other time of the year.

“Biennials” are also worth mentioning at this point. Biennials are plants that live for two years. Technically, they are perennials, but they’re called biennials to indicate their two-year lifespan. A number of plants that we’ll be covering are biennials, and the beauty of biennials is that they can be gathered all year long. Think about that, with a two-year lifespan, roots of young plants can be gathered at the end of the growing season in autumn, as well as all winter long, and the following spring. Then in the summer parts like leaves and seeds can be gathered. It’s a never-ending cycle, and that makes biennials highly valuable to foragers.

Pros and Cons:

There’s a delicate balance in nature, and it doesn’t take much to upset that balance. As a forager, simply knowing what to eat is not enough. To be successful, you need to understand the balance between your food supply and the environment that’s producing it, and that’s because the environment will have a huge impact on your harvest. A forager needs to consider many things, and some of those things are much more important than others. So, if you were a forager trying to survive in the wilderness and you could only choose one of the following options, which one would you choose?

A. Fruits that taste good?

B. Fruits that have a pleasant texture?

C. Fruits that are nutritious and high in calories?

D. Fruits that are easy to harvest and process?

E. Fruits that are free of bugs and diseases?

F. Fruits that are produced in abundance?

G. Fruits that are large?

Remember, you only get to choose one option. Clearly, they’re all good options, but if you’re thinking like a forager trying to survive in the wilderness then you’ll see that one of them is far more important than all the others. So which one is it? … If you chose option F, then you chose correctly, and that’s because nothing else matters if you don’t have enough food to eat. In the wilderness it’s all about getting enough food.

All the options on that list are things that foragers should consider very carefully because foraging is about “how much work, for how much food.” And just because a food is desirable doesn’t mean that it’s worth the effort of obtaining. Sometimes less appealing foods are easier to harvest, less ravaged by bugs, or more likely to be available when growing conditions are too stressful for more appealing foods. This is what I meant when I said, “you need to understand the balance between your food supply and the environment that’s producing it.” Things like droughts, late-season frosts, and plagues of bugs can devastate wild foods over vast areas, so as a forager, you need to know what you can rely on not only in good years, but also in bad years. In my opinion, foraging seems to have more cons than pros, but even under the toughest conditions, it’s good to know that you can almost always find something to eat.

Part #2

How Botanists Look at Plants

Looking at plants may seem easy enough, but how do we look at plants the way botanists look at them? What is it they observe? And how do they draw the lines between all the different species? Something has to make the species unique, so what is it that makes them unique? … As I said earlier, “It’s the overall structure that differentiates the various species of plants,” but that’s a simple answer to a complex problem. The problem is that thousands upon thousands of features are used to describe the overall structure of plants, far more features than anybody could possibly remember. So, the question becomes … What are the most relevant features?

Fortunately, even though plant identification can be extremely difficult, foraging isn’t as complicated as you might think. Look at it this way: People that lived way back in the Stone Age, they never had books, or smartphones, or the Internet, so how did they go about the process of foraging? And even more importantly, how did they avoid getting poisoned based only on what they could remember? … The secret to their success … is that they only needed to remember a handful of plants—the plants that were worth harvesting. You see, foraging isn’t about knowing thousands of plants, it’s about knowing a few good ones, and the way we know those few good ones is by asking the right questions. So, what are those questions? What should a forager be asking about plants?

Overall Form:

When you observe plants, one of the first questions you should ask is whether the plant is woody or non-woody? Trees are a lot easier to identify than shrubs or plants, and that’s mainly because there aren’t as many of them. Of all the species on Earth, only a small fraction of them are trees, and their woody trunks are an obvious feature.

If you’re looking at a plant rather than a shrub or a tree, then you should ask yourself: Is the plant upright or is it lying on the ground? Or maybe it’s climbing up a tree? These growth forms are important because they tend to be consistent. In fact, the whole process of identification works because species follow consistent patterns. You can think of a species as somewhat like a “particular item” mass produced at a factory—but nature is the factory.

Roots:

When you observe the overall form of plants don’t forget that the roots are part of that overall form, and that you actually need to check the roots in order to identify certain plants! Roots may not seem like a part that you would need to check when identifying plants, but they can be very helpful in the identification process. The two most common types of roots are taproots and fibrous roots, and the difference between them is that taproots have a well-defined central axis, and fibrous roots do not. Or to put that another way, taproots look similar to the carrots you see in grocery stores, and fibrous roots look like a tangled mess of strings.

Root-like Parts: Foragers should also be familiar with root-like structures called bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes, and stolons. Technically, none of these structures are roots, but they’re often thought of as roots, and since many of them are an excellent source of food, foragers should be able to recognize them. So how do we do that? … If you pull up a plant and see a “thickened area at the base of the stem” that’s either a bulb or a corm. If it’s divided into layers, it’s a bulb, and if it’s solid, it’s a corm. Tubers are also solid, but instead of developing at the base of the stem, they develop along the roots or rhizomes. The main technical difference between these parts is the part they develop from. As for the other two root-like parts that I mentioned, rhizomes and stolons, those parts are unique in that they connect plants to other plants, which is something that no other parts do. Both of them are essentially the same thing, except that rhizomes spread underground, and stolons spread on or above the ground. There are some other differences between all these root-like parts, but that’s about the easiest way to tell them apart in the field. Plants that produce any of these root-like parts usually have a better chance of survival than plants that don’t produce them. However, these parts also make them a target of hungry animals, and hungry humans, so it’s not always in the plant’s best interest to produce them.

A Forager's Perspective of Roots: What a forager should remember is that roots and root-like parts can be gathered anytime of the year, and plants that produce them often grow in colonies. Now, finding these parts in winter can be extremely difficult, but despite this problem, there are some signs to look for, such as the withered remains of plants persisting in the frozen landscape. And keep in mind that just because a plant appears to be lifeless does not mean that it is lifeless. Quite a few plants have underground parts that can easily survive the winter and being able to recognize the withered remains of those plants is a valuable skill, so we’ll learn that skill and see what’s available in the winter.

When you search for roots and root-like parts, what really matters is how big they are, how deep they are, and especially … how soft the soil is. In the wild, roots are often too small or too deep to be worth gathering, and the task of gathering them can burn more energy than what they provide in return. All of those are serious problems that need to be solved, and we solve them by learning which plants produce the best roots and what those plants look like throughout the year. That knowledge is the key to accessing a vast supply of food that’s hiding underground.

Leaves:

In addition to providing us with a vital source of nourishment, leaves also provide us with an important piece of identification. So, let’s take a closer look at these under-appreciated structures that make life possible by turning sunlight into energy. Of all the questions that foragers should be asking about leaves, the most important ones are: 

#1 What shape are the leaves?

#2 Are the leaves simple or compound?

#3 How are the leaves arranged?

Shape: As for the first question, concerning shape, there’s tons of complicated botanical terminology for describing shapes, but since almost all of it can be replaced with familiar words that we all understand, I’ll describe shapes using familiar words. Certainly, it’s always a good idea to understand botanical terminology, but there’s no point in using a bunch of complicated words when familiar words would be just as effective. Now, sometimes we have no choice and we need to use complicated words, but in regard to leaf shapes, we can almost always use words that most people would be familiar with.

Type: As for the question of simple or compound, that’s a very important question, and the concept of simple or compound applies to many different parts, not just leaves, so we’ll see it again. In general, simple means “one” and compound means “more than one.” And “the one” can be a branch, a division, a part, or a number of other things. As the term “simple” applies to leaves, it means that the leaves are not divided into leaflets, and the term “compound” means that the leaves are divided into leaflets.

Arrangement: As for the question of arrangement, there aren’t too many ways that leaves can be arranged, and the most common arrangements include: alternate, opposite, and whorled. Alternate, means that each leaf connects to the stem at a different point. Opposite, means that two leaves connect on opposite sides of a point, and whorled means that three or more leaves encircle the stem at each point. And I should also mention that the point at which a leaf connects to a stem is called a “node.” These terms can be applied to any parts in a similar arrangement, not just leaves, and some of them have variations. For example, alternate leaves can be arranged in a spiral pattern or aligned in vertical rows (ranked), and opposite leaves can be arranged in a way where the pairs are at a 90-degree angle to pairs above and below them (decussate), that way the upper leaves don’t shade the lower leaves.

The Basic Parts of Leaves: Foragers should be familiar with the basic parts of leaves. In simple leaves those parts are the stalks, stipules, and blades. And the blades have four basic regions: the bases, tips, margins, and surfaces. Leaves will always (or at least almost always) have blades, but they often don’t have stalks or stipules. Stipules are typically a pair of tiny, leaf-like appendages at the base of leaves. Most of the time they’re insignificant, but occasionally they can help us identify plants, so it’s a good idea to check if they’re present or absent. Likewise, it’s a good idea to check if leafstalks are present or absent. In addition to observing all the basic parts of leaves, it’s also a good idea to observe the veins because the ways in which the veins branch (parallel, pinnate, palmate, or in a net-like pattern) can be a very useful piece of information.         

Pinnate and Palmate Leaves: In compound leaves, most of the terms that I just mentioned apply to the leaflets, and since compound leaves consist of 2 more leaflets, the arrangement of those leaflets is also something that needs to be considered. Leaflets can be arranged in several different ways and the most notable ways are pinnately (pin-ate-lee) and palmately (palm-ate-lee). The difference is that in pinnate leaves the leaflets attach to many different points along an axis (called a rachis), and in palmate leaves all the leaflets attach to a single point. In general, the term “pinnate” means “single-pinnate,” but it can also mean “bi-pinnate or tri-pinnate,” which are simply pinnate leaves in which the leaflets are also pinnate.         

Stalks: Botanists have some unusual words for stalks, and the differences between those words depend on which part the stalks attach to. Stalks of leaves are called petioles (pet-ee-olz), stalks of individual flowers are called pedicels (ped-i-silz), and stalks of flower clusters are called peduncles (pe-dun-kulz). These words for stalks may sound a bit long-winded, but they allow us to precisely specify the part we’re talking about.

Key Points of Leaves: There’s a lot more to know about leaves, but at this point we’ve covered the main things that foragers should know about them. From what we’ve covered, please keep in mind that anytime you identify plants, checking to see if the leaves are simple or compound should be one of the first things you do, and checking to see if they’re alternate, opposite or whorled, should be the second thing you do. These things are very easy to check, and they do a lot to help us identify plants.

Surface Features:

When you identify plants remember that no detail is too small, so don’t overlook things like hairs. Hairs may not seem very important, but they can really help us with the identification process. If you look really close at a hair, you’ll see that it’s either unbranched, or branched in a specific way. A few examples of those ways would be: “dendritic” (den-dri-tik), which means branched in a tree-like pattern, “stellate” (stel-ate), which means branched in a star-like pattern, and “malpighian” (mal-pee-gee-in), which means branched like a pickaxe. And in addition to any branching patterns, the texture and orientation of hairs also needs to be considered. Botanists have a long list of complicated words for describing every aspect of hairs, as well as words for other surface features, but since most of those words can be replaced with familiar words that we all understand, I’ll stick to the familiar words. Just remember that a tremendous amount of useful information can be derived from something as small as a hair.

Flowers:

Flowers, when present, are one of the most unique and sophisticated structures of plants. No other parts, except occasionally the fruits, provide a more reliable means of identifying plants, and flowers are often edible in the same way that leaves are edible, so don’t overlook them when gathering salad material. Flowers are also one of the safest parts for consumption, so if you’re ever in a situation where you need to gamble on eating something that you don’t recognize—gamble on flowers.

The Basic Parts of Flowers: As for things that foragers need to know about flowers, there are quite a few of them, and the most important thing is that flowers typically have four main parts: sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils. A flower that has all those parts is said to be “complete,” but a flower doesn’t have to have all those parts. Any of them can be missing, and if any of them are missing, then the flower is said to be “incomplete.” Sepals are usually green and positioned below the petals. Collectively, they’re called a “calyx” (kay-liks) and they mainly serve to protect the young flower buds. Petals, as I’m sure you know, are usually very colorful, but you may not know that collectively they’re called a “corolla” (kor-oh-luh) and they mainly serve to attract pollinators. As for stamens, stamens have the duty of producing pollen, or more specifically, the anthers of the stamens have that duty. Stamens normally consist of two parts: anthers and filaments. Pollen is produced in the anthers. Ultimately, the pollen is trying to fertilize the pistils, and assuming that happens, the pistils will then develop into fruits, and the life cycle is complete.

Pistils: Since you’re probably not that familiar with pistils, pistils normally consist of 3 main parts, and those parts are the stigmas, styles, and ovaries. Stigmas are mainly there to catch the incoming pollen, and styles are basically just stalks that elevate the stigmas. Ovaries, on the other hand, are much more complex, and their internal layout, which is technically called “placentation” (pla-sen-tay-shun), can be useful in the identification process. Since it’s the ovaries that eventually become the fruits, whatever internal layout the ovaries have, the fruits will have that same internal layout (some common layouts include basal, apical, parietal, axile, free central, and marginal). Looking at that another way, ovaries can be thought of as very, very young fruits, and by observing the ovaries you can predict what the fruits will look like long before they develop. It won’t be a 100 percent accurate prediction of the fruits, but things like the number of compartments and the positioning of the seeds will almost always be the same, and that knowledge can help you identify plants. It’s also worth noting that even smaller structures within the ovaries called “ovules” (oh-vyoolz) will eventually become the seeds.

Geometry: Flowers usually have a consistent design, or what I like to call “geometry,” and to understand that geometry, we need to look at flowers the way botanists look at them. To do that, we start by counting the number of petals. The number of petals is very important. Likewise, the number of sepals, stamens, and pistils is also very important, so you should count those parts too. After doing that, check to see if the petals are united (sympetalous) or completely free from each other (choripetalous). When things are united, even if they’re only partially united, they’re said to be “connate.” It’s a very simple thing to observe, but don’t underestimate its importance.

Symmetry: Symmetry is another simple thing to observe. Flowers are either radially or bilaterally symmetrical. Radially symmetrical, which is also called “regular” or actinomorphic (ak-tin-oh-more-fik) means “similar in the way that slices of a pie are similar,” and bilaterally symmetrical, which is also called “irregular” or zygomorphic (zy-goh-more-fik) means “similar in the way that the wings of butterflies are similar.”

Gender: Gender is also very important, and it’s determined by the presence or absence of stamens and pistils. Flowers can be male, female, both, or neither, and the botanical terms for these options are: staminate (sta-min-ate), pistillate (pis-til-ate), perfect, and neuter, respectively. In addition, when flowers are either male or female, it’s important to observe if both genders are on the same plant (monecious mon-ee-shus) or if they’re on different plants (dioecious dy-ee-shus).

Position: Another thing you should observe is if the petals and sepals attach above or below the ovaries. When the ovaries are below that point of attachment, the flowers are said to be ovary inferior or “epigynous” (eh-pi-jin-us), and when the ovaries are above that point of attachment, the flowers are said to be ovary superior or “hypogynous” (hy-pah-jin-us). There’s also a third type called “perigynous” (per-i-jin-us). It’s an ovary superior flower that appears to be ovary inferior because the sepals and petals attach to the rim of a hypanthium which then attaches below the ovary, hence the ovary is still above those parts.

Attachment: Yet another important concept is where the stamens attach. In flowers where the number of stamens equals the number of petals, the stamens can attach in a way that alternates with the petals or in a way that’s opposite to the petals. The alternating pattern is easy to see, but the opposite pattern makes better sense when you think of the stamens as being positioned directly above the petals.

Arrangement: The last thing that I’ll mention about flowers is the most common arrangements, and in the language of botany, those arrangements are called: spikes, racemes, panicles, cymes, umbels, and heads. Botanists call a cluster of flowers an “inflorescence” (in-flor-eh-sence). Now, in a spike, the individual flowers attach directly to the axis of the inflorescence, and these individual flowers do not have stalks. A raceme is essentially the same thing, except that the individual flowers do have stalks. In both of these arrangements the axis does not branch, so if you see it branching, the arrangement is called a panicle. And then there are cymes. In cymes, the flower stalks emerge from other flower stalks and form various patterns, such as coils, fans, and zigzags. Cymes can also resemble umbels, but in umbels all the flower stalks emerge from one point rather than from other flower stalks. And last but not least, we have heads. Heads are basically just dense clusters of flowers. Now, these aren’t the only ways that flowers can be arranged, but they are some of the most common ways.

Fruits:

We’re all familiar with fruits, but what exactly are fruits from a botanical perspective? Botanists define fruits as “the mature ovaries of flowering plants together with any accessory parts,” and when they look at fruits, there are 3 main things they’re looking at. Number one, they’re looking to see if the fruits are dry or fleshy. Number two, they’re looking to see if the fruits split apart (dehiscent de-hiss-ent) or don’t split apart (indehiscent in-de-hiss-ent) at maturity. And number three, they’re looking at the internal layout of the fruits. These 3 simple things are the most important aspects of classifying fruits, so foragers should definitely be familiar with them.

Development: Another important aspect, at least from a botanist’s perspective, is the part that a fruit develops from. A typical fruit develops from one pistil of one flower, but a fruit can also develop from other parts, or more than one pistil, or even more than one flower. Now, if it develops from parts other than the ovary, it’s called an “accessory fruit,” and if it develops from more than one pistil, it’s called an “aggregate fruit,” and if it develops from more than one flower, it’s called a “multiple fruit.” Although it’s important for a botanist to know which part a fruit develops from, all a forager really needs to know is what a fruit looks like when it’s ripe, and it’s very important that fruits match descriptions, because if they don’t match … then you probably have the wrong plant! Fruits are very distinctive, sometimes even more distinctive than flowers, so always check them very carefully.

Persistence: Another thing that foragers need to know about fruits, is how long fruits persist. Persistence can work for or against a forager. Occasionally, it works for us, but more often, it works against us. The problem is that as fruits ripen, they tend to fall to the ground, so all you see on the shrubs or trees are fruits that are almost ready to gather. The ripe ones disappear as fast as they ripen, and even faster when the weather is windy or when hungry animals are in the area. On one hand, it’s nice when shrubs and trees drop their fruits, that way we don’t have to climb them to reach the fruits, but on the other hand, finding fruits on the ground can be very difficult, if not impossible. So how does a forager avoid this situation? … We avoid it by gathering fruits at just the right time, so always keep an eye on fruits and never assume that they’ll be there the following week, or even the following day.

Layers: On a more technical note, most fruits consist of 3 layers. Botanists call these layers the “endocarp” (en-deh-karp), “mesocarp” (mez-eh-karp), and “exocarp” (ex-oh-karp) layers, or collectively “the pericarp” (pair-ih-karp). These layers previously formed the walls of the ovary back when the plant was blooming. “Berries” best represent the common perception of fruits, but “drupes,” such as peaches, also fit that perception despite their hard stones. In a peach, the skin is the exocarp layer, the flesh is the mesocarp layer, and the stone is the endocarp layer. Most of the fruits that we’ll learn about in this class are either drupes or berries, and although these terms may seem trivial, there’s nothing trivial about them. Botanical language, however difficult it may be to spell or pronounce, is very precise, and despite my criticism of it, it’s a good thing that it is precise, because that precision allows us to paint a clear picture of things, using just a few words.

Berries: The word “berry” is a perfect example of this precision. Although many different fruits are commonly called “berries,” botanically speaking, berries must be completely soft and fleshy. If any part of them is hard, then the fruit is not a berry. And in addition, by using the word berry, a botanist is also saying: that the fruit does not split apart when it’s ripe, and that the fruit contains more than one seed, and that the fruit developed from an ovary of one pistil. So, as you can see, there’s a lot “baked into” the word, and instead of repeating all that every time we describe a fruit like that, we simply say, “the fruit is a berry.”

Drupes: “Drupes” also have to meet certain requirements in order to be drupes, and those requirements are that they must contain one seed that is surrounded by a hard shell that is surrounded by a fleshy layer. Also, drupes must develop from an ovary of one pistil, and they must never split open at maturity. If any of those requirements are not met, then the fruit is not a drupe. Now, a fruit can fail to meet some of those requirements, yet still look like a drupe. If that’s the case, then the fruit is said to be “drupaceous” (droo-pay-shus), which means resembling a drupe.

Dehiscence: Since fruits are among the most important assets to foragers, foragers need to look at fruits the way botanists look at them. By now, you should see that it’s important to observe whether or not fruits split apart at maturity, but if you want to look at fruits the way botanists look at them, then you need to take that observation one step further and look at the way fruits split apart. You see, fruits can split apart in many different ways, and those ways can help us identify them. Two of the most common ways are in a circular pattern around the equator and lengthwise from top to bottom or bottom to top. Fruits can also split into any number of sections or develop holes that allow the seeds to escape. Regardless of how fruits split apart, they split apart for a reason, and that reason is to disperse their seeds. You see, from a plant’s perspective, seed dispersal is a very important objective, and having fruits that split apart is one way to achieve that objective. Incidentally, having fruits that split apart, also makes it easier for us foragers to get at those seeds, and anything that makes our job easier is always appreciated. In the language of botany, fruits that split apart are said to be “dehiscent” (de-hiss-ent) and fruits that do not split apart are said to be “indehiscent” (in-de-hiss-ent).

Compression: In addition to whether or not fruits split apart at maturity, how fruits are compressed is another useful concept. The concept of compression can be applied to any part, not just fruits, and regardless of what part it’s applied to, it always needs a reference point. The reference point is usually a wall, an axis, or some kind of divider between two things, and once you have a reference point you can describe how something is compressed relative to that point. For example, a seedpod can be compressed parallel to a divider or perpendicular to a divider. Compression is a very simple concept and it’s used extensively in plant identification, so it’s something that’s worth knowing about.

Some Common Types of Dry Fruits #1 (Indehiscent): Although the next few paragraphs will probably seem a little overly technical, I think it would be a good idea to explain the various types of fruits, and I think that’s a good idea because no other parts are more important to foragers than fruits. So, to help demystify the botanical language, there are five types of fruits that are essentially the same thing, and those fruits are called: achenes (uh-keenz), cypselae (sip-suh-lee), utricles (yoo-tri-kelz), samaras (suh-mar-uhz), and caryopses (kair-ee-op-seez). All of these are dry, one-seeded fruits that do not split open at maturity. You could also think of them as “a shell surrounding a seed,” and it’s the shell that’s the fruit. Samaras are the only ones in that group with wings, and utricles are the only ones that are mostly hollow inside. Caryopses, which are more commonly known as whole grains, are unique in that their seeds are bonded to their shells. In the others, their seeds are free from their shells. As for achenes and cypselae, they really are the same thing, exactly the same thing, except that achenes develop from ovary superior flowers and cypselae develop from ovary inferior flowers.

Some Common Types of Dry Fruits #2 (Dehiscent): Another group of fruits that most people simply call seedpods, bean pods, or capsules includes the following: legumes (leg-yoomz), loments (loh-ments), capsules (kap-selz), follicles (fol-li-kelz), silicles (sil-i-kelz), and siliques (si-leeks). All of these are dry fruits that mainly differ in the way they split apart at maturity and in the number of internal compartments they have. These internal compartments are called “carpels,” and they divide the ovaries into one or more sections—just like walls divide houses into a number of rooms. As for the details that differentiate all these fruits, that’s a bit more information than we need at this time, but we will take a closer look at some of these fruits, as well as other fruits, when we talk about plant families and specific plants.

Common Types of Fruits: The following key explains the technical differences between the most common types of fruits. It’s called a “dichotomous key,” and it works by making true-or-false comparisons. Simply compare #1 to #1, then if necessary #2 to #2, #3 to #3, and so on, always following the choice that’s true until you reach the correct answer. Dichotomous keys are commonly used in books about plant identification, so it’s a good idea to understand how they work.

Key to the Common Types of Fruits:

1. Fruit developing from more than one flower – Multiple Fruit.

1. Fruit developing from one flower.

****2. Fruit developing from more than one pistil and/or from parts other than the ovary. Note that fruits can be both of the following types simultaneously. The types are not mutually exclusive (for example strawberries and rose hips). Pomes and anthocarps are accessory fruits. Pomes are fleshy, indehiscent fruits where the ovary is surrounded by a fleshy hypanthium. Anthocarps are dry, indehiscent, one-seeded fruits enclosed by a perianth (sepals and petals) or receptacle.

*********3. Fruit developing from more than one pistil – Aggregate Fruit.

*********3. Fruit developing from parts other than the ovary – Accessory Fruit.

****2. Fruit developing from the ovary of a single pistil (the pistil simple or compound).

*********4. Fruit fleshy and not releasing the seeds at maturity (indehiscent).

*************5. Fruit containing one seed surrounded by hard, stone-like tissue – Drupe.

*************5. Fruit containing more than one seed.

*****************6. Outer fruit layers hard or leathery.

*********************7. Outer layers hard – Pepo.

*********************7. Outer layers leathery – Hesperidium.

*****************6. All fruit layers soft – Berry.

*********4. Fruit dry.

*************8. Fruit releasing the seeds at maturity (dehiscent).

*****************9. Fruit consisting of one carpel (one internal compartment).

*********************10. Fruit splitting open along one suture – Follicle.

*********************10. Fruit splitting open along two sutures or breaking between the seeds.

*************************11. Fruit splitting open along two sutures – Legume.

*************************11. Fruit constricted between the seeds and breaking at the constrictions – Loment.

*****************9. Fruit consisting of more than one carpel.

*********************12. Fruit consisting of 2 carpels separated by a thin, translucent wall (septum).

*************************13. Fruit more than three times longer than wide – Silique.

*************************13. Fruit less than three times longer than wide – Silicle.

*********************12. Fruit consisting of 2 or more carpels not separated by a septum – Capsule.

*************8. Fruit not releasing the seeds at maturity (indehiscent).

*****************14. Fruit divided or breaking into segments – Schizocarp.

*****************14. Fruit one-seeded and not breaking into segments.

*********************15. Fruit winged, solid, and the seed not bonded to the pericarp – Samara.

*********************15. Fruit not winged.

*************************16. Seed bonded to the pericarp (fruit layers) – Caryopsis.

*************************16. Seed not bonded to the pericarp.

*****************************17. Fruit mostly hollow inside – Utricle.

*****************************17. Fruit mostly solid inside.

*********************************18. Fruit hard and greatly thickened – Nut.

*********************************18. Fruit not greatly thickened.

*************************************19. Fruit with a cup-like base – Acorn.

*************************************19. Fruit lacking a cup-like base.

*****************************************20. Fruit developing from a superior ovary – Achene.

*****************************************20. Fruit developing from an inferior ovary – Cypsela.

Key Points of Fruits: From what we just covered on fruits, you should remember that fruits can be dry or fleshy, and that they may or may not split open at maturity, and that the number and arrangement of their seeds is very important, and that they should be gathered soon after they ripen.

Seeds:

Perhaps no other parts of plants are more important to foragers than seeds, but it’s unlikely that you’ll ever need a seed to identify a plant. It’s true that some plants do produce wildly shaped seeds that are required for identification, but for the most part, plants can be identified without their seeds.

Looking at Plants in Winter:

Up until this point we’ve been learning how botanists look at plants in spring, summer, and autumn … but what about in winter? How do botanists look at plants in winter? And even more importantly, is there anything useful that foragers can expect to find and identify in winter? … The answer to this question is yes. Now, obviously, the choices are much more limited in winter, and the process of identifying those choices is much more difficult, but regardless of any complications, foragers can find and identify a number of wild foods in winter. As always, the key to success is knowing what to look for and understanding the limitations of what’s possible and what’s not possible, so let’s explore the possibilities.

Although most plants wither and disintegrate long before winter, some of them persist. It’s not always possible to identify them, but sometimes, with nothing more than a wrinkled leaf or a shriveled-up fruit, a forager can be sure of a plant’s identity, and shrubs and trees are even easier to be sure of. Although the winter landscape may seem barren to most people, most people aren’t looking at that landscape the way botanists look at it, so just because the trees are bare and the skies are gray, doesn’t mean that there’s nothing worthwhile to see.

Some Winter Resources: So, what should a forager in Michigan be looking for in winter? … Well, a few things include sumac fruits, wintergreen fruits, and rose hips. All of those fruits are easy to identify, and they persist well into winter. Trees are another thing that foragers should be looking for in winter, even if those trees have shed their leaves. In case you don’t know, trees that shed their leaves are called “deciduous” trees, and trees that retain their leaves are called “evergreen” trees. Both kinds are useful to foragers, but evergreen trees are usually easier to identify in winter. Some trees that foragers should be looking for in winter include pine, fir, spruce, and birch trees, all of which are easy to identify and have edible inner bark. These aren’t the only trees with edible inner bark, but they are some of the best ones. In winter, foragers should also be looking for trees that produce nuts: such as oak, hickory, and walnut trees. Now, there won’t be any nuts on those trees in winter, but there may be nuts under those trees, so that’s a good place to look for food in winter.

Winter Identification: To identify trees in winter, a forager should pay close attention to the bark and the twigs. It’s also a good idea to look for any leaves that just refuse to let go, because even in deciduous trees a few leaves often hang on well into the winter, and you know that if those leaves are connected to the tree, then they’re part of the tree, regardless of the condition they’re in. It’s also worth noting that things on the ground underneath a tree can also be part of the tree. Obviously, things like leaves could be from other trees, but heavier things that are less likely to be tossed around in the wind are probably from the tree standing above them, so it’s always a good idea to check the ground when you identify things in winter.

Bark: As for the bark of trees, the color and texture are obvious things to observe, but “lenticels” (len-ti-selz) are another thing you should observe. Lenticels are breathing pores that allow gasses to escape from trees. Sometimes they’re small and rather difficult to see, but other times they’re clearly visible and very helpful in the identification process. For example, in birch and cherry trees, which are very important to foragers, they look like horizontal markings standing in contrast to the rest of the bark.

The Importance of Twigs: In winter, twigs are usually more informative than bark or leaves, but what exactly do twigs tell us? … Well for one thing, they tell us how the leaves were arranged, and they do that by leaving behind scars that are in the same arrangement. You see, each time a leaf falls to the ground it leaves behind a scar where it was connected to the twig, and collectively the scars tell us how the leaves were arranged. In addition, if you look a little closer, you’ll see tiny dots inside the scars. Those dots are called “bundle scars,” and they’re often arranged in specific patterns that can help us identify things. Another useful feature of twigs is their “scales.” In winter, the buds of most shrubs and trees are protected by scales, and when the weather warms up, the scales fall away as the buds expand and develop into branches, leaves, and flowers. Now, these scales, which are called “bud scales,” can be arranged in specific ways or have features that are useful for identification. Not to mention that the buds they protect are often edible. So now, when you look out onto that frozen winter landscape, hopefully it doesn’t look so bare. Just because the flowers have faded and the leaves have fallen doesn’t mean that we have no way to identify things. All it means is that we use other parts in the process.

Part #3

Some Important Families of Plants

In this part of the class, we take a closer look at plant identification and discover some families of plants that foragers should know about. These families include the: mustard, rose, sunflower, parsley, and grass families. Now, many, many more families are certainly worth knowing about, but these ones will teach us about plant identification and foraging at the same time.

The Mustard Family (Brassicaceae):

Number of genera worldwide: about 340.

Number of species worldwide: about 3,800.

Perhaps no other family is more important, and at the same time, more despised than the mustard family. From a forager’s perspective, being able to recognize the mustard family is a good skill to have, so we’ll learn that skill now and meet a few of its members later.

Importance to Foragers: The mustard family is important to foragers because so many of its members are edible, but please understand this does not mean that they’re all edible. Certain species in the mustard family—even some that are said to be edible—are known to concentrate excessive amounts of selenium and other elements from the soil which renders them toxic when eaten in large amounts, and when I say, “large amounts,” I don’t mean a few acres of these plants. What I mean, is an amount that’s possible to consume in one meal. Boiling can reduce the toxic effects in some species, but as I said earlier, “only consume plants with a well-documented history of being eaten as staple food items, and always prepare them properly.”

Recognizing Mustards: So, what do members of the mustard family look like and what could 38 hundred species of plants possibly have in common? … Please keep in mind that anytime you describe a large group of plants, not everything will conform to the description. There will always be exceptions, but you will definitely see some consistent patterns, and those patterns are very helpful. So with that in mind, mustards are typically short-lived plants that appear early in the growing season, and they often have large leaves that are clustered near the bases and smaller leaves that alternate up the stems. Now, this certainly isn’t the only formation of mustards, but it is a common one, and even though mustards are often the first plants to bloom in spring, some species bloom in summer or autumn. Regardless of when they bloom, their flowers are very distinctive.

Mustard Flowers: Mustard flowers are usually small and arranged in racemes, but occasionally they’re showy and arranged otherwise. Individual mustard flowers typically have 4 sepals, 4 petals, 6 stamens, and 2 carpels united to form a compound pistil. We covered all those terms earlier, but to refresh. Pistils are often divided into smaller units called carpels, much like houses are divided into rooms, so you should see two “rooms” when you look at the pistil of a mustard flower.

Mustard Fruits: Another important feature of mustards is their fruits. Most people call these fruits “seedpods,” but botanists call them “silicles” (sil-i-kelz) or “siliques” (si-leeks). Whatever you decide to call them, just remember that they’re almost always required to identify anything in the mustard family, and in case you’re wondering, the difference between them is length. Silicles are less than 3 times longer than wide, and siliques are more than 3 times longer than wide, and both of them eventually split into two halves (called valves) that are separated by a paper-thin divider (called a replum) that's often translucent. Also note that the way the seedpods are compressed relative to that paper-thin divider (parallel or perpendicular) is very important, so you should observe that feature when identifying mustards.

Utilizing Mustards as Food: So, we know that mustards are important, and we have a general idea of what they look like, but how do we use them as food? … The parts of mustards most often used as food include: the roots, leaves, flower buds, and seeds, and all of these parts usually taste spicy when eaten fresh and mild after cooking. I would say that after eating one mustard, it’s almost as if you’ve eaten them all, and that’s because there’s not a whole lot of difference in their flavor. Fresh roots taste somewhat like potatoes with an accent reminiscent of horseradish. Fresh leaves taste similar to cultivated members of the family including cabbage, kale, or collard greens. Fresh flower buds taste about the same as the leaves, and they can often be eaten like broccoli. And finally, the seeds usually taste bitter and spicy, and it’s not unusual for them to become slimy when boiled. If you prefer mild-flavored foods, then you probably won’t like mustard seeds. They almost always have a spicy flavor, which is probably why they’re often promoted as condiments. I would agree that mustard seeds make excellent condiments, but at the same time I would argue that they have a lot more to offer foragers than something to merely sprinkle on a hamburger. The seeds of many different mustards are produced in great abundance and are remarkably easy to harvest and process. They readily fall out of the seedpods and have no objection to being winnowed, which is a process of using the wind (or your breath) to separate seeds from chaff.

Some Key Points: Another thing that’s good to know, but easily overlooked, is that the flavor and aroma of mustards can actually help us identify these plants. Although it’s never a good idea to check the flavor of an unknown plant, it is a good idea to check the aroma. We can learn a lot from aromas, so don’t forget about that feature when you observe mustards, and also don't forget that hairs are a very important feature of mustards. In general, hairless species or species with unbranched hairs are more suitable for consumption than species with branched hairs.

Being able to recognize the mustard family is an excellent survival skill, so if you’re ever stranded in a place that you’re unfamiliar with and you didn’t know what to eat, definitely consider the mustard family. This is by no means an exhaustive review of the mustard family, but it should be enough to acquaint you with the family.

The Rose Family (Rosaceae):

Number of genera worldwide: about 95-120.

Number of species worldwide: about 2,700-3,300.

Few other families are more important to foragers than the rose family, so being able to recognize this family is a good skill to have. So how do we learn that skill? … Unfortunately, since the rose family is so complex, there’s no way to characterize all its members without it sounding like a description of every plant on Earth. There are some helpful signs to look for, but not every species will conform to those signs.

Rose Family Flowers: Perhaps the most common sign is flowers with 5 sepals, 5 petals, numerous stamens, and numerous pistils. Flowers like that suggest the rose family, especially if the petals are free from each other. Now, this certainly isn’t the only way that flowers in the rose family are designed, and other families (such as the buttercup family) can have similar-looking flowers, but nevertheless, it is a common design for flowers in the rose family.

Rose Family Fruits: Fruits are also very important in the rose family. Sometimes even more important than the flowers, so always be sure to check the fruits. As we learned earlier, fruits usually develop from the ovaries of pistils, but sometimes they develop from other parts. In the rose family, they develop from all kinds of different parts, including parts called “hypanthiums” and “receptacles.” Hypanthiums are basically “cups that surround or extend from the ovaries” and receptacles are basically “thick stem tips where most of the flower parts plug into.” Rose hips are an example of fruits that develop from hypanthiums, and strawberries are an example of fruits that develop from receptacles. In addition to these fruits, drupes and pomes are also common in the rose family. Cherries, peaches, and plums are examples of drupes, and apples and pears are examples of pomes. From that list, it should be obvious that the rose family offers foragers some excellent resources, and it’s good to know that many of those resources are abundant in the wild.

A Hazard of the Rose Family: One last thing that foragers should know about the rose family is that toxins called “cyanogenic glycosides” are widespread in the family, and these are fast-acting toxins that can deprive your body of oxygen. Processing can often get rid of them, or at least greatly reduce them, but you need to process things correctly, and you should never experiment with parts that are not known to be edible. The rose family serves foragers primarily as a source of fruit, while things like leaves and seeds are often quite dangerous.

The Sunflower Family (Asteraceae):

Number of genera worldwide: about 1,600.

Number of species worldwide: about 23,000.

With over 16 hundred genera and 23 thousand species, the sunflower family is the largest plant family on Earth, and it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that it offers foragers an extraordinary number of useful plants. Now, some of these plants are easy to identify, but others are very difficult to identify. The ones we’ll learn about are fairly easy to identify, but in order to identify anything in the sunflower family you’ll need to know about some unusual parts that have some unusual names, so we’ll learn about those parts and then see how they can be used to identify some excellent resources.

Flowers of the Sunflower Family: To verify that a plant is a member of the sunflower family, the first thing you should do is look at its flowers. Members of the sunflower family almost always have flowers arranged in heads, and these are no ordinary heads. From a distance, they may look like a single flower, but up close we can see that they actually consist of many flowers clustered together, and the individual flowers that make up these heads are either disk flowers or ray flowers or both. Disk flowers are usually in the center, and ray flowers are usually around the edges. You can easily tell the two apart because only ray flowers have ray petals (ray petals are also called “ligules” lig-yoolz). Understanding which types are present in a flower head is very important because the major divisions of the sunflower family are based on this easily observable feature.

Botanically speaking, if a flower head consists entirely of disk flowers, then it’s said to be “discoid” (disk-oid), and if it consists entirely of ray flowers, then it’s said to be “ligulate” (lig-yool-ate), and if it consists of both types, then it’s said to be “radiate” (ray-dee-ate).

Below any of these flower heads you’ll often see bracts. Each bract is called a phyllary (fill-eh-ree), and collectively the phyllaries are called involucres (in-voh-loo-kers). These parts can help us with identification, but the dry fruit structures, called cypselae (sip-suh-lee), can help us even more.

Fruits of the Sunflower Family: A cypsela (sip-suh-luh) is basically a shell that surrounds a seed, and the shell may or may not have some additional chaff-like parts attached. The shell is called a “body,” and any chaff-like parts are called “pappi” (pap-eye). The pappi come in a lot of different shapes and sizes (hair-like, feather-like, scale-like, bristly, and so on) that are very useful for identification, and they’re often supported by stalk-like structures called “beaks.” Now, I know these words may sound a little strange, but once you understand them, you’ll have the ability to identify almost anything in the sunflower family, so these words are definitely worth remembering.

Tribes of the Sunflower Family: Since the sunflower family is so large, it’s often divided into smaller groups called “sub-families” or “tribes,” and one tribe that’s of particular interest to foragers is the chicory tribe (Cichorieae). This tribe is of interest for two main reasons: number one, it contains a large number of edible species, and number two, it’s easy to recognize by observing the flower heads. Members of the chicory tribe have flower heads consisting entirely of ray flowers, and since no other tribes have that feature, it’s a sure sign of the chicory tribe. Another sign is ray petals with 5 teeth rather than the usual 3 teeth seen in most other tribes. And the last sign is milky sap. Most members of chicory tribe have milky sap, but a few members do have clear sap. Any sunflowers with all those features are definitely in the chicory tribe, and some well-known edible plants of this tribe include: chicory, dandelions, sowthistles, salsify, and wild lettuce.

A Hazard of the Sunflower Family: One last thing that foragers should know about the sunflower family is that the family is characterized by a group of potentially harmful compounds called “sesquiterpene lactones,” and since these compounds are generally resistant to heat and insoluble in water, very little can be done to eliminate them. So how does a forager solve the problem with these compounds? … We solve it by avoiding them, and thankfully the plants that we’ll be learning about are so low in these compounds that they’re not a problem. This is by no means a comprehensive review of the sunflower family, but it explains how to recognize the family and introduces some good resources. In the next part of the class, we’ll cover some of these resources in much greater detail.

The Parsley Family (Apiaceae):

Number of genera worldwide: about 250-350.

Number of species worldwide: about 3,300-3,700.

The parsley family, which is also called the carrot family or the umbel family, is one of the best, one of the most difficult, and undoubtedly one of the most dangerous family of plants. The deadliest plants in North America—spotted hemlock and water hemlock—belong to this family, so warnings about poisonous plants that look similar to edible plants should be taken very seriously. The stems of spotted hemlock usually have distinctive spots, and the veins of water hemlock leaves usually end at the bases of the teeth rather than the tips of the teeth, so always avoid plants with those features.

Importance of the Parsley Family to Foragers: From a forager’s perspective, the parsley family is best utilized as a source of roots and leaves. Several species produce thick roots that taste roughly equivalent to parsnips and leaves that taste reminiscent of parsley. Recognizing the parsley family is easy. However, identifying the multitudes of species can be challenging. Even professional botanists have trouble with the parsley family, so don’t expect to conquer it in one battle. What makes it so challenging is the fact that almost every species in the family has a nearly identical twin.

The Umbels, Bracts, and Bractlets: Undoubtedly, the most distinctive feature of the parsley family is the compound umbel. As we learned earlier, an umbel is an arrangement where all the flower stalks branch from a common point, and an umbel can be simple or compound. “Simple umbels” consist of just one umbel, and “compound umbels” differ by having secondary umbels atop the primary umbel. Most members of the parsley family have compound umbels (only a few have simple umbels), and this feature in combination with the distinctive flowers is a sure sign of the family. In the parsley family, the umbels are often subtended by bracts or bractlets. When present, these bracts and bractlets are very important diagnostic features, and even their absence is noteworthy. The bracts, which are also called “involucres” (in-voh-loo-kerz), subtend the primary umbels, and the bractlets, which are also called “involucels” (in-voh-loo-selz), subtend the secondary umbels.

The Flowers: Flowers are another distinctive feature of the parsley family. Now, the individual flowers are rather unimpressive, but when hundreds of them grow together, the clusters can be very impressive. Each individual flower typically has 5 petals, 1 pistil, 2 styles, and 5 stamens. And there’s very little variation in the flowers. After seeing one flower, it’s almost as if you’ve seen them all. Flowers in the parsley family are always ovary inferior and they always develop into “schizocarps” (skiz-oh-karps). Schizocarps are dry fruits that split into two or more sections at maturity. In the parsley family, they always split into two sections, and each section is called a “mericarp” (mair-ih-karp).

The Fruits: As I mentioned earlier, it’s always important to check fruits, and this is especially true in the parsley family. Fruits are the most distinctive part of species in the parsley family, and they’re almost always required for identification. Attempting to identify anything in the parsley family without a mature fruit will probably not go well.

A Word About Young Plants: What we just covered represents the primary features used to identify members of the parsley family. As I said earlier, you probably won’t conquer this family in one day and it’s not the kind of family you want to challenge without being prepared. Young plants of just about everything in the parsley family look similar, so never eat young plants in this family. Always wait until the flowers and fruits are available for examination, you’ll need both of those parts to make accurate identifications. Also, plants of this family that are not reported to be edible, should never be eaten!

Seasonings: Despite the dangers and difficulties, the parsley family has a lot to offer foragers. Pleasant aromas characterize the family, and several species are well-known seasonings (anise, cilantro, coriander, cumin, caraway, dill, fennel, carrots, celery, parsley, parsnips, lovage, chervil, and others). Although the human sense of smell isn’t very sharp compared to that of most animals, it can be of great help in recognizing members of the parsley family. So, when you’re out there in the wild identifying plants, don’t just look at them, take the time to smell them. After some practice, your sense of smell will become a useful tool.

A Hazard of the Parsley Family: Foragers considering plants in the parsley family should be aware of compounds called “furanocoumarins.” These compounds are also called “photo-toxins,” and in sufficient amounts they’re capable of causing: extreme sensitivity to sunlight, blisters, irritation in the mouth, and skin damage that heals very slowly. Consuming or handling plants in the parsley family followed by exposure to sunlight triggers the adverse affects. Now, these adverse affects are mainly limited to grazing animals, but humans are also susceptible. Furanocoumarins are generally resistant to heat but soluble in water. So, from a forager’s perspective, cooking the various parts in water is the most effective way to minimize these compounds, but foragers should also be aware that in some of the more dangerous plants, alkaloids are also a problem, and no amount of cooking will solve that problem.

The Grass Family (Poaceae):

Number of genera worldwide: about 700-900.

Number of species worldwide: about 10-11,000.

Although grasses may not look very impressive, from a forager’s perspective, they’re some of the most impressive plants on Earth. Worldwide, the grass family has about 10 to 11 thousand species, and since they all produce edible grains (U. S. Air Force Survival Handbook p. 245), that’s a lot of edible plants. Books about edible plants usually don’t discuss grasses in much detail, but the truth is, grasses have done more to feed the human race than any other plants on Earth, so modern-day foragers should always be checking grasses for grains, and we do that by simply rubbing the seed heads. If grains fall out, congratulations! And if they don’t fall out, then the grains are either too small or not quite ready to harvest.

Harvesting and Processing Grains: When you rub the seed heads of grasses, you’re more likely to get a handful of chaff than a handful of seeds, but don’t let that discourage you. The chaff can usually be removed by a process called “winnowing,” which is a process of using the wind (or your breath) to blow the chaff away. Since grains are usually heavier than chaff, the chaff blows away and the grains stay behind. It’s an effective process as long as the grains are heavier than the chaff, but since they’re not always heavier, don’t expect it to work on every kind of grass. I should also mention that chaff can be razor sharp, so be careful when you winnow things, you do not want the chaff in your eyes or in your lungs.

What Exactly are Grains? Botanically speaking, grains are called “caryopses” (kair-ee-op-seez), and caryopses are “dry, indehiscent, one-seeded fruits where the seeds are bonded to the pericarps.” What that means in English, is that “grains are basically seeds.” However, if you’re ever on a television game show and the million-dollar question is, “Are whole grains a type of fruit?” … be sure to answer, “Why yes, caryopses are indeed fruits.” Otherwise, you’ll definitely regret missing this class, and the million dollars!

Before the Grains Mature: Grains range in size from nearly microscopic to the size of cultivated grains. Now, in grasses where the grains are too small to harvest or not quite ready to harvest, nutrients can be extracted by boiling the seed heads in water and filtering out the debris. This technique is useful for making beverages out of immature grasses. Another way of extracting food value from grasses is to chop and boil the stems and then boil away most of the water. Grass stems are often rich in carbohydrates and by processing them in this way you can make a very satisfying beverage. Different grasses will give you wildly different results, but the results can be very impressive. Remember, that most of the sugar sold on the commercial market comes from the stems of grasses. It mainly comes from sugar canes (of the Saccharum genus) of tropical regions, but sugar canes aren’t the only grasses loaded with sugar. For example, common reed, which is a grass that grows throughout Michigan, as well as most of the world, can be made into a very sweet beverage.

The Safest Family on Earth: Identifying grasses can be an extraordinarily difficult task, and even though foragers don’t need to be concerned with this task (because all grasses are edible), it’s still a good idea to be familiar with the general appearance of grasses, that way you’ll be able to recognize them in the field.

A lot of plants look like grasses, but actually belong to other families. So, if the plant you’re looking at really is a grass, then it should have the following: narrow leaves aligned in two vertical rows, and flowers with 3 stamens, 2 feathery stigmas, and no petals. It should also have stems that are round and hollow in cross section. If the stems have angles, edges, or solid interiors, then you might be looking at something in the sedge family or the rush family. Another thing worth noting is that grasses prefer to grow on land. Some species prefer water, but most prefer land. Beyond these general features, grass identification is ridiculously complicated, but our concern is with the edibility of grasses, and since all grasses are edible, that makes the grass family the safest plant family on Earth. No matter where you go on Earth, there are probably some grasses that will provide some seeds, so don’t overlook this incredible family.

Part #4

The Best Wild Foods of Michigan:

In the previous parts of this class, we covered the basics of foraging and plant identification, and in this part of the class we’ll build upon that foundation and discover “a forest of wild foods.” Now, the wild foods in that forest are not just any old wild foods picked at random. They’re the best of the best, and since most of them are found across the northern hemisphere, the knowledge you gain here can be applied far beyond the state line of Michigan.

To succeed at foraging you need to know: what you can eat, how to identify it, and how to make it safe to eat. So, those are the things we’ll focus on when we talk about the various wild foods, and since the need to forage doesn’t stop when a few snowflakes start to fall, we’ll learn how to do all those things in every month of the year, beginning with January.

Wild Foods of January

Roses (winter) – Also, see the main article in November.

Family: The Rose Family (Rosaceae)

Species: All species of the Rosa genus have edible fruits.

Roses in winter: Roses are prickly shrubs that produce fruits called rose hips, and since only roses produce these fruits, that feature in combination with prickly stems and pinnate leaves is a sure sign of roses. Now, you probably won't see too many leaves in winter since most of them fall off, but you should see fruits, and those fruits often stay fresh all winter long.

As you look out onto the frozen landscape of winter, you'll notice that not too many shrubs or trees have fruits, so the presence of fruits in winter is actually a very distinctive feature. Remember, that when you identify things, what you don't see can be just as informative as what you do see! Roses are one of just a few shrubs that have fruits in winter, and we'll learn how to harvest and process those fruits when we cover roses in November. For now, I just wanted to explain how to identify roses in winter.

Sumacs (winter) –  Also, see the main article in August.

Family: The Sumac Family (Anacardiaceae)

Species: All 4 species of the Rhus genus in Michigan have edible fruits:

fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)

winged sumac (Rhus copallinum)

smooth sumac (Rhus glabra)

staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina)

Sumacs in winter: Sumacs are another potential resource in winter, and they’re easy to find because they really stand in contrast to the rest of the landscape. Now, to identify most of them, you’re looking for trees with clusters of red hairy fruits at the tips of bare branches. Nothing else looks like that in winter, so you’re not going to have much trouble identifying them. As for their edibility, their fruits are the part that we eat, and I’ll explain how to harvest and process those fruits when they’re in season in August. Plus, we'll also cover poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) which has white fruits rather than red fruits.

Cattails (winter) – Also, see the main article in June.

Family: The Cattail Family (Typhaceae)

Species: Only 2 in Michigan:

narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia)

broadleaf cattail (Typha latifolia)

Cattail Rhizomes: Winter foragers should also be looking for plants called cattails, because cattails have edible rhizomes and edible seeds. And just in case you don't know, roots and rhizomes are two completely different things. It's true that rhizomes basically look like roots, but rhizomes connect plants to other plants, which is something that roots never do. Another thing you should know is that digging things up in winter is a real workout, and if the ground is frozen solid, you're probably not going to get through, or you'll spend more energy getting through then what the food provides in return. So, even though cattails thrive in marshy areas all over the world, harvesting their rhizomes in winter may not be possible. Now, assuming you can get the rhizomes, then I'd suggest making cattail flour or cattail cakes. The procedure for making these items is explained in June, but to summarize … To make the flour: simply bake, dry, grind, and then sift the rhizomes. And to make the cakes: boil the rhizomes in water, mash the rhizomes as they're boiling, filter the rhizomes out of the water, continue boiling the water until it becomes a thick paste, and then dry the paste into cattail cakes. Both of these preparation techniques produce excellent results.

Cattail Seeds: As for cattail seeds, harvesting the seeds is much easier than harvesting the rhizomes, but since the seeds are 99% fluff and only 1% seed, they’re not a very practical source of food. They are useful for other things like insulating a coat or starting a fire, but they're not so useful as food. Of course, any source of food is better than no source of food in the winter. So, overall, using cattails as food in winter is not without some problems, but despite those problems, they're a wild food worth remembering, and we’ll learn some other ways that we can use them as food when they’re in season in June.

Pine and Other Evergreen Trees

Family: The Pine Family (Pinaceae)

Species: All species in the pine family are edible.

Overview: The pine family, which includes pine, fir, spruce, tamarack, hemlock, and a few other groups of trees, consists of about 220 species worldwide, and all of those species have edible: inner bark, sap, and young shoots. Plus, their needle-like leaves can be steeped into tea (Couplan pp. 25-26). About half the species in the pine family are pine trees, and in addition to all the parts that I just mentioned, pine trees also have edible seeds. Now, not all pine trees produce seeds that would be worth harvesting, but they are edible. All the parts that I just mentioned are better in some species than others. In some species, they taste fine, but in other species they taste awful, so you can expect a wide range of flavors depending on the part, and on the species that you’re gathering that part from. Since pine trees are the most well-known and well-documented members of the pine family, we’ll focus on them.

Key Features of Pine Trees: Members of the pine family are recognized by their needle-like leaves and woody cones. Pine trees are unique in having their leaves arranged in bundles, with 2, 3, or 5 leaves in each bundle, and since no other evergreen trees have leaves in that configuration, this feature makes pine trees very easy to recognize. Now, a few pine trees do have solitary leaves, but the vast majority of them have leaves arranged in bundles, and if you look really close at the bundles, you’ll see that each one is wrapped with a sheath at the base. Foragers should know that evergreen trees with scale-like leaves suggest members of the cypress family, most of which are inedible and should be avoided, so always look for evergreens with needle-like leaves.

The Inner Bark of Pine Trees: From a historical perspective, the inner bark of pine trees was a principal food source for many different groups of people across the northern hemisphere, but despite this fact, I would argue that it’s more of an appetizer than a main course. What made it valuable in the past was its availability in winter, which was a time when food supplies often ran low.

Just to be clear about the word “bark,” when we look at a tree trunk, what we’re seeing is the outer bark, and that outer bark is not edible. What we need is the inner bark, which is just beneath the outer bark. Together, the inner and outer bark layers only make up about 5 percent of the trunk, the other 95 percent is the sapwood and heartwood layers, both of which are way too hard to use as food. If you ever gather inner bark, you’ll know when you hit the sapwood, because you won’t be able to peel the sapwood! The inner bark is a lot softer and should peel away without too much resistance.

On a more technical note, botanists divide the inner bark into three layers called the phloem (flow-em), xylem (zy-lem), and cambium (kam-bee-um). Together, these layers represent the living part of the trunk, and their purpose is to transport water from the roots and nutrients from the leaves to other areas that need these resources. Phloem is the part that foragers are after because most of the sugars and other products of photosynthesis are in the phloem. As for the xylem and cambium, those layers also have nutrients, but the xylem tends to be tough, and the cambium is so thin you might need a microscope to see it. If you ever gather inner bark, these layers may or may not be easy to tell apart, but there’s no need to tell them apart because they’re all edible.

So, what does the inner bark of pine trees taste like, and how do we make flour out of it? … Well, the flavor, that’s easy, pine bark tastes like wood! And that’s because it is wood! I would describe the experience of eating it as somewhat like “gnawing on soggy toothpicks!” Now, I don’t mean to imply that it’s an entirely unpleasant experience, but rather the experience strikes me as more like eating freshly milled lumber than food!

Pine bark, in my opinion, is best when made into flour and mixed with more wholesome ingredients, but it’s also okay when eaten fresh or when dried into chips. To make flour out of it, start by scraping off the outer bark. After that, the inner bark should pull away without too much resistance. Ideally, you should gather bark from a lower branch rather than the main trunk because gathering it from the main trunk can potentially harm the tree. Now, I know that lower branches are sometimes out of reach, but if they’re within reach then it’s better for the tree to gather the bark off those lower branches.

So, with that in mind, after gathering some bark, all you need to do is dry it in the sun and pound it into flour. This procedure is a standard way of making flour out of bark, so you can apply it to virtually any edible bark, not just pine bark. And as an alternative to this procedure, instead of drying the bark in the sun, you can dry it over a campfire or in an oven. Drying the bark makes it easier to pound into flour, but to be honest, there’s nothing easy about making flour out of bark.

Pine Nuts: Another resource that pine trees offer us is nuts, but none of the five species in Michigan produce nuts that are large enough to be worth harvesting. Now, in other regions, especially the southwestern United States, the nuts of pinyon pines and a few other species are much larger and well worth the effort of harvesting, but those species do not grow in Michigan, so we’ll move on to the sap.

Pine Sap: Pine sap, which is commonly called “pitch,” has been utilized as food for hundreds, if not thousands of years, but in many species, maybe even all species, it has an extremely harsh flavor that in my opinion makes it unfit for consumption. Fresh pine sap is sticky, aromatic, and high in turpentine. Upon exposure to air, the turpentine evaporates, and the sap turns from a liquid to a solid. Once in solid form, it supposedly becomes “a concentrated food containing a wealth of nourishment,” but like I said, in my opinion it’s unfit for consumption unless there’s truly no other options. Eating pine sap, even in small amounts, can burn your throat, so be careful with this so-called “wild food.”

Historically, pine sap was used for many purposes—most of which did not involve eating. Some of those purposes included: fastening arrowheads to shafts, waterproofing baskets, sealing canoes, and mending broken pottery. It was good for those purposes because it’s a natural adhesive that repels water. You could think of it as the “glue of the forest,” and I’m certain you’ll discover that the first time you handle it! In addition to being sticky, pine sap is also highly aromatic and flammable. Its aromatic quality made it useful as a deodorant for masking the human scent when hunting, and its flammable quality made it useful for starting fires and keeping those fires going. These are merely a few uses for pine sap, the complete list is much longer, but our focus is on the edibility of things in the forest.

Pinecones: One part of pine trees that never seems to get much attention is the pollen cones, or what botanists call the “staminate inflorescences.” Pine trees produce two types of cones: seed cones and pollen cones. Most people are familiar with the woody seed cones littering the forest floor, but they’re not so familiar with the pollen cones, and from a forager’s perspective the pollen cones are often much more valuable. The pollen cones of pine trees occur in small clusters that usually go unnoticed until allergy season in late spring when they release clouds of dusty yellow pollen, and then after that they crumble into small pieces and disappear. Fresh pollen cones have a moist, delicate, bran-like texture and look like tiny ears of corn. Old pollen cones are dry, brown, crumbly, and unsuitable for consumption. Only young pollen cones should be gathered, and that’s easier said than done because they’re usually out of reach on the upper branches. Aside from that problem, they taste reasonably good, and the pollen adds a pleasant quality to their flavor. Of all the edible parts of pine trees, the pollen cones, in my opinion, rank among the best.

Pine Needle Tea: As a final note on pine trees, as well as other members of the pine family, I would highly recommend making tea out of the needle-like leaves. It’s absolutely delicious—as long as the brew isn’t too strong. If you can imagine the aroma of pine trees as a flavor, that’s exactly what the tea tastes like. The flavor and aroma are very well matched. If you decide to make pine needle tea, younger needles are preferable to older needles, and never use needles that are discolored in any way because that’s a sign of disease. Younger needles almost always have a lighter color than older needles, so the two ages are easy to distinguish, and even though pine trees are called “ever-greens,” their needles eventually do wither, turn brown, and fall to the ground.

Wild Foods of February

Maple Trees

Family: The Soapberry Family (Sapindaceae)

Species: All species of the Acer genus that are native to Michigan are edible. Most of the non-native species are also edible, but one, Amur maple, could not be verified.

Native species of Michigan:

ash-leaf maple or boxelder (Acer negundo)

black maple (Acer nigrum)

striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum)

red maple (Acer rubrum)

silver maple (Acer saccharinum)

sugar maple (Acer saccharum)

mountain maple (Acer spicatum)

Non-native species of Michigan:

hedge maple (Acer campestre)

Amur maple (Acer ginnala)

Norway maple (Acer platanoides)

sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus)

Overview: Maple trees are an asset that foragers around the world should be familiar with. About 130 species have been described, and many of them have edible sap, inner bark, young leaves, young fruits, and seeds (Couplan pp. 300-301 and Gibbons p. 177). It’s likely that all species worldwide can be used in the same way, but that’s difficult to confirm, so to be safe you should only consume species with a well-documented history of being utilized as food. Currently, eleven species of maple trees are found in Michigan and “all the native ones,” which are also the most common ones, were utilized as a source of sap by Native Americans. As for the non-native species, most of those can also be utilized as a source of sap, but some of the ornamental species used in landscaping have no record of being used as food.

Key Features of Maple Trees: To utilize maple trees as food, we first need to identify them, and we do that by checking their leaves and fruit structures. Maple trees typically have simple leaves arranged oppositely and fruit structures called “double samaras.” Now, a few species do have compound leaves, but in most species, the leaves are simple and palmately lobed. The combination of these features is a sure sign of maple trees, but it won’t help you in winter when the trees are ready to tap. In winter, the features to look for are smooth grayish bark, leaf scars arranged oppositely, and 3 bundle scars within each leaf scar. Please note that these features describe maples as a genus rather than as individual species. To identify individual species additional features would need to be checked. If some of this language seems foreign, then please see the first part of this class. The first part explains these words, along with many other words that foragers should be familiar with.

Maple Inner Bark: The real value of maple trees lies in their abundance. Maple trees are a major part of the landscape across the northern hemisphere, in both wild areas and urban areas. The edible parts are mostly available in spring, except for the inner bark. The inner bark is available in any season, but unfortunately it’s not a very good resource because it’s thin and extremely hard. Trying to make flour out of it will not be easy. The sap, on the other hand, is a much better resource than the inner bark, so I’d recommend tap-ping the sap rather than gathering the inner bark.

From Sap to Syrup: Maple sap is an early-season resource. It flows best in late winter on relatively warm days following freezing nights, and virtually stops flowing for the rest of the year. It only flows for a few weeks, so keep in mind that it’s a time-sensitive resource. As for why it flows, the short answer is because it’s under pressure. Now, the physics creating that pressure are complicated, but the whole process is driven by temperature, and works best when nighttime temperatures fall below freezing and daytime temperature rise above freezing, so that’s the weather pattern a forager should be looking for.

The basic procedure for making maple syrup is easy: you just drill a hole, collect the sap, and then boil the sap. There’s not much to it, unless you want to make it more complicated than what it needs to be, and you could really make it more complicated. There’s a growing culture of maple syrup enthusiasts, as well as a whole industry dedicated to maple syrup production, so you could easily spend a fortune on equipment, or you could spend nothing and do things the old-fashioned way.

For a simple, small-scale, homestead-kind-of operation, start by drilling a 3/8-inch hole about 1 to 2 inches deep. “Conventional wisdom” says to drill into a healthy spot on the sun-facing side under a major branch, and that when you drill the shavings should be a whitish color. If the shavings are brown, sap is unlikely to flow in that spot. After drilling, the sap should start flowing right away, so you’ll want to pound your spiles in right away. A “spile” is basically a short pipe, and if you don’t have any spiles, you can fashion them from a variety of materials or even from hollowed out twigs. After gently pounding in your spiles, it’s a good idea to shield your equipment from the ravenous appetite of bugs.

As an alternative to drilling, maple sap can also be gathered by simply cutting the bark and placing a container under the drip. Historically, Native Americans collected the sap in containers made from birch bark, poured the sap into hollowed out logs, and then placed hot rocks in with the sap. And believe it or not this was a very effective way to make maple syrup. Hot rocks can boil liquids in a hurry. However, they can also explode in the process! So be careful if you try this primitive method of cooking, an exploding rock can be as dangerous as a hand grenade.

Raw maple sap is only about 1 to 4 percent sugar. The rest is water. It is edible, but it’s very low in calories and it lacks any hint of sweetness. I would describe its flavor as basically like “wood-flavored water.” To make syrup out of it you need to boil it down to a small fraction of its original volume, and that takes a lot of time and energy. On average about 40 gallons of sap is needed to make 1 gallon of syrup, but this ratio varies considerably. Raw maple sap is clear, but after several hours of boiling it turns to an amber color as the water is driven off. You know it’s done when it starts to thicken and stick to the side of the pan, or more technically when it reaches a temperature of 219 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 7 degrees above the boiling point of water on the Fahrenheit scale. It may not look very thick at that point, but it’ll thicken quite a bit after it cools off. Plus, it’ll have the right sugar concentration at that point, and having the right sugar concentration, which is about 67 percent, is important to prevent spoiling, as well as to prevent crystallization. You see, if the syrup is too thin, it can eventually spoil, and if it’s too thick, it can crystallize, so if you’re planning on storing it, it’s better for it to be too thick rather than too thin. And if you really want to make sure that the sugar concentration is right, you can measure it with a device called a hydrometer.

If you don’t want to spend so much time and energy making syrup, an easier option is to make a beverage out of the sap. The procedure is the same, except that you don’t boil the sap as long. Once the sap is reduced to about one tenth of its original volume, it turns into a sweet beverage. Now, this beverage is not as sweet as the syrup, but it’s definitely sweet. I would describe it as somewhat like “maple-flavored pop without the fizz.” If you decide to make this beverage, keep in mind that it is perishable, so if you’re planning on storing it you’ll need to freeze it.        

Maple syrup is by far the sweetest wild food in the Great Lakes region and there’s no doubt that it was enjoyed by Native Americans for quite a long time. In fact, it was Native Americans in the Great Lakes region that discovered this wild food in the first place.

Maple Leaves, Flowers, and Young Fruits: As for other parts of maple trees, none of them (in the species that I sampled) are as appealing as syrup made from the sap. Of all the vegetative parts, the flowers seem to have the mildest flavor, but they’re rarely mentioned in books about edible plants. In my opinion, the flowers are an excellent wild food, perhaps a little bitter and astringent, but definitely okay. In some species, the flowers are long, and in other species they’re short. Now, the longer ones make an excellent substitute for alfalfa sprouts in late winter and early spring, at which time they’re one of the most abundant vegetables in the forest.

Soon after maple flowers bloom, the young fruits (double samaras) begin to develop. At first, the young fruits are small and tender, but it’s not long before they enlarge and become tough, so it’s best to gather them when they’re small. At that point, they should have a pleasant flavor and texture.

As for the leaves, maple leaves seem to taste bitter regardless of age and regardless of species, and cooking doesn’t seem to improve their flavor very much. I’d recommend the flowers or the young fruits before recommending the leaves, and I’d recommend young leaves before recommending old leaves, but ultimately, you have to go with what’s available at the time. Overall, maple trees are a top-grade resource that can provide food at any time of the year.

Wild Foods of March

Chickweed

Family: The Pink Family (Caryophyllaceae)

Species: Common chickweed (Stellaria media)

Overview: Common chickweed (Stellaria media) is another one of those perfectly edible plants that’s considered to be “an enemy of the human race.” Some people, especially people in the business of selling herbicides, really don’t like chickweed and describe this innocent little plant as an “aggressive weed battling for world domination.” Although chickweed is definitely common, I’m pretty sure it won’t be taking over the world anytime soon. However, if I happen to be wrong and it does take over the world, well at least it’s edible, and that’s always good news to a hungry forager. Since many different plants are called chickweed, to be clear, when I say “chickweed” in the following discussion, I’m referring specifically to common chickweed (Stellaria media).

Harvesting and Processing Chickweed: Although common chickweed is a good foraging plant, it’s a very small plant, so gathering enough of it for any purpose is easier said than done. The leaves and seeds can be gathered, but only the leaves are really worth the effort  of gathering, and I’d recommend gathering them when the plants are young. So why would I recommend that? … I recommend that because the stems of young plants are soft, and that’s important because the only realistic way to utilize chickweed is the same way that we utilize alfalfa sprouts. Now, if you really wanted to you could pull all the tiny leaves off the stems, but doing that could take hours, maybe even days, so it’s a lot easier to utilize chickweed like we utilize alfalfa sprouts, but in order to do that, the stems need to be soft, and they’re only soft when the plants are young. The stems of older plants are occasionally soft, but most of the ones that I’ve had were very chewy and fibrous. When I process chickweed, I simply cut the tops of the plants into bite-size pieces, and toss those pieces into salads or into soups. Chickweed has a mild, lettuce-like flavor that goes well with other salad greens, and it’s fantastic in soups. It’s hard to go wrong with this amazing little plant.

Recognizing Chickweed: Worldwide, there are about 190 species in the Stellaria genus, and 7 of them grow in Michigan. Common chickweed is a tiny plant that blooms very early in the growing season and then disappears into the landscape so that other plants will have a chance to bloom, and since it thrives on 6 of the 7 continents, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. To identify it, look for the presence of leafstalks and hairs arranged in 1 row along the stems. Those features distinguish common chickweed from most other species in the Stellaria genus, and those features in combination with its tiny white flowers, opposite leaves, and 6-parted capsules, should be enough to recognize it in the field.

Dandelions

Family: The Sunflower Family (Asteraceae)

Species: Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Overview: Despite all the bad things you’ve probably heard about dandelions, the truth is that dandelions rank among the top 10 most valuable plants on Earth. Herbicide advertisements often portray dandelions as the “enemy of the human race,” but dandelions are not the enemy. In fact, a forager could hardly ask for a better friend. Dandelions provide us with a nearly inexhaustible supply of edible roots and leaves, and these parts are nutritious. Very few plants that are considered to be weeds are also cultivated on a large scale, but dandelions are one of those plants, so whether you consider them a friend or a foe, they are a valuable source of calories and nutrients.

Dandelion Leaves: Fresh dandelion leaves taste similar to dark-green lettuce, but with a slightly bitter accent. Perhaps it’s an acquired flavor, but in my opinion, it’s a good flavor—or at least it’s good for a leaf. I would say that no salad is complete without dandelion leaves.

Dandelion Roots: As for the roots, dandelion roots have a robust flavor with a brush of bitterness. It’s a starchy flavor, yet it’s unlike potatoes or whole grains. I think it’s a good flavor, but I doubt that most people would agree. In addition to preparing the roots as you’d prepare carrots, dandelion roots can be charred and brewed into a coffee-like beverage. Now, to coffee enthusiasts, this beverage is definitely not coffee, but in my opinion, it is a very appealing beverage. And also in my opinion, this dandelion beverage is best when the roots are lightly charred rather than heavily charred.

Dandelion Flowers: In addition to the roots and leaves, dandelion flowers can also be eaten, but unfortunately they’re loaded with milky sap that imparts a rather bitter flavor. I certainly wouldn’t describe them as appealing, but they do have a  certain intrigue.

Identifying Dandelions: In Michigan, dandelions are primarily an early-season resource, which means they do best in March, April, and May. You can still find them at other times, but they probably won’t be as abundant. Gathering dandelions is easy, but identifying them with certainty requires that you check some unusual parts that we learned about earlier in this class (see the sunflower family of part #3), in particular, the phyllaries (bracts under the flower heads) and cypselae (dry, fluffy, seed-like fruit structures).

About 120 species of dandelions occur throughout the world, but only 2 species are well-established in Michigan, and since common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is by far the most common species, will focus on that one. If you see a plant that looks like a dandelion, there’s a good chance that it is a dandelion, but it could also be a few other things. If it is a common dandelion, it’ll always be a stemless plant with simple leaves arranged in a basal cluster, and these leaves will have triangular lobes angled downward toward the bases (a shape called “laciniate”). In addition, the flower heads will consist entirely of yellow ray flowers, and below those ray flowers you’ll see reflexed (bent downward) phyllaries (bracts) without horns on their tips. And last but not least, the cypselae will have distinctive bumps on their greenish-brown “bodies,” well-developed “beaks,” and hair-like “pappi.” Those are the features you need to check to be sure that you have a common dandelion.

Related Species: The only other dandelion you’re likely to encounter in Michigan, is the red-seeded dandelion (Taraxacum erythrospermum), which is virtually identical to the common dandelion except for having cypselae with reddish-brown rather than greenish-brown bodies. Confusing these species is of no consequence to foragers because they can both be used in all the same ways. Likewise, some related plants called sowthistles (of the Sonchus genus) and salsifies (of the Tragopogon genus) can also be used in all the same ways, so foragers should be on the lookout for those plants as well.

Violets

Family: The Violet Family (Violaceae)

Species: Common blue violet (Viola sororia)

Overview: Violets are extraordinary little plants that grow in abundance throughout the Great Lakes region, and just about everywhere else in the northern hemisphere. Now, many different plants are called violets, so to be clear, when I say “violets” in the following discussion, I’m referring specifically to the common blue violet (Viola sororia). Worldwide, there are about 500 species of violets, and about 25 of them are found in Michigan. A few well-known and well-respected authors on edible plants (Couplan pp. 143-144 and Harrington p. 152) say that all species in the Viola genus have edible leaves, but it’s a big genus and there could be some exceptions, so it’s wise to limit your consumption to species with a well-document history of being utilized as food. The common blue violet has a well-documented history of being utilized as food, and its leaves and flowers were the parts that were utilized.

Value to Foragers: In my opinion, a “violet” should always be violet, rather than white, yellow, blue, or any other color, but that’s not the way things are. “Violets” can be all kinds of colors, and they’re often a combination of colors. As for the common “blue” violet, it actually is violet, so calling it blue just doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. Regardless of that, the common blue violet is an excellent resource, and it’s available very early in the growing season. Now, identifying it with absolute precision is a bit complicated and requires that you check a number of unusual parts, but since all violets are reported to be edible, it shouldn’t matter if you mistake it for another violet—assuming that violet is in the Viola genus. In general, violets are easy to recognize as a group, but identifying individual species can be a little challenging.

Key Features of Violets: To identify violets as a group, look for their irregular flowers tapering into short spurs. And just in case you skipped part two of this class, “irregular” is a botanical term that means that a flower is bilaterally symmetrical. In some species of violets, the flowers, as well as the leaves, will have long stalks arising directly from the ground, but in other species the leaves and flowers will be connected to stems. The common blue violet doesn’t have any stems, and its leaves are usually heart-shaped, or at least some of its leaves will be heart-shaped. Violet leaves come in many different shapes and sizes—even on the same plant! So, leaf shape isn’t always a reliable feature. And one last thing you should check to make sure that you really do have a violet is the fruits (capsules). Most violets produce dry, 3-parted capsules filled with numerous seeds.

Preparing Violets: Violets, in general, are an “early-season resource,” and the common blue violet is no exception. Its leaves appear soon after the snow melts, and its flowers appear soon after that. You can gather these parts anytime you can find them, and they can be eaten raw or cooked. In my opinion, they’re better cooked, but they’re also okay in salads. When eaten raw they taste very similar to lettuce, but with an accent unique to violets. In some species, you may notice a soapy accent, but this accent is very weak in the common blue violet. As for the texture, the leaves and flowers are as tender as leafy vegetables sold in grocery stores, so there’s no problem with the texture. Overall, the common blue violet is a welcome sight in the woodlands, and since it’s common, a forager can count on finding a supply.

Springbeauty

Family: The Montia Family (Montiaceae)

Species: Only 2 in Michigan:

Carolina springbeauty (Claytonia caroliniana)

Virginia springbeauty (Claytonia virginica)

Overview: In early spring, before the trees develop leaves, little plants called springbeauties carpet the forest floor. If it wasn’t for their vast numbers, a forager could easily miss them, and miss out on the nourishment they offer. Only two species of springbeauties are found in Michigan and both of them have edible leaves and tubers. Those species are called Carolina and Virginia springbeauty, and their most obvious features are their 5 pinkish petals with purplish veins, two opposite leaves, two sepals, globe-shaped tubers, and capsules that split into 3 sections. Both species look very similar, but Virginia springbeauty has narrower leaves.

Springbeauty Tubers: Of all the parts, it’s mainly the tubers that are of interest to foragers. Springbeauty tubers are disappointingly small, but they’re packed with calories and located near the surface. Gathering them is easy, but you need to gather quite a few of them for a meal. After gathering and cleaning them, you can fry them in a skillet, bake them like potatoes, add them to soup, or prepare them however you like. As part of the preparation, it’s always a good idea to cut them in half to make sure they’re not rotted inside. Springbeauty tubers are usually pretty healthy, but anything in the wild can be rotted, so it’s wise to check. After you prepare these little woodland treasures, you can expect a flavor that’s virtually identical to potatoes. It’s a mild flavor that’s free of any harsh accents.

The Gathering Season: As a final note, springbeauties are only in season for a short period of time, and they disappear soon after that time, so it’s best to gather them when they’re in bloom, which is usually from the middle of March to the middle of May in Michigan.

Mustards  –  Also see the mustard family in part #3.

Family: The Mustard Family (Brassicaceae)

Species: Over 100 in Michigan, about 3,800 worldwide.

Some Resources of the Mustard Family: Mustards are an excellent resource, and several species in the family, including: wintercress (Barbarea vulgaris), shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), and garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), are among the first plants to arise as winter subsides. Of those plants, garlic mustard is a particularly good resource, and its garlic-like aroma makes it easy to identify. Garlic mustard grows just about everywhere in Michigan, even in the deep shade of forests where other plants struggle to survive. Another useful species that grows just about everywhere is dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis). Wintercress and shepherd's purse, as well as pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) and several species of pepperweeds (of the Lepidium genus), prefer cultivated fields, but they can spread like wildfires across those fields. Also, a species uniquely adapted to slow-moving streams called watercress (Nasturtium officinale) is a legendary wild food that's good enough to be sold in grocery stores. These are just a few offerings of the mustard family, all of which can be used as a source of leaves, and most of which have edible—though very spicy—seeds. As I mentioned earlier, most mustards are spicy when eaten fresh and mild after cooking.

Additional Resources: As a forager, you should also be familiar with species in the Brassica and Sinapis genera, most of which are simply called mustards. All the Michigan species in these genera are edible, and many familiar items sold in grocery stores, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, collard greens, and turnips, were domesticated from these genera. Wild mustard (Sinapis arvense) and black mustard (Brassica nigra) are the species you'll most likely find growing wild in Michigan. The others are mainly found around agricultural fields.

A large number of edible plants are members of the mustard family, and that's why I explained how to recognize the family and utilize its members as food earlier in this class (in part #3).

Wild Foods of April

Birch

Family: The Birch Family (Betulaceae)

Species: Paper, white, or canoe birch (Betula papyrifera)

Overview: Only 3 species of birches are well-established in Michigan, and one that’s especially useful to foragers is paper birch (Betula papyrifera). Being able to recognize paper birch is a good skill to have, and that’s because it can be tapped like maple trees and its inner bark can be ground into flour. Now, the inner bark is rather hard and doesn’t have very many calories, but it does have a mild flavor and it can be gathered any time of the year—even in winter. As for other parts of paper birch, they’re not edible, but the leaves and twigs can be steeped into a flavorful tea.

Key Features of Paper Birch: Paper birch is one of just a few trees that can be identified by its bark alone. No other trees in Michigan have white bark that peels away in paper-like strips in combination with well-defined horizontal markings known as “lenticels.” Lenticels are basically “breathing pores” that allow gasses to escape from trees. They’re usually inconspicuous, but sometimes they’re obvious. In paper birch, they couldn’t be much more obvious. If you need a little more to be sure that you have a paper birch, then look for its simple leaves arranged alternately and its dry fruit structures that readily break apart. You could also look for its flower clusters, but you have to look for them at the right time. The staminate flowers start to develop in autumn, remain dormant through winter, and then bloom very early the following spring.

Birch Syrup: We hear a lot about maple syrup, but why don’t we hear much about birch syrup? The answer to this question is because birch sap only contains about half as much sugar as maple sap and therefore requires about twice as much processing, but after enough processing, you can expect a product that tastes just as good as maple syrup. I wouldn’t say that it tastes the same as maple syrup, but it is delicious, any day of the week. In my opinion, it’s a pure, clean, caramel-like flavor that’s as sweet as candy.

Birch Sap: Birch sap can also be consumed as a tonic straight from the tree. No processing is required, but when you consume it straight from the tree, it definitely won’t be sweet. It is pleasant, thirst-quenching, and revitalizing, but it won’t be sweet unless you process it. You should also keep in mind that fresh birch sap is highly perishable, even when refrigerated, so you should either consume it right away, freeze it, or process it. The season for birch sap usually begins when the season for maple sap comes to an end, which is normally sometime in April, and the procedure for turning birch sap into syrup is virtually the same as I described for maple sap, so if you’re interested in the details of that procedure, please see the discussion on maple sap.

Birch Tea: As I mentioned a minute ago, the leaves and twigs of paper birch can be steeped into a flavorful tea. If you happen to like tea, I would recommend birch tea, but I would also recommend that you don’t make it too strong, because if you make it too strong, it’ll develop a resinous flavor that’s rather harsh. A couple leaves and twigs should suffice for a cup. According to my taste buds, birch tea has a mild, herbal flavor with a woody overtone and a resinous accent. A wintergreen accent will be noticeable in some species (such as yellow birch – Betula alle-ghaniensis), but paper birch does not have a wintergreen accent.

Other Uses for Paper Birch: Paper birch is not only a source of food and drink, it's also a source of tinder and a source of material—material that’s suitable for making containers that can hold water or serving as shingles that can keep a shelter dry in a rainstorm. It’s good for these purposes because its papery bark has a high oil content, which makes it extremely flammable and resistant to water. In the northern half of North America, paper birch is a common tree, and a few similar-looking species that can be used in the same ways are found across northern Europe and Asia. Overall, birches are a resource worth remembering.

Wild Leeks or Ramps

Family: The Onion Family (Alliaceae)

Species: All species of the Allium genus in Michigan are edible. The species you’ll most likely find in Michigan include: meadow garlic (Allium canadense), nodding onion (A. cernuum), wild chives (A. schoeno-prasum), prairie onion (A. textile), wild leeks (A. tricoccum), and wild garlic (A. vineale).

Wild Leek Season: Wild leeks, which are also known as “ramps,” are a fine resource of spring, summer, autumn, and even winter if you know what to look for. They’re fairly common in the Great Lakes state and southward into the Appalachian Mountains. They’re a very popular wild food, and communities throughout the Appalachians have festivals every year celebrating their arrival, which is in spring. At first, wild leeks are merely a pair of leaves emerging from ground level, somewhat like a pair of rabbit ears, but green and without all the furriness. After a few weeks, the leaves completely disappear and finding the plants becomes difficult until the middle of summer when the flowers bloom. For some reason, the leaves and flowers do not grow together as they do in most plants, but that’s not a problem because either of them can accurately identify wild leeks. Even the dry seed heads that you see in autumn can accurately identify these plants.

Gathering Wild Leeks: A wild leek normally has two leaves arising from one bulb, but when you gather wild leeks you’ll find that they almost always grow in clusters, so it may seem like they have numerous bulbs and numerous leaves, but there’s really only one bulb and two leaves per plant (occasionally more leaves). And what’s even more important is that the bulbs are large and located very close to the surface. When all those things are added together, it means that gathering wild leeks is easy.

Preparing Wild Leeks: To prepare wild leeks as food you have a number of options—actually a vast number of options. There's no shortage of wild leek recipes. The edible parts include the bulbs and leaves, and these parts can be eaten fresh or cooked. The easiest way to prepare them is to chop them up and add them to salads. Other options include adding them to soups or stews, sautéing them into a stir fry, or dipping them in batter and frying them like onion rings. For the most part, anything you can do with cultivated onions you can also do with wild leeks. Now, wild leeks are a lot smaller than cultivated onions and often a lot firmer, but despite those shortcomings, they’re an excellent wild food.

Recognizing Wild Leeks: As a member of the Allium (A-lee-um) genus, wild leeks will always have: leaves with parallel veins, ovary superior flowers arranged in terminal umbels, papery bracts subtending the umbels, 3 sepals, 3 petals, 6 stamens, and most importantly … an onion-like aroma. In addition, the sepals and petals are usually free, or united only at the base. These features distinguish the Allium genus from everything else in the onion family, as well as from everything else in the closely related lily and asparagus families, and that’s good to know because in Michigan everything in the Allium genus has edible bulbs, leaves, and flowers (Fern p. 104, Kuhnlein pp. 78-83, Moerman pp. 37-41, and/or Vizgirdas p. 233). Worldwide, there are about 650 species in the Allium genus, but only 6 species are well-established in Michigan, and among those species are wild garlic, wild onions, and chives, all of which can be used like wild leeks.

Asparagus

Family: The Asparagus Family (Asparagaceae)

Species: Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)

Overview: Another good resource of April and May is asparagus, but only the young shoots of this plant are edible. Other parts should not be eaten. Now, finding the young shoots can be a little bit tricky, but it helps to look for old, dry plants from the previous year because those old, dry plants are a lot easier to spot, and once you spot them, you’ll see the young shoots emerging from their bases. It also helps to know in advance where colonies of asparagus are located, and you do that by finding the colonies one year, and then returning to those colonies the following year. It’s an effective strategy that works well with many different wild foods.

Only 1 species of asparagus is found in Michigan, and it’s the same species that’s cultivated, so anything you can do with cultivated asparagus, you can also do with asparagus growing in the wild. Of course, what can you really do with asparagus other than try to smother its flavor with things that actually taste good! Asparagus may not be one of the more palatable wild foods, but it is abundant.

Wild Foods of May

Clovers

Family: The Pea Family (Fabaceae)

Species: 8 in Michigan, only 2 discussed here:

red clover (Trifolium pratense)

white clover (Trifolium repens)

Overview: One of the best resources throughout the growing season is clovers. A number of different plants are called clovers, so to be clear, when I say “clovers” in the following discussion, I’m referring to species in the Trifolium (try-foh-lee-um) genus. Worldwide, there are about 300 species of clovers, but only 8 species are found in Michigan, and we’ll be looking at two of them. Those two are red and white clovers. Both of these species have edible leaves and flowers, and their seeds can be sprouted like alfalfa sprouts (Couplan pp. 269-270). Now, these parts can be eaten fresh or cooked, but it’s usually a good idea to cook them, and regardless of whether you eat them fresh or cooked, they need to be healthy, vibrant, and full of life. Clovers that are wilted or in poor con-dition should never be eaten, especially sweetclovers (of the Melilotus genus).

Clover Leaves: Red and white clovers are native to Europe and Asia, and are now two of the most common plants on Earth, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them. In my opinion, these plants produce some of the best-tasting leaves in the pea family. Healthy leaves are suitable for salads and are definitely suitable as potherbs. If you eat them fresh, you may notice a slightly bitter or slightly soapy accent, but if you cook them as potherbs, those accents should disappear.

Clover Flowers: The flowers of red and white clovers are another good resource, but they tend to be chewy whether you eat them fresh or cooked. Entire flower heads can be tossed into a pot of soup or steeped into a delicious tea. If you like tea, then I’d highly recommend clover flower tea. It has a hearty flavor combined with plenty of sweetness, and it’s perfect for just about any occasion. Now, if you don’t like tea, there are other ways to prepare clover flowers, such as dipping them in batter and sautéing them, or tossing them in a stir fry, and if you really don’t like their chewy texture, you could pull off their corollas (petals) and discard everything else. The corollas are tender, and all the sweetness is in the corollas, but pulling them off the heads would be a tedious job and not really worth the effort unless you had all kinds of time to waste. It’s a lot easier to use the whole flower heads rather than just the corollas.

Key Features of the Pea Family: As for identification, that can get a bit complicated because clovers are in the pea family, which is a very large family consisting of about 19,000 species worldwide. Members of this family are recognized by their distinctive flowers that typically develop into legumes (leg-yoomz) or loments (loh-ments). These fruits are dry fruits that split open at maturity, and the difference between them is that legumes split open lengthwise along two edges, while loments split apart between each seed. Clovers produce legumes, and these legumes develop from “pea-like” flowers arranged in heads. Pea-like flowers are characterized by having banner, wing, and keel petals surrounding a simple pistil and 10 stamens. Most members of the pea family have flowers like this, but a number of members have flowers resembling those of senna or mimosa, which are not “pea-like” at all.

Key Features of Clovers: Another key feature of clovers is their “trifoliate” leaves. The word trifoliate, as well as the genus name Trifolium, means that a leaf has 3 leaflets. Although some species of clovers have leaves with 5 leaflets, most clovers, including red and white clovers, have leaves with 3 leaflets, and the veins of those leaflets commonly extend as spiny teeth (or hairs) beyond the margins. These spiny teeth/hairs are actually an important feature. It may seem like an obscure feature, but only clovers and some closely related plants called sweetclovers, medics, and alfalfa have that feature in a trifoliate leaf, and since most of these plants are also edible, it’s a feature worth remembering.

A Word to the Wise: Another thing worth remembering is that the pea family is a very dangerous family, so you should absolutely never eat beans or bean pods that you cannot identify! Most of them are extremely dangerous.

Plantain

Family: The Plantain Family (Plantaginaceae)

Species: 9 in Michigan, only 2 discussed here:

broadleaf or common plantain (Plantago major)

narrowleaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Overview: Sometimes good things come in small packages, and one of those things is plantains. Plantains are inconspicuous little plants of the Plantago (Plan-tay-goh) genus. Worldwide, about 250 species are recognized, but only 9 of those species are found in Michigan. Many species of plantains are edible, but to be clear, the following discussion applies only to common plantain (Plantago major) and narrowleaf plantain (P. lanceolata), both of which have edible leaves and seeds. These species are found in lawns, meadows, and disturbed areas nearly throughout the world, and despite the fact that they’re considered weeds, they’re beneficial in many ways, not only as food for humans and wildlife, but also as medicine.

Plantain leaves: Plantain leaves have a reputation for being tough and chewy, but in my experiences, they’re reasonably soft, even in some of the species with narrow leaves. In general, species with broad leaves are considered to be better than species with narrow leaves, and younger leaves are considered to be better than older leaves, but these assumptions are sometimes inaccurate, and I would argue that a bigger problem than the texture of the leaves … is bugs and diseases. Plantain leaves are often ravaged by bugs and diseases. Finding healthy ones can be a challenge, and that applies to leaves of any age, of any species. According to my taste buds, plantain leaves taste somewhat like a combination of lettuce and seaweed, with a slightly bitter “oyster-like accent,” and a hint of citrus rinds. Overall, it’s a mild flavor, but it’s a flavor that eludes comparisons to familiar foods. In Michigan, plantain leaves are in season from mid spring to mid summer, but they can also be gathered long beyond that time if they’re still healthy.

Plantain Seeds: In addition to the leaves, plantain seeds are also edible, but the seeds are fibrous and mucilaginous, and therefore they act as a laxative. So if you eat the seeds, it’s a good idea to eat them in small amounts. It’s also a good idea to grind them into flour because that makes them easier to digest. As an optional step, you can also toast the seeds. Doing that brings out a flavor very similar to whole wheat toast, and no doubt explains why plantains are also called Indian wheat. Another option is to boil plantain seeds, and if you do that, you’ll soon notice that they really have an ability to thicken water, and by “thicken,” I mean make the water slimy. Now whether that’s good or bad depends on what kind of foods you like. Frankly, I don’t really care for slimy foods, but plantain mush is nevertheless a valuable item.

As for harvesting plantain seeds, that task is remarkably easy. All you have to do is rub the seed heads. The seeds just fall out of the capsules, and any chaff that falls out with them can easily be blown away, leaving you with just the seeds. Plantain seeds are contained within “dry capsules that split open around their equators.” Botanists call these capsules “pyxidia” (pik-sid-ee-uh), which is simply another word for dry capsules that split open around their equators! In most species, these capsules are positioned on spikes that arise from clusters of basal leaves, and each plant usually sends up numerous spikes.

Some Key Features of Plantains: Some other noteworthy features of plantains are that the veins of the leaves are always parallel to the edges of the leaves, and the flowers typically have: 4 sepals, 4 petals, and 4 stamens. Also, in plantain flowers, the petals have a tendency to be translucent and very persistent. Overall, plantains are a blessing that the foraging community can be thankful for.

Black Locust Trees

Family: The Pea Family (Fabaceae)

Species: Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Black Locust Flowers: The flowers of black locust trees are another potential wild food, and the fact that they bloom so profusely, makes them easy to find and easy to gather. It won’t take you very long to gather enough for a meal, and to prepare them, you can either add them to soup or toss them into pancake batter. As for eating them raw, that might not be safe, but they are safe after they’re cooked. Eventually, the flowers develop into bean pods, and these bean pods are generally considered to be inedible, despite a few sources that say otherwise. Frankly, I would not suggest using the bean pods as food, and that's because Native Americans, for the most part, did not use them as food. And just so you know, bean pods growing in the wild are often quite dangerous, so as a general rule, avoid them.

Wild Foods of June

Wild Strawberries

Family: The Rose Family (Rosaceae)

Species: Only 2 in Michigan:

woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)

Overview: Wild strawberries are wonderful little plants that produce delicious little fruits, and when I say “little,” I really do mean little. When you stumble upon a patch of wild strawberries, they probably won’t be much taller than your boots, and there’s a good chance they’ll be shorter than your boots—or maybe even under your boots if you’re not paying attention! Only 2 species of wild strawberries are found in Michigan, and since both of them have edible fruits, the minor differences between them are of no concern to foragers. Now, foragers do need to make sure that the wild strawberries really are wild strawberries, but making sure of that is easy thanks to the unique appearance of these little plants.

Is it a Strawberry? What’s unique about wild strawberries is their stolons, in combination with trifoliate leaves, rose-like flowers, and strawberry-like fruits. Nothing else in the wild will have that “combination of features.” Now, stolons, which are also called “runners,” look like stems, except that they lie on the ground and spread out in any direction. They also connect plants to other plants, which is something that stems never do. Not too many plants in the wild have stolons, so the presence of stolons in wild strawberries is a fairly distinctive feature, and when you combine that feature with trifoliate leaves arising from the stolons, that’s another sign of wild strawberries. “Trifoliate” simply means that a leaf has 3 leaflets, and in wild strawberries those leaves have long stalks, and the leaflets have teeth. I also said that wild strawberries have rose-like flowers, and what I meant by that is that they have: 5 sepals, 5 petals, numerous pistils, and numerous stamens. Now, not everything in the rose family has flowers like that, but flowers like that are typical of the family. As for the fruits, I’m sure you know what a strawberry looks like, but you might not know that the fleshy part is called a “receptacle,” and that each one of the so-called “seeds” is actually a fruit structure called an “achene.” Technically, a strawberry is “a cluster of achenes on the surface of a fleshy receptacle,” so each individual strawberry is actually a cluster of fruits rather than a single fruit. Botanists call such fruits, “aggregate fruits,” and since parts other than the ovaries become fleshy, strawberries are also called “accessory fruits.” Now thankfully, all a forager needs to remember is what a wild strawberry looks like when it’s ready to harvest, and they don’t look much different than cultivated strawberries, except for being a lot smaller.

Strawberry Season: Although wild strawberries are delicious little fruits, they’re actually too small to be of much value to foragers, and in addition to being too small, birds and other animals often consume them before you have a chance to harvest them, so it’s unlikely that they’ll provide you with much more than a light snack, but then, every calorie counts. In Michigan, wild strawberries ripen in June and disappear by July. The ideal time to gather them is brief, so you need to gather them right away. As for processing them, anything you can do with cultivated strawberries you can also do with wild strawberries, but in my opinion, I think they’re best when eaten fresh.

Serviceberries

Family: The Rose Family (Rosaceae) 

Species: Only 6 species of the Amelanchier genus are found in Michigan.

Quick Note: Serviceberries, which are also called Juneberries, are definitely worth knowing about. However, they have some issues. Wild foods in general have a lot of issues, so don’t be surprised to see an entire harvest wiped out by bugs, diseases, or bad weather. This happens frequently, and with serviceberries, it’s diseases. Serviceberry shrubs and trees are plagued by some kind of fungus that attacks almost every part  of them, including the fruits, but sometimes the fruits are perfectly healthy, and if you can manage to find some healthy ones, they’re absolutely delicious fresh or cooked. When eaten fresh, fruits of better-quality species have an apple-almond flavor with berry-like overtones and rather firm seeds inside. To make serviceberry juice: simply toss the fruits in a blender with some water and then (as an optional step) filter out the seeds. This juice can also be dried into fruit bars, and no other ingredients are necessary for either of these processing methods.

Mulberries

     Family: The Mulberry Family (Moraceae)

     Species: Only 2 species of mulberries in Michigan:

          red mulberry (Morus rubra) and white mulberry (Morus alba)

Overview: Mulberries are delicious little fruits that look very similar to raspberries. They’re not related to raspberries, but their similarity is convincing enough to suggest a relationship, at least at a first glance. Only 2 species of mulberries, commonly known as red mulberry (Morus rubra) and white mulberry (M. alba), are found in Michigan, and both of them produce edible fruits (Moerman pp. 158-159). Now, when I say “edible,” I mean when the fruits are fully ripe. Mulberry fruits have a long history of being utilized as food, but you need to gather them when they’re fully ripe, and that’s because they can make you nauseous if you eat them before they ripen. Other than that, mulberries are nothing but good news. I should also point out that “red” mulberries are actually black when they're fully ripe. White mulberries are white, but red mulberries are black or nearly black.

Easy to Identify: To identify mulberries, just look for shrubs or trees with raspberry-like fruits  and mitten-like leaves. Mulberry leaves are simple, alternate, and often lobed in a way that makes them look like mittens. Leaves of that shape on trees with raspberry-like fruits is a sure sign of mulberries. On a technical note, mulberries are an unusual type of fruit known as a “multiple.” Most fruits, including “aggregate fruits” like raspberries, develop from just one flower, but each mulberry develops from a cluster of flowers.

Harvesting and Processing Mulberries: In Michigan, look for mulberries in June or July, and since they don’t ripen at exactly the same time revisiting a tree every few days will almost always yield more fruits, and you can expect a lot of fruits because mulberries are productive, reliable, and relatively free of bugs and diseases. As for processing, anything you can do with raspberries, you can also do with mulberries, and the seeds of mulberries are often a lot softer than those of raspberries. Now, they’re not always softer, but it’s not unusual for them to be delicately crunchy. If you asked me, I would say that mulberries are best when eaten fresh, but they’re also good when dried and made into fruit bars or when baked into pies. Just about any way you prepare mulberries you can expect good results—even if a kitchen is one of those places where you don’t normally expect good results!

Urban Foraging: One last note about mulberries, is that they’re very successful in urban areas. Mulberries are tough trees that aren’t afraid of a little pavement, and if you think that cutting them down will put them out of business, then you definitely thought wrong. If you cut down a mulberry tree, it’ll just re-sprout and act like nothing happened. Actually, quite a few things that we cover in this class are successful in urban areas, and that’s good to know because in the not so distant future everywhere will be an urban area, probably even the entire surface of all the oceans. Although the art of survival is often portrayed in some remote wilderness far from civilization, edible resources grow virtually everywhere, even in the middle of major cities.

Cattails

Family: The Cattail Family (Typhaceae)

Species: Only 2 in Michigan:

narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia)

broadleaf cattail (Typha latifolia)

An Eternal Resource: In the past, cattails were a principal source of food for indigenous peoples around the world, and even in modern times they remain an important source of food in many parts of the world. Cattails have been called “the supermarket of the wilderness,” and since no other plants look like cattails, identifying them is easy. Simply look for sausage-like flower clusters combined with grass-like leaves. It’s an easy combination to remember.

The Edible Parts and Species: Botanists place cattails in the Typha (ty-fuh) genus and recognize about 10 to 15 species worldwide. The reason it’s not an exact number of species is because botanists frequently disagree about what should and should not be considered a species, so the total number of species in a genus, and even the total number of genera in a family, is always subject to interpretation. Now, to be clear, in the following discussion, when I say “cattails,” I’m referring specifically to broadleaf and narrowleaf cattails (Typha latifolia and Typha angustifolia), which are the only species in Michigan, and the parts of these species that we can use as food include the: rhizomes, stem bases, flowers, and pollen (Couplan pp. 492-493). In addition, the seeds can also be used as food, but that’s easier said than done because the seeds are extremely small and essentially just a bunch of fluff, but that fluff is available in winter, a time when few other wild foods are available.

Cattail Rhizomes: Cattails produce extensive networks of “rhizomes.” Earlier, we learned that rhizomes are root-like structures that spread horizontally for the purpose of establishing new plants (technically they're clones rather than new plants). Rhizomes spread underground, but where cattails grow the so-called “ground” is usually mud, so don’t be surprised if gathering cattail rhizomes turns into a mud wrestling competition!

Cattail rhizomes typically have a soft, spongy, outer portion surrounding a tough, cable-like inner portion. Clearly, they were not designed to be chewed, but several options exist for obtaining their food value. By far, the easiest way to obtain their food value is to simply gnaw them, but doing that is unwise because plants that grow in aquatic habitats often harbor dangerous microorganisms that can make you sick. To avoid illness, you should always cook plants gathered from aquatic habitats, so before gnawing cattail rhizomes, it’s a good idea to place them on the glowing embers of a campfire. The heat will sterilize them. It’s also worth noting that the rhizomes can be placed directly on the glowing embers. There’s no need to wrap them with tinfoil, and that’s because their spongy exteriors protect them from the fire. In a wilderness setting, this would be the most practical way to obtain food value from cattail rhizomes.

Cattail Cakes: Another processing option is to make “cattail cakes.” To do this, start by splitting the rhizomes in half to inspect them for rotted areas. Cattail rhizomes should always be white (or nearly white) on the inside. Any gray or brown areas should be cut off and discarded. Remember that cattail rhizomes stay in the ground for many years and it’s not too long before they rot. To ensure you get the freshest ones, look for the new green leaves in spring and only gather rhizomes connected to those new green leaves. After splitting and inspecting the rhizomes, cover them with water and pound them like mash potatoes. The water can be hot or cold, but hot water seems to be more effective. Next, you’ll want to filter out the rhizomes and let the starch settle to the bottom of the water. After the starch settles, you can pour off most of the water, which is a lot easier (and a lot faster) than boiling it off. After pouring off as much water as possible, you’ll need to boil down the remaining water into a thick paste, and then dry the paste into “cattail cakes.” In my opinion, this is the best way to process cattail rhizomes, because the cakes are almost pure starch, and they don’t require refrigeration.

Cattail Flour: Another way to process cattail rhizomes is to make “cattail flour.” As with the previous method, you start by inspecting the rhizomes for any rotted areas. After doing that, you bake them long enough to sterilize them, which is about 15 to 20 minutes in a conventional oven. After that, you dry them and pound them into a mess of dusty starch and fibers. And finally, you sift out the fibers, which leaves you with an excellent quality flour that’s ready to eat. I would describe cattail flour as somewhat like “potatoes with a pond-like overtone.” The cattail cakes I previously described also have a pond-like overtone, but these wild foods are delicious, and in the past, they would have been highly valuable commodities.

Gathering Cattail Rhizomes: Since the areas that cattails inhabit are often polluted, you should always watch for signs of pollution, and when I “signs” I don’t mean posted signs written in plain English! What I mean is signs like: unusual aromas, discoloration of the water, suspicious-looking containers, anything seeping out of the ground, or a large number of dead plants in the area. Also keep in mind that rainwater will wash pollution right to where cattails grow, and cattails pull this pollution out of the water. Now, this does help to purify the water, but in doing so it contaminates the cattails. Assuming the water that you’re gathering the cattails from is safe to drink, the rhizomes are available all year long—even in winter if you can get to them and dig them out of the freezing cold water. Digging up cattail rhizomes is always a workout and the cold temperatures of winter only hinder that effort. Perhaps the best time to gather cattail rhizomes is in spring, when the young shoots arise from the marshes. Gathering them at that time will ensure that you get the freshest ones, and to ensure that you really are gathering cattails … check to see if the young shoots are round in cross-section. If they’re round, you're okay, but if they’re flat, then you might be looking at a colony of irises, and you definitely don’t want to eat irises. The young shoots of these plants look very similar, but after these plants bloom, the differences between them are quite obvious.

Cattail Stems: Basically, everything that I just said about the rhizomes, also applies to the stem bases, so when you harvest the rhizomes, you should also harvest the stem bases. As for the upper portions of the stems, as well as the leaves, those parts are way too fibrous to use as food. Only the bases of the stems are suitable for consumption. To prepare the stem bases, simply peel off the leaves and chop them into bite-size pieces. After that, they can be added to soups, tossed into stir fries, or dipped in batter and sautéed. There are lots of ways to prepare them, and in case you’re wondering how they taste. I would describe them as “marsh-flavored with a starchy overtone,” and I would describe their texture as very moist, crisp, a little bit stringy, and a little bit slimy. Overall, it’s a mild flavor, and a delicate texture, so the stem bases are well worth the effort of gathering. As for the task of gathering them, that’s the easy part. All you have to do is “pull and peel.” Gathering the stem bases is a lot easier than gathering the rhizomes, and the stem bases are in season from about May to September.

Cattail Flowers: Cattail flowers are another excellent resource. Male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers occur in long, narrow, sausage-like clusters, on the same plant, with the pollen-producing males above the seed-bearing females. Both genders can be eaten like corn-on-the-cob when they’re young, but the male flowers are usually more suitable for consumption than the female flowers, and that’s because the male flowers have a more delicate texture. In both genders, the so-called “corn-on-the-cob-like part” is actually thousands of developing flowers encircling a hard stem.

Male Flowers: The male (staminate) flowers typically turn from green to yellow and then to brown after all their pollen is released. It’s best to gather them when they’re green or yellow, because brown usually means that they’re withered. It’s also worth noting that the gathering season is very brief, so you’ll need to keep an eye on the colonies to determine the best time. In Michigan, that time is usually in June or July.

Female Flowers: As for the female (pistillate) flowers, they can be used like the male flowers, but they’re usually tougher and more fibrous. Even the youngest female flowers can be excessively fibrous, so don’t be surprised if one bite takes all day to chew! Maybe even two days! Frankly, I would describe the experience of eating them as somewhat like “chewing on herb-flavored carpet.” Of course, that’s not meant to imply that I’ve ever eaten herb-flavored carpet! Or any carpet for that matter! But regardless, the comparison seems accurate enough, so I’m going with it. As for the flavor, I would say that the female flowers taste like “some kind of mysterious vegetable that time has forgotten,” but since that’s not a specific flavor, the closest comparison I can think of seems to be green beans. Overall, it’s a mild flavor, so you won’t have to worry about the female flowers overpowering other wild foods if you decide to use them in a recipe.

Cattail Pollen: Another resource that cattails offer us is pollen. Cattail pollen is produced in great abundance and easy to gather, but since it’s designed to fly in the wind, it’s wise to gather it when the wind is calm. You can gather it by wrapping a plastic bag around the flower heads and then shaking the flower heads. The pollen will fall into the bag, and soon you’ll have a good supply with very little effort. Fresh cattail pollen is moist, yellow, and about the consistency of stone-ground corn flour. It’s also highly perishable, so if you want to store it, it needs to be dried immediately. Except for drying, no other processing is required to make flour out of cattail pollen. It’s essentially flour in its natural state. Now, if you wanted to you could sift out the little bits of flowers, but unless they’re old and withered there’s really no need to sift them out, so that’s an optional step. Toasting the pollen is also an optional step, but in my opinion it does seem to improve the flavor. And I would describe the flavor of cattail pollen as similar to eggs when it’s fresh, and similar to a combination of eggs and whole grains when it’s toasted. Overall, cattail pollen is well worth the effort of harvesting and processing, but like any pollen it can trigger allergies, so I would advise caution with this wild food.

Other Uses for Cattails: So that’s basically how we can use cattails as food, but cattails are not only the “supermarket of the wilderness,” they’re also the “hardware store of the wilderness.” Cattails offer us a number of items that would be useful in a survival situation. For one, if you need tinder to get a fire going, the fluffy seeds serve well for that purpose. The fluffy seeds also serve well as insulation for boots, jackets, and sleeping bags, and they’re available right when insulation is needed the most, in the middle of winter. Cattail leaves are also very useful. Although they’re too fibrous to use as food, they can be used for making baskets, blankets, cordage, footwear and many other useful items. Whatever you happen to need at the time, there’s a good chance that cattails can fulfill that need. Overall, cattails are remarkable plants.

Reed

Family: The Grass Family (Poaceae)

Species: Common reed (Phragmites australis)

Another Eternal Resource: Common reed, which is also known as “phragmites” (frag-my-teez), is a tall grass that foragers around the world should definitely know about. Some botanists consider all reeds worldwide to be a single species, but other botanists divide them into a few species. In Michigan, most of the reeds are considered to be the native species known as American reed (Phragmites australis ssp. americanus), which is said to have more purplish stems than the European reed (Phragmites australis ssp. australis). Since all reeds can be used in the same way, the minor differences between them are totally irrelevant to foragers, so I’ll simply refer to all of them as “reeds.”

Harvesting and Processing Reeds: Several parts of reeds are edible, but the most valuable parts are the rhizomes and the young stems. Now, these parts tend to be tough, woody, and hollow, but they contain carbohydrates that can be extracted by chopping them into small pieces and then boiling them in water. After doing that, you’ll need to reduce the volume of water by continuing to boil it, just as you would when making maple syrup, and after doing that, you’ll have “reed syrup.” In my opinion, reed syrup is a fine product, perhaps a little too marshy-flavored sometimes, but definitely fine, and since reeds are considered to be weeds, no one should have any objection to you gathering a supply. In fact, they might even pay you to get rid of the reeds because reeds are considered to be an invasive species! If you don’t want to make reed syrup, another option is to make “reed flour.” To make it, you bake, dry, pound, and then sift the rhizomes and stem bases. It’s not as easy as it may sound, but reed flour is a valuable item that’s well worth all the effort you put into making it. Now, if you need a non-perishable product definitely go with the flour rather than the syrup. Reed syrup needs to be consumed right away or frozen, but reed flour can be stored for several months.

Some Key Features of Reeds: Reeds are tall grasses found in marshy areas throughout the world, and they have a distinctive look that’s not too hard to recognize. By far their most distinctive feature is their height. Very few grasses in Michigan, or in any state for that matter, exceed a height of two meters, so that should be the first thing you look for in your search for reeds. Other things to look for are their bamboo-like rhizomes and dense seed heads swaying in the wind. Just about anywhere you go you can plan on finding reeds. They’re an excellent survival food available in every month of the year.

Milkweed

Family: The Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae)

Species: Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Overview: Common milkweed is a plant that’s definitely worth knowing about, but it’s a dangerous plant if it’s not cooked, so always be sure to cook it! The edible parts of this plant include the young shoots, young leaves, young fruits, flower buds, and flowers, and considering the extent to which these parts have been utilized as food in the past, it’s clear that they are safe to eat after cooking. Worldwide, botanists recognize about 120 species of milkweeds and place them all in the Asclepias (Ass-klee-pee-iss) genus. Only about 10 species are found in Michigan, and the following discussion applies only to the species called common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Now, other species in the state have been utilized as food, but a few species are quite dangerous and should never be eaten, so if you’re planning on eating milkweeds, identifying them accurately is imperative. As a forager, you should understand that it’s unusual for all the species in a genus to be edible. In most genera, only a few species are edible, and you really need to be sure that you get the right one.

Milkweed Flowers: Milkweeds are very distinctive plants, and what’s distinctive about them is their flowers. Each flower typically has 5 sepals, 5 petals, and 5 stamens that are fused into a column with hoods and horns attached to those columns. No other flowers look like milkweed flowers, so they’re not that hard to spot, but to be absolutely sure that you have common milkweed, that’s not so easy, and it requires that you check a whole bunch of parts.

Identifying Common Milkweed: To give you an idea of what it really takes to identify a species, I’ll quickly burn through all the relevant features of common milkweed. Now, I wouldn’t expect anyone to actually remember all of these features, but they are the features that distinguish common milkweed from all the other species in Michigan. So, if you really are looking at common milkweed, it’ll be an upright plant about 2 to 5 feet tall and all the parts will be saturated with milky sap. The leaves will typically be oblong or egg-shaped, hairy on the lower surfaces, and arranged oppositely or in whorls. The flowers will be arranged in spherical umbels, with each flower about 10-15 mm long, and the corolla lobes of those flowers will be pinkish-purple and hairy on the back sides. As for the hoods, they should be about 3-5 mm long and have incurved horns that are slightly shorter. And last but not least, the fruits will be spiny follicles (fol-li-kelz) filled with fluffy seeds, and since I didn’t mention this earlier, a follicle is dry fruit that splits open along one line. No other milkweeds in Michigan will have all those features, but that’s a lot of features to remember, so if you want to forage for edible plants don’t forget to bring a good book on plant identification.

Preparing Common Milkweed: Finding common milkweed shouldn’t be much of a problem because it’s abundant in fields throughout the eastern half of North America, and despite the safety issues it really is an excellent wild food. The easiest way to prepare it is to simply boil the various parts, and after boiling them it’s a good idea to discard the cooking water just to be safe. After doing that, the various parts have a flavor that I would describe as somewhat like “green beans combined with an accent unique to milkweeds.” It’s usually a mild flavor, but occasionally you will have some bitterness. I would say that the flowers, flower buds, and young shoots have the best flavor, and the full-grown leaves have the worst flavor.

Other Uses for Common Milkweed: In addition to being an excellent wild food, common milkweed is also an excellent source of fiber, and when I say “fiber,” I mean the kind that’s used for making cordage rather than dietary fiber. Many different species of milkweeds, as well as related (but inedible) plants called dogbanes, are excellent plants for making cordage, which in turn can be used to make nets, fishing lines, bow strings, and many other items that are vital to survival. Overall, common milkweed is a plant of great value to foragers.

Nettle

Family: The Nettle Family (Urticaceae)

Species: Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica ssp. dioica)

Not So Bad: Stinging nettle is yet another misunderstood plant. Its fearsome spines generally exclude it from being considered an article of food, but not only is it edible, it’s nutritious. Now, aversions that some people might have to eating anything so spiny are certainly understandable, but I promise that stinging nettle is completely harmless—after it’s prepared.

Preparing Nettle: The leaves are the part that is eaten, and the easiest way to prepare them is to blanch them in boiling water. Doing that will effectively disarm their spines and make them safe to eat. Stinging nettle leaves are fantastic when made into soup or when steeped into tea. Alone, they have a lettuce-like or seaweed-like flavor and a deep-green color. In my opinion, it’s a very agreeable flavor that def-initely indicates some food value, and a quick check on the USDA Nutrients Database will confirm that stinging nettle leaves are a nutritional powerhouse. They’re incredibly nutritious, yet some people cringe at the thought of eating them.

Gathering Nettle: As for gathering, it’s best to gather the leaves when the plants are young because bugs quickly devour the leaves, and of course, wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and leather gloves when you gather stinging nettle. Unless you want a reminder of why it’s called stinging nettle!

Some Key Features of Nettle: Worldwide, botanists recognize about 45 species of nettles, but only one species grows in Michigan, and that species is called Urtica dioica subspecies dioica (Ur-ti-kuh dy-oh-i-kuh), or simply stinging nettle. It’s not native to Michigan, or even to North America, but at this point in time it’s common throughout the world. To identify it, look for a tall plant with opposite leaves, drooping clusters of tiny green flowers, and of course, stinging hairs on just about every part. Stinging nettle prefers moist soils that are rich in nutrients, and it often grows in colonies. These colonies bloom in midsummer, but their flowers are inconspicuous, so don’t expect much of a display.

Wild Foods of July

Raspberries, Blackberries, and Related Species

Family: The Rose Family (Rosaceae)

Species: All species of the Rubus genus have edible fruits.

Overview: Raspberries, as well as related plants called blackberries, dewberries, thimbleberries, and a few others, are all part of the Rubus (Roo-bus) genus. Worldwide, botanists recognize anywhere from 400 to 700 species in this genus, and since all the species produce edible fruits (Couplan pp. 230-236 and Kirk p. 94), being able to recognize this genus is a good skill to have. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to all the species in this genus as “raspberries,” but keep in mind that they do have many different common names.

Value to Foragers: Species in the Rubus genus can be small plants, large shrubs, or merely a few stems arching out of the ground, and these stems, which are also called “canes,” have a bad reputation for being prickly. Not all the species have prickly stems, but quite a few of them do, so it’s usually real obvious when you run into a raspberry patch, especially if you’re wearing shorts! So why are raspberries so valuable to foragers? … They’re valuable because they almost never fail to produce mass quantities of delicious fruits that can be eaten raw or cooked, and these fruits are usually free of bugs and diseases. Although nothing is ever truly guaranteed in the wild, a good raspberry harvest is about as close to guaranteed as you can get, and that harvest is usually in midsummer. A few species produce fruits in autumn, but most of them produce fruits in the middle of summer, and regardless of when the fruits are produced, you’ll need to gather them right away because they won’t persist for very long.

Processing Raspberries: As for processing, anything you can do with commercially grown raspberries you can also do with the wild ones. The wild ones may be a little smaller, but they’re just as big on flavor. When I process raspberries, I simply toss them in a blender, blend them into paste, and then dry the paste into fruit bars. The blender I use chops the seeds into tiny pieces that are barely noticeable, which is nice because raspberry seeds are usually pretty annoying. Now, if you don’t have a blender, another way to deal with the seeds is to strain the fruits. Straining the fruits will actually get rid of the seeds rather than just chop them into little pieces, and getting rid of them will leave you with a much smoother product. Of course, the downside of straining is that it wastes fruit, and it’s a slow process. Blending, on the other hand, is quick and easy, and wastes nothing. Now, if you happen to be in a wilderness rather than in a kitchen, you can simply dry the fruits—seeds and all. There’s no actual need to remove the seeds, except to make the texture a little more appealing.

Are Raspberries Really Berries? Many familiar foods that are called “berries” are not actually berries in the botanical sense of the word, and this includes everything in the Rubus genus. Fruits of this genus are actually “aggregates of drupelets attached to a common receptacle.” Or to put that in English, they’re collections of many little fruits clustered together into one large fruit, and these fruits are a defining feature of the Rubus genus, so they should be one of the first things you look for when you identify this genus.

Vital Skill – How to Identify the Rubus Genus: So other than checking the fruits, how do we identify the Rubus genus? … We do that by also checking the leaves, flowers, and stems. Now, with anywhere from 400 to 700 species in the genus, you can expect all kinds of variations in these parts, but even with all those variations, you can still see things that they have in common. The flowers are a good example of that, as the vast majority of them have 5 sepals, 5 petals, numerous pistils, and numerous stamens. The stems also have a distinctive look. In quite a few species, the stems are prickly and covered with white powder, and the stems often look like arches rising out of the ground. Now, not all the species will have stems like that, but many of them do. As for the leaves, they have a tendency to be compound with double-serrated leaflets, but they can also be simple with palmate lobes, or otherwise. The combination of all those features will identify the Rubus genus, which is our main concern, but to identify the multitudes of species, you’ll need to check a lot more features that we won’t be getting into because there’s no need to get into them. Remember, as I said earlier, all the species in the Rubus genus produce edible fruits, and because all the species produce edible fruits, we only need to identify the genus rather than the exact species. Now, it’s always a good idea to identify exact species, but in the Rubus genus it’s not absolutely necessary. Depending on who you believe, anywhere from 20 to 50 species of the Rubus genus are found in Michigan. Only about 10 species are common, and all the ones that I’ve tried so far produced excellent fruits. Overall, fruits in the Rubus genus are among the best wild foods available to foragers, so it’s good to remember what they look like.

Blueberries

Family: The Heather Family (Ericaceae)

Species: All species of the Vaccinium genus in Michigan have edible fruits.

Blueberries of Michigan:

lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)

dwarf blueberry (Vaccinium cespitosum)

highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)

thinleaf blueberry or huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum)

velvetleaf blueberry or huckleberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides)

Alaskan or oval-leaf blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium)

early, hillside, or Blue Ridge blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum)

bog blueberry or huckleberry (Vaccinium uliginosum)

Cranberries of Michigan:

American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos)

northern cranberry or lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea)

Among the Best: Blueberries, as well as cranberries, are in what botanists call the Vaccinium (vak-sin-ee-um) genus. Worldwide, there are about 400 species in this genus, but only 11 of those species are found in Michigan, and all 11 of them have edible fruits (Couplan pp. 188-190, Duke p. 208, Elias p. 163, Hanelt pp. 1688-1696, and/or Moerman pp. 263-270). Now, it’s likely that all species worldwide have edible fruits, but that’s a bit more difficult to confirm, and it’s a bit outside our region of interest. Of the 11 species in Michigan, 8 of them are blueberries and 3 of them are cranberries. We’ll be focusing on blueberries, but I thought it would be a good idea to mention that cranberries are in the same genus even though cranberries don’t look or taste anything like blueberries. I should also mention that blueberries are also called bilberries or huckleberries, and that not all blueberries are blue! All the blueberries in Michigan have blue berries, but in other regions the berries can be green, pink, red, purple, or black. They’re usually blue, or at least bluish, but there are some exceptions. You should also keep in mind that just because a berry is blue, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a blueberry. There are some poisonous berries that are blue.

Gathering Things From the Wild: Since most people are probably familiar with the flavor, texture, and aroma of blueberries, I’ll focus on other things that foragers should know about them, such as where to find them and how to recognize them. Gathering foods from the wild is a lot different than shopping for them in grocery stores. In the wild, since nothing is labeled and poisonous items are mixed in with the edible items, you don’t just walk around and indiscriminately fill up your basket with whatever looks good. Doing that would obviously be a bad idea. When we buy our fruits rather than gather our fruits we lose the sense of what they look like in their natural state. Everyone knows what they look like when they’re neatly packaged in the produce aisle, but can you honestly say that you would recognize them in the wild? And would you be confident enough to bet your health on that? … So with that in mind, what exactly do blueberries look like? And is there anything dangerous that we might confuse them with?

A Good Skill – How to Make Sure It's a Blueberry: Recognizing the Vaccinium genus is fairly easy, but identifying the individual species is a bit more complicated. To recognize the genus you need to know that most species are woody shrubs and a few species are low-growing plants that are woody at the base. You also need to know that leaves of all the species are simple and arranged alternately, and that leaves of quite a few species have rounded edges, smooth surfaces, and a leathery texture. As for the flowers, flowers of all the species are ovary inferior, but those of blueberries are urn-shaped (like a rounded vase), while those of cranberries have well-defined petals. In all the species, the petals have a strong tendency to be white or pink, but in blueberries they usually have 10 stamens, and in cranberries they usually have 8 stamens. As for the fruits, the fruits of all the species are berries, and when I say “berries,” I mean the botanical definition of the word. So the fruits will always be soft and fleshy, and they will never have hard pits or crunchy seeds, and they will never split open at maturity. In quite a few species, you’ll also notice a 5-pointed crown on top of the berry, or perhaps a ring on the top. Remembering this “combination of features” is the key to recognizing the Vaccinium genus, but please keep in mind that identifying individual species would require checking additional features.

Blueberry Season: In Michigan, blueberry season is mainly in July and August, but it depends on the species and on the growing conditions. Most of the berries will disappear before autumn, and long before the onset of freezing temperatures, so blueberries are not a winter-survival food. When you search for blueberries, you’ll most likely find them in moist habitats, especially around lakes, rivers, and bogs. A few species also do well on the forest floor. In fact, it’s not unusual to see blueberry shrubs carpeting the forest floor—but just because something is abundant, does not guarantee that it’s productive, and just because something is productive, does not guarantee that you’ll have anything to harvest. You see, blueberries are both abundant and productive, but animals consume them about as fast as they ripen, and because of that, there may not be any left to harvest. Blueberries are a favorite food of bears, as well as other animals, big and small, so you can expect some serious competition when gathering these berries. Now, assuming you get there first and manage to harvest a supply, no other effort is required. Blueberries can be eaten raw or cooked, and all the wild ones that I’ve ever eaten were just as good as the ones sold in grocery stores—except for the ones that were even better! Of all the berries in the forest, blueberries are among the best, so being able to recognize them is a good skill to have.

Summer Greens

Wild Lettuce (Lactuca canadensis)

Woodsorrels (various species in the Oxalis genus)

Sowthistles (various species in the Sonchus genus)

Salsifies (various Tragopogon species)

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

No Shortage of Salad Materials! Like just about any month of the year, July offers us an assortment of green leafy vegetables, including things like wild lettuces, woodsorrels, sowthistles, salsifies, and purslanes. All of these plants, or actually I should say groups of plants, are common in Michigan, so they’re worth knowing about. Now, explaining every detail required to identify them all would be a very long discussion, so instead of doing that, I’ll just point out some key features and focus on their edibility.

Wild Lettuce: Wild lettuce (Lactuca canadensis) is certainly a plant worth knowing about, but it’s nothing like cultivated lettuce. Compared to cultivated lettuce, wild lettuce is rather bitter. The young leaves are okay for salads, but you might want to cook the older leaves. When you’re out there foraging in the Michigan woodlands, there’s a good chance that you’ll find wild lettuce. With a height of up to 10 feet tall, it usually stands above most of the other plants, so it’s not too hard to find. And if you do find it, you’ll notice that you won’t need too many leaves to make a salad, as each leaf can be over a foot long!

Woodsorrels: Woodsorrels (various species in the Oxalis genus) are distinctive little plants that make an excellent addition to salads. You won’t find them “standing above” too many plants, but you will find them just about everywhere they have a chance to grow. They prefer woodlands, and can be identified by looking at their leaves. Each leaf has 3 heart-shaped leaflets, and each leaflet is folded down the middle. Those features in combination with yellow or purple 5-petaled flowers and long narrow seed capsules, is a sure sign of woodsorrels. Leaves of woodsorrels taste as if nature has marinated them in vinegarette dressing, and that’s a big reason why they’re so suitable for salads. Of course, it’s also a big reason why you shouldn’t eat too many of them. Their tangy flavor is due to a compound called oxalic acid, which is potentially harmful in large quantities.

Sowthistles: Sowthistles (various species in the Sonchus genus) are common weeds that invade fields, roadsides, vacant lots and many other places in the city and country. Three species are found in Michigan, and all three of them have edible leaves, but in order to use the leaves, you need to trim the spines off the margins. You can also try boiling the leaves to soften the spines, but that may not be effective if the leaves are old or if the spines are stiff. Sowthistles actually look more like dandelions than thistles, but remember that dandelions never have stems and sowthistles always have stems. These plants also have other differences, but that one is pretty obvious.

Salsifies: Salsifies (various species in the Tragopogon genus) are another source of green leafy vegetables available in June, July, and August. You can also eat the roots of all 3 species in Michigan, but you need to gather the roots before the stems develop, and it’s a little bit tricky to identify the plants at that time. When eaten fresh, salsify leaves taste very similar to romaine lettuce. They make an excellent addition to salads and are equally suitable as potherbs, at least in my opinion. As for the task of gathering, gathering salsify leaves is easy, so it’s not going to take you all day to gather enough for a meal, and the same can be said about the other plants we just covered for July.

Common Purslane: Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) doesn’t grow more than a few inches tall, but it can cover large areas of open ground at a record pace. It especially likes agricultural fields, or sandy or gravelly areas where there’s not much competition from other plants. Leaves of common purslane are completely safe and nutritious. And they’re also thick, fleshy, mild-flavored, and a little bit slimy. In the past, these leaves were sold in grocery stores, but these days, you’re more likely to find them growing in the parking lots of grocery stores rather than inside the stores!

Summer Seasoning

Wild Bergamot: And one last note for July is wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). The leaves and flowers of this plant can be added to salad, cooked as potherbs, or steeped into tea. Wild bergamot is a member of the mint family, and like so many members of this family, it has square stems, opposite leaves, and a minty aroma. It’s very common in Michigan and it’s not that hard to identify, so if you need something that works as a seasoning, or something to steep into tea, feel free to try wild bergamot.

Wild Foods of August

Apple Trees

Family: The Rose Family (Rosaceae)

Species: All species of the Malus genus have edible fruits. The most common species in Michigan    are: American, wild, or sweet crabapple (Malus coronaria) and the cultivated apple (M. pumila = M. domestica). Occasionally, you may also find: prairie crabapple (M. ioensis), Siberian crabapple (M. baccata), or the toringo crabapple (M. toringo = M. seiboldii).

Overview: Worldwide, there are about 45 species of apple trees, as well as numerous varieties of those species that are cultivated for food or used in landscaping because they’re attractive when they bloom. Michigan has 5 species. Now, to be clear, when I say “apple trees” in the following discussion, I’m referring specifically to species in the Malus (ma-luss) genus, and I’m not referring to anything outside of that genus that may be called an apple. So, with that in mind, all apple trees are reported to have edible fruits (Fern p. 42), and when I say “fruits,” I mean the flesh of the fruits, not the seeds! Only the flesh of apples is edible, the seeds are poisonous! Consuming apple seeds, even in small amounts, is asking for trouble, so never consume them, raw or cooked.

Cultivated Apples versus Crabapples: Malus pumila (Ma-luss poo-mil-uh) is the familiar apple tree of cultivation. It's fairly common in the wild, but it's only productive if the growing conditions are just right. Crabapple trees, on the other hand, are much more productive, but the fruits they produce are a lot smaller than cultivated apples, and they don’t always taste as good. Crabapples have a wide range of flavors, some taste absolutely delicious, but others taste extremely bitter, or extremely sour. Now, crabapples that taste bad can usually be improved by cooking, but cooking can only do so much. If they taste really bad you’ll need to gather your crabapples from another tree. That’s why it’s a good idea to check a few trees before gathering a supply.

Apple Season: In Michigan, crabapples, as well as cultivated apples, ripen in August, September, or October. Cultivated apples usually fall to the ground soon after ripening, but crabapples can hang on the trees for quite a while, sometimes even into winter, which makes them a potential source of food in the winter. Now, botanically speaking, there’s no difference between an “apple” and a “crabapple.” The word “crabapple” is just a common word for any small apple. So, how can we tell when “apples” are ready to harvest? … Well the most obvious way to tell is when they start falling to the ground, but like I just said, in some species they can hang on the trees for quite a while. So if they hang on the trees, then observing their color is a good way to tell when they’re ready to harvest, with various shades of reds and yellows being the most common colors indicating that time.

Finding and Identifying Apples: Entire books have been written about apples, especially the cultivation of apples, but most of that information isn’t something that foragers need to know. As foragers, what we need to know is how to find and identify apples, and then how to harvest and process them in the most efficient way possible. So when we look at apples from a forager’s perspective, what we see is that they’re easy to find, easy to identify, easy to harvest, and reasonably easy to process.

As for finding and identifying apples, apple trees are conspicuous when they’re in bloom, and then again when they produce fruits. Their fruits really stand out, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them, and since only apple trees produce apples, the presence of apples is a sure sign of apple trees. Now to keep things in perspective, although apple trees are easy to identify as a group, identifying individual species is rather difficult, and that’s because the features that define them are highly variable. Aside from the apples, the main features that define apple trees: are simple leaves arranged alternately and ovary inferior flowers with 5 sepals, 5 petals, 1 pistil, 5 styles, and numerous stamens. In most species, the petals are either white or pink, or somewhere in-between those colors, and the styles are usually fused at the base. I know that trying to remember a bunch of technical features is not easy, so if these features seem a little blurry, just remember that in Michigan no other fruits are likely to be confused with apples.

Harvesting and Processing Apples: As for harvesting apples, you can either wait until they fall or use a rake to pull them down when they ripen. You might need to fashion your own rake with a longer handle and smaller forks, but there’s nothing difficult about doing that, and one could even be fashioned from materials available in a forest.

After harvesting a supply of apples, you have some options on how to process them, and those options depend, in part, on how large they are. If the apples are large enough you can process them as you would process cultivated apples, but if they’re not large enough, then you need another option. Cultivated apples are normally peeled, sliced in a way that removes their cores, and then made into apple sauce, apple juice, apple pies, and many other things, but attempting to peel and slice crabapples doesn’t work so well, and that’s because crabapples are just way too small. Now, it’s true that crabapples can be eaten raw, so they don’t actually need to be processed, but as I said earlier, their seeds are poisonous, so be sure you don’t eat their seeds, or at least no more than a few of them. Exactly how many seeds it takes to cause harm is difficult to say, but it’s probably not very many. The toxin in apple seeds is called “amygdalin,” and getting rid of it is easier said than done. It’s true that boiling can get rid of some of it, but physically removing the seeds is always a better idea than trying to boil away this compound.

With that in mind, crabapples are commonly made into jelly or applesauce, and instead of trying to cut the seeds out with a knife, you can use whole fruits and remove the seeds later. Now, making crabapple jelly is a lengthy endeavor, and it’s not something that can be done in the middle of a forest, but if you happen to be “in the middle of a modern kitchen,” then it’s one way of processing crabapples. A better way, in my opinion, is to make applesauce. Making applesauce is much easier and much healthier than making jelly. To make applesauce out of crabapples: clean and sort through the crabapples, toss the good ones into a pot and cover them with water, and then boil them until they become soft (about 20 to 30 minutes). After that, run them through a food mill to remove all the seeds. You're basically done at this point, but if the applesauce is too thin, continue boiling it until it thickens up. You can even boil it until it's as thick as butter and use it as a spread, or you can dry it into fruit bars. No additional ingredients (like sugar or pectin) are required, but seasonings like cinnamon, nutmeg, caraway, or coriander will add some flavor. Other fruits, nuts, or toasted whole grains can also be added for a truly healthy snack bar.

Pomes: Botanically speaking, apples are called “pomes,” and pomes are always fleshy fruits that do not split open at maturity. Earlier, we learned that fruits typically develop from ovaries, but in apples the ovaries form the cores and the hypanthiums surrounding the cores form the fleshy part that we eat. It’s also worth noting that if you cut a ripe apple in half you’ll typically see 5 chambers with 2 seeds in each chamber. All of these are important features of apples, and any fruits in the wild not conforming to this description, are probably not apples. As I said earlier, no other fruits in Michigan are likely to be confused with apples, but in other regions there are some fruits that look similar. In Michigan, a bigger problem than similar-looking fruits is bugs and diseases. Apples are almost always damaged by bugs and diseases, so don’t be surprised if the losses are substantial.

Apples Past and Present: Throughout history apples have been of enormous importance to the human race, and although the familiar apples of cultivation are native to Asia, four species are native to North America, and 2 of those 4 species—wild crabapple (Malus coronaria) and prairie crabapple (Malus ioensis)—are native to Michigan. Fruits of these 2 species were clearly utilized as food by Native Americans (Erichsen-Brown p. 152, Kuhnlein p. 247, and Moerman p. 153), but the extent to which they were utilized and exactly how they were processed are not so clear. As a final thought on apples, “bigger is better,” and that’s because cultivated apple trees have the biggest and best fruits, so we’re lucky to have them in the Great Lakes state.

Grasses  –  Covered earlier in part #3.

Family: The Grass Family (Poaceae)

Number of species worldwide: about 10- to 11,000.

Quick Note: Grasses are an excellent resource, especially in August, September, and October when their seeds mature. Since we learned how to harvest, process, and identify grasses earlier in part #3, please see that part if you missed it.

Cherry Trees

Family: The Rose Family (Rosaceae)

Species: All 14 species of the Prunus genus in Michigan have edible fruits:

Cherries of Michigan:

sweet cherry (Prunus avium) – a cultivated species 

sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) – a cultivated species 

mahaleb cherry (Prunus mahaleb) – a cultivated species

pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica)

sand cherry (Prunus pumila)

black cherry (Prunus serotina)

choke cherry (Prunus virginiana)

Peaches of Michigan: 

peach (Prunus persica) – a cultivated species

Plums of Michigan:

Allegheny plum (Prunus alleghaniensis)

American plum (Prunus americana)

chickasaw plum (Prunus angustifolia)

plum (Prunus domestica) – a cultivated species

hortulan plum (Prunus hortulana)

Canadian plum (Prunus nigra)

Overview: Cherries are a resource that foragers around the world can appreciate, but keep in mind that only the flesh of cherries is safe to eat. The pits, as well as all the other parts, are poisonous. Now, it’s true that other parts have been used as food and medicine, but I would advise extreme caution when using anything except the flesh of the fruits. Cherries are a group of species within the Prunus (Proo-nus) genus. This genus is a bit complicated, and also includes other groups such as plums, peaches, almonds, and apricots, all of which are distinguished primarily by their fruits. Worldwide, the Prunus genus consists of about 200 species, but only 14 species are found in Michigan, and all 14 of them have edible fruits. Now, of those 14 species, only 7 of them are cherries, and only 4 of those cherries are common in the wild. The others are mainly found in cultivated fields.

Recognizing Cherries: As a forager, you should remember that cherries always produce drupes, and that these drupes, as well as their pits, do not have grooves, so if you see grooves, you may be looking at a plum rather than a cherry. Plums are common in Michigan and they’re excellent wild foods, but for now we’ll be focusing on cherries. In the wild, cherries can vary in color from bright red to dark red, to purple or even black, but they’re usually dark red. And when you’re out there in the wild searching for cherry trees it helps to look at the bark. Tree bark usually isn’t very distinctive, but in cherry trees, it is distinctive. In most species, it’s smooth, brown, somewhat shiny, and clearly marked with horizontal lines called “lenticels.” And in addition to the bark, the leaves and flowers are also helpful in the identification process. Cherry leaves are always simple, and they usually have smooth or finely serrated margins, and cherry flowers always have 5 sepals, 5 petals, 1 pistil, and 10 to 30 stamens. Any shrub or tree with this overall “combination of features” is definitely a cherry, and except for buckthorns, nothing else in Michigan is likely to be confused with cherries. Certain buckthorns have similar-looking leaves and fruits, but their flowers are quite a bit different and their fruits have 2 to 4 pits rather than just one. Remember, cherries always have one pit filled with one seed, so if you find a fruit that looks like a cherry, but has more than one pit or more than one seed, then it’s definitely not a cherry.

Processing Cherries: Almost all the cherries that I gathered from the wild were just as good as cherries sold in grocery stores, and gathering them was easy. After gathering cherries it’s always a good idea to remove their pits, not only because the pits are poisonous, but also because they’re a choking hazard, which is partly what inspired names like “choke-cherries.” In all the cherries that I processed, simply squeezing them ejected their pits, so I was able to process substantial amounts in a very short period of time. And the fact that substantial amounts were available is another reason why cherries are so valuable.

Gathering Cherries: Late summer is cherry season, and it’s best to gather cherries soon after they ripen. For efficiency, a tarp can be placed under species that drop their cherries. This works well with a top-grade species called black cherry (Prunus serotina) that’s common throughout eastern North America. As for processing, just about anything you can do with commercially grown cherries you can also do with the wild ones, but keep in mind that the wild ones are usually a lot smaller. In a wilderness setting, the best way to process cherries would be to remove their pits and then dry them in the sun, that way they’ll be ready-to-eat, and they can be stored without refrigeration.

Finding Cherries: Foragers should know that cherry trees are very particular about where they grow. You almost always find them “where the woodlands meet the meadows,” and there’s a reason they grow there. That reason is sunlight. Trees compete for sunlight, and the taller trees usually win that competition. As a result of this, the shorter trees can only grow along the edges of woodlands where they can get some sunlight. Quite a few trees, as well as quite a few shrubs, prefer this habitat, so it’s wise to walk “where the woodlands meet the meadows” when searching for wild foods. It’s a prime location.

 Elderberries

Family: The Muskroot Family (Adoxaceae)

Species: Only 2 species of the Sambucus genus in Michigan:

black elderberry (Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis)

red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa var. racemosa)

Ancient Knowledge: Elderberries are a resource that every forager should know about, but they’re a resource that must be respected. Elderberries are placed in the Sambucus (Sam-boo-kus) genus, which currently consists of about 10 species worldwide, or only 2 species in the United States. Those 2 species are red and black elderberry, and although the fruits of both of them were clearly utilized as food by Native Americans, the red fruits of red elderberry are much more dangerous than the purplish-black fruits of black elderberry. Fully ripe black elderberries are safe to eat raw or cooked, but red elderberries absolutely must be cooked because their seeds contain dangerous compounds called “cyanogenic glycosides.” Very thorough boiling will break down most of these compounds, but it’s always wise to avoid red elderberries and only gather fully ripe black elderberries.

Key Features of Black Elderberry: In Michigan, black elderberry is usually a shrub, but in other states it can be a tree or it can have blue fruits. To identify it look for: pinnately compound leaves arranged oppositely, creamy white flowers arranged in flat-topped clusters, and purplish-black fruits. If you look a little closer at the flowers, you’ll see that they’re regular, perfect, and ovary inferior, and you’ll also see that each one has 5 petals and 5 stamens.

Black Elderberry Season: Black elderberry is valuable to foragers because it’s common, easy to identify, easy to harvest, and highly productive. In addition, the fruits are produced over a long period of time. In Michigan, the gathering season spans from late-summer to early-autumn, but keep in mind that the fruits fall to the ground soon after they ripen, and you probably won’t be able to find them after they fall, so it’s a good idea to gather them right away. Black elderberry shrubs are easy to find when they’re in bloom, but finding them when their fruits are ready is a bit more challenging, and that’s because they blend in with their surroundings. This happens a lot when you search for fruits, so it’s wise to remember the locations of things when they’re in bloom, and then return to those locations later to gather their fruits.

Processing Black Elderberries: Since black elderberries can be eaten raw, no processing is required, but if you want to store them, then they need to be dried, or frozen, or made into something that’s non-perishable. Basically, anything you can do with berries, you can also do with black elderberries. Things like pies, cobblers, jams, jellies, fruit rolls, and frozen desserts are all good options in a modern kitchen, but out in the wilderness, drying the fruits would be the most practical thing to do since nothing is wasted and no refrigeration is required. Black elderberries dry fairly quickly, but sometimes when you dry fruits they ferment before they dry. To avoid this issue you can slice fruits before placing them in the sun, and always be sure that the humidity is low. Regardless of how you prepare black elderberries, they have a rather odd flavor that strikes the taste buds like a note that’s out of tune. In my opinion, it’s not a bad flavor, but most of the other fruits that we cover in this class taste a lot better. As for texture, black elderberries are soft and filled with delicately crunchy seeds.

Red Elderberries: Up until this point we’ve mainly been talking about black elderberries, but what about red elderberries? We already know that red elderberries are more dangerous, but are there any reasons that would compel us to gather them? … Unless it was absolutely necessary, I can think of no compelling reason to ever gather red elderberries. Red elderberries taste horrible, and no amount of preparation seems to help, so flavor would not be a compelling reason to gather them. Abundance might be a compelling reason to gather them. In some areas red elderberries are more abundant than black elderberries, and if you desperately need something to eat, then red elderberries would be an option, but as I said earlier, they’re an option that must be cooked. You don’t want to eat them raw, and Native Americans were well aware of that fact. Red elderberries ripen in midsummer, which is a lot earlier than black elderberries, so if you need something to eat at that time then red elderberries would be an option, but in midsummer there are usually better options than red elderberries.

Overall, elderberries are a valuable resource that foragers around the world can depend on, but I would strongly recommend black elderberries over red elderberries.

Sumacs

Family: The Sumac Family (Anacardiaceae)

Species: All 4 species of the Rhus genus in Michigan have edible fruits:

fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)

winged sumac (Rhus copallinum)

smooth sumac (Rhus glabra)

staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina)

Overview: Shrubs and trees commonly known as sumacs produce fruits that are highly valuable to foragers, and in some species the fruits can be gathered all winter long. It’s always best to gather them soon after they ripen, but if you’re foraging in the winter then it’s good to know that sumac fruits may still be plentiful at that time. Now, when I say “sumacs” I’m referring specifically to species in the Rhus (Roos) genus, and I’m absolutely not referring to poison sumac of the Toxicodendron (Tox-i-koh-den-dron) genus. Only four species of the Rhus genus are found in Michigan, and they all have fruits that are red, hairy, edible, and arranged in “terminal clusters” (Couplan p. 304). In contrast, poison sumac has fruits that are white, hairless, poisonous, and arranged in “axillary clusters.” “Terminal” means positioned at the end of a branch or the tip of a stem, and “axillary” means positioned along a branch or a stem. And just in case you didn’t know, the position of things is always an important concept in botany. Since poison sumac can be recognized in so many different ways, even more ways than I just noted, confusing it with the edible sumacs of the Rhus genus is highly unlikely, but just remember that when you gather sumac fruits, they should always be red, never white.          

Sumac Fruits: If you’ve never had sumac fruits, then you need to know that they’re basically just hairy skins covering hard stones. Their fleshy portions are very, very thin, but what they lack in thickness, they make up for in sweetness and tartness. Of all the wild fruits that I’ve ever eaten, sumac fruits were undoubtedly the sweetest. They taste as good as candy, but beware, if you eat them raw, the hairs covering them can be irritating. Now, one way to avoid issues with the hairs is to prepare the fruits as a beverage.

Sumac Lemonade: To prepare sumac fruits as a beverage simply soak them in cold water for about 20-30 minutes and then filter the water. Mashing the fruits as they’re soaking will help liberate the sugars and filtering the mess will get rid of all the seeds and any loose hairs. You can also boil the beverage as a final step to sterilize it. This beverage, which is commonly called “sumac lemonade,” was popular among Native Americans, and is still popular today.

Sumac Seasoning: If you don’t want to prepare sumac fruits as a beverage, another option is to prepare them as a seasoning. In the Mediterranean Region, sumac fruits are a well-known seasoning, especially for “hummus,” which is basically a smooth and creamy combination of sesame seeds, garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, and various herbs. If you decide to make sumac seasoning, I’d recommend removing the seeds rather than grinding them, and that’s because they’re extremely hard. To do this, simply dry the fruits and then roll the skins off with the palm of your hand. What you’re left with is sumac seasoning, which has a flavor that I would describe as sweet, fruity, and unbelievably tangy.

Harvesting Sumac Fruits: The gathering season for sumac fruits ranges from late spring to late autumn, and in some species all the way through winter. As I said earlier, it’s always a good idea to gather the fruits soon after they mature, but if that’s not an option and you need food in the winter, then sumac fruits are a prime choice. The winter form of most species (including Rhus glabra, R. copallinum, and R. typhina) is unmistakable: large clusters of hairy, red drupes perched at the tips of bare branches. Nothing else looks like that in winter, so anyone foraging in winter should definitely keep that picture in mind. If you’re foraging in spring or the beginning of summer, you’ll see clusters of greenish-yellow flowers (each with 5 sepals, 5 petals, 3 styles, and 5 stamens) rather than fruits. A little bit later, in midsummer, the flower clusters turn into fruit clusters, and by the end of summer, the fruits are ready to harvest. Foragers should know that sumac fruits turn red long before they ripen, so even though they look ripe, they may not be ready to harvest. The way to tell if they’re ripe … is to squeeze them. Unripe fruits will have soft pits, but fully ripe fruits will have extremely hard pits that cannot be squeezed. In fact, you might not be able to squeeze them even with a pair of pliers! Foragers should also know that rain tends to wash away the acidic flavor of sumac fruits. They’ll still be sweet after a heavy rainstorm, but not quite so acidic. Age also affects the flavor of sumac fruits. Generally speaking, the longer the fruits remain on the shrubs the less flavorful they will be. That’s why it’s important to gather them soon after they ripen. Bugs and diseases can also be a serious problem as the fruits age, but birds and other animals are seldom a problem, so you can expect a good sumac harvest year after year.

Autumn Olive

Family: The Oleaster Family (Elaeagnaceae)

Species: Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)

Overview: As its name suggests, autumn olive produces olive-like fruits in autumn, but unlike its name suggests, it’s not even closely related to olives. Autumn olive is a member of the oleaster family, which also includes the Russian olive and some shrubs found in the western half of North America called buffalo-berries. Now, buffalo-berries were very important to Native Americans, and if Native Americans would’ve had autumn olives, I’m certain that autumn olives would’ve been just as important to them, if not more important. I say this because in Asia, where autumn olives are native, they were important enough to be cultivated (Facciola p. 93). So, how do autumn olives taste? … Well, all the ones that I ever ate were sweet, fruity, and tangy, and they never had any bad aftertaste. Autumn olives can be eaten fresh or cooked, and either way they definitely taste more like fruits than vegetables.

Harvesting Autumn Olives: As for the task of harvesting, that’s really not much of a task. Autumn olives couldn’t be much easier to harvest, and considering their name, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that they ripen in autumn. As they ripen, they turn from dull green to bright red, or reddish-orange, and you should only harvest them when they’re fully ripe. The harvest season is primarily from the end of September to the end of October, and you should harvest them right away because they don’t persist for very long.

Processing Autumn Olives: Botanically speaking, autumn olives look like drupes, but they’re actually “achenes enclosed by fleshy hypanthiums.” Now, if you can’t quite picture what that means, just think of them as “tiny olives with a crunchy seed inside.” The seeds are also edible, but the shells of the seeds are rather firm and fibrous, so you'll probably want to spit them out. You can also filter them out if you’re making juice. To process them: I simply toss them in a blender along with some water, filter the beverage to remove the seed fragments, boil the beverage into a thick paste, and then dry the paste into fruit bars. No additional ingredients are needed, but other fruits, nuts, or whole grains can be added if you want. Another processing option is to simply dry the fruits in the sun.

Identifying Autumn Olives: Autumn olive shrubs are about 1-7 meters tall, silvery-green, and covered with dot-like scales. Even the fruits have dot-like scales, and this feature in combination with oval leaves arranged alternately and creamy white flowers with 4 lobes and 4 stamens will confirm that you have an autumn olive.

Historical Note: After autumn olives were introduced to North America they quickly spread and became one of the most common shrubs in the eastern half of the continent. Their introduction was intentional and considerable effort was put into planting them, but now they’re considered to be an invasive species and efforts are being made to remove them. From a forager’s perspective, very few shrubs in Michigan produce a greater quantity of easily accessible fruits, so autumn olives are a welcome addition to the landscape.

Russian Olive: A small tree or tree-like shrub called Russian olive is also worth mentioning at this point because it’s closely related to autumn olive. The fruits of Russian olive are reported to be edible, but all the ones that I’ve ever gathered from the wild were terribly astringent. Now, they were also sweet, but their astringency overpowered their sweetness, and because of that I would argue that Russian olives are not as edible as some authors suggest, and they’re certainly not as good as autumn olives. Russian olives are valuable because they’re abundant, and the amount of fruit that each tree produces is phenomenal. Russian olives have some potential, so I’d recommend checking them out, but don’t set your expectations too high.

Carrots

Family: The Parsley Family (Apiaceae)

Species: Wild carrot or Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota)

A Wild Food Forever: In the distant past, wild carrots were found only in Europe and Asia, but now, they’re widespread throughout much of the world. Commercially grown carrots for sale in grocery stores are actually the same species as wild carrots, but things like size and color were changed through centuries of domestication. In terms of edibility, the roots, leaves, and flowers of wild carrots can be eaten fresh or cooked (Couplan pp. 329-331). Now, the roots are usually a lot smaller, tougher, and more resinous than those of cultivated forms, but they’re not that hard to gather, and they’re available in virtually unlimited quantities. As for their flavor and aroma, those aspects are similar to cultivated carrots. However, they can be a lot stronger. The resins that give wild carrots their pleasant aroma can ruin their flavor, and cooking may not be able to fix it. As with most wild foods, wild carrots have a range of flavors, some taste good, but others taste bad, so it’s wise to taste a few before gathering a supply.

Harvesting and Processing Wild Carrots: Wild carrots are biennial plants, which means they have a 2 year lifespan. In their first year, they look like clusters of leaves, and in their second year, they develop stems, flowers, and fruits. Ideally, the roots should be gathered anytime before the stems develop, because after that point they become tough as the nutrients they contain are utilized by the growing plants. Now, if it’s too late in the season to gather young plants, or you’re unsure of their identity, you can gather older plants—even those that have gone to seed. Gathering older plants is energy efficient and there’s almost no chance of misidentifying them, but if you gather older plants, the roots need to be processed in a different way, and the results of that process will probably not be satisfactory. To process older or tougher roots: cut them into small pieces, boil them until they’re soft, pound all the starch out of them, and then filter them to remove all the fibrous material. What you're left with is wild carrot broth, which can be made into soup or other things—assuming it’s not too resinous. As I said earlier, wild carrots have a range of flavors, and sometimes their flavor can be extremely resinous. The resins get worse as the plants age, and unfortunately there seems to be no way to get rid of the resins, so the only solution is to gather the roots of young plants. Roots of young plants are much less resinous and can be used like cultivated carrots. Over the years, I’ve tried many different things in the parsley family (including biscuitroots, sweetroots, wavywings, yampa, wild parsnip, cow parsnip, water parsnip, mountain parsley, and other things), and in the things that were too resinous, cooking never made those things taste any better, so I’d recommend avoiding anything that’s overly resinous in the parsley family.

Finding and Identifying Wild Carrots: Finding a colony of wild carrots, in any month of the year, is actually very easy. In winter, you’ll find bristly fruits (called schizocarps) arranged in compound umbels, and these compound umbels will be subtended by fork-like bracts—assuming the bracts haven’t crumbled away. You should keep in mind that these old withered plants are only useful for identifying a colony of wild carrots, they are not meant to be eaten. For a meal, you need living plants, not the withered ones you see in winter, and these living plants should have taproots with a definite carrot-like aroma and lacy leaves covered with firm hairs. If they lack any of those features, then you might have the wrong plant, and you definitely don’t want to have the wrong plant in the parsley family because the most dangerous plants in North America—spotted hemlock and water hemlock—belong to this family. Like these dangerous plants, wild carrots have white flowers, but unlike them, wild carrots have bristly fruits, a carrot-like aroma, and well-developed fork-like bracts below the flower clusters. All of those are extremely important features, and one last feature that’s worth noting, is that the seed heads often look like bird nests.

Burdock

Family: The Sunflower Family (Asteraceae)

Species: Common burdock (Arctium minus)

Overview: Common burdock is a valuable plant to foragers, especially as a source of roots. Worldwide, about ten species of burdocks are recognized, and all of them are placed in the Arctium (ark-tee-um) genus of the sunflower family. Only 2 species of this genus occur in Michigan, and since common burdock is by far the most common species, we’ll focus on that one.

Burdock Roots: The main part of common burdock that’s of interest to foragers is the root. Now, the stems and leaves are also edible, but they don’t provide as many calories as the roots, and (in my opinion) they don’t taste as good as the roots. Common burdock roots can be eaten raw or cooked, but they’re better cooked because cooking softens their texture. Cooking also eliminates any resinous overtones and brings out a starchy flavor. A common way to prepare burdock roots is to shred them, boil them in water, drain the water, sauté them in soy sauce, and then top them with sesame seeds. You can also cut them into small chunks and add them to soup, or prepare them in just about any way you can prepare carrots.

Gathering Burdock: Common burdock is a biennial plant, which means it lives for 2 years. In its first year it looks like a cluster of giant leaves rising out of the ground, and in its second year it develops stems, flowers, and of course the burrs for which it’s named. Gathering the roots should be done any time before the stems develop because after that point the roots become tough and woody, but how do we identify this plant before its stems develop? Usually we need flowers or fruits to confirm the identity of a plant, and if those parts haven’t developed yet, then how can we be sure that we have the right plant? … Whenever parts are missing we can't be 100% sure, but to identify burdock before its stems develop, it helps to look for older plants growing nearby. And if those older plants have identical leaves, and burrs, then there’s a good chance that you found a colony of common burdock.

Burdock Stems, Leaves, and Leafstalks: As I mentioned earlier, the stems and leaves of common burdock are also edible, but these parts, at least in my opinion, taste rather unappealing. The stems need to be gathered when the plants are young. Otherwise, they’ll be tough and fibrous, and even when the plants are young they tend to be rather tough and fibrous, so you may be out of luck as far as the texture is concerned. As for the flavor, when eaten fresh, burdock stems taste slightly bitter, slightly salty, and somewhat like artichokes. Similar flavors can be expected with the leafstalks, but the leaf blades are considerably more bitter, so I’d recommend avoiding the leaf blades. All of these parts are normally in season in spring and summer, and about the only advantage they have over the roots is that they’re easier to gather. The stems and leaves are certainly worth a try, but the roots are what makes burdock so valuable to foragers.

Key Features of Burdock: Since common burdock is a member of the sunflower family, which is the largest family of plants on Earth, you might think that identifying it would be nearly impossible, but since common burdock has such a unique form, it’s actually really easy to identify. Most of the time, in order to identify anything in the sunflower family, you have to check a whole bunch of obscure parts, but thankfully that’s not necessary with common burdock. With common burdock you only need to look for plants that are standing about 4 to 10 feet tall, with giant, hairy, heart-shaped leaves, and purple flowers nestled in burrs. Nothing else in the Great Lakes state will fit that description, except for greater burdock (Arctium lappa), which can be used in all the same ways.

A Four-season Resource: Common and greater burdock are native to Asia, but both species are now widespread throughout North America and many other parts of the world. Greater burdock has a long history of cultivation as a root vegetable in various parts of its native range, and it’s even cultivated to this day. In contrast, common burdock usually isn’t cultivated, but it is an excellent resource, and it’s a resource that’s available in winter, so if you’re foraging in winter, you should definitely be looking for common burdock. To find it in winter, look for tall, dried-out plants covered with numerous burs. Now, these tall, dried-out plants are unusable, but next to them you should see the withered leaves of younger plants, and these younger plants should have usable roots. Not very many plants are recognizable in winter, but common burdock is an exception. It’s easy to recognize in winter, but digging up its roots can be a real workout, especially if the ground is frozen solid, so good luck on that task!

Chicory

Family: The Sunflower Family (Asteraceae)

Species: Chicory, succory, radicchio, coffeeweed, or blue sailors (Cichorium intybus)

A Legendary Wild Food: Chicory is an extraordinary plant that offers foragers a reliable source of nutritious leaves and starchy roots. In Michigan, the leaves are mainly a summertime resource, but the roots can be gathered anytime, or at least anytime you can find them. Chicory has a long history of cultivation going back thousands of years and it’s still cultivated today for its roots and leaves.

Chicory Leaves: Chicory leaves are basically a robust version of endive lettuce (Cichorium endivia). They can be rather tough, bitter, and hairy, but they can also be delicate, mild, and hairless. Their flavor and texture vary quite a bit in the wild, so you may have to look around for some good ones. Despite any issues with their flavor or texture, chicory leaves are nutritious, and safe to eat fresh or cooked—assuming they’re in good condition. Bugs and diseases often ravage chicory leaves, so finding leaves in good condition can be a challenge, especially as the plants age.

Chicory Roots: As for the roots, chicory roots have thin brown skins surrounding whitish interiors. The interiors often have tough cores, but the portions surrounding the cores are usually soft enough to chew. In young roots, all the portions may be soft, but don’t be surprised if they’re not. Wild plants, whether young or old, often have tough roots, and cooking doesn’t always soften them.

Processing Chicory Roots: So how do we prepare chicory roots and what exactly do they taste like? The way that chicory roots are prepared determines how they will taste. Raw roots taste rather bland, bitter, and earthy. Boiled roots taste starchy. Baked roots have a grain-like flavor, and charred roots have a coffee-like flavor. I would say the roots are best with a combination of baking and boiling, or when prepared as a coffee-like beverage. Chicory roots have long been used as a substitute for coffee. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why chicory was cultivated, but chicory wasn’t cultivated because its roots make a particularly good substitute for coffee, it was cultivated because real coffee (Coffea arabica) of the madder family (Rubiaceae) was in short supply, and it was in short supply, at least on some occasions, as a result of warfare disrupting economic trade. If you decide to try chicory coffee, keep in mind that the roots need to be thoroughly charred to bring out their coffee-like flavor. Lightly charring them results in a more grain-like beverage.

Key Features of Chicory: Chicory is native to Europe and Asia and is now considered a “weed” on every continent except Antarctica. It’s the only species of the Cichorium genus that’s well-established in North America, and its dandelion-like leaves, light-blue ray flowers, and cypselae (dry, seed-like fruits) with irregular crowns readily distinguish it from other members of the sunflower family. Overall, chicory is an excellent resource.

Wild Foods of September

Grapes

Family: The Grape Family (Vitaceae)

Species: Riverbank grape (Vitis riparia)

On the Wild Side: Grapes are an excellent resource, and the fact that they grow on vines greatly assists in the process of identifying them. Not very many wild foods grow on vines, so the few that do are not that hard to recognize. Now, to be sure that you have a grape vine, look for three things: simple leaves with toothed margins, tendrils, and of course, clusters of grapes. Only grape vines will have all those features, and similar-looking vines such as Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and moonseed (Menispermum canadense) will not have all those features. Virginia creeper differs by having compound leaves rather than simple leaves, and moonseed differs by having leaves with smooth margins rather than toothed margins. Fruits of these vines look very similar to grapes, but they are definitely not edible.

The Riverbank Grape: Worldwide, about 65 species of grapes have been described, and they all have edible fruits and leaves (Angier p. 86 and Lyle pp. 97-102). Now, to be clear, when I say “grapes” in the following discussion, I’m referring specifically to a species called riverbank grape (Vitis riparia). I’m certain that other species are virtually identical to it, but I’m also certain that other species are quite a bit different, so the discussion is not meant to imply that all species of grapes will be like riverbank grapes. And if you’re wondering why I chose riverbank grapes, it’s because they’re one of the most common species in Michigan.

Grape Leaves: Leaves of riverbank grapes can be gathered long before the fruits ripen, so if you can’t wait for the fruits, don’t forget about the leaves. When eaten fresh, the leaves have a flavor that I would describe as mild, tangy, and free of any harsh accents. It’s not unusual for the leaves of wild plants to have harsh accents, but that’s not a problem with grape leaves, so if you need something to “tone down” a salad mix, grape leaves are an excellent choice. Grape leaves are also an excellent choice if you’re looking to wrap something like a burrito, or if you need an alternative to tinfoil when you’re cooking things over a campfire. Grape leaves can also be added to soups or stews. They’re an excellent wild food, but they’re a wild food that’s easily overlooked if our attention is elsewhere.

Grape vines almost never stop growing, which is why some people like them and why other people hate them. In either case, it means that new leaves are almost always available, and that’s important because those new leaves tend to be less ravaged by bugs and diseases than older leaves. Bugs and diseases aren’t always a problem, but they’re definitely a nuisance to watch out for.

Harvesting and Processing Grapes: When the grapes are finally ready, you’ll find that harvesting them is easy—assuming you can reach the clusters! In Michigan, they usually ripen from late summer to early autumn, and it’s a good idea to harvest them right away because they only persist for a few weeks. Finding them in late autumn or winter is highly unlikely.

Riverbank grapes are a lot smaller than cultivated grapes, and they’re also filled with seeds. Now, the seeds are soft enough to chew, but they’re rather crunchy and they have a bad habit of splintering into sharp fragments when you eat them. It’s possible to eat them, but you’ll probably want to spit them out, or filter them out when you process the grapes. Riverbank grapes are very sweet, and very tart, much tarter than cultivated grapes. To process them into grape juice, I simply: pull them off the clusters, rinse them in clean water, run them through a blender along with some water, and then filter the juice to remove all the seed fragments. This process is quick and easy, and will give you grape juice that’s ready to drink. You can also boil the juice as a final step to sterilize it, but if the grapes are healthy, then there’s no need to boil the juice. Also, like other fruit juices, grape juice can be boiled into a thick paste, and then dried into fruit bars. Riverbank grapes can also be dried in the sun to make raisins, but de-seeding the grapes is difficult, and they really need to be de-seeded, so making the juice or fruit bars are easier options than making raisins.

Wild grape vines are well-known for sprawling over shrubs, climbing on trees, and generally making the place look like a jungle. Of course, this is a welcome sight to a hungry forager!

Currants and Gooseberries

Family: The Gooseberry Family (Grossulariaceae)

Species: All species of the Ribes genus have edible fruits.

Overview: Currants and gooseberries are common shrubs that foragers should definitely be familiar with. Worldwide, about 140 species have been described and they’re all placed in the Ribes (ry-beez) genus (about 10 species are found in Michigan). All the species produce edible berries (Kirk pp. 87-89, Couplan p. 200, and Peterson p. 212), but some species produce much better berries than others. There’s a huge range of flavors, textures, and aromas in currants and gooseberries (sweet, tart, bland, musky, foul, resinous, soft, chewy, firm, dry, juicy, fleshy, seedy, dusty, hairy, spiny, and otherwise).

Processing Currants and Gooseberries: As a forager, you should know that currants and gooseberries can be spiny, and I don’t just mean the shrubs, I mean the actual fruits! Now, spineless fruits can be eaten raw, but spiny fruits obviously need to be processed, which is done by boiling them or burning off their spines. You should also know that only fully ripe fruits should be eaten, and that’s because unripe fruits can cause nausea or other digestive problems.

In my opinion, currants and gooseberries taste better raw than cooked. Cooking always washed away their sweetness. I tried almost 20 different species (mostly in the southwestern United States), and in some of the less-appealing species, flavor issues arose from the seeds crowding out the pulp. You see, the pulp is much sweeter than the seeds, but the seeds usually account for most of the volume, so species with more pulp are preferable to species with more seeds. Likewise, juicy fruits are preferable to dry fruits, non-resinous fruits are preferable to resinous fruits, and of course spineless fruits are preferable to spiny fruits. Although conventional wisdom says that “boiling will effectively soften gooseberry spines,” it’s not always effective, so if you need a more effective solution … try burning the berries prior to cooking them. Burning will definitely take the points off the spines.

Gathering Currants and Gooseberries: Gathering currants and gooseberries ranges from easy to difficult depending on the species. Some species are a lot spinier than others, and dodging all those spines will slow you down. Also, some species have solitary berries rather than clusters of berries, and that can make a big difference in the time it takes to gather them. Berries can be expected anytime from late spring to early autumn, and most (or at least quite a few) species produce a good crop every year. A forager can rely on currants and gooseberries. These berries don’t always taste good, but at least they will be available.

The Difference Between Currants and Gooseberries: Botanically speaking, the difference between currants and gooseberries is in the way the berries “disarticulate” from the shrubs. And what that means in English is that they detach from the shrubs at different points. Currants detach at the base of the fruits, and gooseberries detach at the base of the stalks (pedicels). What this means to a forager, is that currants will be a little easier to process because you won’t have to remove their stalks, or at least removing their stalks should be a lot easier. Removing the stalks is always preferable to leaving them on, and removing the withered flower parts on top of the berries is also a good idea. Although these parts can be eaten, they’re rather chewy and unappealing. The berries are definitely better without them. After that step, just about anything you can do with berries, you can also do with currants and gooseberries. As I said earlier, in my opinion, I think they’re better raw than cooked, but they’re also okay dried. Drying them concentrates their sweetness and prepares them for long-term storage.

Identifying Currants and Gooseberries: To identify currants and gooseberries, start by looking for shrubs with simple, palmately lobed leaves arranged alternately or in clusters. Then check the aroma of those leaves because it’s often very distinctive, and when I say distinctive, I don’t necessarily mean pleasant. After doing that, check the flowers. They should be regular, perfect, ovary inferior, and somewhat tube-, cup- or bowl-shaped, and each one should have 5 sepals, 5 petals, and 5 stamens. Currants and gooseberries tend to bloom early, and their flowers always develop into berries. The combination of all these features allows us to distinguish currants and gooseberries from all other shrubs in the Great Lakes state.

Wild Foods of October

Oak Trees

Family: The Beech Family (Fagaceae)

Species: About 10 species of the Quercus genus are found in Michigan.

The Mighty Oaks: Oak shrubs and oak trees are a forager’s best friend. About 400 species are found throughout the world, and the one thing that they all have common … is acorns. Although quite a few references indicate, or at least imply, that all oaks produce edible acorns (Angier pp. 24-25), it’s always wise to gather acorns only from species with a well-documented history of being utilized as food, and regardless of the species, processing is always required to render the acorns edible.

A Simple Skill: The first step of utilizing any wild food is to properly identify the wild food. So how do we identify oaks as a group? … Fortunately, this task is incredibly easy. Since no other shrubs or trees produce acorns, the pres-ence of acorns is a sure sign of oaks, but what exactly does an acorn look like? … I’m sure that most people can come up with a general picture of what an acorn looks like, but is that picture accurate enough for a botanical description?

An acorn, which is the fruit of an oak tree, always contains one seed (nut), surrounded by a thin shell that’s loosely positioned within a cup-like structure called an “involucre” (in-voh-loo-ker – a series of bracts that subtend a flower or flower cluster), and acorns do not split open at maturity. As I said earlier in this class, the number of seeds that a fruit contains, and whether or not the fruit splits open at maturity, are very important concepts in botany. You’ll see them used again and again for the purpose of identification.

In addition to acorns, another key feature of oaks is their leaves. Oak leaves are always simple and arranged alternately, or more technically, they’re arranged spirally, but spirally is a form of alternately. In addition, oak leaves often have distinctive lobes and a leathery texture. Leaves like this, in combination with acorns, is the key to identifying oaks, but please note that this “combination of features” describes oaks as a genus. Identifying individual species is a bit more complicated, but is generally not necessary since virtually every species worth harvesting can be harvested.

The Edibility of Acorns: Although all acorns are presumably edible, not all acorns are created equal. Some are pitifully small and extremely bitter, while others are large and taste reasonably mild. The species that you decide to harvest makes a big difference in the quality of the final product. The bitterness in acorns comes from compounds called “tannins.” Now, tannins are a diverse group of compounds that are widespread in the plant kingdom. They mainly serve as defensive compounds against bugs, diseases, grazing animals and other predators, but they also have purposes other than defense. From a health perspective, small amounts of tannins offer us numerous benefits, but large amounts can cause some serious problems. As a group, tannins are generally bitter, astringent, water-soluble compounds that have the ability to bind proteins, deactivate enzymes, and bring cell functions to a screeching halt, and in case it’s not clear what that means, it means that excessive amounts of tannins are bad news, and that you should never eat acorns raw. Fortunately, processing can remove tannins, and considering the extent to which acorns have been utilized as food in the past, it’s reasonable to conclude that the various processing techniques effectively remove the tannins and render the acorns safe to eat.

Processing Acorns: Traditionally, acorns were processed by first removing their shells, then grinding the nutmeat into a coarse meal, then placing the meal in a porous container such as a finely woven basket, and then setting the container in a cool stream for several days. It was a simple technique, but it got the job done with minimal effort, and this technique is equally effective today as it has been for thousands of years. The ability to harvest and process things efficiently is an ability that every forager must have, and just because a technique is primitive, doesn’t mean that it’s outdated!

Acorn Flour: Acorn flour is a versatile, nutritious, read-to-eat food that can be stored for several months. To make this flour, start by cracking open the shells and picking out the nutmeat. Pliers work well for this task, but rocks will also work. Acorn shells are usually thin, somewhat flexible, and easy to crack, but plan on spending some time removing them. Also plan on finding some rotted or infested nutmeat. Like most wild foods, acorns are susceptible to bugs and diseases, especially a little worm-like bug known as the acorn weevil. Acorns infested by these weevils usually have tiny holes in their shells and they tend to float in water. They float because their interiors were hollowed out by the weevils. Healthy acorns sink when placed in water and their nutmeat should have a consistent color. Any kind of discoloration of the nutmeat is a serious warning sign, so always watch for that when processing acorns. The damage from acorn weevils is usually quite obvious.

After removing the shells and discarding any unhealthy nutmeat, the next step is to pound the nutmeat into small pieces that are about the size of rice. Now, the purpose of this step is actually to make the next step more effective, and the next step is to remove the tannins. You can remove the tannins the old-fashioned way by soaking the nutmeat in a cool stream, or you can just boil the nutmeat in water. It’s a lot faster to boil the nutmeat in water, but you may need to change the water a few times until it stops turning brown. Tannins are the reason the water turns brown, and when the water stops turning brown, that means the tannins are gone.

After removing the tannins and draining the water, the next step is to roast the nutmeat over a gentle flame. Any sauté pan will suffice, and no oil is needed. This step thoroughly dries the nutmeat and brings out a delicious nutty flavor. At this point, the nutmeat is ready-to-eat and ready-to-store, but if you want to make flour out of it then you’ll need to grind it into a finer consistency as a final step. Based on my experiences, I would say that acorn flour is delicious and tastes very similar to hazelnut flour. Of course, if you’ve never had hazelnut flour, well, that tastes like acorn flour!

Harvesting Acorns: Oak trees are a dominant part of the landscape across the northern hemisphere and they’re well adapted to a variety of climates. Almost anywhere you go in the northern hemisphere you’ll find oaks. And you’ll also find that their acorns were a staple food for thousands of years and are still harvested to this day. In most regions, early autumn is acorn season. Now, this varies from region to region and from species to species, but regardless of these variables, determining the ideal time to harvest acorns is easy. So how do we determine that time? … Acorns fall to the ground when they’re ready to harvest. That’s the sign you look for. And another sign is that their shells often turn from green to brown.

Oak Trees in Winter: From a winter-season perspective, oak trees are like giant signposts pointing to a potential meal. So where is that meal? … As I mentioned earlier, acorns fall to the ground when they mature. After they fall, many of them rot, but some of them stay fresh, so when you search for wild foods in the middle of winter it’s a good idea to look underneath oak trees. Even with a foot of snow on the ground there can be substantial amounts of acorns hiding under oak trees, but how do we recognize oak trees in the winter?

Fortunately, oak trees have made that task easy. Many of them have evergreen leaves, or deciduous leaves that persist well into the winter. In many species, the leaves alone can identify oak trees, and once you identify an oak tree, check the ground. You probably won’t find acorns under every tree, but at least it’s a good place to look for them. And another good place to look for them is anywhere that squirrels might hide them, such as in logs, under piles of leaves, or in spots that look dug up. Other nuts may also be found in those places, so it’s always wise to look for any “unnatural disturbances,” including tracks in the snow that may lead to those places. Signs like those are the signs to be looking for in winter.

The Major Groups of Oaks: Foragers may want to keep in mind that oaks are often divided into groups. Perhaps the most well known groups are the red oaks and white oaks. Members of the red oaks group (Erythrobalanus) typically have leaves with sharp teeth and acorn shells that are hairy on the inside. While members of the white oaks group (Lepidobalanus) typically have leaves with rounded lobes and acorn shells that are hairless on the inside. Now, acorns of the white oaks group are considered to have a better flavor than acorns of the red oaks group, but there are definitely exceptions to this rule. And you should keep in mind that although acorns of white oaks may taste better, they’re not as common as acorns of red oaks and they don’t keep as well.

Other Parts of Oaks: There’s a lot more to know about oaks, but at this point we've covered all the important things. If you’re wondering why we focused primarily on the acorns, that’s because they provide a lot more food value than any other parts. Although other parts of oaks are reported to be edible [U. S. Army Survival Manual by Col. Peter T. Underwood, 2013, “Oak Quercus species … Edible Parts: All parts are edible, but often contain large quantities of bitter substances.”], they’re very low-quality wild foods, and better wild foods are almost always available.

Other Uses for Oaks: Food isn’t the only thing that oaks are good for. Oaks have long been associated with making leather. All those tannins we had to remove to make the acorns safe to eat are the perfect ingredient for turning animal skins into leather, which is a process known as “tanning.” Tannins were actually derived from the bark rather than the acorns, but oaks were always a popular choice for this substance. Oaks were also a popular choice for making tool handles, utensils, parts for animal traps, weapons, and other items that needed to be durable. Oak wood is about as close to indestructible as you can get. It’s not easy to work, but whatever you make out of it will last for many years. And one last use for oaks that’s good to know is that the acorns make excellent bait for luring animals into traps, and not just small animals, acorns are a primary food source for deer, elk, and other large game.

Nutritional Information: A 100 gram serving of dried acorn nutmeat (species unspecified) contains: 509 kilocalories, 5.06 g water, 8.1 g protein, 31.41 g fat, 53.66 g carbohydrates, 1.78 g ash, 54 mg calcium, 103 mg phosphorus, 82 mg magnesium, 0 mg sodium, 709 mg potassium, 1.04 mg iron, 0.818 mg copper, 0.67 mg zinc, 1.363 mg manganese, various B vitamins, and other nutrients. Fatty acid profile: 4.084 g saturated fatty acids, 19.896 g monounsaturated fatty acids, 6,052 g polyunsaturated fatty acids. Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release #28, Online at: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov. (website address subject to change).

Walnut Trees

Family: The Walnut Family (Juglandaceae)

Species: Black walnut (Juglans nigra)

Overview: Throughout the ages, walnuts have been an important source of food across the northern hemisphere, and they’ll continue to be an important source of food into the foreseeable future. Botanists place walnuts in the Juglans (Joo-glanz) genus and recognize about 20 species worldwide. Only two of those species, black walnut (Juglans nigra) and white walnut (Juglans cinerea), are found in Michigan, and since black walnut is the dominant species, we’ll focus on that one. Technically, walnuts are the nut-like seeds of walnut fruits. What falls from the trees are the walnut fruits, and since only walnut trees produce those fruits, they’re easy to recognize, even in winter long after they’ve fallen off the trees.

Processing Walnuts - Removing the Husks: The walnuts of black walnut trees are protected not only by shells, but also by husks, and both of these parts must be removed to get the nuts. Now, the husks are tough, fibrous, aromatic, and saturated with liquid that will stain just about anything it touches. Thanks to this liquid removing the husks is a very messy job, so it’s a good idea to wear gloves when doing this job. The kind of gloves that will stop liquids from seeping through. Assuming you harvested the walnuts at the right time, removing the husks shouldn’t require too much effort, and the right time would be when they fall to the ground, or a little bit later. Now please don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying that the husks are easy to remove, because I know they can really cling to the shells, especially prior to the fruits maturing. What I’m saying is that they’re easier to remove after the fruits have fallen, and even easier after some freezing weather. One way that Native Americans removed the husks was by placing the walnuts in a shallow stream and walking on them. It’s an effective technique that not only gets the job done, but also avoids making a mess in the process.

Processing Walnuts - Cracking the Shells: After removing the husks, the shells need to be cracked to get at the nutmeat, and that’s easier said than done because the shells don’t merely surround the nutmeat, they weave through it like steel beams supporting a building. Shells of cultivated walnuts, such as the English walnut (Juglans regia), don’t have these internal reinforcements, and that makes them a lot easier to process, but none of the cultivated species are very common in the wild. In the wild, we have black walnuts, and unfortunately there’s no easy way to remove the shells of black walnuts, so you can expect a fight. The age-old method of cracking the shells between two rocks and picking out the nutmeat is still one of the best ways to get the job done. It’ll take some effort, but the nutmeat is valuable and well worth that effort. Once the nutmeat is freed it’s ready-to-eat, no further processing is required, but you might want to roast it to bring out its nutty flavor. In my opinion, I think it tastes better roasted. Plus, roasting it drives away any moisture that would cause it to spoil in storage.

Processing Walnuts - Storage: Since I didn’t mention this earlier, fresh walnuts contain quite a bit of moisture, so if you want to store them, they need to be dried. You can dry them in or out of their shells, but either way their husks need to be removed. To dry them in their shells, which is also called “curing” or “aging,” simply place them in a net and hang the net in a cool, dry place that’s out of the reach of animals. Curing them in this way allows the moisture to escape, and is said to bring out the flavor. It’s a good way to preserve walnuts, but it’s not a required step in the overall processing of walnuts.

Walnut Oil: An alternative way to process walnuts is to focus on the oil rather than the nutmeat. After removing the husks, walnuts can be pounded while still in their shells, and then simmered in clean water to liberate their oil. After simmering them for a while, oils rise to the surface, where they can easily be skimmed off, but note that a large amount of walnuts is required to yield a meaningful amount of oil. If this oil wasn’t so valuable it wouldn’t be worth the effort required to obtain it, but it is valuable, and well worth the effort.

Harvesting Walnuts: Walnuts usually turn from green to yellowish-green and fall to the ground when they’re ready to harvest, which is normally sometime in September or October, or possibly a little bit later. After falling to the ground, they start to develop brown spots, and eventually become completely brown. These brown spots are of no concern to foragers, but it’s always best to gather walnuts soon after they mature, and the reason for that is because some of the molds that affect walnuts are extremely dangerous, so always watch out for molds, especially if you harvest walnuts in winter. In productive areas, the ground around walnut trees can be cluttered with walnuts. It’s a wonderful sight seeing all that food ready to be harvested, and harvesting a supply is easy. All the difficulties with walnuts are seen in the processing, not the harvesting.

Other Parts of Walnuts: So clearly, walnuts are a good resource, but what about other parts of walnut trees? Can they serve as food? … The answer to this question is basically no. It’s true that the sap is reported to be edible, but only the nuts have any significant food value.

Hickory Trees

Family: The Walnut Family (Juglandaceae)

Species: Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata)

One of the Best Nuts: The nuts of hickory trees are also edible, but those of some species are much better than those of other species. The notes here apply only to a species called shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), which produces excellent quality nuts that can be eaten fresh or cooked. When eaten fresh, shagbark hickory nuts taste like a combination of pecans and butter. In my opinion, they’re the best nuts in Michigan. Now, you’ll definitely spend some time cracking their shells, but the final product is undoubtedly worth all the effort.

A Sure Sign: As for identifying shagbark hickory trees, their shaggy bark makes that easy, and that feature in combination with their distinctive nuts, is a sure sign of these trees.

Amaranth

Family: The Amaranth Family (Amaranthaceae)

Species: Many (probably all) species of the Amaranthus genus are edible.

Overview: Worldwide, there are about 65 species of amaranth, and all but a few of them were utilized as a source of seeds (Moerman pp. 41-44). A few species were also utilized as a source of leaves, but it’s mainly the seeds that made amaranth so valuable, and when I say “valuable,” I mean seriously valuable. Amaranth seeds are one of the best wild foods on the planet, and if I had to choose only 10 plants to survive on, amaranth would definitely be one of them. For thousands of years, amaranth seeds were a staple crop for native peoples of North and South America, much as wheat, corn, and rice are staple crops today (Couplan pp. 123-124), so their importance should not be underestimated.

Value to Foragers: To be clear, when I say “amaranth,” I’m referring to any of the edible species rather than any species in particular, so even though it may sound like I’m talking about a single plant, I’m actually talking about a group of plants, all of which are in the Amaranthus (A-mar-ran-thus) genus. So, from a forager’s perspective, amaranth is easy to harvest, easy to process, nutritious, delicious, and highly reliable. Almost every good quality a wild food could have is found in amaranth, so a forager could hardly ask for anything better.

Harvesting and Processing Amaranth Seeds: In Michigan, the various species of amaranth (there are 5 species, as well as a few that may enter the state occasionally) tend to bloom late, usually from July to October, and you can expect the seeds anytime from September to November, or even later depending on the weather. The harvest season is very generous, and the amount of food you get for the effort you put in is even more generous. Amaranth seeds just fall out of the seedpods, and any chaff that falls with them can easily be removed by a process called “winnowing.” In case you don’t know, winnowing is a process of using the wind (or your breath) to separate seeds from chaff, and the way it works is by placing the seeds and chaff into a bowl and then tossing them up into the wind. Since the chaff is lightweight, it blows away in the wind, but the seeds, which are heavier, are unaffected by the wind, so they fall back into the bowl. It’s an effective process as long as the seeds are heavier than the chaff, and amaranth seeds are much heavier than amaranth chaff, so it’s a very effective process with amaranth.

Amaranth seeds are usually some combination of red, brown, black, or gold, and all four colors are often found in the same seed head. Gold seeds, like the ones you find in grocery stores, are mostly from cultivated species. Wild species usually have much darker seeds—and lots of them. Just one amaranth plant can provide you with enough seeds for a meal, and just one acre of amaranth can provide you with all the seeds you would need for a year. Frankly, it’s a wonder why we don’t cultivate amaranth on a much larger scale than what we currently do, especially since it doesn’t even need to be irrigated, but that’s a different topic.

When you harvest amaranth seeds it’s a good idea to wear leather gloves because the bracts surrounding the seeds are spiny and can really irritate your hands. After harvesting a supply of amaranth seeds, the sky's the limit on how you want to prepare them. A few options include: grinding them into flour, boiling them into mush, or popping them like popcorn. All of these are good options, and I’m pretty sure that you’ll be happy with the results. In Michigan, when you search for amaranth, you’ll most likely find it in open fields or along roads. It needs a lot of sunlight and a lot of warm weather, but it doesn’t need much else.

Identifying Amaranth: As for identification, there’s no easy way to explain how to identify the Amaranthus genus and explaining how to identify the species is nearly impossible, so I’ll just outline some key features of the genus and let the pictures serve as a memory of their general appearance.

If the plant you’re looking at really is an amaranth, then it should have simple leaves arranged alternately, and those leaves will most often be oval or somewhat diamond shaped. Now, the leaves often wither when the seeds are ready to harvest, so at harvest time the features to look for are dried out plants bearing clusters of small seedpods and spiny bracts protecting those seedpods. Also, the seedpods should “split open around their equators” rather than lengthwise from top to bottom, and each seedpod should contain only one seed. As for the flowers, there’s not much to amaranth flowers. Each one is just a pistil or a few stamens, and not much else. The flowers bloom over a long period of time, but since they don’t have any petals, they’re easy to overlook. Although none of the parts that I just mentioned are very distinctive, in combination they provide enough information to identify the Amaranthus genus.

Amaranth Leaves: Up until this point we’ve been focusing on amaranth seeds, but amaranth leaves can also be utilized as food. They’re not as valuable as the seeds, and only certain species produce edible leaves, but they can provide some nourishment if the seeds aren’t quite ready to harvest. If you decide to try the leaves, then you should know that they should only be eaten in moderation, and that’s because they’re high in harmful compounds called “oxalates” and “nitrates.” Even the leaves of the best species have these compounds, but in healthy people eating a well-balanced diet these compounds normally pass through the body without any adverse effects, so amaranth leaves can be enjoyed in moderation. In the species that I tried the leaves had a wide, wide range of flavors. Some tasted mild and very similar to spinach, but others tasted extremely bad and caused a burning sensation in my throat. Boiling the leaves always improved their flavor, but sometimes the improvement was not enough. Now, whether the leaves taste good or bad seems to depend on the species, so I’d recommend gathering leaves only from species that have a well-documented history of being gathered, and I’d also recommend sampling a few leaves prior to gathering a supply.

Amaranth Then and Now: The story of Amaranth wasn’t always a happy story. Although amaranth seeds once fed entire civilizations, about 400 years ago in what is now central America, Spanish settlers outlawed the cultivation of amaranth. So why would they do that? … Well they did that in part for religious reasons, but mainly as a means of warfare to starve the native people of that region. Although many native people did not survive that chapter of history, amaranth did survive, and it survived because it basically cultivates itself. It doesn’t need any help from humans. It does fine on its own, even under the toughest growing conditions. Amaranth is a survivor. It was there in the past, and it’ll be there in the future, so it’s a wild food worth knowing about.

Goosefoot

Family: The Amaranth Family (Amaranthaceae)

Species: White goosefoot, lambsquarter, pigweed, or wild quinoa (Chenopodium album)

Overview: Goosefoots are often thought of as weeds, and it’s fair to say that they look like weeds, but from a forager’s perspective, they’re excellent resources. Worldwide, there are about 100 species of goosefoots, but only 1 species is well-established in Michigan. Now, any number of species may enter the state from time to time, but only 1 is well-established at this point in time, and that species is called white goosefoot, lambsquarter, pigweed, or Chenopodium album” (kee-noh-poh-dee-um al-bum).

Goosefoot Leaves: Quite a few species of the Chenopodium genus, including white goosefoot, are reported to have edible leaves and seeds (Kirk pp. 56-57), but it’s mainly the seeds that foragers are interested in, and that’s because the leaves taste rather harsh in some species. In white goosefoot, the leaves taste fine raw or cooked, but in some species, the leaves can cause a burning sensation in your throat, so if you’re thinking about eating the leaves, make sure you gather them from species with a well-documented history of being utilized as green leafy vegetables.

If you’re not familiar with goosefoots, then you should know that goosefoot leaves typically have a musty aroma, and that this aroma is strong in some species and weak in other species. It’s not very often that aromas can help us identify things, but they can help us with goosefoots. In general, you want to avoid any goosefoots with a strong aroma. However, some aromatic species (such as epazote – Chenopodium ambrosioides) can be used as seasonings. As for the leaves of white goosefoot, they have a relatively weak aroma and are safe to eat raw or cooked. When eaten raw, they taste reminiscent of spinach, but stronger, and you may notice some “unusual accents.” In my opinion, these leaves taste better cooked, and cooking should tone down any unusual accents.

The name “goosefoot” is a reference to the shape of the leaves, which in some species actually do resemble a goose’s foot. In addition, the surfaces of the leaves are often covered with dusty white powder. Both of these features are seen in white goosefoot, so that's a good name for this species, even though I like the name lambsquarter a little better. Most of the time, identifying goosefoots is not easy, but the features I pointed out so far are features you should definitely be looking for.

Goosefoot Seeds: As I said earlier, although some goosefoots have edible leaves, it’s mainly the seeds that foragers are interested in. Goosefoots are legendary seed-producers, and harvesting and processing the seeds couldn’t be much easier. After finding a colony of goosefoots, it won’t be long before you have a meal. Goosefoots are not very attractive plants, but each one can produce hundreds of little flowers that soon develop into hundreds of little seeds. In most species, each flower has 5 sepals, 5 stamens, 0 petals, and 2 thread-like stigmas. The lack of petals is why goosefoots look more like weeds than wild flowers, but as we learned earlier in this class, flowers don’t have to have petals, and when they don’t have petals, we look a little closer at the parts they do have. So, if you look at the sepals of goosefoots, you’ll see that in several species the sepals have ridges and appear to be grasping the seeds. The sepals are a key feature of goosefoots, as well as many other related plants, so when you’re out there in the wild looking for goosefoots, definitely look at the sepals. As for the fruits, they’re technically called achenes (uh-keenz) or utricles (yoo-tri-kelz), but for all practical purposes, they can be thought of as seeds, and that’s because they look like seeds. As for the actual seeds, they’re underneath the bran-like shells of these dry fruit structures.

White goosefoot is virtually identical to a species called quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), and in case you didn’t know, quinoa (keen-wuh) has a history of cultivation going back thousands of years. In the past, it was a staple of life, but today it’s only cultivated on a small scale. Of course, the fact that it’s cultivated even on a small scale is very, very significant, and that’s because only the best-of-best plants are ever cultivated. If you’ve ever had quinoa seeds, the seeds of white goosefoot are virtually identical to them, and the same could be said about the seeds of several other species. To harvest the seeds, simply rub the seed heads. The seeds will fall right out. Some chaff will also fall out, but that can easily be removed by a process called “winnowing,” which is a process of using the wind (or your breath) to separate seeds from chaff. As for cooking the seeds, just about anything you can do with rice or whole grains you can also do with white goosefoot seeds, and however you decide to cook them, you can expect good results.

The Harvest Season: Most goosefoots prefer a warmer climate than Michigan has to offer, but white goosefoot doesn’t seem to mind the cooler temperatures. It usually blooms from July to September and produces seeds from August to November. You might find some seeds after that time, but the plants usually disappear into the landscape sometime in autumn. Overall, white goosefoot is good news to hungry foragers looking for an easy meal.

Wild Foods of November

Roses

Family: The Rose Family (Rosaceae)

Species: All species of the Rosa genus have edible fruits.

Rose Hips: Roses are shrubs that thrive across the northern hemisphere and produce distinctive fruits called “rose hips.” Botanically speaking, a rose hip is a “cluster of achenes enclosed by a fleshy hypanthium,” but since that definition probably doesn’t help anyone, I can translate it into English! First of all, an achene is basically “a shell surrounding a seed” and a hypanthium is basically “a cup-like structure at the base of a flower.” In rose hips, the achenes are as hard as rocks, but the hypanthiums surrounding them are sweet and fleshy. It’s the hypanthiums that we eat. The achenes are usually discarded. So, hopefully, that explanation was English enough. If not, just keep in mind that rose hips are only found on roses, and that they’re one of the most definitive features of roses.

The Edibility of Rose Hips: Historically, rose hips were a staple food item, and there’s no doubt that they’ll continue to be a valuable item into the foreseeable future. Worldwide, there are about 150 species of roses, but only about 7 species are common in Michigan, especially one called the multi-flowered rose (Rosa multiflora). As for edibility, all roses have edible hips (Couplan p. 229), but the hips of some species are much better than those of other species. In some species, the hips are too small to effectively harvest and process, or they have irritating hairs that need to be dealt with. Now, these problems can be solved, but solving them takes time.

Gathering Rose Hips: Gathering rose hips is best done when they’re slightly overripe, which is usually sometime in late autumn. You can tell when they’re slightly overripe because their skins start to wrinkle and their flesh becomes soft like mashed potatoes. Sweetness is at a maximum at that point, and thanks to the cool weather of late autumn, the hips often stay fresh for quite a while. Sometimes they can even stay fresh all the way through winter, so anyone foraging in winter should definitely be looking for rose hips. So how do we know for sure that the fruits we found are rose hips?

Recognizing Rose Hips: Rose bushes laden with hips are easy to recognize, and that’s because the hips are very distinctive. The hips, in combination with prickly stems and pinnate leaves arranged alternately, is a sure sign of roses. It’s also worth noting that in the winter very few shrubs have fruits, so that really narrows the possibilities of what those shrubs could be in the winter. In spring, the fragrant flowers of roses will indicate where the best bushes are located, and in several species the petals can be added to salads or steeped into tea. Now, in the species that I tried, the petals had a “perfume-like flavor” that really didn’t suggest much food value, but they would have been fine as a flavoring. The hips are far more valuable than the petals, but the petals are an interesting wild food.

Processing Rose Hips: The real challenge with roses, aside from dodging all the prickles, is processing the hips, and the reason that’s a challenge is because the achenes are so hard. So how do we overcome that challenge? … Grinding the achenes into dust is one way, but they’re very difficult to grind, so removing them is a much better way. To remove them, you can cut the hips in half and brush them away, but this only works if the hips are large enough. If the hips are too small, as they are in some species, then it’s easier to remove the achenes by: boiling the hips in water, mashing the hips, and then filtering out the achenes. The result of this process will be “rose hip juice,” which can be concentrated and made into various food items. Another way to remove the achenes is to simply chew the hips and spit them out, but as I mentioned earlier the hips can have irritating hairs inside and out, so be careful if you try this in the field. Overall, despite some difficulties in gathering and processing, rose hips are an excellent wild food.

Wild Foods of December

Some Tips on Winter Foraging:

The Fourth Season: As you probably expect, December is not really a good time to be foraging in Michigan, but even in December, a forager can still find things to eat. The question is what to look for, where to look for it, and is it still healthy enough to eat?

Withered Plants: In December, you can still find the withered remains of certain herbaceous plants that tell you where to dig for roots, plants like: wild carrots, wild leeks, and burdock. Now, there may not be much left of those plants in December, but sometimes there’s enough to identify them. In regard to carrots and burdock, it's the young plants that we eat, not the old withered ones. We only use the old ones to find the young ones. The old ones lead us to a colony where we can dig for the roots of young plants. Of course, trying to identify a plant with nothing more than a root is usually not a good idea, but wild carrots (and wild leeks) have a very distinctive aroma and burdock will usually be bigger than just about everything else in the area. Also worth mentioning are sweetroots (Osmorhiza claytonii and O. longistylis). The roots and leaves of these plants are edible—although mainly used as seasonings due to their strong flavor and aroma. Dried-out plants, with barbed seeds (schizocarps) arranged in compound umbels, and an aroma nearly identical to a seasoning called anise, is a sure sign of sweetroots. The aroma alone can identify these plants, and plants of age, young or old, can be eaten. All the plants that I just mentioned will have a dried-out look in winter, but there's usually enough remains to identify them, so foragers should be looking for those remains.

Bare Trees: Another thing to look for is acorns, and you look for them under oak trees, but how do you know which trees are the oak trees in winter? Even though oak trees are “deciduous,” which means that they drop their leaves, those leaves may not drop until the middle of winter or even spring, and that makes oak trees stand out among the usual winter landscape. Now, the acorns under those trees may not be usable, but nevertheless, it’s still a good place to look for food, and the same could be said about black walnut and shagbark hickory trees. Like the oaks, these trees are deciduous, but we don't need leaves to identify them. Instead, look at their twigs and bark. Twigs of black walnut trees have chambers, which is a rather uncommon feature in trees. So if you find what appears to be walnuts under a tree, check the twigs. If those twigs have chambers, you found a walnut tree. Shagbark hickory trees are even easier to find. Just look for their shaggy bark. Nothing else (except for other hickory trees) has similar bark.

Persistence: Also in December are all the wild foods that we started with back in January, which in-cluded: rose hips, sumac fruits, cattail rhizomes, and the inner bark of pine trees. Hackberries could also be added to that list, as well as the fruits of a small, low-growing, aromatic, evergreen plant called wintergreen. Win-tergreen is a common component of Michigan forests, but it doesn't really produce enough fruits to pique a forager's interests. Of course, the few fruits that it does produce are delicious and, like all parts of the plant, replete with a distinctively wintergreen aroma. As for hackberries, they grow on trees, and tend to hang on to those trees well into winter. Hackberries are always a good thing to find, but they're basically just thin skins covering hard stones. There's not much berry in a hackberry, and technically they're drupes, not berries, so don't just bite into one!

Quick Summary of the Class:

So now that we know what to look for, where to look for it, when to look for it, how to identify it, and how to harvest and process it, it’s time to step out into the forest and actually experience what Michigan has to offer. I hope you enjoyed the class. Farewell … and always forage safe.

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