THE EDIBLE WILD
This course will begin April 28th 2010
Wednesdays at 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Dress for
weather conditions. Expect rain, mud, mosquitoes.
6 sessions include 5 field trips,
banquet and recipes.
Classes meet in the field.
Sites and menu determined by Mother Nature and announced the previous week.
Register early, class size limited. Payable ahead to reserve space
Registration $100.00
FREE Introductory Field Trip to Wolf's Grove, Saturday, April 24 10-4 PM, Bring a bag lunch
Call Martha at (613) 839-5217 to register
Attention,
wild foragers. Just because something is in print does not make it a
fact. There is no standardization for the multiple field guides to
harvesting and eating wild-growing plants. Some printed before 1964
have an excuse for including toxic species, that is when John
Kingsbury, Botany professor, Cornell University, published "Poisonous
Plants of the United States and Canada". He cited extensive poisoning
of horses and cattle after feeding on the bracken fern. In 1977, both
bracken and ostrich ferns were tested for toxicity at MIT. The
ostrich fern (Matteucia struthiopteris) was found to be a safe
comestible, but the bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), all parts and all
stages of maturity, was declared unsafe for animal or human
consumption. The bracken has triggered tumours (carcinogen),contains
thiaminase which destroys vitamin B in the body and a mutagen.
My first test for any book on wild edibles is its role for bracken
ferns. Surprising how many still list it as edible. My second is to
look at the bibiography which should list one or more current
references to plant toxicity. Also a problem is the use of common
names for plants, without listing the one scientific name by which it
is recognized worldwide. A common name can be whatever you want it to
be. A third caution is because plants contain whatever is in the soil,
a clean, unsprayed, habitat is a must. Forget those clusters of wild
grapes or cherries along a roadside, too many toxins from road use and
traffic.
A very important consideration is the exact identification using
taxonomic characteristics. There are many "look-a-likes" out there and
so often one is toxic as in the lily family,(Lilleaceae, wild leek and lily of the valley leaves for example) and in the carrot family (Umbelliferae,
with both wild carrot (ancestor of the garden carrot and deadly
hemlock).This is especially tricky when identifying edible mushrooms.
Be very sure before you taste. There is still much to learn about the
chemical composition and its properties. Wild ginger has been valued
for its flavour as in our dandelion jam recipe and in the past for
woodsman's "candy", until medical properties related to those of its
relatives in the old world were recently confirmed in our species.
I recommend "Wild Flowers and Weeds" by Courtenay and Zimmerman
for identification by family grouping with coloured illustrations, and
"Deadly Harvest" by Kingsbury. Both are out of print, but often
available on the web.