Edibles and Medicinals in the Wild

You have heard (or simply remember) the story of your grandmother who said you could eat “poke salat” and it was OK, actually it was good for you. The truth is she is correct, sort of.

There is a bounty of edible and medicinal plants that surround us. They could prove to be very useful to our health and happiness, but you need to proceed with caution. Virtually all naturalists that utilize these plants regularly recommend a basic methodology for identifying and utilizing these plants. This involves two steps.

Step one is to utilize, at minimum, three sources when identifying these plants. There are two specific ones that I often recommend to people when they are getting started and those are, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal by Steve Brill and Evelyn Dean and, Edible Wild Plants, Eastern/Central North America, by Lee Allen Peterson. Brill and Dean’s book has line drawings and is heavily researched with their own “hands on” approach. Mr. Brill has an exceptional ability to relate interesting tid bits into detailed information about both edibles and medicinals. He relates folklore, Native American customs, as well as his own experience finding many of these plants in New York City.

For those that are familiar with the Peterson series of guides, you know they great resources for a host of outdoor topics ranging from identification of amphibians, bugs, and mammals to trees and wild edibles. It is heavily researched and has wonderfully detailed drawings, and exceptional photography. It is also very compact and easy to throw in you day pack on your next hike.

As for a third source, just pick one. There are literally dozens out there. Simply browse one at the various online booksellers or visit a good bookstore and pick one that seems to fit what you are looking for.

Step two in this process is to get outside. This is one of those topics, that you can do a lot of reading on and studying pictures on the internet The only way to really grasp it, is to get outside and match pictures in books, printouts, or your digital handheld to actual living plants. My family’s methodology for learning was to read about one plant, its possible habitats, they way it looks and then go find as much of it as we could. I had an instructor at an outdoor survival school have each of his students choose a plant species after his lectures, and then go find a paper bag full of it. Then all of the students put together our species and made a great stir fry and salads with our species. After picking lambs quarters all afternoon, I can now see it on the side of the road as I drive at 55 mph!

The last step in the process is to actually utilize by ingestion or topical application of the various plants. There is another methodology to testing various plants that may come into question, either because your resources are vague, or unavailable. We will cover that in another column. Until then, I hope to see you outside!