So my trip to Huckleberry Preserve looking for ripe berries was in part inspired by a book I bought a few months ago. The Flavors of Home - A Guide to Wild Edible Plants of the San Francisco Bay Area by Margit Roos-Collins, published by Heyday Books of Berkeley. This is a great book that talks about many edible species of plants, both native and introduced, that are commonly found here in the Bay Area. It details where to find them and when and gives some information on identifying the plants.
Some of the descriptions and illustrations leave something to be desired, so you'll want to find another book or person who knows to help you ID plants before chomping your way through the woods. But once you are absolutely sure you can ID the plant and know which parts are edible it makes a nice addition to your hike. I sometimes eat things on hikes or gather them to bring them home, and people I know often ask me if I'm sure it's edible, or how I know I can eat that, distrusting the food that grows all around us. There are poisonous plants that grow here, but Roos-Collins addresses this in one of my favorite lines of the book found in the introduction: "Just remember that we are programmed through millions of years of evolution, to be naturally good at foraging. Anyone who can tell a cabbage from a head of iceberg lettuce can learn to select edible wild plants with confidence."
Some of the plants she mentions I've already eaten, like miners' lettuce and nasturtium. One of the more interesting chapters was on edible seaweeds. I haven't tried any of those yet, and have been fairly cautious but I have tried some things already that I read about in the book. I ate some chickweed, a leafy green weed that grows in all sorts of places, including people's gardens. And I ate some madrone blossoms. They were very interesting. The blossoms had a papery texture, but then a very pleasant sweet aftertaste. Hopefully soon I'll be able to add to the list.
Monday, July 5, 2010
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I just discovered that Monarda was edible. I suppose I'm growing a lot of flowers that could be tossed into a recipe. It would be nice to know a little more about these things...
ReplyDeleteEating your way through the local wildlands really gives you a different level of appreciation than just enjoyed how great things look. In my area I enjoy nibbling on the blooms of sage and yucca.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds interesting, but I think I'll stick to the plums from the garden ;->
ReplyDeleteMadrone blossoms, how romantic! We went on a backpacking trip just south of the Lost Coast once (the trail is basically the beach) and I was just too tempted not to grab a piece of seaweed and take a little chunk. It wasn't bad! Does the book discuss nuts at all? I wonder about the native hazelnut and if it's edible.
ReplyDelete@christine: It does talk about nuts, and the hazelnuts are edible. And from what I remember all, but one of the seaweeds that grows off our coast is edible. Can't remember what that one that's not will do to you.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me, I still need to try one of our native gooseberries growing here. I did try the Miner's lettuce this spring...it had a fresh 'green' flavor, albeit not overly distinctive. Madrone blossoms though, I had no idea were even edible. Sounds like a very interesting book!
ReplyDeleteSounds fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI did an edible plant walk earlier this summer. We wandered around Redwood Regional Park, with great guides who talked about nutritional and medicinal properties of the local plants.
Arlee Middlebrook will talk about edible natives at September's CalHort meeting, FYI.
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