Читать книгу The Scout's Guide to Wild Edibles. Learn How To Forage, Prepare & Eat 40 Wild Foods онлайн

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For more than a decade, Dr. Gail strived to develop a directory of foraging instructors across the U.S. His ambitious goal was to find enough people so that there would be someone within 50 miles of anyone wanting help. Eventually, Dr. Gail agreed to pass the task on to Sunny Savage. She worked on it for several years and then found that Deane Jordan (aka “Green Deane”) was willing to post the list on his website. To learn if there is an instructor near you, go to http://www.eattheweeds.com and click on “Foraging Instructors.”

Harvesting

To have a good experience with edible wild plants and wild mushrooms, it helps to know more than just their identity. You must also know what part of the plant or mushroom is edible. For example, the ripe fruit of a mayapple is a treat and makes a magnificent marmalade, but the rest of the plant is poisonous. While the cap of the scotch bonnet mushroom is delicious cooked, the stem is too fibrous to eat.

Timing the harvest is also critical: Siberian elm samaras (small, flat “wings” with a seed inside) are delicious when the winged portion is green – handfuls of them can be stripped off the tree and eaten on the spot. They are moist and nutty. When the winged portion turns brown, however, they become dry and papery. The length of time they are at their peak is only one week. You can find out when that occurs by making frequent observations beginning before the tree leafs out in the spring.