Jenab
05-30-2008, 12:56
I live in the hills of eastern West Virginia. I hike mainly from my house to and between some of the nearer towns. I've recently gotten into the herb hobby, and here are some plants I've discovered.
Dandelion. Very obvious. Leaves taste like slightly bitter lettuce. Flowers have a mild taste (and some people have use them to flavor wine must). Roots can be washed, backed dry, crunched into powder, and used to prepare a coffee substitute "Dandelion quaffee." Dandelions grow in my yard, and just about everywhere the sun shines.
Violet. Not quite so obvious as dandelion, but easily recognized. Leaves taste somewhat like okra and can be used in lieu of okra to thicken gumbo or soup. I have violets in my yard, too.
Milkweed. Once you've identified it once, you'll never forget it. The leaves and stalk are edible raw, but heavy of raw milkweed may lead to illness because the white sap contains a mild toxin. Cooking destroys the toxin and makes the resulting greens among the best around.
Basswood (or Linden) tree. Leaves are very good to eat in mid-spring, like very mild greens. In late spring or summer, the leaves will toughen and be less palatable.
Clover. Goats eat it. You can too. The leaves taste like raw green peas when you chew them. Clover is a legume, so it has protein in it.
Wood Sorrel. Looks a little like clover in that both plants are trifoliate (three leaf). Wood sorrel's leaves, however, have a fold in the middle and the outer edge is heart shaped, whereas clover is ovoid. Wood sorrel's taste is lemony tart upon chewing, and the tartness comes from Vitamin C.
Gill-Over-The-Ground. A low shrubby herb. The leaves can be dried and used to brew a herbal tea. I like to mix it with wood sorrel to add a tart note to the drink.
Goosegrass. The stem has a square cross-section and is rough with spiky hairs. Perpendicular fans of seven or eight leaves ray out at intervals along the stem. Whereas goosegrass is edible, it is usually tough chewing and too fibrous to be really tasty. The small leaves are better, but you have to be patient to gather enough for a mouthful.
Ramps. You find them here and there, usually among birch or beech trees, sometimes maple or oak. They look like some flowers do when not in bloom, but they smell like a cross between garlic and onions, and they taste that way, too. The leaves and the bulb are edible. Ramps are usually gathered in early spring.
Wild lettuce. There are several kinds of lettuce growing wild. The leaves tend to be deeply cut and also serrate, appearing somewhat like oversized dandelion leaves. I've seen wild lettuce growing along the roadside.
Chicory. The purple flowers bloom in July. The roots can be used as a coffee substitute: prepare similar to Dandelion Quaffee (see above). Grows along roadsides and here & there.
Wild Parsnip. The roots are edible. Grows in the same places that chicory does. Make sure it has YELLOW flowers. A similar-looking plant with white flowers is water hemlock, which is probably the most poisonous, kill-you-dead plant that grows in North America.
Boletes. Mushrooms with spongy looking undersides instead of ribbed. Most of them are edible.
White Oak Trees. Acorns. You can eat acorns from white oak more easily than those from red oak because white oak acorns have less tannin to leach out. I have a grove of White oaks in my goat pasture.
Maple Trees. Boil down sap to make syrup. Also, the young leaves in spring can be eaten raw, having a roughly turnip-greensy taste.
Mayapple. All parts poison except the ripe fruit, which ripens in mid-June. If you're not sure when to pick the fruit, you might better leave it alone. Grows in patches and seems to like places where greenbriars also grow.
Pokeweed. All parts poison except the youngest shoots and leaves, and possibly the ripe purple berries that appear in September. (However, the berries of poke aren't very good tasting to humans, even though birds sometimes eat them. I used poke berries to dye my goat's hair purple for Halloween a couple years ago.) The same advice for restraint applies here as with Mayapple. Grows in lots of odd places. Noted for its thick fleshy greenish purple stalks.
Greenbriars. Although not the best-tasting vegetable in the world, the peeled stems of very young greenbriars can be eaten. They have sort of a chalky taste. In texture they're similar to the peeled shoots of Staghorn sumac, but the flavor of greenbriars is inferior. Just strip away the outer skin and eat the pith. Once a briar's stem has become purplish-woody, they are no longer edible.
Staghorn Sumac. Gather shoots and peel them in early June. In late July or early August, clip the red berry clumps and soak them in cold water to make sumacade. Strain out hairs before serving. Around my place, Staghorn sumac is an aggressive growing plant - goes everywhere the sun shines unless you keep it trimmed back.
Northern Fly-Honeysuckle. The berries are edible. Treat them as you would blueberry. I have maybe a dozen large bushes of these growing near my house.
Hawthorn Trees. The berries are edible, but not especially tasty by themselves. However, they are rich in pectin and can be used with a sweeter berry to make jelly. Hawthorn trees grow wild on parts of my property.
Apple Trees. You know what to do with them. But leave mine alone.
Walnut Trees. Ditto.
Jerry Abbott
Dandelion. Very obvious. Leaves taste like slightly bitter lettuce. Flowers have a mild taste (and some people have use them to flavor wine must). Roots can be washed, backed dry, crunched into powder, and used to prepare a coffee substitute "Dandelion quaffee." Dandelions grow in my yard, and just about everywhere the sun shines.
Violet. Not quite so obvious as dandelion, but easily recognized. Leaves taste somewhat like okra and can be used in lieu of okra to thicken gumbo or soup. I have violets in my yard, too.
Milkweed. Once you've identified it once, you'll never forget it. The leaves and stalk are edible raw, but heavy of raw milkweed may lead to illness because the white sap contains a mild toxin. Cooking destroys the toxin and makes the resulting greens among the best around.
Basswood (or Linden) tree. Leaves are very good to eat in mid-spring, like very mild greens. In late spring or summer, the leaves will toughen and be less palatable.
Clover. Goats eat it. You can too. The leaves taste like raw green peas when you chew them. Clover is a legume, so it has protein in it.
Wood Sorrel. Looks a little like clover in that both plants are trifoliate (three leaf). Wood sorrel's leaves, however, have a fold in the middle and the outer edge is heart shaped, whereas clover is ovoid. Wood sorrel's taste is lemony tart upon chewing, and the tartness comes from Vitamin C.
Gill-Over-The-Ground. A low shrubby herb. The leaves can be dried and used to brew a herbal tea. I like to mix it with wood sorrel to add a tart note to the drink.
Goosegrass. The stem has a square cross-section and is rough with spiky hairs. Perpendicular fans of seven or eight leaves ray out at intervals along the stem. Whereas goosegrass is edible, it is usually tough chewing and too fibrous to be really tasty. The small leaves are better, but you have to be patient to gather enough for a mouthful.
Ramps. You find them here and there, usually among birch or beech trees, sometimes maple or oak. They look like some flowers do when not in bloom, but they smell like a cross between garlic and onions, and they taste that way, too. The leaves and the bulb are edible. Ramps are usually gathered in early spring.
Wild lettuce. There are several kinds of lettuce growing wild. The leaves tend to be deeply cut and also serrate, appearing somewhat like oversized dandelion leaves. I've seen wild lettuce growing along the roadside.
Chicory. The purple flowers bloom in July. The roots can be used as a coffee substitute: prepare similar to Dandelion Quaffee (see above). Grows along roadsides and here & there.
Wild Parsnip. The roots are edible. Grows in the same places that chicory does. Make sure it has YELLOW flowers. A similar-looking plant with white flowers is water hemlock, which is probably the most poisonous, kill-you-dead plant that grows in North America.
Boletes. Mushrooms with spongy looking undersides instead of ribbed. Most of them are edible.
White Oak Trees. Acorns. You can eat acorns from white oak more easily than those from red oak because white oak acorns have less tannin to leach out. I have a grove of White oaks in my goat pasture.
Maple Trees. Boil down sap to make syrup. Also, the young leaves in spring can be eaten raw, having a roughly turnip-greensy taste.
Mayapple. All parts poison except the ripe fruit, which ripens in mid-June. If you're not sure when to pick the fruit, you might better leave it alone. Grows in patches and seems to like places where greenbriars also grow.
Pokeweed. All parts poison except the youngest shoots and leaves, and possibly the ripe purple berries that appear in September. (However, the berries of poke aren't very good tasting to humans, even though birds sometimes eat them. I used poke berries to dye my goat's hair purple for Halloween a couple years ago.) The same advice for restraint applies here as with Mayapple. Grows in lots of odd places. Noted for its thick fleshy greenish purple stalks.
Greenbriars. Although not the best-tasting vegetable in the world, the peeled stems of very young greenbriars can be eaten. They have sort of a chalky taste. In texture they're similar to the peeled shoots of Staghorn sumac, but the flavor of greenbriars is inferior. Just strip away the outer skin and eat the pith. Once a briar's stem has become purplish-woody, they are no longer edible.
Staghorn Sumac. Gather shoots and peel them in early June. In late July or early August, clip the red berry clumps and soak them in cold water to make sumacade. Strain out hairs before serving. Around my place, Staghorn sumac is an aggressive growing plant - goes everywhere the sun shines unless you keep it trimmed back.
Northern Fly-Honeysuckle. The berries are edible. Treat them as you would blueberry. I have maybe a dozen large bushes of these growing near my house.
Hawthorn Trees. The berries are edible, but not especially tasty by themselves. However, they are rich in pectin and can be used with a sweeter berry to make jelly. Hawthorn trees grow wild on parts of my property.
Apple Trees. You know what to do with them. But leave mine alone.
Walnut Trees. Ditto.
Jerry Abbott