The Healthy Mile -- Edible Plants Along The Highway

This year, on the July long weekend, I took a walk along Highway 317 in Manitoba. It is a relatively barren route, on a sand hill formed by the old Lake Agassiz’s retreat. Nearby is the Libau bog, and the area is primarily a pine forest. Yet, in the first mile, I found so many edible plants on that national holiday that I could have eaten for weeks with ample nutrition.

To start with, the various wild grasses and grains are already forming their seeds, providing a starch and flour base. Awned wheatgrass grows here, and also can be eaten.

The edge of the highway is adorned with both yellow and white sweet clover flowers. The flowers, young shoots and leaves are all edible, and many people eat the roots. However, if the clover has become mouldy due to excess moisture after cutting, coumarin forms. This can be toxic in large doses, and livestock have died from eating rotted clover. Purple clover flowers make a great tea, and can be dried for winter use.

Much like the purple clover, volunteer alfalfa grows along the ditches. Although it is not truly a wild plant, it has spread from farmer’s trucks hauling seed along 317.

Of course, the pine forest can be part of the main course, too. Pine needles and seeds are edible (although the seeds arrive much later). A few diehards eat the buds that form and fall in May & June. These little rust-coloured buds look too much like the pine beetles that infest the area for my liking.

Both yellow and pink lady slippers are abundant. Like the Western Red Lily (Tiger lily), the roots and flowers are edible, but they are much too attractive to destroy!  On the other hand, many reports suggest that the bluebell is poisonous, although no fatalities have been reported.

As I walked along, I stopped often to snack on the tiny alpine strawberries that are so abundant in these wastelands.

For spices, prairie sage (looking very much like tame sage) and wild bergamot are abundant.  An odd plant, goatsbeard produces a relatively small yellow flower like the dandelion, but a massive feathery seed ball, five to ten times the size of a dandelion. This plant, too, is edible (the root).

Goldenrod is just coming into bloom. This plant has many uses, as does dandelion. A noxious weed, tansy is invading the province but, in moderation, can be eaten.

Horsetail, with its high silica content, is a great medicinal plant, but far too gritty to enjoy as an edible. On the other hand, take a lesson from cattle and horses, and don’t even think about eating foxtail. Its feathery fronds tear at stomach linings and can cause severe bleeding.

Other flowers, like the hairy puccoon and large leaf aster, also are used in culinary preparations, but one of the most versatile is the cattail. Its root is a potato, a thickener, a vegetable. Its young shoots are asparagus or boiled greens while its fluffy seed pod has been used as a base on which to sleep.

Many of the plants have both medicinal and culinary uses. Few are harmful. I guess these native plants are just like Manitoba residents: sometimes bland, almost always good for you and very rarely noxious!

Web Information Not Always Reliable

My mother used to tell me, “Only believe half of what you see, and nothing of what you hear.”  It was a good adage in the era preceding the Internet.  Today, a caveat should be added – “And very little of what you read.” This is particularly true when it  comes to claims of health and nutrition benefits for wild plants.

Ironically, many of North America’s edible wild plants actually were domestically harvested in Europe: dandelion, horseradish, hawthorne and so on.  However, many of the claims of edibility or health benefit for other wild harvests should be treated sceptically, if not suspiciously.

Several years ago, I purchased a book on edible wild plants of Canada, and set out to sample as many of these culinary delights as possible.  I had been raised eating wild foods, such as pigweed and dandelion, and relying on medicinal benefits of Seneca root, common plantain, white willow and spruce needles.  Yet, I wanted to expand my arsenal of edibles.  The author of this book claimed to be an authority on harvesting plants in the wild.

I should have been alerted to the potential for error with the first trial.  He claimed that cattail roots were delightfully tasty, and had a root like a small potato.  I don’t know where he grew potatoes, but it must have been meagre soil, indeed!  The vast majority of cattail roots are miniscule bulbs, about half the size of an egg.  These are first- and second-year roots.  Yes, a few are the size of new potatoes, but you need to sift through the sands for ages to find these diamonds.

The next misstep by this author came with his claim of the ease with which we can harvest thistle roots.  “Simply wash, peel and boil these roots for fifteen to twenty minutes,” he stated.  I washed, I peeled, I scraped, I boiled, and I boiled, and I boiled.  For over two hours, these easy-to-cook roots simmered and bubbled.  When I placed them in front of my son and myself, the only benefit they provided was that they made us eager to devour the rest of the meal.  At no time in the cooking process did they become tender.  I have chewed on softer birch bark than these roots offered. 

Of course, a simple statement that one needs to select first-year roots would have been adequate.  Since that experience, I have eaten thistle root often.  I have moved from boiled root ( a somewhat bitter, yet bland  experience) to a sautéed root, peeled and spice with thyme or wild sage. 

While the misinformation in this book may be somewhat amusing, relying on the misinformation on the Web can be dangerous at worst, confusing at best.  In my own realm, for instance, I have personally tested each of the plants about which I have written, and researched toxicity.  Yet, my reaction to consumption is subjective.  I eat copious amounts of morels in the spring, without unpleasant reaction, Yet, others may become ill with one small morel.  My own experience is not sufficient to stand in the place of scientific authority, though.

After publishing my various articles, I have searched the Net, only to find my pieces re-published by others, under their own name, claiming personal experience and knowledge.  How often are the stories we read based on mere plagiarism, and without substance or validity? 

The best safeguard is to research at least three competing articles on each plant, and follow up by checking more reliable authorities on toxicity, such as university websites and reputable clinics around the world.  This method offers good comfort as to poisonous or toxic elements in any wild plant.  The reliability of the culinary value, though, will provide you with more than sufficient adventure, as you discover some of the bizarre menu suggestions on the Web.  Good eating! 

Fiddlehead Ferns Offer Music For Your Tastebuds With

It’s spring in the moist woodlands of North America when fiddlehead ferns begin to unleash their soft green tongues like a frog set to strike at an insect.  These greens are one of the most tender and juicy wild harvest foods, available worldwide. 

Fiddleheads in North America commonly are associated with the wet east coast or west coast rainforests, yet varieties can be found in abundance across the continent.  Simply put, the fiddlehead fern is not really a type of fern of its own, but a general description of the new growth shoots for all of the fern family. 

Like morels and other short-season spring delicacies, fiddleheads are available for brief days each year. They appear through the soft leaf beds of wet woodlands and shady waterway edges as soon as the ground begins to warm, quickly unfurl their fronds and rush toward full growth in a week or so.  Unlike morels, they do not hide from sight, but form the lush carpets and undergrowths of many forests and thickets.

Two varieties of ferns – Bracken and American Royal – grow across North America, with the Ostrich fern found mostly on the east coast. Harvest them by clipping the uncurled sprouts.  These wild plants are havens for small insects, dust and pollutants, and should be washed thoroughly before eating.  While many instances of mild illness have been reported (mostly due to improper washing or cooking), there are very few reports of allergic or toxic reactions.

Because fiddleheads are neither a soft leafy vegetable or crisp root-like consistency, they are suitable for a variety of cooking styles and recipes.  Simply sautee the greens in butter and a dusting of garlic, pepper, basil for a delightful side dish.  Alternatively, boil the greens and serve with a little thyme. Top angel hair pasta with steamed fiddleheads spiced with paprika, thyme, cayenne and onion powder.  Dash olive oil over dish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Fiddleheads can be a feature ingredient for a number of salads, used as a soup ingredient, served with a lightly-cooked root crop mix, breaded in oat bran, flax flour and corn meal prior to deep frying, or even pickled in brine after blanching.

One of the most exhilarating wild harvest meals that I have enjoyed in early spring began with a salad of fiddlehead, dandelion and strawberry leaf, doused with raspberry vinaigrette.  The main course included boiled and buttered cattail root (potato-like consistency), fried dandelion roots, boiled fiddlehead greens, morels served with hamburgers blended with ground common plantain seed (harvested the prior year and dried) and freshly harvested horseradish root, grated and mixed with vinegar.

Spring is a season of opportunity for the lover of wild foods, and the opening act of that season is fiddlehead greens!