Let It Snow....Winter Foraging Pt 2, Chickweed, Bittercress and a few other things

It's a most unusual winter this year. It's actually colder here in Texas than it is in parts of Alaska. While the east coast is enjoying spring-like weather, the western US is having record cold temperatures and blizzards.  In the south, it's been a record year of rainfall and tornadoes.  In east Texas, we usually have between 34-45 inches annually and already in 2015 we've gotten 67.77 inches as of yesterday. Here in the south we are in the process of hiring a construction company to construct an ark for us because it seems there's more water than dry land.  I try to remember as I slog through the mud and watch the horses and chickens do the same, that I should give thanks in everything.  I can tell you one thing, all that rain and mild temps are great for winter foraging. Now is a great time to watch the ground for tender, tasty greens and grab them while you can.

I was at the feed store yesterday getting hay and saw vast amounts of dandelions growing along the sides of the building and up against the steps going into the store and got to thinking about a wild salad or a wild stir fry and knew that's what I wanted to tell you about today.

Before I do that, I have a few other things I wanted to share with you. Occasionally I come across something that I find so wonderful and share worthy that I cannot keep it to myself.  I have 3 things I wanted to quickly tell you about:
1)  One Second After by William Fortschen and One Year After also by Mr Fortschen.  I had a friend tell me about these books that tell the story of the aftermath of an EMP and that they were so interesting he literally stayed up all night reading them,  I ordered them from Amazon and read half of One Second After last night before bed and he was right, it's hard to put down. It's equally hard to read as well. though.  It makes you reevaluate your habits and dependencies.  I was busy making notes as I read, of things I needed to do to be better prepared for any type of devastation that could come.  If you practice any kind of prepping, you probably have read it, but if not...you have to read these books.
2) Golden Milk. I came across the recipe as I was searching for a detox tea and it looked good in the picture and sounded good, so I made some.  It was good!  It has turmeric and ginger which are both good for detoxing but also have anti inflammatory properties. I'm a retired runner and my knees hurt much of the time so I decided to try this to see if it could help the pain.  I've only been drinking the concoction for 2 days so I can't testify to the pain relief but I can tell you it tastes so good, I'd drink it even if it didn't do anything at all. I tried a few recipes and the link above is the best.  I used fresh turmeric and grated it but the recipe here uses powdered turmeric and that's much more common to find than turmeric root. Doesn't stain your hands yellow either.

3) War Room. While I do enjoy a good, wholesome movie, this one isn't exactly what I would pick but because it is so powerful and so important, I'm overlooking some of my preferences and recommending it.  If you are soon to be married or are married, this could be a boon to you.  I gave it to my family members this Christmas. I encourage you to just buy the movie because you'll want to watch it over and over again.

Okay, now to the foraging part.  Let's talk about Chickweed and Bittercress.  These two tender greens L-O-V-E the winter. It can be 10 below and they will still thrive.  Both are so abundant that they are invasive, you'll do your lawn and your body a favor by eating them!  I usually share a medicinal plant as well as a strictly edible plant but this week these are both pretty much just edibles.  They both have mild medicinal properties but none that have been verified by me so we're just going to enjoy these as a nice, green winter treat.

Chickweed (stellaria media)...

,,, is found in virtually every corner of the world and its appearance doesn't vary from one place to another so it's super easy to ID and safe to eat.  When I was in my teens and first learning about foraging, this was the very first wild edible I tried.  I gathered a mess of it and made a bechamel sauce and wilted the chickweed into it - much like a creamed spinach.  It was tasty, but then, what isn't good in  gravy?  Now days, I prefer it in a salad over cooked because it's so delicate that I like to keep it as unadulterated as possible.  You'll find Chickweed growing beside buildings and in flower bed and sometimes around the base of trees.  In the spring it will have tiny, white  flowers with many petaled heads and vibrant green, somewhat heart shaped leaves.  The plant dies off as summer heat sets in but as soon as cool fall weather comes around, they come up en masse and will stay all winter long until they die off again in early summer. Locate a patch of it and just pull up the entire plant.  The stems are thin and spindly so it's easy to do so.  Wash them, pick off any yellowed or dead leaves and give them a quick chop.  You can pick each individual leaf off if you want but it's tedious to say the least so I just leave the stems in.  They are tender and mild, much like spinach.

Bittercress (cardamine hirsuta)...

...Bittercress (hairy bittercress) is a member of the Brassica family which also includes cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and broccoli and, like it's relatives, is pungent and flavorful.  the roots of the Bittercress can be harvested and mashed with a mortar and pestle and mixed with sour cream to make a sauce that is similar to mild horseradish.  The leaves are spicy and peppery and certainly liven up an ordinary salad. Like Chickweed, it can be eaten raw or sauteed lightly. It also has a long pagan history and is mentioned in the 10th century Germanic poem Woden and The Nine Herbs Charm as being one of the folklore herbs in the charm that is used to cure snakebite and poisoning. If you don't know if you have Bittercress growing near you, just look at the picture below, of the Bittercress seed pod and I bet you'll know then.

They stick to everything.  Eat them now so you'll have less to deal with later!

If you've ever wanted to forage but have been a little scared you'd get the wrong thing. these are the plants to start with.  Enjoy!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow....Let's Go Winter Foraging: Acorns and Pine Needles.

Just because it's nearing winter doesn't mean there's nothing to forage.  Granted there isn't much greenery but there is still abundant food sources. I've selected a few common fall/winter foraging foods to talk about and over the next few posts I'm going to tackle a couple of them each time so I can give you some in depth information about each one.

You might decide to forage in the winter just to familiarize yourself with what's out there or you may forage because you want to stretch your winter food budget or because of other personal security reasons. Whatever the reason, take a special note of today's selections - I think they are super important because of how common they are and because of their awesome nutritional values.

Today I'm discussing Acorns and Pine Needles..............

Acorns (particularly as flour products) have long been a staple of indigenous peoples diets and only within the last 100 years have they fallen out of favor as a food.  They are labor intensive so they became known a "poor people food", it was just easier to go buy wheat flour and truthfully, wheat flours makes a far superior bread due to the gluten content, whereas acorn flour is a starch and has no gluten.  There are other plants and roots that can be used as flours and/or starches but we're sticking with acorns today. Acorn flour will sustain and nourish you in a survival situation but you probably won't find it as satisfying as that soft, white Sunbeam bread.  Even so, Sunbeam won't be around when TSHTF so you need to have a backup plan and acorns will provide that.

As I mentioned earlier, they are labor intensive to convert into flour, but not so much that you will find it unworthy of your time. Acorns have tannins (different species have different tannin levels) and if you don't leach the tannins out prior to processing, you will have a bitter flour that will stain your teeth. dry your mouth up and can cause considerable constipation. Makes you excited to eat them huh?? lol. Okay, here we go.....
First thing you need to do is locate the species of oak you have growing near you.  Take a pic of the leaves and acorns from the tree(s) you have and look them up on Google and determine the species you have then you'll know how to process each one so it tastes best. I found an acorn webpage that has a wealth of good info on this wild nut and some recipes too.  It has a list of the best tasting acorns, which I thought was a great addition!

Acorns aren't just utilized as flour, they have a respectable amount of nutrients and are a decent source of protein, high Vitamin B and are a good source of minerals.  This makes acorns very versatile and are used as a coffee substitute, cooked and eaten as you would a chestnut, added to soups and even pressed to extract their oil to use in external applications such as massage oil.

Humans have eaten acorns for about as long as there have been humans.  The Greeks were one of the first people to utilize them as a flour, alone or combined with wheat or barley flour, and used to make bread.  The Confederate soldiers used acorns as a coffee substitute during the Civil War when the north cut off supply routes (take note of this fact, it might come in handy soon <wink, wink>) as did the Germans in WW1 and WW2.  The Germans called it Ersatz which literally means substitute and that name has turned into Ersatzkaffee which is still available as a product called Postum - a grain based hot beverage.  Acorns were dried, crushed and roasted to make "coffee" but it didn't resemble the taste of coffee at all except in that it's served as a hot drink and I'm sure as they were fighting a war in the brutal winter, it was a very welcome treat, regardless.

Oak trees and their acorns were a symbol of strength, longevity and family legacy.  Our Scandinavian, European and Germanic ancestors valued the oaks so much that the acorns were used as emblems on the shields they carried into battle and as military uniform patches,

 



Preparing acorns is a lengthy, but not overly so, process.  It's very rewarding to know that you have made flour or coffee from these lowly nuts.  Also, if you look back at my post on Yaupons, you'll see that you can roast the leaves as a substitute for coffee as well and they have a big supply of caffeine.  Add some roasted Yaupon leaves to the roasted acorns and you have a very acceptable coffee substitute. The same website I listed above that detailed the different species of oak according to taste also has the instructions to process the acorns from start to finish to make anything acorn you might want. There's even a recipe for a acorn flour cake that is the best I've ever had.

Next, let's talk about the wonderful Pine tree.  It's versatile in so many ways.  You can make your home smell good, make a waterproof short-term survival shelter, make pitch to waterproof a boat or building, it's nutritional and medicinal and it's awesome tinder to start a quick fire.  But since we're talking foraging here, we'll just stick to the edible qualities of the Pine.

A great way for a beginner to get an introduction to using Pine as food is to make Pine Needle Tea.  It's easy and nutritious - Pine needles have 5 times the Vitamin C of a lemon and is very useful as a survival food but is very useful medicinally, too.  It is used to treat coughs, colds, sore throats, hypertension, urinary ailments, as an antidepressant and numerous other uses.  While most all of the Pine is edible, not every Pine species is suitable.  There are 3 species of Pine/evergreen that should NEVER be consumed because they are toxic and arbortifacients in both animal and human, so be sure and avoid these.  Let's get these details out of the way:

The toxic Pine family are:
Yew (Taxus)

Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa)

Norfolk Island Pine (Araucana heterophylla)

The safest Pine for beginners is the White Pine (Pinus strobus), which is also one of the most commonly found.

Let's make some tea!!

Pine Needle Tea
Gather a good sized handful of White Pine needles, chop small and place in mug.  Pour 8-10 oz boiling water over the needles, cover and set aside to steep.  As soon as the needles have settled to the bottom, the tea is ready (about 30 mins). Warm back up if necessary, add some honey or orange juice for sweetness, if desired and enjoy!