Has anybody eaten this from sheer natural curiosity ? It contains a third more calories than honey or corn flakes apperently people have survived off it for months.
Rock tripe lichen
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I think that's apocryphal.
It's an occasional famine food, it's a delicacy in the far east, it's a dye here, and it weighs almost nothing, so even if it is more calorifically heavy than cornflakes....( honey ? I really doubt that, honey is almost pure sugar, 82g per 100g of honey ).....you can't get more out than it contains.
Think of it more as an enriched seaweed.
There's a reason we grow sugar beet in this country, and not rock tripe lichen, put it that way.
It's one of those 'survival' food rations that is touted and the word spread about and the reality is that you'd have to be damned hungry to try it, hungry like folks boiling up old leather to soften it to eat, hungry.
It doesn't grow in enough quantity to be cropped beyond being a 'delicacy'. I seriously doubt that the energy expended in collecting it is more than that gained from the plant.
We're not reindeer. Better let them eat it and folk eat them instead.
Have I tried it ? yes, not very appealling, didn't really taste sweet tbh, and I ended up using it in a dyebath instead
It's an occasional famine food, it's a delicacy in the far east, it's a dye here, and it weighs almost nothing, so even if it is more calorifically heavy than cornflakes....( honey ? I really doubt that, honey is almost pure sugar, 82g per 100g of honey ).....you can't get more out than it contains.
Think of it more as an enriched seaweed.
There's a reason we grow sugar beet in this country, and not rock tripe lichen, put it that way.
It's one of those 'survival' food rations that is touted and the word spread about and the reality is that you'd have to be damned hungry to try it, hungry like folks boiling up old leather to soften it to eat, hungry.
It doesn't grow in enough quantity to be cropped beyond being a 'delicacy'. I seriously doubt that the energy expended in collecting it is more than that gained from the plant.
We're not reindeer. Better let them eat it and folk eat them instead.
Have I tried it ? yes, not very appealling, didn't really taste sweet tbh, and I ended up using it in a dyebath instead
All sources online say it’s high in calories Wikipedia claims higher than honey but tbh wikepedia isn’t a trusted source info there’s a crag near me with a tonne off the stuff so I was Just curious .I think that's apocryphal.
It's an occasional famine food, it's a delicacy in the far east, it's a dye here, and it weighs almost nothing, so even if it is more calorifically heavy than cornflakes....( honey ? I really doubt that, honey is almost pure sugar, 82g per 100g of honey ).....you can't get more out than it contains.
Think of it more as an enriched seaweed.
There's a reason we grow sugar beet in this country, and not rock tripe lichen, put it that way.
It's one of those 'survival' food rations that is touted and the word spread about and the reality is that you'd have to be damned hungry to try it, hungry like folks boiling up old leather to soften it to eat, hungry.
It doesn't grow in enough quantity to be cropped beyond being a 'delicacy'. I seriously doubt that the energy expended in collecting it is more than that gained from the plant.
We're not reindeer. Better let them eat it and folk eat them instead.
Have I tried it ? yes, not very appealling, didn't really taste sweet tbh, and I ended up using it in a dyebath instead
I looked. Most sources seem to say it’s a famine food and only Britanica makes a claim about it being high in calories ‘It contains about one-third more calories than equal amounts of honey, corn flakes, or hominy’ - not sure what their source is or if they are comparing it weight for weight, volume - or indeed just made it up!
Either way it looks rank.
It grows very slowly. So slowly, and many of them are really under threat now, that I never, ever, demonstrate using lichens of any variety in public.
If where you are there's loads of the rock tripe though, you might try a bit and see what you think for yourself.
Honestly, I don't think it's worth the effort beyond knowing that it's something else edible....just.
Did you know that you can eat the inner layer of the bark of trees ? You can peel it and toast it, grind it up and use it like flour.
It's hard going though, it's a lot of work but it's food, especially if you time it right and the bark is full of the plant's sugars.
If you look up pettu you'll come across Finnish videos etc., showing it.
Pine and birch usually used. Find a forestry plantation after a wind and there'll be something down that you could try......or is that me giving illegal advice ?
M
If where you are there's loads of the rock tripe though, you might try a bit and see what you think for yourself.
Honestly, I don't think it's worth the effort beyond knowing that it's something else edible....just.
Did you know that you can eat the inner layer of the bark of trees ? You can peel it and toast it, grind it up and use it like flour.
It's hard going though, it's a lot of work but it's food, especially if you time it right and the bark is full of the plant's sugars.
If you look up pettu you'll come across Finnish videos etc., showing it.
Pine and birch usually used. Find a forestry plantation after a wind and there'll be something down that you could try......or is that me giving illegal advice ?
M
You know the 'rabbit starvation' equation of food procurement ?
I think it applies here too.
Variety is healthy, seasonal availability is crucial, choice morsels are worth searching out (honey for instance) but a lot of things like this, you can lose more than you gain.
I think it applies here too.
Variety is healthy, seasonal availability is crucial, choice morsels are worth searching out (honey for instance) but a lot of things like this, you can lose more than you gain.
