Foraging for springtime edible wild plants

[rmay635703]

Morrels are a very odd looking mushroom, not sure if there is a lookalike.

Cowslips are easy to find in any drainage ditch or low lying area, if later in the year you see succulents with yellow flowers likely thats it, taste like and are prepared like spinach.

[imwithid]

Originally Posted by bgd73

in maine there is a stuff called fiddleheads. It nearly killed me, but alot of people can eat it. (It changed my bowels to the point of not processing normal food correctly for a long time after- I would rather drink hydrochloric acid.)

the mention of poison ivy is a bizarre coincidence. I awoke with an itchy belly button, a strange feeling in my gut. I looked over at my inner arms... an exact bumpy run of poison ivy looking stuff. I have no clue where I got it. On another thread here, I spoke of a neighbors roof staying green in february...one of all time records broken for warm winter, no snow. I could only put two and two together..

I'd go for greens in a controlled environment, the northeast is thrashed this year, hard telling what will be good.

You must take care when preparing fiddleheads. They must be cooked thoroughly or else your digestive tract will suffer. Fiddleheads must be boiled for a good 10 minutes (or steamed for about 20) to ensure that they are cooked and toxins diffused or converted during the cooking process. It's a shame that you had to suffer as these plants are quite pleasant. I like mine in an omelette or with a little lemon and olive with garlic essence. I haven't had fiddleheads in a couple of years. I look forward to finding them in the coming days or weeks.

[Wonderboy]

Thanks for posting... hopefully you've got something to say about the general subject of the forum too, but if all you have to contribute is about edible wild plants, that's definitely alright by me. I should post more pictorials about my culinary adventures...

[SentraSE-R]

I've tried fiddleneck ferns when I lived in Alaska. They're another one to be cautious about, because they're linked to pyrrolizimide poisoning, and boiling does not denature the toxic alkaloid. Check the link, which mentions two human cases linked to tea made from fiddlenecks.

[Toby]

Man, I completely misread "plants" as "pants" in the title for a second.

Cool thread.

[Wonderboy]

Hey, thanks for stopping by, mister.

[moorecomp]

The other day my wife made a big pot of wild leek soup and we had fried morels to go with it. Luv spring in N. Michigan.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Wild leek season is over where I am. I love them in salads.
I've eaten some garlic mustard this year, but I don't really like it.

[Wonderboy]

Yeah, leeks are done here too. I guess I missed the boat with morrels here too. I've never seen one around here before, but I went out looking last afternoon since conditions have been pretty ideal for mushroom fruiting. I did see quite a few other types of mushroom but no dice on morrels. I inoculated logs with oyster mushrooms and shiitakes last year. I got a few oysters, but no shiitakes so hopefully they will be ready to fruit bountifully this year.

[ShadeTreeMech]

Only wild edibles I've meesed with are the wild garlic and the occassional blackberry bush that's native here. I also have some spearmint I planted last year, and now it's growing with a vengence. The mint is great in tea or just to gnaw on while working outside.

I admit to being a bit ignorant about many wild edibles, maybe this thread can alleviate that problem