Now is the Time for Research. 

I can barely wait for the first fiddleheads to pop up, the ramps to come forth and the morel mushroom to start showing its head, but during this cold season I spend the time researching as much as possible for plants I do not know, or new ways to cook my favorite edibles.

An example being, for many years, I have only picked the tops off of the fiddlehead fern, just to learn two years ago the young stock is just as tasty and as the edible.

A couple examples of needed knowledge would be the following:

• Roots and Tubers- best to harvest in the early spring or in the fall. In numerous resources. I have found that they a  full of carbohydrates at these times and they are converted to sugar as the soil warms. 
• Shoots and leaves- Knowing the plant and the season to harvest these is very important and different for each edible. For some of the edibles in this area, the older the leaf becomes, the more bitter or tougher the edible is. 

The Taste of the Wild is a wonderful online guide, showing different resources for edibles,

Wild edibles are not just for salads.

Often when picking my edibles to cook with or to add to a salad, I will find leaves of plants to add to a tea, or I will go out in my backyard on a hunt to create an herbal tea.

Herbal teas are very easy to create and many of the items are right in your back yard. A good beginning instructional on teas can be found in About Home.

Part of the joy of wildcrafting or foraging is learning new plants in anticipation of spring coming and the hunting begins.

Mushrooming -Gills or Ridges

 In many of the beginner mushrooming books, that I have read, it talks about never picking mushrooms with gills and I have to agree for new mushroom hunters, with a few exceptions. Let’s look at gills and ridges and talk quickly about the difference between gills and ridges . Being able to identify ridges opens new doors for mushroom hunting. 

Gills tend to have the following characteristics:

•          They are uniformly attached to the cap of a mushroom.
•          They appear as small blades or fins.
•          Gills can fork or can be a mixture of long and short blades.
•          Gills easily break.

Ridges have the following Characteristics:

• Ridges are irregular (there is no pattern).
• They are part of both the stem and the cap.
• They do not break easily.
  

 Notice how the ridges run down the stem in the photo above and in the top photo the gills stop. 

Spend some time researching mushrooms with gills and mushrooms with ridges, become familiar with them and their differences. 

Never Eat a Mushroom You Are Not Sure Of and Never Eat a Edible Wild Mushroom Uncooked. 

I have found numerous references that say that raw mushrooms contain small amounts of toxins, but  are destroyed by cooking them thoroughly.

When hiking, we don’t have to pick any mushrooms; I find it fun and educational to be able to identify a mushroom. When I find a mushroom that I am 100 % sure that it is edible I am excited to bring it home. 

Wildcrafting; This Craft, Again Popular.

Many of us have enjoyed some form of wildcrafting in the past.                          

  View descriptions

here, to the right.

Remember picking wild blackberries in the middle of summer as a child. It possibly seems we just knew what they were, without question and now we can positively identify the fruit as adults. We find the same identification process with a few other berries and even with a wild apple.

Although we may ask ourselves the question of how we knew these fruits were safe to eat as a child, this is no longer important. The question is if these wild edibles, that we are aware of, are in nature, a free, vitamin filled great tasting food, what else is in front of us, that we have overlooked?

Where To Start.
Minimal items are needed to start your adventure in the woods. The following list is all you should need to start.

• Walking shoes.
• A backpack or a cloth bag.
• A field guide.
• A small jack knife or a kitchen knife will work.
• and,bug spray.Some type of bug repellent is very necessary in New England. 
• Light garden gloves

This is all a beginning forager or wildcrafter needs.

Beginner Field Guides Suggestions

There are so many field guides to look through it becomes confusing. Being a avid hunter of wild edibles I find that simple in the beginning is better and many many pictures is a must. A few selections I have found useful are:

•  Foragers Harvest  by Samuel Thayer

•  Natures Garden by Samuel Thayer

•  The Complete Mushroom Hunter by Gary Lincoff 

Fortunately we are no longer forced to forage through the woods looking for a cure for an illness or forced to feed our families, but what are we missing?  Being able to identify a plant, know what it may be used for, even if we leave it, takes skill and research, but is a wonderful healthy hobby. 

Stay updated with description on the right of this blog. 
I will be adding edibles and information on how to identify these wonderful free edibles. 

For us hikers, we find enjoyment exploring the woods, viewing a beautiful unblemished scenery and being able to recognize edible resources is an added gift.

Kelly