Foraging foods in your region?

[bae]

We make foraged foods a regular part of our diet here.

What all do you forage in your neck of the woods?

"Men who fish, botanize,work the turning-lathe, or gather seaweeds, will make admirable husbands" - R.L. Stevenson

[Tiam]

Urban or wild?

[bae]

Urban or wild?

Whatever you manage :-)

[Lainey]

Interesting that you should bring this up. I was just thinking of going to this class on the prickly pear cactus:

http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/even...cklypears.html Not that I imagine myself a survivalist, but it seems good to be aware of options if the scenario presents itself.

[ApatheticNoMore]

It's dry, crazy dry, plants are in summer hibernation truly. Summer greens are gone, spring and summer berries are gone. So what even could be harvested now, wild buckwheat I guess, there's plenty of that. I do take note of what is still green now, that is what you want in a drought tolerant garden. The dried up dead looking plants in summer hibernation are drought tolerant too, in fact going into drought adaptation (and alive inside, hopefully to make it to the rain), but more of a fire hazard I think.

[Tiam]

I actually don't too much. I'm urban. I actually don't care for fruit so that does in a lot of opportunity. We do have blackberry, bilberry, salmon berry, huckleberry, thimble berry, but not in town. There is also pear and lots of plum.There is nettle also. Chicory and other plants. I do like purslane though I can't say I find it anywhere. I think a bit is starting in the garden, so I will leave that. I have lots of edible weeds like dandelion, chickweed, and gallium, but I never actually use them.

[Selah]

When I lived in Ireland, they had blackberries and raspberries growing wild ALL over the place, on hedges at the side of the road. I used to collect baskets of them and freeze them, so we had free fruit all year long.

In Israel, many times you can find fruit that has dropped off a home's tree and has fallen over their fence and onto the sidewalk. As long as I can see where the fruit clearly came from, I will pick it up and use it if I need it. If not, I will leave it for the next passerby. I have found several lemons and limes this way...very frugal! My friends live on a kibbutz and they often go gleaning in the fields where the main picking has already been done. They will use the fruit or the vegetables for preserves or pickling, since they can easily just cut out the bruised parts.

[Tussiemussies]

Don't have skill in this area although I would recognize fruits if they were available, of course. Would have to get some training before I would be able to eat any thing I found...

Really is a great skill to have in case there was an emergency...

[ApatheticNoMore]

Many of the toxins are harmless in moderation (ripe nightshade fruits) and many of the edibles slightly toxic (lambsquarters if grown in dry conditions can accumulate nitrates, mostly toxic to animals but ...). I expected a more absolutely clear line between what was consumable and not, but there are definitely some things you want to avoid.

[Amaranth]

We have a variety of leafty greens, berries, persimmons, walnuts, and fish. Wild game is also abundant in the area.

Besides various identification guides, a book I have found helpful is The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook by Steve Brill.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Coo...arian+cookbook

He also has a more recent vegan one.
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Vegan-Coo...arian+cookbook

Alton Brown did a fun episode of Good Eats where he washed up on a beach in Hawaii, discovered a 50 year old army survival kit, built a swiss family robinson type kitchen shelter, and demo-ed a variety of foraged foods.

Would enjoy it if he or someone did an Italian episode of where oregano, thyme, rosemary, olives, citrus fruits, mushrooms, almonds, chestnuts, and fish were forageable.