Edible Plants

There are a multitude of nutritious edible plants everywhere in nature. While time of year and location may affect availability, there is nearly always something for us to eat when we're out in the woods and fields.

Due to the risk of misidentification, I'm not going to be covering mushrooms in this article. The difference between nutrition and mortician can be very, very subtle. As the saying goes, "Every mushroom is edible, but some are edible only once."

Books

There are numerous books available on edible wild plants, such as Foraging: Explore Nature's Bounty and Turn Your Foraged Finds Into Flavorful Feasts by Mark Vorderbruggen and Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America by Sam Thayer, to name just two. The Official U.S. Army Illustrated Guide To Edible Wild Plants can be downloaded and stored on a mobile device for remote wanderings.

Smartphone Apps

iNaturalist is a useful app, available for both Android and iPhone, which is a cooperative database of plant identification. Users can query the existing information as well as upload their own discoveries and photos. As a resident of Tennessee, though, I particularly like the more specialized Tennessee Wildflowers app. The name is somewhat deceptive, as it isn't only about flowering plants, nor limited to the boundaries of just one state; it contains data on nearly 3,500 species of plants found in Tennessee and the surrounding areas, only about half of which are wildflowers. One of the better features of this app is that the database is local to the device, so it's useable even in areas of poor service.

Websites

There are also a number of plant identification sites on the web. Some are good, some not so good. One of my personal favorites is called Eat the Invaders, which is all about edible invasive species. It's useful information with a sense of humor. The Texas Real Food website, contrary to the name, has edible plant information indexed by state, but be warned that much of the information on the site is contained in videos. As usual, the Cornell Cooperative has a lot of useful information on their website.

Differences

An important detail to keep in mind is that some parts of the same plant may be more or less healthy to eat than others, or the same part may be more nutritious at different parts of its life cycle, or may require some preparation for best use.

Cattails

With cattails, for example, the young shoots, flowers, and pollen are best in the spring, while the stalks and roots are best in the fall. As a bonus feature, the head of a ripe cat tail dipped in oil or wax can make a useful torch, and the fluff can be used as tinder for fire starting.

Stinging Nettles

Similarly, nettles, (which are a source of Vitamins A, C, K, iron, calcium, and more) should be cooked before eating to deactivate the mild toxin in the stinging hairs. Use gloves when handling to avoid skin irritation.

Dandelions

Dandelions are a ubiquitous weed found almost everywhere in the continental United States. Harvesting them young (before the flowers erupt from their buds) is best, though they should be boiled in salted water to reduce the bitterness. The roots can be used for a tisane or tea substitute, and the leaves of the flower can be added to enhance salads.

A Final Word

It's a very good idea to use more than one source, and to compare them, when identifying plants for edibility, just in case one of the sources is in error. 

Eat safely, and eat well.