Natural wild foods

[sidelock]

I remember finding chinquapins when I was a kid. Boy were they good, although a pain to get to. Any one know about them?

 

[George]

A friend fixed a treat in camp once, long ago, which I had never seen. It was a huge puffball mushroom. It was at least 12" in diameter, and he got it at the perfect time, while it was still absolutely white, firm and sort of brittle. Not long after that stage they quickly go yellow-tan-brown-blackish, get leathery and then change mostly into black, smoky spores. He cut thick slices, dipped them in batter and deep fried them golden brown. It doesn't get any better.

I've been trying to remember where I once stumbled on a patch of wild hazelnuts, can't dredge it up. They were dead ripe and I ate them straight off the bush, excellent.

Spence

 

[gearheart]

Great luck with the hazel nuts. Usually the squirrels and chipmunks get them first.

 

[George]

Yeah, I was surprised at that, too. I recently watched a video about beating the squirrels to hazelnuts. The fellow had figured out that you can pick the nuts when they aren't quite ripe enough for the squirrels and simply let them ripen off the tree. Seemed to work.

Spence

 

[satx78247]

You can also eat "recycled" hazelnuts as fried/braised/baked/stewed squirrel.

yours, satx

 

[tenngun]

Always thought that a rabbit was Gods way of making carrots eatable,deer for acorns,coon for persimmon ect :haha:

 

[satx78247]

Exactamento..

yours, satx

 

[sidelock]

I remember one (1) hazelnut tree when I was a kid. For sure it's not there now, but someday I may go back to see.

 

[Billnpatti]

Another of my favorite wild foods is the Mayapple. They are delicious but almost impossible to find ripe. Where they grow, you will see them when they are green but, the animals grab them the instant that they become ripe. The only way I have been able to get any ripe Mayapples is to find green ones and then place a home made cage over the plant to protect the fruit from the animals. For those who have never tasted a mayapple, the flavor is similar to a mango with a citrus touch to it. Absolutely delicious and worth the small effort to make the cages.

 

[sidelock]

You are sure right about being able to get,em before gone. When I was a kid I always watched for them to be ready but I have never eaten one.

 

[sidelock]

thimble berries.

 

[Billnpatti]

Oh, pawpaws, did anyone mention pawpaws? They are sometimes called Hoosier bananas. They are a lot like a rich banana in flavor. Some people are not particularly fond of them but, I find them to be quite tasty. They also make wonderfully delicious pawpaw bread that most everyone likes. Unfortunately, they don't grow here in Texas.

 

[Flint311]

Pawpaws are known as "Michigan bananas" around here, but many haven't heard of them. I know where to find them and tried them once. Should go back and find some again.

 

[sidelock]

I hope this thread continues. Brings back lots of memories of my bringing up.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Had mayapple for the first time a couple years ago, darn good.

We have a patch of prickly pear cactus here in PA. Must have been imported and planted, but it comes back every year and the inside of the pears taste like rasberry applesauce. Picked almost a gallon of wineberries over the weekend and a half gal of black berries. We have a stand of hickories and a few Chinese chestnuts as well as some wild cherries.

Those who partake of sassafrass be careful of the safriole in it. Apparently a scheduled controlled substance under fed law.

We also have some saskatoons and some high bush cranberries. we also have a few hundred black walnut trees.

 

[Flint311]

Black berries aren't ready here, yet. Black raspberries have been doing great, though. I have my eye on a couple wild rose bushes for rose hips late this fall. Haven't found a decent patch for may apples, since everything is overgrown since harvesting trees a couple years ago.

 

[powder jack]

I found a bunch of ground cherries today, happy camper, it sure had been a long time since I ate any of these. For anyone that has never tried them try to imagine a cross between a pineapple and a tomato, if you ever run out of spit while making spit patches ground cherries would solve that problem for sure. I remember the papaw blight of '58, the talk of the whole county. I don't remember anyone starving but papaws were surely missed that year.

 

[sidelock]

I ain't had no ground cherries fer like 70 year but they was surr good tho.

 

[sidelock]

We don't have blackberries here but huckleberries are comin in now and raspberries are prime.

 

[Billnpatti]

Hoosier bananas in Indiana and Michigan bananas in Michigan. That's funny. :haha: I'll bet that in Kentucky they are called Kentucky bananas. Call them what you will, those darned things are pretty good eats.