Carbs?

[big_swede]

I would like to know what you forage for carbohydrates. I tried reeves roots a couple of times, and don't really fancy the taste. Don't really know what's left out there. And spare me suggestions about dehydrated pasta dishes or quinoa, I'm talking about really roughing it now

Cheers

 

[Toddy]

Difficult in our damp Northern climes if you're not fond of roots and you haven't sourced grain or stashed nuts. Tree bark flours are possible too though.
I think in your case you're going to have to kill something fat

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[bent-stick]

There are plenty of simple carbohydrates in liver but in the main animals store their energy as fat. Convienently the short chain sugars help a long the TCA cycle that helps to mobilise the fat into energy.

For complex or long chain carbs you are looking at plant material. Mainly roots but also nuts and seeds (which is what rice wheat qinoa are really). Elm mucilage (soak the bark and come up with a bland jelly) is supposed to be quite nutricious. Don't know what you have in Sweden. I guess most of the deciduous trees don't get that far? Pine nuts perhaps? Some of the umbelifera like parsnips and carrots. I see these in Norfolk sometimes. They may be escapes rather than true natives though. And be careful a lot of the parsleys are deadly. And don't overlook the value of flowers.

In the short term it's quite posible to do with very few carbs. Consider the Inuit. They have a lo carb, high fat, high protein diet. Very suitable for the cold.


(I knew the OU S202 course would come in handy some time.)

edit:Toddy's beaten me to it in a much less wordy way

 

[torjusg]

Reedmace (cattail) is a very tasty plant. It has a limited range in Scandinavia, but I think that may be due to not have had enough time to spread rather than lack of suitable habitat.

So planting it in a shallow lake or pond could give a good result. I planted last year, hopefully they'll survive the winter and start spreading outwards this year.

 

[British Red]

Silverweed, Dandelion, Plantain, Burdock etc. are all good carb sources

 

[Mikey P]

Difficult in our damp Northern climes if you're not fond of roots and you haven't sourced grain or stashed nuts. Tree bark flours are possible too though.
I think in your case you're going to have to kill something fat

Cheers,
Toddy

See 'Fat Men Can't Hunt' thread in 'Bushcraft Chatter'

 

[Ed]

I tried reeves roots a couple of times, and don't really fancy the taste. Don't really know what's left out there

My favorite root at the moment is burdock which has loads of carbs.... like most roots. If you dont like the taste maybe you should look into 'flavoring' using plants and herbs etc..... they can make all the difference to a meal.


Ed

 

[Toddy]

See 'Fat Men Can't Hunt' thread in 'Bushcraft Chatter'

I rarely watch tv, but that sounds such a waste of a fantastic oppotunity to re-balance oneself both physically and nutritionally

I'm a little fat lady these days , and it's hard to lose weight when my exercise is limited, harder yet when our food supplies are easily obtained and food is not like alcohol or tobacco that one can just stop. I'd have had a ball there.......might have been physically miserable but what a learning opportunity

It sounds as though the producers deliberately looked for characters who would contribute the angst, hassle and emotional histrionics that they claim makes good, compelling, tv.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

-Cat tail tubers (also gather as much pollen as possible and make flour)

-Water lily tubers (from both yellow and white, yellow is better if you ask me)

-Pine cambium layer, take the inner bark of pine, boil it a bit, roast it and pound it into flour.

-Birch cambium, same process as the pine, just boil less than you would the pine.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head...

 

[Martyn]

Difficult in our damp Northern climes if you're not fond of roots and you haven't sourced grain or stashed nuts. Tree bark flours are possible too though.
I think in your case you're going to have to kill something fat

Cheers,
Toddy

You know Toddy, having watched the immense difficulty with which Mr Mears and his chum had trying to find something that would've been used as a staple carb by our hunter-gatherer ancestors, I think we must've been a lot more hunter than gatherer. There didnt seem many carb options and even less that seemed palatable.

 

[British Red]

I'm a little fat lady these days , and it's hard to lose weight when my exercise is limited, harder yet when our food supplies are easily obtained and food is not like alcohol or tobacco that one can just stop. I'd have had a ball there.......might have been physically miserable but what a learning opportunity

It sounds as though the producers deliberately looked for characters who would contribute the angst, hassle and emotional histrionics that they claim makes good, compelling, tv.

cheers,
Toddy

I'm sure thats not true Mary, but in any eventuality, the operative term in your case is lady.

At which point I'm sure you wouldn't have been a troubled enough individual to exploit.

I simply can't imagine why anyone would subject themselves to a journalist or most TV shows...unless there was a very great deal of money in it and somehow, I suspect that this is rarely the case

Red

 

[xylaria]

-Cat tail tubers (also gather as much pollen as possible and make flour)

-Water lily tubers (from both yellow and white, yellow is better if you ask me)

-Pine cambium layer, take the inner bark of pine, boil it a bit, roast it and pound it into flour.

-Birch cambium, same process as the pine, just boil less than you would the pine.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head...

Pine cambium is suprisingly pleasant :notworthy I haven't managed to quite make something that I would say was flour but tasted nice all the same.

I made a 'cookie' yesterday from cat-tail root. I found if you grate it with a fine grater it mostly seperates the hair from the starch. I then added a small amount of goats milk and dash of maple syrup. Rested it for few hours then baked it on a hot plate. It was nice but the kids complaned it was a bit hairy still.

 

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

Pine cambium is suprisingly pleasant :notworthy I haven't managed to quite make something that I would say was flour but tasted nice all the same.

I made a 'cookie' yesterday from cat-tail root. I found if you grate it with a fine grater it mostly seperates the hair from the starch. I then added a small amount of goats milk and dash of maple syrup. Rested it for few hours then baked it on a hot plate. It was nice but the kids complaned it was a bit hairy still.

I dry it out as much as I can and pound it until it's almost dust. Mix it with some cattail pollen and water and I have a bush dough.


As for the cattail awesome! Usually I just boil it or roast it on the coals and just eat it fibre and all. I'll try your cookie and grater approach this spring :You_Rock_ .

 

[Ketchup]

When in Scandinavia (Kristiansund, Norway) I noticed large extends of Angelica sp., possibly Angelica archangelica.
The root should be very tasty.