The official foraging thread

[gratus fermentatio]

Any ideas what this is and if it's edible? Spikes on the leaves are deadly, like it's protecting gold!

Yes, It's a type of yucca, looks like Spanish Bayonet. ONLY the flower, stalk & fruit are edible; the rest is toxic to humans, but you can use the root for soap, the leaves & fibers for baskets & cordage. You can "break" off a sharp tip & slowly pull it back towards the center of the plant & the attached fibers will peel off with it. BINGO! You've just foraged a 1 time use sewing needle with thread attached. Have a look at this:
http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/yucca.html
Regards, GF.

 

[julioardz]

I had never heard of Turk's Caps before, so I Googled...interesting plant! you can use leaves, flowers and berries for various things. I've made Fuzzymittensbrewing's Hi-Nelson Saison with Hibiscus, using dried hibiscus flowers. I'll bet it would be great with the Turk's Caps dried flowers and/or berries!

Turk's Caps grow wild around me, but I see them used more and more as ornamental plants in gardens. I have several growing in our garden. I selected them because they attract hummingbirds and butterflies, plus they do very well in shade and tolerate the extreme heat, drought, and sporadic winter freezes we get in Texas. Mine don't fruit as often as the ones I come across in wild. I may start collecting the flowers to try them in a tea.

 

[unionrdr]

We have Adam's Needle growing in the garden around the lamp post. Yucca Filamentosa. They grow stalks of upside down cream-colored flowers. The tubers it grows out of underground remind me of Batatas. I wonder if they're edible? Wiki says the cherokee use them to stun fish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_filamentosa

 

[mattmmille]

Yes, It's a type of yucca, looks like Spanish Bayonet. ONLY the flower, stalk & fruit are edible; the rest is toxic to humans, but you can use the root for soap, the leaves & fibers for baskets & cordage. You can "break" off a sharp tip & slowly pull it back towards the center of the plant & the attached fibers will peel off with it. BINGO! You've just foraged a 1 time use sewing needle with thread attached. Have a look at this:
http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/yucca.html
Regards, GF.

Cool link, thanks! Pods /fruit felt pretty tough. Probably been there awhile...guess I'll leave 'em alone this year. Found a persimmon tree Saturday in the woods by a local park. No ripe fruit yet. Haven't seen one of these in decades! You never forget it if you ever bite into a underripe persimmon!

 

[julioardz]

I've never forgotten the taste of green persimmons. It's like biting down on chalk and chasing it with vinegar. The Texas Persimmons are similar. They're not ready until they're black and practically falling off the tree. Anytime before that and they will bite back.

I'm really enjoying this thread. I grew up in Southwest Texas/North Central Mexico. As a kid, I remember picking loquats, mulberries, prickly pears, cactus pads, pequin peppers, mesquite pods, and of course pecans. Now I'm in central Texas and often come across Texas persimmons, Mexican plums, Turks Caps, and others I remember from my childhood. I took a trip to Colorado last summer and my buddies and I collected and ate wild strawberries, boletes, including some nice king boletes, and some oyster mushrooms. We came across a few cool fly amanitas, but didn't dare to try those. I've picked and eaten a few wild mushrooms in Texas, some russulas and clytocybes. My goal is to find some morels. It's been some time since I've come across mulberries and would like to gather some of those as well.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

You never forget it if you ever bite into a underripe persimmon!

Ain't that the truth! Instead of the cinnamon challenge, it should be the green persimmon challenge. I remember when I was a kid, we'd cut long switches & sharpen 1 end, stick a green persimmon on the sharp end & whip the switch to hurl the persimmons at each other. It was all fun till somebody caught one in the eye or the crotch. :cross:
Regards, GF.

 

[unionrdr]

It took a few years to see what the little trees growing in the old garden space in back were. Mulberries! Gotta get some to put in a hefe next year...makes great jam too.

 

[dinnerstick]

aside from heaps of mushrooms, mostly porcini, been picking bilberries (=~ blueberries), wild cranberries, and sloes for sloe gin / patxarran

 

[gratus fermentatio]

aside from heaps of mushrooms, mostly porcini, been picking bilberries (=~ blueberries), wild cranberries, and sloes for sloe gin / patxarran

Real bilberries?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry
I had my 1st taste of bilberry a couple years ago & absolutely LOVED them! I've only seen them as "Bilberry nectar" (juice blend) here in the US, sure would like to get some real berries & maybe some plants. I wonder if they'd grow in containers? We've got blueberry, huckleberry & red currants growing wild here in MT, but apparently no bilberry.
Regards, GF.

 

[podz]

Real bilberries?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry

Most of the unfarmed land mass in Finland is forest covered by bilberry (mustikka) plants. Just come on over for a visit and get you some ;-)

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Most of the unfarmed land mass in Finland is forest covered by bilberry (mustikka) plants. Just come on over for a visit and get you some ;-)

I've been wanting to make bilberry wine since I 1st tasted bilberry nectar, but as that's my only source of juice, actually a juice blend, and it's rather pricy, about $10 per quart, I'm going to have to wait on that. I did add 25oz of the bilberry nectar to a blackberry/blueberry wine I'm making; should add a nice depth of flavour without being obvious.

I'd love to visit Finland someday! Doubt it'll actually happen tho. I'd love to try reindeer, Finnish blood sausage & cabbage rolls, kalakukko, etc...
Some things I might be able to make a reasonable facsimile of here with US raw foods, but others, like the blood sausage, would be difficult, if not impossible for me to make.
Regards, GF.

 

[podz]

Some things I might be able to make a reasonable facsimile of here with US raw foods, but others, like the blood sausage, would be difficult, if not impossible for me to make.

Blood sausage is "mustamakkara". I eat it quite often, love it grilled (or pan fried) with some lingonberry jam.

Here's a recipe and video:

http://moro.aamulehti.fi/2013/03/28...herkullista-verimakkaraa-katso-ohje-ja-video/

You can use google translate if your Finnish is rusty and ask me if anything is unclear.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Thanks for the link Podz! The blood is the only thing that I might have a problem obtaining, everything else I can get easily. I'll have to make a few calls to slaugherthouses & se if I can get blood from them. What animal's blood is traditional? We mostly have beef or pork here in the US. I'm not hunting this year, so deer blood is out.
Regards, GF.

 

[podz]

I guess either cow or pork blood would work, myself I'd use cow blood. They sell plastic bottles of cow blood here in the supermarkets in the frozen section, mainly for the purpose of making blood pancakes.

Pretty easy to get blood, though. Just buy a large roast beef or some other large cut of meat like a sirloin and let it sit overnight in your fridge. That should give you about half a liter of blood. After that, just cut up the meat how you want it and freeze for later usage.

 

[dinnerstick]

they are basically european blueberries.... but i guess subtly different. and the flesh is darker so they stain your face more! i would hazard a guess that they would grow in the same potting conditions as blueberries; here they thrive in acidic/sandy/boggy ground more or less like highbush blueberries. the dutch in general don't forage, there is an unfortunate idea that anything from the woods kills you, in a land with so little woods, weird, anyways more for me.

 

[dinnerstick]

previous post related to billberries. forgot to quote.

Blood sausage is "mustamakkara". I eat it quite often, love it grilled (or pan fried) with some lingonberry jam.

i am about to make my first blood sausages! with dried pigs blood and backfat

 

[drumuglyknuckles]

Thanks for the link Podz! The blood is the only thing that I might have a problem obtaining, everything else I can get easily. I'll have to make a few calls to slaugherthouses & se if I can get blood from them. What animal's blood is traditional? We mostly have beef or pork here in the US. I'm not hunting this year, so deer blood is out.
Regards, GF.

check your local ethnic store. when i lived in SoCal i sometimes saw blood for sale at the asian markets.

 

[podz]

Oh, and on top of everything else we did yesterday, SWMBO picked a bucket full of stinging nettles and cooked them down. Bright green and pretty much like spinach. Good stuff, except for when it's alive and stings you.

 

[StonesBally]

Selling pork blood is illegal in the US, but it is the traditional blood used in blood sausages from Poland to Spain to the UK.

 

[podz]

selling pork blood is illegal in the us, but it is the traditional blood used in blood sausages from poland to spain to the uk.

ok. Why is it illegal in USA?

 

[StonesBally]

Some regulation or something. You could always raise and slaughter your own pig...

 

[Homercidal]

Oh, and on top of everything else we did yesterday, SWMBO picked a bucket full of stinging nettles and cooked them down. Bright green and pretty much like spinach. Good stuff, except for when it's alive and stings you.

Dad and I would sometimes harvest red worms from the lowland river area near our house. Family property.

Anyway, nettles were all over that place and I'd always get stung. It's like a mosquito bite that also burns. Luckily it goes away after a while.

I was shocked to discover that people can cook and eat it! I don't know where to get it where I live now and frankly I have no desire to seek it out.

 

[podz]

Dad and I would sometimes harvest red worms from the lowland river area near our house. Family property.

Anyway, nettles were all over that place and I'd always get stung. It's like a mosquito bite that also burns. Luckily it goes away after a while.

I was shocked to discover that people can cook and eat it! I don't know where to get it where I live now and frankly I have no desire to seek it out.

Sure, a lot of people eat nettles. It's quite like spinach when cooked.

 

[Gavin C]

Selling pork blood is illegal in the US, but it is the traditional blood used in blood sausages from Poland to Spain to the UK.

Pork blood is readily available in the local asian market I shop in. I've seen it on sale lots of other places too. It certainly appears very much legal to sell, buy etc. It's right there for sale along with the other bits of the pig. Any butcher should have it also.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Law of supply & demand I guess.

 

[dinnerstick]

i think fresh pork blood can't be sold in the netherlands either, dunno why, some stupid rule, but dried blood can. it still makes a good blood sausage.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=467107

 

[mattmmille]

Scoped out some muscadine grape vines today, while my son had ball practice. Ate a few blackberries that I found...not enough to do anything but eat. Found a persimmon tree...branches pretty high though, won't be any low hanging fruit.

 

[slym2none]

Scoped out some muscadine grape vines today

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>.>

You're from NC, man. You know we call them scuppernongs here.

 

[unionrdr]

Seems to me those are the grapes used in making Midas touch clones?

 

[mattmmille]

<.<

>.>

You're from NC, man. You know we call them scuppernongs here.

I've always called the black ones muscadines and the green ones scuppernongs. Been here all my life!

 

[slym2none]

I've always called the black ones muscadines and the green ones scuppernongs. Been here all my life!

Interesting!

 

[mattmmille]

Interesting!

So, I had looked this up before, but I wanted to double check before I said something totally wrong! They are ALL muscadines, and the green ones are a VARIETY of muscadines...like a distinct species...called scuppernongs. In all my local poking around, I have only found ONE wild scuppernong source. Last year, it hardly produced any fruit...I don't know if it will make a comeback this year or not. I think they are a little sweeter than the black grapes...like a little touch of honey.

I have a pretty good source for the muscadines, but it is a very public place and, if I'm not careful, I might get a scolding for picking them. My next best source is smaller, but fairly prolific. After that, I have some that are more spread out and many are higher in the trees...and I can't climb like I did when I was a kid!

I started a vine in my garden. from seed, a couple years ago...it's slowly advancing up a little trellis, but no grapes yet. Maybe in another year or two. I've noticed that some vines produce grapes and some don't...I may not even have a good vine. If it ever does produce, though, I might build a small grape arbor beside the garden and transplant it. I know some places sell the vines, but I wanted to start out with a vine from wild seed. Fingers crossed.

 

[MaxStout]

We often spot wild asparagus in the road ditches around late Apr to early May. Can't miss those straight up green things popping out of the still-brown landscape. I'll jump out of the car and snip off a dozen or so. They are most delicious and tender when the heads are still small.

A friend sometimes brings us morel mushrooms in the spring. Sauteed in butter...yum!

 

[dinnerstick]

bumper year for elderflowers here. dunno why as the spring was rubbish and the summer is following suit. have made 'champagne' in the past, but this year just going with a syrup (boil water, dissolve sugar, pour over the flowers and sliced lemons, leave to cool, strain) which goes really well diluted with tonic, sounds weird but is true, or in interesting cocktails. or just with water and ice. some people take the whole head of flowers and dip it in pancake batter, and fry it. never tried that.

 

[mattmmille]

Foraged just over two pounds of muscadine grapes last weekend...my big, secret spot was pretty bare this year for some reason. My secondary spot was okay. Today, while my son had baseball practice, I walked around the field, where I had previously seen some vines, and I came up with another pound. I have about 11 pounds of blueberries that I got a good deal on in the freezer. I think I'll make a Blueberry-Muscadine Wine.

I have also spotted some black walnuts, but they are a mess and nearly impossible to try and process...not worth the trouble. Also found a couple of persimmon trees. I don't know if I'll be able to get enough of them to do anything with though...other than just a little snacking.

 

[unionrdr]

So, I had looked this up before, but I wanted to double check before I said something totally wrong! They are ALL muscadines, and the green ones are a VARIETY of muscadines...like a distinct species...called scuppernongs. In all my local poking around, I have only found ONE wild scuppernong source. Last year, it hardly produced any fruit...I don't know if it will make a comeback this year or not. I think they are a little sweeter than the black grapes...like a little touch of honey.

I have a pretty good source for the muscadines, but it is a very public place and, if I'm not careful, I might get a scolding for picking them. My next best source is smaller, but fairly prolific. After that, I have some that are more spread out and many are higher in the trees...and I can't climb like I did when I was a kid!

I started a vine in my garden. from seed, a couple years ago...it's slowly advancing up a little trellis, but no grapes yet. Maybe in another year or two. I've noticed that some vines produce grapes and some don't...I may not even have a good vine. If it ever does produce, though, I might build a small grape arbor beside the garden and transplant it. I know some places sell the vines, but I wanted to start out with a vine from wild seed. Fingers crossed.

I forget the brand, but that scuppernong grape wine was marketed by a company I forget back when my parents were still alive. I thought it tasted like just starting to get over-ripe grapes. Kinda rich tasting. Might be that they have male & female vines? I've made some good wine out of the wild grapes that grow in these parts. Some kind of wild concorde I think?

 

[mattmmille]

Grabbed another 3 lbs of grapes today!

 

[dinnerstick]

as usual lots of porcini this year. in one spot they grow to the size of frisbees and then rot!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

We often spot wild asparagus in the road ditches around late Apr to early May. Can't miss those straight up green things popping out of the still-brown landscape. I'll jump out of the car and snip off a dozen or so. They are most delicious and tender when the heads are still small.

A friend sometimes brings us morel mushrooms in the spring. Sauteed in butter...yum!

There was a nice patch of asparagus growing wild next to a pond we used to fish in when I was a kid. Even if we didn't catch a fish, we'd come home with enough young, tender asparagus for supper. About 3/4 the diameter of a pencil or smaller, tender as could be; we'd saute those little spears in some butter, maybe with a little chopped scallion, mmm mmm mmm! Of course, it was always better with some fresh bass or catfish to go with it.
Regards, GF.

 

[unionrdr]

OH yeah! When out hunting or fishing in wilder places, I always took a few blue store bags to keep an eye out for foragables. Shellbark hickory, mushrooms, ramps, etc.