S. America - Patagonia - Valdivian Temperate Rainforest Edible Plants?!

[toby goodger]

Hi,

Does anyone have any knowledge or know of any books/websites which might help me. Im going on a 4 week trip into remote the Patagonian Rainforest this December - I'm struggling to find much info on what plants and berries there are to eat - i'm told by a local, not many - "a few berries in summer".

Its a small, unique environment which is mostly untouched and seems not much is known about it, so coulndt find much. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdivian_temperate_rain_forest

If anyone knows of some good food sources and berries that will definitely be in the area, mushrooms too, that would be amazing.

Cheers!

Toby.

 

[Janne]

The absence of answers tells you we do not have a clue.......
99.999% of us do not even have a clue where that area is. I have a good, oldfashioned paper atlas ( Encyclopedia Brittanica Atlas) I had to look in. Very exotic and interesting!

Can I be bold enough to recommend you try on a couple of USA based bushcraft/nature trekking sites?

 

[Robson Valley]

I looked at it. Several communities of vegetation in temperate rainforest. Soggy and gloomy with mostly a closed canopy.
To me, that implies not much for an understory (berry bushes.) Same as the rainforests here. I live in it.
Most of the shrubby things are shade intolerant. So you might forage with better luck along the edges of openings from fire/logging/etc.

Many "endemic" species meaning not much that any of us northern hemisphere inhabitants will recognize.
The further south you go, the earlier in the growing season it will be.
So, might not be much of anything ripe enough to eat.

Elderly, local women will be your best sources of information. I suggest you be prepared to pay for it.
And, you're next door to Hereford Corned Beef from Brasil and Argentina. Canned meat. Like Spam and Spork and Dork only beefy.
Tolerable with massive quantities of British mustard.

 

[Janne]

Francis Mallman is a famous chef with some connection to Patagonia.
His BBQ’s are how my heaven looks like.
Forget getting a slice of lsmb. Take the whole carcass and cook!

Check him out on Netflix, one of the earlier Chf’s Table programmes.

SPAM? Give that to your dog and RSPCA will knock on your door.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I would advise against trying to identify wild edibles down there for yourself. It is simply a matter of insufficient data available, and the usual risks involved in trying (new) wild foods. Fungi are a potential mine field, make a small error in identification and end up sick or dead. Why risk even feeling unwell on a trip of a life time?

I would expect that December is going to be too early in the summer for there to be much fruit, even if there are plants to bear it, although fruit are likely the safest things to try to identify. That page you link to suggests though that the plants may be closest to those found in New Zealand and Australian temperate rain forest, so might be worth looking for some forums from that part of the world, in addition to those in the US. I am put in mind of Les Hiddins Bush Tucker and how without someone like him to record those foods, specifically as food, you would be hard pressed to identify what was good or not as an over seas visitor.

Not entirely relevant, but Stuart, who works in tropical jungle told me that many of the foods listed in books about tropical forest are actually only present close to human settlements. They are good food, and get planted, or their seeds spread on the rivers down stream of settlements. That they can be very rare in really wild forest.