Eating on the wild side
I like to eat wild food.
I am not talking about chewing the back leg off a bunny here, although I did go to a party once where the menu was made up entirely of wild game and where I sampled delicacies such as moose burgers and porcupine balls. "It's all in the marinade," they told me. But here I am referring to wild plant food and, more specifically, edible berries.
Berry, by botanical definition, means, "fruit with seeds enclosed in pulp (e.g. gooseberry, tomato, banana)"
Tomato? Banana? Not in the wilds of Quebec. Actually, I am thinking more along the gooseberry, raspberry line.
Wild strawberries, long past now, are my all-time favorite native fruit. To me they represent all that is great about the outdoors -- they are intensely sweet, are beautiful to look at, and can be enjoyed for free.
I have been known to come home with stained knees and backside after crawling around a berry patch and sitting in the middle of it to eat what I gathered
Black raspberries, red raspberries, and Allegheny blackberries tie for second place on my list. Most people can correctly identify these safe-to-eat berries along with the low-growing bushes of wild blueberries.
The only caution I might add is to remind you to make plenty of noise as you approach a berry patch, especially if it is located on the edge of a forest. We do have black bears in our area and they enjoy a juicy raspberry as much as the next omnivore.
A loud rendition of "Piece of My Heart," Janis Joplin-style, ought to do the trick. A quick pre-picking scout for wasp nests is also advisable.
When walking through the woods or fields at this time of year, you will notice an assortment of attractive berries other than those I have just mentioned. Some are edible and many are not. Of those that are not, most just taste bad but a few can actually harm you.
Many of the inedible berries look so yummy that small children are sometimes tempted to taste them. Every time I take school children on a nature walk, I remind them never to eat anything unless a knowledgeable adult checks it first.
The same applies to you, if you are not sure of what you are eating, don't eat it.
Here are just a few of the berries you should definitely steer clear of when foraging.
A person would have to eat more than just a few to experience the symptoms of poisoning. This probably, in part, explains why birds and small mammals can tolerate toxic berries in their diet. They do not consume enough for the toxins to reach dangerous levels.
Some animals have simply developed immunities to the toxins.
Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyyum, produces scarlet berries in a cluster between two large leaves. The whole plant is intensely irritating to humans but the fruit is a favorite of wild turkeys and thrushes.
Elderberries, Sambucus canadensis, and highbush cranberries, Viburnum trilobum, are often harvested for human consumption. Both can be used to make to make jelly. If this is your practice, make sure you are picking ripe berries only.
Unripe elderberries contain cyanide and can cause severe diarrhea. Unripe highbush cranberries can also make you sick.
While I'm still on the topic of poisonous plants, there are a few other plants in our region that would kill you outright if you ate any part of them. On the up side, these plants 1) do not have berries and 2) do not look like anything you would ever want to put in your mouth. They are out there, though, so beware of home remedies involving plants you are not completely familiar with.
This is all less than cheery information but essential to understand, appreciate, and gain a healthy respect for our wild plant population. You shouldn't drive a car if you don't know the rules of the road and you shouldn't eat wild plants if you don't know how to identify them. The naturalist Beth Girdler writes from Ayer's Cliff, Quebec.
Copyright © 2000 Beth Girdler/Log Cabin Chronicles/08.00 |
