I did a quick search on edible plants and didn't find any post dealing primarily with this. I have tried several edible plants and there aren't any that I thought were great. I'll post my opinions of the few I've tried and ask that anyone else that has tried something post their results or opinions as well. I'm not gaurenteeing that any of these are safe just ones I've tried in moderation.<br><br>Cattails-ate the tuber/root portion both fried and boiled. Pretty plain probably would go good in soup.<br><br>Wintergreen Berries-these where the best.<br><br>Prickly Pear-the leaf had a plain vegetable like taste. Had a slimy feel that would not go away even when fried. The fruit was ok but almost all seed. It is very hard to get out all the pickers.<br><br>Stag horn Sumac-I boil the red fuzzy part, only the balls themselves. If you boil the stems it becomes to bitter. With sugar this is similar to lemonade.<br><br>White Pine-Tried the pine needle tea. Its ok.<br><br>Mullin or Great Mullin-I tolerate the tea, its almost ok with honey. http://altnature.com/gallery/mullien.htm<br><br>Dandelion tried these batter and fried. Ok but a little squishy http://www.planetherbs.net/plants/dandelion.htm<br>

in New England, USA I have had good experience with the following,<br><br>fiddlehead ferns - these are young shoots of braken fern before they unroll - quite tasty as you pick them but remember to rub off the fur. (Can also be steamed and buttered but if you have the butter you are probably not in a survival situation)<br>Dandylion greens - tasty if you pick them before the plant flowers otherwise very bitter<br><br>Lamb's quarters - very tasty green mild flavor and abundant<br><br>wild strawberry - these never grow beyond the size of your pinky nail but they are far superior to the tast of the cultivated variety. They are abundant in fields and waste lots in the early spring through mid june. The leaves make a passable tea.<br><br>all true mints make tasty teas. Pepper mint, spear mint and catnip<br><br>wintergreen leaves are tasty enough as you pick them any time of the year - I haven't tried the berries<br><br>Blue berries, huckle berries and their relatives are quite recognizeable and abundant in the mid summer to late fall and very tasty.<br><br>Black berries, black raspberries are recognizeable and abundant from early summer into early fall the leaves make a delicious tea any time of the year. the young shoots are said to be edible if you pick them before the thorns harden.<br><br>Apple trees are almost everywhere that has ever been cultivated and provide abundant food in the mid to late fall. Watch out to be sure you aren't invading an orchard though - crab-apples are edible but extremely tart.<br><br>Rose-hips are very tart but quite nutritious Make decent tea when dried and are edible as picked.<br><br>Queen-Anns lace is the wild carrot and is fairly abundant. The tubors are much smaller than the cultivated carrot but equally nutritious and tasty - though tougher.<br><br>Sassafras is the most delicious tea I have ever concocted in the wild. As far as I know there is no nutritional value though the folk tales consider it a diet aid - make it with the bark of the root. - similar in taste to birch tea<br><br>Birch tea made from the inner bark of the birch tree. I believe that any variety will do though tastes differ.<br><br>Beech nuts are edible and tasty and store well. these are common in the same forests with birch. <br><br>Only nut I know to stay away from is the chestnut some varieties are poisonous.<br><br>acorns are extremely bitter but quite edible and nourshing - If you have to resort to eating them I'm told that soaking and boiling and soaking with many changes of water will blanch out most of the bitterness. You might also try adding something acidic like rose-hips or crab-apples or lemon-grass to the water (I haven't done much experimenting with acorns due to the extreme bitterness) There are recipies for making bread with acorn flour that call for quite involved preparation of the acorn.<br><br>Disclaimer:<br><br>I am not a botanist, nutritionist, field guide, doctor or farmer. These are merely some of my experiences and thoughts. The responsbility for the consequences of your decisions is wholey yours I neither advise that you follow my example nor advise against it.

My wife and I are going to a small wild edibles class in NY state this Saturday. I'll pass along any good points we learn.<br><br><br>Chris

I have eaten watercress a lot when I was a kid. Just watch out where you get it. Close to a spring, good water, not just downstream from cowpiles or sewage dump.

I'm pretty sure that the deer I'm going to eat tonight probably fed on most of this... would you like me to report later on how tasty it is? <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I agree heartily. The best preparation for wild plants prior to eating them is to let some large herbivore consume them and prepare them into tasty steaks for you. It is then a simple matter of harvesting the herbivor and not the plants themself. Handy that the wild is equipped with such efficient plant processors.

Yes!

And as it turned out, the results were quite tasty. Certainly moreso than a boiled root! I had a little left over... I think I may put it into my dehydator and turn it into jerkey. (yet more insurance against having to eat the wild plants directly <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />)