Recipes?

[Wildfyre]

What are some of your favorite recipes using wild plants? Or medicinal ones?

[zbery1]

I just made some salve to send out for chrismas gifts. I harvested devils club root after first frost, washed it and packed it in a wine bottle, covered it with olive oil and corked it. Over the next couple months I would turn it upside down a time or two every time I thought about. A couple days ago I crushed an ounce each of yarrow and golden rod that I had harvested and dried last summer and added it to about 1 1/2 cups of olive oil. I put this in a heavy bottomed pan on a cast iron grill on top of a gas burner at very low heat and warmed it for about 4 hours. After straining one cup of the oil from the bottle of devils club root I added it to 1 cup of the strained yarrow and golden rod oil and continued to warm it over the low heat while I grated 2 ounces of bees wax. I added the bees wax to the oil and stirring occasionally waited 'til every bit of wax had melted. When it had, I dipped a spoon into the mixture and put it in the freezer to make sure it would be the right consistancy before pouring it into the containers I had prepared. It hardened to a lovely, wonderful smelling salve that can be used on dry cracked skin, cuts, scrapes, and any external problems. I've even used it for lip balm.

The remainder of the oils I strained and combined to make massage oil. This I store in dark glass bottles and use on sore aching joints and muscles throughout the year.

[Northern_bushrat]

You can make a dandelion and fireweed pizza that'll put any spinach pizza to shame. Extremely yummy! Collect the young, tender leaves of dandelion and fireweed stalks just as the leaves begin to unfurl. Prepare your pizza dough and tomato sauce as you usually would. Steam the greens, squeeze out as much moisture as you can, sprinkle liberally with garlic and smother in cheese. Yuuuummmy!

You can also make a very nice pesto sauce for pasta out of dandelion and fireweed.

[NCLee]

I've recently begun expanding my DIY cookbook collection of "wild foods" recipes and prep methods.

Dandelions, cattails, acorns, kutzu, to mention a few. Here are some links that you may find to be of interest.

Native American recipes
http://www.nativetech.org/recipes/recipe.php?recipeid=115

Kutzu
http://www.southernangel.com/food/kudzurcp.html
Yucca
http://www.primitiveways.com/yuccas_and_agaves.html
Wild Game
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/Outdoors/recipe/Recipes.aspx
Assortment - Poke salit, acorns, Hickory nuts, game, etc.
http://www.grandpappy.info/indexrec.htm

Finally, I recommend downloading as many of the Bushcraft books as may be applicable for your situation. I downloaded all of them and printed them out, although I hopefully won't need everything in them if the SHTF. Book 4 covers a heck of a lot on wild food foraging. http://chrismolloy.com/www/p131

You may find some items of interest here http://drum-runners.com/ in the cooking and recipes section and in the medical - herbal remedies

Additonall, here's a book that may be of interest, too. It's available in paperback, btw. Stalking the Wild Asparagus http://www.amazon.com/Stalking-Wild-Asparagus-Euell-Gibbons/dp/0911469044

Finally, google individual incredients for lots more recipes, tips for harvesting, identification, etc. For example: "cattail recipes" or "acorn flour".

Couple of notes: If anyone in your family is taking prescription meds, be sure to cross reference any wild foods with those meds. There are several that grow around here that I'd love to use, but can't because they have negative side affects with prescription meds.

And, be SURE you know what you're picking and that you know exactly how it should be prepared. Poke salit is a delicious green, but can be deadly if it isn't properly picked and prepared.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your forgaging.
Lee