Wild foraging

Hmm, I don’t know about the leaves or buds of sumac. I’m familiar with using the seed-heads, with the red, velvety fuzz–it’s tart and tangy.

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Yes. Those things are what I was referring to when I say “buds”. I am hanging out with too many stoners, apparently.

Nothing resembling that looked to be on the kebabs in Germany, but I have read that “sumac” is used. Which could mean several different things:

  1. Some specific part of the sumac?
  2. Something that’s not really what we call Sumac, but another species.
  3. The seed heads, but perhaps roasted or otherwise prepared such that they aren’t recognizable.
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I’ve eaten cattails but not for a while. I had several books that listed the stems as edible, but the stems are always pithy like the middle layer of foam board and I’ve never had much luck with the stems. I learned from a native (first nation) forager how to mash the unripe “sausage part” when it is still green and just starting to yellow, and that part is awesome, waxy and starchy and milky. the mash steamed in some leaves with bur nuts tamale style would be quite good, that’s how I’d eat them.

Yep, I Had to remodel a bathroom after a too successful indoor oyster growing experiment.
DO NOT grow oysters indoors unless you plan on composting your entire house back to nature.

I love burdock, I find that with the wild ones, the ones growing on hills have tastier roots, sweeter and firmer. Some of the ones I pulled from the edge of the yard were to fibrous to eat. The nuts are good as well, but a lot of work for not much nut. Most burs have edible nuts, even the small ones. Most taste similar to hazelnuts.

These are a power food. Move over kale. :slightly_smiling:

I’ve done this!

The morels here are out of control, and i agree they are awesome. They tend to grow in a similar habitat to shaggy mane (ink cap) so likely you’ve identified those correctly, if they shred and go super black when they are done then you know they are right. just don’t eat ink cap with alcohol, as they contain coprine. Also there is a poisonous look alike in britian, the magpie fungus, but not in north america.

Me an my girls make syrup every year. whenever anyone starts to get sick, a hot mug with a spoon full of elderberry syrup stirred in is the first thing they get.

The bright green new growth in spring. they can be eaten as well, but the tea is better. i make this from douglas fir.

left over weed…lol. I’ve had the opposite problem in my younger years and smoked pipe scrapings and carpet fiber and lint that may or may not have resembled weed enough to not be sure.

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It took someone a FULL WEEK before they picked up on this little annoying thing I threw in there!!! I like to put in stupid stuff just because. Good work.

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Nettles on the west coast seem to grow in shaded areas to begin with. I had a nasty run in with some stinging nettle as a kid, in a ravine shaded by redwoods.

Marmalade time. Navel oranges, something I found that looks like a kumquat, and a few tangelos from the store since I love them.

Rose hips will be added after I plunder that bush.

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One orange. One orange de-pithed.

This is gonna be a long day :smile:

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Proto marmalade. Need to gather the hips.

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Boiling away, and I’m so happy I took the time the time de pith them. The bitterness is fine, the pectin level is gonna be fine, and it doesn’t taste like pith. The rose hips added a nice almost oaky tannin type astringency.

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You are going to waste SATSUMAS on marmalade?

…walks off muttering to herself…

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Use a serrated knife, like for tomatoes.

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They aren’t satsumas! :smile: David Tennant and I had this argument already!

The foraged ones are navels and something related to a kumquat. Like a kumquat the skin is edible raw, and delicious. I added a few tangelos cause they’re awesome.

This is also the best marmalade on planet. I may start a new business, Japhroaig’s Rockin’ 'Lades.

Okay, the name may need to be workshopped.

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A serrated knife… For tomatoes… Are you actively pushing my buttons?

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I would gladly trade a jar of my pickled beets for a jar of your marmalade. :drool:

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Get thee to the mutant exchange thread!!!

Seriously. Now I want some of that damn marmalade. I was skeptical and keeping my mouth shut. And now, I want to open it… and insert toast slathered with that marmalade!!!

I just love the process. It is highly romanticized in my brain, but when I find a tree full of perfect fruit, and spend hours getting to know it… Well, I sound like a damn hippy :slightly_smiling:

Now what to do with persimmons.

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Walk by them and keep walking.

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I’ll post some pics, and I may be able to put a few jars together. The pectin content is spot on, just bitter enough, slightly complex, but you’d never know it was foraged if I didn’t tell ya.

I’ll bumble over to Safeway and see if they have any canning supplies.

Perhaps you meant to say: You’d never know that some of the very, very best of the commercial, large-batch marmalades aren’t foraged if I didn’t tell you :smiley:

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@japhroaig just reminded me

of the most delicious meal I ever had in my life, at least that’s how it seemed at the time.

A car trip to Portland, ME from upstate New York with a friend, towing his small wooden sailboat. Sailed out to some tiny, deserted rocky island near Portland and camped overnight. When the tide went out, we built a small cooking fire and picked snails off the rocks, boiled them, removed them from their shells, and sauteed them in butter. I think we added them to some cooked ramen noodles. I felt bad for the snails and still do feel bad, but it was the most delicious meal I’d ever had.

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