# cooking wild plants ...



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I have found many wild plants that I want to learn how to prepare for our table. I am starting this thread in hopes other homesteaders have learned how to use wild plants and will share their recipies.

I will name "some" I've found just to get the thread started. 

1. Poke Salad - I pick the young leaves and steam as I would spinach. (I have never prepared the berries as I have been told such are poisonous; however, my goats love them and have not been negatively affected.)

2. Lambs Quarter - I pick all the larger leaves and steam them as I would spinach. Have also used them for toss salads.

3. Sheepshire - I have never used this; but my Mother told me lemon-tasting pudding can be created from them. I do not have a recipe for this and would like one.

4. Passion Flower - The leaves are delicious either steamed or tossed. I have only eaten the fruit "fresh" & have never prepared any dish from them.

I do hope more will be listed for those of us interested.


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## Forest (Oct 14, 2010)

wild arugula- use fresh in salad. Or braise with cherry tomatoes & garlic in balsamic vinegar for pasta sauce. Or make into pesto with olive oil, roasted walnuts, parmeggiano, and garlic (optional).
miner's lettuce- use fresh in salad.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I've heard that dandelion greens were pretty good, but not sure as I've never tried them. I have made dandelion syrup with the blossoms and my family loves it.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

These are great. Thank you. Hope others contribute.

Forest, I live in Virginia and am not sure I have any arugula. I googled it and found it grows in California. I'll check again next spring/summer when things are growing and blossoming again.

Sonshine, I'ld never heard of using dandelion "blossoms" to make syrup. Will you share your recipe?


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## Charly (Feb 20, 2010)

Just foraged some wild persimmons. Tried using a foley mill to extract the pulp, without very good results. Anyone have a better method?

We have plenty of dandelion too along with Jerusalem artichokes, cattail, hickory and walnuts. Lost my Walking Egyptian Onions, but hoping to start more next spring. Found wild rose hips. This spring going to make red bud jelly. Also have wild plums.


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## Forest (Oct 14, 2010)

Speaking of...

Wilted dandelions in bacon vinaigrette. Fry bacon cut into ~1/4 inch wide strips on low heat until they start rendering/being crisp but not burned. Add a shot of balsamic vinegar to the pan to quickly loosen the brown stuff, add good mustard, a little olive oil, mix until it comes together, then toss dandelion greens in this until they just wilt.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Forest that sounds like it would go well with pinto beans and cornbread.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Sonshine said:


> I've heard that dandelion greens were pretty good, but not sure as I've never tried them. I have made dandelion syrup with the blossoms and my family loves it.


I don't have an exact recipe. What I do is collect a couple of grocery bags full of blossoms. I pull all the yellow petals off, make sure you don't get any of the green, or it'll make it bitter. I boil the petals until they cook down, strain the water and add more petals, going through the same process. After you get a light brown color to the water I just add sugar to make it into a syrup. To me it has a nutty flavor and my neighbors love it. This year, since I was unable to collect the blossoms myself, my neighbor got her 3 kids and my DS together to gather them, as long as I shared some syrup with them.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Forest, thanks for the recipe. We have tons of dandelions that grow in our yard. I'm going to try the greens next year, cause it sounds wonderful.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

I find that dandelions and lamb's quarters taste best in the spring. After that they get tough and reeeeeally bitter. Anyway by then the garden's stepping up and is ready to go.

I don't know sheepshire; is that like sorrel?

Sonshine, thanks for the dandelion syrup recipe. I'll try it this spring. 

Charly, we used to live in southern Indiana and would gather wild persimmons. The sad fact is it takes a LOT of persimmons to get much pulp. They don't have a lot of meat on them; but they sure taste better than the cultivated varieties. I grieve every fall for real persimmon pulp. I can't seem to find a reliable supplier.

I gathered some hickory nuts but I'm saddened to see that most of the shells have withered meats inside. Dang, it's hard to crack them when you know you're not likely to find anything in there.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I just called our County Agricultural Agent and she is coming out to our place Monday to walk over it with us. She said she will identify all the vegetation that she can (whether edible or medicinal) and, what she is unable to identify on the spot, will take samples of and let the lab identify. (I can hardly wait! I know we have quite a few edible plants here and it will be wonderful to get confirmation as to their usages.) I will share what I learn here.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

we pick up a variety of nuts from trees here and there. 
We forage for morel mushrooms in may.
I pick stinging nettle, loads of it. I dry it. I use it for hot tea, and we put a few crushed leaves in with the coffee grounds every morning. I have cooked and eaten it like spinach. It tastes different.
I have eaten nasturtium flowers raw. 
We have wild asparagus around here, if you are lucky enough to find it first. I have found and eaten it.
We have wild grapes, two kinds.

I ate a red clover flower this summer, because, well, no reason. It wasn't terrible.
We have lots of lamb's quarter, never have eaten any yet.


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## Firefly (Dec 7, 2005)

motdaugrnds said:


> I just called our County Agricultural Agent and she is coming out to our place Monday to walk over it with us. She said she will identify all the vegetation that she can (whether edible or medicinal) and, what she is unable to identify on the spot, will take samples of and let the lab identify.


Wow! I'll have to see if I can get that done here. Gonna have to try that bacon dressing recipe too. Last year I got a couple of library books with good photos (the ones with drawings were pretty useless) and was able to identify a lot of edibles on my property. Many weeds I'd been pulling from the garden were tastier than the vegies I was protecting them from! It was great because they were ready to eat long before anything I cultivated, so they effortlessly extended the season. I found that a little vinegar made older, bitter dandelion greens taste almost as good as the young ones.

In the winter I grow sprouts; one favorite is radish. My BF loves radish roots, so I planted some of the sprout seeds in the garden. It turns out they were wild radish seeds, which grow large tasty cooking greens but only a tiny rock-hard root. They are a very prolific plant and grow everywhere, easy to identify when they go to seed and develop 2" green conical fruits that are a nice peppery addition to salads.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Firefly, can you post a picture of those wild radish? I think we might have some; but not sure. (I've never seen "2 inch green conical fruits" on what we have here; but have never really looked either, so might have simply missed seeing them.)

Lonelyfarmgirl, I have heard those red clover flowers make a tea that is great for calming nerves.


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## Firefly (Dec 7, 2005)

I found some pics on Google. I should have called them pods; they get woody and tasteless as they age but are juicy and crunchy when young, best eaten raw. The greens, flowers and tender stems are great steamed, stir-fried, or in soup. They look more like broccoli than cultivated radish, about 2' tall. http://www.google.com/images?um=1&h...q="wild+radish"&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

Our daughter made pesto out of young dandelion greens -- yum! Just substitute them in any basil pesto recipe. And yes, older greens are bitter, so use only the young ones -- generally, before the plant flowers.


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## Firefly (Dec 7, 2005)

Geez you guys make me want to go out and pick some right now. If only those in my yard weren't all walked on by poultry, or elsewhere visited by dogs...


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

recipe for the poke greens....
pick poke while the shoots are still tight(under 12 inches) remove all red and be sure not to get any root
steam or boil in 2 changes of water
mix in fresh toasted bread cubes and beaten egg to make cakes(hamburger pattie size)
brown in baconfat until egg is set
salt and pepper to taste

used to be when I had more time this was an every spring ritual

Garden greens trio

equal parts purslane,redroot pigweed and lambsquarter; looked rinsed and steamed..dress with butter, salt and pepper or baconfat
makes weeding a rotational harvest plan...weed, eat and repeat!


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Bee, are you talking about "poke salad" plants (makes large bush with black berries in late fall)?


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

bee said:


> recipe for the poke greens....
> pick poke while the shoots are still tight(under 12 inches) remove all red and be sure not to get any root
> steam or boil in 2 changes of water
> mix in fresh toasted bread cubes and beaten egg to make cakes(hamburger pattie size)
> ...


My Dad use to boil the early leaves in 2 changes of water, then he added bacon grease, green onion and an egg. Tasted like wild spinach. I cooked some last year, but have to admit, I was nervous because I had heard if not prepared properly it could be poisonous. However, my family and I survived it and we now have another plant to add to our edible list.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

I love wild grazing!
Plantain leaf, Dandelion leaf, Sorrel and Chickweed Salad. Yellow dock seed crackers, Wild Rosehip Jelly, Dandelion fritters, Dandelion Jelly. 
We also harvest Burdock root for use in Japanese stirfrys, soups and stew.
Living in the PNW is good in that there are many wild edibles year round, what we can't find in the Valley we find in the mountains, Sweet woodruff, Elderberries, and Huckleberries.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

What an amazing list of wild plants to eat. Thank you all so much for sharing.


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

yes, our plain ole poke is your poke salad. I did say to not use anything red or any part of the root which is poisonous. The base of the stalk where it connects to the root is red. If you always "go for the green" then you should be safe. My grandmother used to can it up, that and wild mustard. Me, I can up the 3 weed mix. I have a neighbor so crazy about it that she asked me to save her seeds of that mix. Saving weed seeds...heh..do it all the time!


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Violets can be added to salads fresh or candied, or made into jelly. Redbud blossoms are edible, too. In spring, the flower clusters of honey locust trees are good dipped in batter and fried as tempura. 
Last spring, my Japanese mom and I went out foraging for bracken fern. We also eat coltsfoot and burdock root and fiddleheads. 
Down the street from my house is a big gingko tree. The nuts have to be removed from the fruit pulp, and that's a stinky, messy job (hint:freeze first), but the nutmeat inside is good to eat.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

ROFL of course! We homesteaders save our "weed seeds" all the time.....ROFL


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## Jill (May 14, 2002)

My grandmother used to put the leaves of the nasturium on sandwiches as lettuce and in salads.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

David planted some ginko trees a few years ago. They sure are slow to grow; so will be some time before I can try those seeds.


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