Favorite Edible Plants Of The Backcountry ?

[kansasdad]

Mrs kansasdad and I are going to see about some sandplums tomorrow. Jam for personal use, and giftings to generous landowners. Hopefully the arctic blast and a strong cold front in early spring will not have frozen them out, which has happened as often as not the last 10 years.

 

[GlockZ]

Every time I go into the woods, whether to scout, hunt, fish, or do some photography, I look for and try identify a new edible plant. The obvious berries of all varieties are great finds, the wood sorrel is my next favorite and rose hips are fantastic as well.

 

[BearFoot]

Blue berries in the Aug/Sept

 

[Wayne_Brent]

I’ve never been a big fan of morels, I’d much rather have the shrooms that pop up in late summer. Leatherbacks
Ramps
Sassafras tea

 

[cedahm]

Grouse whortleberry (same genus as blueberries and huckleberries) are my favorite but you practically need an acre of them to get a sandwich baggie full of them.

I feel you on this. My normal CO archery camp sits amongst many acres of them and we only harvested enough for a side dish/sauce one time and it took so long we were cooking by headlamp.

we have some good raspberry and chanterelle spots in the general vicinity But that’s about it for wild edibles that I know of.

I miss Ramps and morels…I would absolutely kill and eat more trout if we had those nearby.

 

[BigHornRam]

Grouse berries and wild strawberries are my favorite for flavor but you would probably starve to death finding enough to eat. Next year is looking like it will be a banner year for morels

 

[geetar]

Grouse berries and wild strawberries are my favorite for flavor but you would probably starve to death finding enough to eat. Next year is looking like it will be a banner year for morels

I had never had those grouse berries or strawberries till last year in the A-B wilderness. Like you said they are too few and far between to live off of but I’ve never had a better wild fruit.

 

[kansasdad]

Mrs kansasdad and I are going to see about some sandplums tomorrow. Jam for personal use, and giftings to generous landowners. Hopefully the arctic blast and a strong cold front in early spring will not have frozen them out, which has happened as often as not the last 10 years.

Bonus find…....the worlds second meanest plant….blackberries



Blueberry buckle scheduled for breakfast.





PS: the worlds meanest bush is the “wait-a-bit” bush. Hundreds of hypodermic needle sharp, curved every which way, hooked thorns per wispy branch. Walking along minding your own business and you get a couple of those jokers reaching out and snagging your legs, arms, etc, and you can’t help but say “wait-a-bit!!” (African savannah country)

 

[hank4elk]

Raspberries,blackberries,blueberries & huckles,elders,currants....most any berry, I have eaten it fresh,jam or in a pie.
Wild plums are a favorite & I have several growing now. Sand plums too.
Chantrells & morels.
Miners lettuce & purslaine.Wild onions.
Pine nuts,black walnuts.
Tried acorn mash once...................once.

 

[MinnesotaAA]

I’ve probably missed a few opportunities at black bears and moose because I was to busy scarfing down blueberries in Ak and not paying attention. In college when I worked in the BWCA I would pick blueberries and a girl at the outfitters would have pies and muffins made by the next day!

I would like to go to the desert and pick prickly pear cactus fruit sometime. We actually have them here but I’ve never seen them produce a viable fruit.

We have tons of wild plums and apples in the woods.

Love finding a good blueberry patch in the BWCA. Headed up the first weekend in August, but sounds like the berries froze in early June and are now pretty withered due to the heat.

Which outfitter did you work at? I worked a few summers at Tuscarora off the Gunflint trail.

 

[Millsworks]

Berries are normally all gone here by fall.
I gather wild onions, and my favorite mushroom, "hen of the woods".
They go great with some squirrel gravy.

 

[Sytes]

Always on edge over mushrooms. Never really read up enough, involved myself enough, to reach a comfortable point for picking shrooms.
An earlier hunt partner knew his shrooms incredibly well! We had some great meals!

I don't have patience/courage to jump into the mushrooms world (aside from morels) as I'm frequently solo. Don't need a psychedelic kick cuddling with yogi type event... heh!

 

[Pagosa]

Wild onions and eggs in the spring, goats milk huckleberry ice cream, and fried morels/venison/onions.

 

[Rzrbk]

We ate a lot of pokeweed growing up. Gotta boil the toxins off before eating. Fry in skillet with bacon grease, bacon pieces and added egg at the end. Good stuff!

Arkansas locals call the wild blueberries "huckleberries'..., regardless of what you call them, they make a cobbler that's best in the world!

 

[Sytes]

with bacon grease, bacon pieces and added egg at the end. Good stuff!

You had me @ bacon...

 

[TheNorthStar]

I love meadow muffins and road apples!

Don't forget Buffalo Chips!

 

[KB_]

not gonna lie, first glance at the name of this thread I thought it said edible pants.....

 

[BackofBeyond]

Huckleberries, hands down favorite. But I need to watch myself with them.

One time, back when I was just a young lad of 12 or maybe 13 years, I hiked the North Fork of the St. Joe from Heller Creek to Spruce Tree with a couple friends. Spent 4 days fishing and hiking, with the bonus of it was a banner, and I mean BANNER year for huckleberries. Bushes were just full of thumb nail sized berries, and they were all over. The three of us got in the habit of snapping off a branch and eating the berries while we hiked. Eat all the berries off the branch, reach down and snap off another. Easy peezy. Between the three of us, I'd be willing to bed we crushed a gallon a piece for the first couple days. Then it happened. We all were hit with the affliction that comes with too many berries - the trots. By the afternoon of day 3 there wasn't a piece of TP left in camp, and we were all sporting sleeveless t-shirts. Day 4 was our pick-up day, but for a good week following, all three of us had the foulest smelling gas, like push a buzzard off a gut pile type stench.

My friends went home, I got to climb into the car with my parents and sister, and make the 14 hour drive to eastern Montana to see my grandparents. Lucky them. My folks had AC, but much of the trip was spent with the windows down.

 

[BigHornRam]

Yogi likes huckleberries too. Plesently surprised to find some decent berries this morning considering how hot and dry it's been. We even got a little sprinkle of rain last night to keep the dust down.

 

[BackofBeyond]

Just watch where you step tomorrow morning until you get the lights turned on.