Foraging - How to forage / foraging discussion

[Cane Skretteburg]

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Garlic Mustard:

In North America, garlic mustard is highly invasive. Something about how the plants’ roots secrete stuff into the soil that dissuades other plants from growing there. It prefers to grow on the forest floor, and generally where I find some of it I find quite a lot of it. When harvesting for the greens, just make sure they’re tender. As garlic mustard matures it not only becomes substantially more fibrous, but also much more bitter. However since it grows on the forest floor and gets relatively little sunlight, I’ve had luck harvesting the spring plants well into May. Don’t harvest the plants that have bolted because they always taste gross.

 

[Rendang]

Jelly Ear fungus!

Raw Wood Ears are commonly eaten in China, where they're prepared as a raw salad with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil & seeds.

The earthiness complements well with the sharpness of the vinegar and fatty sauce, and their light texture makes it a refreshing side for any dry noodle dish.

 

[a hapless toad]

In North America, garlic mustard is highly invasive. Something about how the plants’ roots secrete stuff into the soil that dissuades other plants from growing there. It prefers to grow on the forest floor, and generally where I find some of it I find quite a lot of it. When harvesting for the greens, just make sure they’re tender. As garlic mustard matures it not only becomes substantially more fibrous, but also much more bitter. However since it grows on the forest floor and gets relatively little sunlight, I’ve had luck harvesting the spring plants well into May. Don’t harvest the plants that have bolted because they always taste gross.

It's also toxic to some species of butterfly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_mustard_as_an_invasive_species

If you find it in North America? Eat it if it's a tasty stage but also terminate with extreme prejudice, especially if it's bolted.

 

[Dr. Ricearoni]

I'm new to foraging and I heard you can find wild garlic growing in your yard. I had a look and sure enough I've found what looks like wild garlic. It smells a bit oniony but I have a weak sense of smell so I figured I'd ask if anyone more experienced can confirm that this is wild garlic and if it's edible

 

[Freshly Baked Socks]

If a plant looks like an onion and smells like an onion you can eat it. If a plant looks like a garlic and smells like a garlic you can eat it. If you do not smell a garlic or an onion odor but you have the right look beware you might have a similar-looking toxic plant.

source

 

[Cane Skretteburg]

I'm new to foraging and I heard you can find wild garlic growing in your yard. I had a look and sure enough I've found what looks like wild garlic. It smells a bit oniony but I have a weak sense of smell so I figured I'd ask if anyone more experienced can confirm that this is wild garlic and if it's edibleView attachment 7138995

Eat as much as you can, but leave some to go to seed so you don’t exhaust it all.

 

[Dr. Ricearoni]

Eat as much as you can, but leave some to go to seed so you don’t exhaust it all.

The guides I've found says they're invasive and to destroy them with impunity because they will be back next year. I might plant a few in my garden though if they taste good.

 

[Freshly Baked Socks]

If wild garlic gets into cow forage/silage, it can produce oniony milk, so it's been deemed a problem by industry.

But I keep a couple buckets of allium canadense growing because I am a sucker for topsetting onions. They're sort of ornamental as well as edible.

 

[Dr. Ricearoni]

I'm new to foraging and I heard you can find wild garlic growing in your yard. I had a look and sure enough I've found what looks like wild garlic. It smells a bit oniony but I have a weak sense of smell so I figured I'd ask if anyone more experienced can confirm that this is wild garlic and if it's edibleView attachment 7138995

I've been thinking about this recently, I've been at work all day so I haven't been able to take a closer look but I'm worried this isn't wild garlic at all, every picture I've seen has a single stalk but whatever I pulled up has several stalks per bulb. I'm thinking it could be star of Bethlehem which is poisonous. Since I don't have a strong sense of smell the only way I can really tell for sure is by waiting for what I didn't uproot to flower.

Edit: Did more research and you can tell by the stalk shape. Field garlic has a tube shaped stalk. Star of Bethlehem has v shaped stalks with light green/white strips down the center. Now that I'm home let's take a closer look at that stalk...

Yep, that's star of Bethlehem alright! Mega poisonous, and there's no antidote. Luckily my extreme paranoia saved my life. I still consider this a win for the thread because we all now know how to identify a deadly garlic lookalike.

 

[Arbiter]

A big patch of honey mushrooms (Armillaria mellea) grows in my yard every year. We used them to make perogies and they were the bomb. I don't drink, so I don't have to worry about getting sick thankfully. Which is funny considering honey mushrooms seem the most popular in places like Russia and Poland.

Do you guys have "the one that got away"? I found a giant, beautiful chicken of the woods (Laetiporus gilbertsonii specifically) that I didn't collect, and I still regret it. I'm determined to find another one day and make fried chicken of the woods. I also once found a huge amount of lantern stinkhorn (Lysurus mokusin) eggs while gardening. I think those are used in Chinese cooking, but like with a lot of Chinese stuff, it's hard to find info in English. I live in a pretty dry area, so mushroom hunting is few and far between.

 

[Cane Skretteburg]

I've been thinking about this recently, I've been at work all day so I haven't been able to take a closer look but I'm worried this isn't wild garlic at all, every picture I've seen has a single stalk but whatever I pulled up has several stalks per bulb. I'm thinking it could be star of Bethlehem which is poisonous. Since I don't have a strong sense of smell the only way I can really tell for sure is by waiting for what I didn't uproot to flower.

Edit: Did more research and you can tell by the stalk shape. Field garlic has a tube shaped stalk. Star of Bethlehem has v shaped stalks with light green/white strips down the center. Now that I'm home let's take a closer look at that stalk...
View attachment 7141570
Yep, that's star of Bethlehem alright! Mega poisonous, and there's no antidote. Luckily my extreme paranoia saved my life. I still consider this a win for the thread because we all now know how to identify a deadly garlic lookalike.

Use your sense of smell when identifying plants. In addition to making it easier to pick out sage, carrot, garlic, etc., it helps to get into the habit of smelling all the plants you collect regularly. They all have their own smell. At this point, I swear I can sniff a plant and get a feel or whether it will make me sick or not. Hemlock, pokeweed, jimson weed all have a little sting to their smell on your nasal cavity. Idk what star of bethlehem is but I bet it has a pretty acrid sharp smell if it can kill you.

 

[Sasmate]

Chiming in to say that foraging can also be a good work out.

If you don’t know how, start practicing and search on YouTube how to free-climb trees, or how to climb trees barefoot.

Lots of great fruiting trees in North America to climb. I personally climb black cherry, Mulberry, Persimmon, hackberry, hickory, walnut, pawpaw, etc. to get the fruits/nuts before wildlife or ground decomp beats me to it.
It will give you an insane core, traps, and biceps as a bonus.

 

[Lucius Aelius]

I went out today and collected 100 pounds of black walnuts. All from one tree. the sheer amount you get from a single tree is just absurd. I'm really looking forward to growing my own.

 

[Cane Skretteburg]

I went out today and collected 100 pounds of black walnuts. All from one tree. the sheer amount you get from a single tree is just absurd. I'm really looking forward to growing my own.

Use a power washer to get the husks off. Put them in some kind of cage and spray them until the husks are all gone. Thank me later.

 

[Lucius Aelius]

Use a power washer to get the husks off. Put them in some kind of cage and spray them until the husks are all gone. Thank me later.

I actually just bought one for that purpose. I was originally using a wire brush, but that was a bad plan, it turns out. The haul from today is attached.

 

[Battery Low]

My grandma once bought my ma a black walnut tree as a "twig in a bottle" off the market before I was even born. It took until after she had passed on to even think about fruiting. She went to her grave still cussing out that market-guy lol.

It's now taller than my ma's house. Never get much off it, especially competing with the squirrels. But it's a glorious tree and the smell of it's leaves in autumn were one of my favourite things as a kid.

 

[Cane Skretteburg]

When I was 17 I collected up a mess of black walnuts and husked them by hand. No gloves no nothing. It stained by hands and the concrete pad I cleaned them on black. That spot on the concrete stayed black for years. Turns out walnuts and hickories have a chemical called juglone in them that acts as an insecticide. Apparently it also works well as a dye. I went to an interview for a job at Subway with coal black hands.

 

[McLean Deluxe]

Turns out walnuts and hickories have a chemical called juglone in them that acts as an insecticide. Apparently it also works well as a dye.

The Confederates used to use black walnuts to dye their uniforms. It does not wash out at all.

I actually just bought one for that purpose. I was originally using a wire brush, but that was a bad plan, it turns out. The haul from today is attached.

Dude that is a shitton. Let me know how it goes cracking them and extracting the nut meat. The problem I have always had with black walnuts is that the internal chamber is split in 4, so you have to smash the crap out of it to get the nut meat out. Way worse than English walnuts.

 

[NoReturn]

Hey there! I've been learning about mushrooms and edible plants. Not sure if this is the place to post but does anyone have any resources besides YouTube videos? Not the kind of stuff you can just wing it, right?

When it comes to MUSHROOMS, see if you can find a foraging group or someone who does classes in your area. Guides and books will help, but nothing is as good as an educated person slapping something out of your hand.

 

[Cane Skretteburg]

Yeah, I might have to look for something in person indeed. I suppose there are always a dew mushrooms that have no lookalikes, depending on the region, but that image is not far from the truth; it can really get tricky since it's very minute differences...

This is very irresponsible advice but you can take a little bitty bite to see if something will make you sick and 99% of the time this does not kill you. If you ever watch poisonous plant you will know immediately. I’ve poisoned myself once before off some spiderwort and it was terrible. Everyone says mushrooms will kill you, but I have a feeling if you take just a tiny bite you’ll live. That meme is slightly hyperbole. Don’t eat random mushrooms.