Introducing Wild Edibles

The first question is:  why would anybody want to go to the trouble to eat a bunch of wild stuff?  I would answer that the “wild stuff” is the least expensive form of fresh local organic food.   It doesn’t get picked somewhere in California, traveling thousands of miles while spending days on refrigerated trucks and in refrigerated warehouses.  It goes from a vibrant plant straight into your mouth.  Surely something so fresh and natural packs plenty of nutrition.  Wild edibles are available year-round with no effort on your part to grow them.   There is also the added sense of security in knowing that if a natural disaster struck you could go out into your yard and find good healthy things to eat.

Every reference I have ever seen on wild edible plants contains the same admonition:  don’t ever attempt to eat any plant that you cannot positively identify.  That means that before you begin searching for wild edibles you have to be willing to do some homework.  You can’t just use the plant’s common name.  You have to look up the scientific name and then look at lots of photographs and descriptions of the plant in question to ensure positive identification.

Fortunately there is an excellent online reference for this purpose: USF's Florida Atlas of Vascular Plants.  It provides a way to do a search on a plant’s common name to determine the corresponding scientific name.  The Atlas will tell you if the plant is found in Hillsborough County.  In most cases there are photographs of the plant to help you to positively identify it.

Another good reference is the Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern/Central North America.  It provides the scientific name as well as drawings and photographs to assist you in positive identification.

Once you are sure you can positively identify an edible wild plant, you need to look for it in an area that is free from herbicides or insecticides.  You also need to avoid areas that might be polluted such as areas next to busy highways or areas where people walk their dogs.

After positively identifying the plant in an uncontaminated area you are ready to try the first sample.  If your research reveals it can be eaten raw, then pinch off a bit of the edible portion and rinse it off.  Put the portion in your mouth and chew on it for a few seconds.  Are you noticing any adverse or allergic reaction?  If you did your homework properly, then the answer will almost certainly be NO.

Now you can swallow your first sample.  If you’re still not experiencing any problems then you can eat a couple more bites.  At this point I recommend that you stop and not eat any more until the following day.  You can increase the quantity once you are certain that you tolerate this plant well.

Are you willing to undertake a short homework assignment?   The first wild edible you ought to try is common yellow woodsorrel.  It is a very common “weed.”  This plant tends to infiltrate my lawn, my mulched areas and my containers. Sometimes it bears small yellow flowers but frequently there are no flowers showing on the plant.

Look at numerous photographs of common yellow woodsorrel until you can positively ID it.  I’ll give you a hint:  the scientific name for the local variety is Oxalis corniculata.  The raw leaves have a slightly sour, lemon-like flavor.   I mainly use its raw leaves in tossed salads or mixed into tuna salad.  Use the basics I outlined above and try some woodsorrel.