Winter Foraging

Regenerative Subsistence Flora Food & Medicine
#1

Hi, I’m Ryan and I’ve introduced myself in the intro thread

Lately as I’ve been planning for a nomadic hunter-gatherer life in the US, in the north during the summer months and in the south during the winter months I’ve run in to the issue of isolating forage during the winter months. I realize that there isn’t much growing in the north during the winter season but I would like to compile a list of plant foods available across the US during the winter months.

For this post I’d like to stick to food sources, medicines can be left for another thread. And months considered winter (climate wise) I believe would be November - April. I say through april because I know at least in MN we still have frosts sometimes at that point. Is usually the first week of may that planting is feasible.

Also for utility sake it would be nice if we could keep the thread clean and factual, foregoing speculation and including as much of the following as you know…

Name of plant or fungusParts to be used
Any necessary preparation and if can be consumed RawGeneral and special info

Also I’m aware that this info has a home in the field guide but here it can be assembled informally and so that it’s all listed in one location for the topic (winter edibles), later it can be properly categorized in the field guide.

Cheers!

Ryan

#2 
* Wintercress

Wintercress is a mustard family member, related to watercress, but as wild food expert Steve Brill says, “Watercress grows in the water, and wintercress grows in the winter.” The summer phase of this plant, with small yellow flowers on a knee-high leafy stalk, is inedibly bitter, although the flowers and seeds make a spicy condiment. The low-growing basal rosettes of late fall, winter, and early spring, are tasty in a pungent, mustardy fashion, with an unexpectedly sweet undertone. The longish stems are lined with tiny, irregular leaflets, ending with a large, spade-shaped terminal leaflet. Add the leaves to salads and soups for a spicy touch and a supply of Vitamin A and anti-oxidants. Look for them in moist meadows and near streams and ponds.

* Onion grass or Field garlic

Both names refer to a familiar plant of lawns and disturbed areas. Its leaves superficially resemble blades of grass but are easily distinguished by their tall, often drooping appearance, dull green patina, cylindrical shape (they are actually hollow), and finally, their oniony smell and taste. They look a bit like several other lily family plants that happen to be toxic; however none of them have the onion smell, so always test for the odor before harvesting. Use the leaves and bulbs for flavoring as you would scallions. Like garlic, onion grass contains Vitamin C and anti-microbial properties, for preventing and treating colds; it should be eaten raw for this effect. Raw or cooked, it helps regulate blood pressure and cholesterol and provide B vitamins and many trace minerals. Children are generally experts at identifying this plant and are excited to discover a practical use for their knowledge, such as making a vinegar extract of onion grass to use in cooking or put on salads.

* Garlic mustard

This common weed grows in open woods and at the edges of gardens, woods, and buildings. The roughly heart-shaped leaves grow on individual stalks 1-4" high and are often visible above shallow snow. For details of identification, see Garlic Mustard.

In late spring, garlic mustard puts up a slender, thigh-high flower stalk. In winter, the dried stalk often survives, with inch-long narrow, tan pods sticking out from the sides.

Although the leaves grow year-round, it’s the small winter and spring examples that are most tender and least bitter. They can be added to soups and salads for extra piquancy and a dose of calcium, potassium, B vitamins, and cancer-preventing antioxidants.

Source: http://botany.suite101.com/article.cfm/edible_green_plants_of_winter

#3

some winter roots/tubers and the like:

sunroots/sunchokes/jerusalem artichokes: edible raw, fried, steamed, boiled, roasted. Go slow your first few times it can cause some serious gas, especially if you eat it before a couple of good frosts.

hopniss/groundnut/Apios Americana: roasted, roasted & ground, dried & ground. Reasonable amount of protein. It is a legume, if that’s an issue for you.

cattails: tubers pounded (dry or wet) into flour and dried. Quality for this use seems to vary with location, find the good spots before you need it. There’s a field guide entry for cattails.

wapato/arrowhead/Sagittaria spp: I know a lot less about these than the others, but there is a field guide entry for them. Again, my advice is to find a good location before you need it.

burdock/gobo: roots of the first year plant sliced thin & stir fried or made into tea, cut into chunks and roasted or added to stews/soups. Can be a chore to dig, but…

evening primrose: roots of the first year plant boiled (maybe roasted, don’t know). Personally, I find them kind of strong tasting, but I haven’t really spent a lot of time with them yet. I’m going to try playing around with cooking this plant some more this fall/winter.

in addition to roots/tubers, there’s also:
roses: rose hips can be eaten raw, made into tea, etc. High in Vitamin C.

acorns: you may be able to put up a store for winter use.

meat: in addition to the relatively obvious deer & rabbits, don’t forget: possums, raccoons, fish, waterfowl (federally protected, as an fyi), and quite a few more.

#4

Off the top of my head in my area;

Rose hips are readily available in winter. Don’t think I have to say much about how to use them. Tea or mashed into a meal or cooked into a jam.

Mountain ash berries.

Inland NW people harvested large amounts of black tree lichen (Bryoria, bryoria fremontii being the best) It was washed, pit cooked and stored dried into cakes. Available all year round. I’ve eaten it many times at feasts.

Birch or maple sap in late winter.

Inner bark of a number of trees in late winter (april) when the sap starts to rise. That’s one of the first things the bears go for when they come out of their dens.

Pine nuts. Pick them up before the snow buries them or raid a squirrel cache.

Winter is the best time for snaring rabbits. The tracks are visible in the snow and they keep to their established trails more.
Any kind of hunting is good in winter. Preservation and storage of the meat is much easier.
Ice fishing. You can access areas of a lake that you would otherwise need a boat for.
Crayfish.

If you are on a coast there is kelp and dulse. Crab, clams. Fish of course.

In the desert there’s cactus and cactus fruit. I like Barrel cactus fruit. Jojoba beans. By late winter they are laying on the ground, out of their husk. I picked them for money many years ago when I was squatting in the desert outside of Tuscon.

#5

In mai neck of the woods:
Christmas berry, also called Hollywood (city named after it) or Toyon berry. Not good fresh, these numerous small, red berries take on a mild cherry like flaver when dried. Dried, roasted and mixed with hot water for a nutty-flaver drink.

Iceplant (native and introduced kinds) leaves good raw or cooked; gelatenous. (fruits in spring and summer)

Prickly pear (aka. indian fig) fruits mature all year, but most prevalent in late summer through fall (must be despined). Despined pads baked and eaten as a vegetable; gelatenous.

Also, the feral pomegranites are a quite tasty winter fruit. Leaves boiled and eaten.

#6

My grandpa showed me these foods a long time ago in the desert outside of Tucson. We used to cut open the barrel cactus fruit and put them on top of a post in his backyard for the birds. I feel good just hearing their names (er, seeing them). :slight_smile:

I read a funny story about the black tree lichen. A young woman cooked some up in a pit while her mom supervised, and at some point mom made a funny noise of disapproval, which she ignored. The lichen came out totally disgusting, uncooked, not a lovely gelatinous treat as expected. Turns out she’d used 2X4’s to heat the rocks, which burned through much faster than the traditional wood–I can’t remember, might have been damp cottonwood logs?–something that would take a lot longer to burn through, so the rocks never got hot enough.

#7

Nowadays I think the black tree lichen is mostly cooked in the oven.

I would really like to learn the ins and outs of pit cooking. I’ve seen it done with meat wrapped in foil , but never the old way. The meat was delicious and “cut it with your fork” tender.

#8

Wow, I didn’t know you could eat Ice Plant.

And if this thread is gonna include Fauna as well as Flora, should it be moved to the Bioregional Strategies section?

#9

I’d like the thread to remain here and include only flora, or at least that is what the thread was intended for, obviously the mods may do as they please.

Ryan

#10

Wintergreen!

The tough leaves are there all year round, and while I wouldn’t recommend living heavily on them, they add a little variety. The berries come out in late summer, so they’re not that applicable to this thread, but worth mentioning.

#11

Oh, just an aside ai forgot to add: prickly pear fruits are absolutly, mouthwateringly DELICIOUS when baked (on hot coals). Just like jam. But its good raw too (about the texture and flavor of watermelon in mai opinion, though others differ).

#12

Me too. Sounds like an indigenous crock pot–y’now, set it up, put the food in, and go do your thing. When you come back, your cooked dinner awaits!! :slight_smile:

#13

Awww, we try not to have “that kind” of forum. :slight_smile: I usually ask for opinions before making a “mod action” like moving a topic or (heathen forbid) banning someone.

Seriously though folks, feel free to question us on anything we do, just keep your communication clear and respectful and we’ll try to do the same. :slight_smile:

And now back to your regularly scheduled topic!

#14

Also, the oaks arround here still have quite a few acorns on them come winter. (shell, crush and leach in several changes of water. raw or cooked, as breakfast “cereal” or in bread)

#15

Mmmm, I can’t wait to make my first batch of acorn tortillas next week. I’ve already managed to get a decent sized bag of acorns.

#16

Winter foraging list Cont’d . Make sure to research any unfamiliar plants carefully as some are poisonous unless prepared properly!

Also, a lot if not all of these came from Wild Man’s foraging database, so any anecdotes are coming from him, not from myself.

Aniseroot (Sweet Cicely)

Autumn Olive

Beefstake.(Shiso) Closeup of the flower.

Burdock. First year plant has root edible throughout year. 2nd year burdock. Note leaves on central stem. Root is inedible, but can eat the stem like artichoke. This is young second year. Peel stem. Boil one minute.

Chickweed

Chicory

Cow parsley

Crab Apple Tree

Cuckoo-flower, often called Ragged Robin (Lychnis cuculli). Tastes like wasabi.

Curly dock. Leaves good until early May.

Dandelion

Asiatic day flower. Young leaves and flowers edible raw.

Day lily. Flowers are edible and only last one day. Day Lilies. Some people can’t eat them. Can be confused with others that are poisonous.

False solomon seal. Flower’s are on top. Now out of season. Only in April. The berries are edible, but bitter. It is called false as it has none of the medicinal properties of the eastern solomon seal.

Fire Thorn (Pyracantha). Berries are edible.

Fucus seaweed

Gingko seeds

Gout weed. Smaller light green leaves edible.

Hawthorne Berries

Hercules club, or devil’s walking stick.

Japanese Knotweed. New shoots. Now edible, and will be for only a couple more weeks. This is a fast grower.

Yew berries. Berry is edible, but seed is poisonous.

Kentucky coffee tree seed pod that I opened. Poisonous now. Must be baked 3 hours at 300 degrees. Must cover as they will pop. Then grind up. Can collect year round.(??? needs clarification)

Lamb’s quarters. A wild spinach. Eat in salad or steamed.

#17

Speqtuer-
No big deal but if you copied and pasted that list from someone, they had already copied and pasted some of it from previous posts in this very discussion.
I always find it interesting when I see things that I have posted somewhere turn up somewhere else. A little more unusual to see them come back in the same thread.

[i]Rose hips are readily available in winter. Don’t think I have to say much about how to use them. Tea or mashed into a meal or cooked into a jam. Can be eaten raw, made into tea, etc. High in Vitamin C.

Mountain ash berries.

Inland NW people harvested large amounts of black tree lichen (Bryoria, bryoria fremontii being the best) It was washed, pit cooked and stored dried into cakes. Available all year round. I’ve eaten it many times at feasts.

Birch or maple sap in late winter.

Inner bark of a number of trees in late winter (april) when the sap starts to rise. That’s one of the first things the bears go for when they come out of their dens.

Pine nuts. Pick them up before the snow buries them or raid a squirrel cache.

kelp and dulse…
If you are on a coast there is

Barrel cactus fruit. In the desert there’s cactus and cactus fruit. I like

Jojoba beans. By late winter they are laying on the ground, out of their husk. I picked them for money many years ago when I was squatting in the desert outside of Tuscon. [/i]

I don’t know who Wildman is but if you look earlier in this thread you will see this whole section, verbatim, in one of my posts. As well as some other excerpts from jhereg and chase. Just amusing that’s all.

#18

Yeah what happened was I combined plants sourced here on rewild with my list from Wildman and some other places on the web and then when I posted them I forgot that they were in my Word Doc. list. Will edit them out for sake of NOT repeating stuff! Thanks for the heads up!

Speqtuer

#19

Persimmons are a late autumn fruit, though I’ve heard you can sometimes get as late as December or January. Personally, I’m going to go check on some Persimmon trees I’ve been watching tomorrow as here in the Carolinas we’re expecting a solid frost tonight.

Though not necessarily gathered in winter, I’m trying to gather some nuts for winter. Around here pecans are plentiful, as it apparently used to be common for everyone to plant one or three in their yards, making my town a veritable pecan orchard. I’ve also gathered hickory nuts in the last few days.

I intend on having a few chickweed salads once they get going. They’ve already sprouted here in many places, though they’re still to small to pick and get any sizable amount.

That’s all I’ve got right now. The strategy I envision employing for winters involves getting fat and happy on a lot of nuts to stay warm through winter.