The edible plant calender

[Ahjno]

Recently there where lots of requests for lists with plants that could be used in the outdoors. Preferably ordered by month.
As some already know, I'm currently working on a (very big) project regarding plants ... Before there will be any result shown on the forum I decided to do a mini version with about 95 plants - the results are shown below. Within a few months there will be more information available about these plants, other than their edible qualities.

I hope this will suffice in the mean time, and this will help to make more people enthousiast about edible plants.

NOTE: Before you eat any of the plants, as mentioned below, you should perform the personal tolerance test - to ensure you don't suffer from any allergies, etc.

Personal Tolerance Test

The test will not work for mushrooms and fungi!

When you decide to test a plant, make sure the plant is plentifull in your environment. There is no point in testing a plant which is rare (and most of the time protected by law), as you’re violating the law and only have a small resource.

Test only one part of the plant (fruit, leaves, stem, root) on one person at a time, so you can monitor any adverse reactions.

Apply some of the juice to a sensitive area of the skin, such as the inside of your wrist. If any evidence of swelling or a rash appears, then discard it.

Now for the taste test: place a small portion in your mouth for about a minute. If no adverse reaction is encountered after 20-30 minutes, then chew a small portion, but do not swallow it! If no problems are encountered after 20-30 minutes, then chew and swallow a small piece.

Once again if no nausea, stomach pain, cramps, sickness, dizziness, sleepiness, etc. is experienced eat a spoonful and if you have no reaction, you should be ok.

EDIT: Please see the tip Bilko gave in post #6 in this thread

The yellow marked text in the calender are things I'm not certain of. These are:
- English names of plants, or
- For a plant there are more than one name, or
- It's a part of the plants anatomy of which I don't know the english translation of ... (haven't got a dictionary at hand ..)

These will be altered as soon as possible though.

If you find any faults, errors, incorrect info - let me know!!

 

[BorderReiver]

Would you please explain what the "X" means Safe or Unsafe.

Edit: Brain in gear.All plants edible;"X" when available?

 

[torjusg]

Excellent work.

There are really quite few plants that are poisonous in Northern Europe, but also quite few plants that are economically (input to output ratio, energywise) or have particular nutritive benefits (much minerals, vitamins, flavouring).

To increase it's usefulness, maybe you should divide the list into three categories (some plants may have parts that fit into several categories):
- Energy providers. Plants with a high calory return per expended labour unit.
- Plants of particular nutritive interest.
- Wild spices or flavours.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Ahjno]

Would you please explain what the "X" means Safe or Unsafe.

If you have already said and I missed it,sorry.

Sorry about that mate - good question though .
The "X" marks the month(s) in which you can collect a specific part of the plant for eating. For example: Yarrow, you can eat / collect its leaves (they are best in) April and May.

Excellent work.

There are really quite few plants that are poisonous in Northern Europe, but also quite few plants that are economically (input to output ratio, energywise) or have particular nutritive benefits (much minerals, vitamins, flavouring).

To increase it's usefulness, maybe you should divide the list into three categories (some plants may have parts that fit into several categories):
- Energy providers. Plants with a high calory return per expended labour unit.
- Plants of particular nutritive interest.
- Wild spices or flavours.

Torjus Gaaren

Thanks for your input Torjus!
Already had the idea of doing something along those lines in the bigger project (as this calender is just a wee small bit of the iceberg ).
Thank you for the 3 categories tip - very usefull. I'll definately have a look if it's possible to incorporate it like that in the bigger project.

Cheers for the comments guys
:You_Rock_

 

[BorderReiver]

Cross posted.

 

[bilko]

Wow!
That's a useful list even though i don't know what most of them are.
Can i humbly suggest an addition to the tolerance test. Make a note of each and every plant/fruit tested and a time it was tested. Also a small sample of the plant. This will help a doctor/toxicologist enormously if there is an adverse reaction particularly if you are not feeling well enough to explain the plant properly.
Saying that though i would assume one would need a good botanic knowledge in the first place before experimenting
Looking forward to the finished results :You_Rock_

 

[JonnyP]

Excellent work Johan.
For your information on some of the english names you were unsure of.............

Lambs quarters, also called Fat hen
Pot marigold, also called Marigold
Sweet woodruff, also called Woodruff
Wood avens, also called Herb bennet
Marsh pepperweed, also called Water pepper
Lambs lettuce, also called Cornsalad

Hope this helps..................Jon

 

[-Switch-]

Good thread! I'm going to be printing this out


Another slight addition to the personal tolerance test: Remember to test the plant prepared in the way you intend to eat it. If you want to eat it raw then test it raw; if you then want to fry it for a few minutes before eating then do the same test again with a piece that has been fried etc.

 

[lits]

Wow thats a great job. Definatly worth printing out. :You_Rock_
Cheers

 

[Ahjno]

Jon ... :You_Rock_ Thank you so much for helping me out on those names!

-Switch- Excellent tip mate! I tried to add it in the original post, but the server thingie doesn't allow me to
If you (or anyone else) fancy a proper copy (it's a MS .doc file) of it let me now mate. Just PM an e-mail address, and I'll sort you out.

Cross posted.

Pun intended?

 

[Galemys]

If you find any faults, errors, incorrect info - let me know!!

KNOPPEN (dutch) is BUDS (english)

Great job Ahnjo, thanx,

Tom

 

[Daniel]

What a fantastic resource. Can't wait to see the full thing when you're finished. I can't imagine how much work this must be for you to get all this together! :You_Rock_

I didn't know the daisy was edible... This one stood out to me because it's one of the only one's I know I'll recognise easily. Is this the common daisy found in one's garden?

If so I'd love to try it, does it need any special preparation?

Dan

 

[Joeri]

wow! what a great & usefull list.
My compliments to you!!!

 

[gunnix]

Nice list! It's great to eat wild plants

My favorite is the Stinging Nettle in a soup. Tastes delicious.

And now if all people would just put them in soups then I'd never have to run into them anymore (awww )


Are you making a booklet of edible plants? (By the way, no dutch names? :/ )

Since we both speak dutch, can I ask you if you have any favorite field guide for plants (in dutch) ?

I'm also studying a lot about plants, I follow a herborist course. There are so many plants that you are never done studying ! (or making a list of them)

 

[JonnyP]

What a fantastic resource. Can't wait to see the full thing when you're finished. I can't imagine how much work this must be for you to get all this together! :You_Rock_

I didn't know the daisy was edible... This one stood out to me because it's one of the only one's I know I'll recognise easily. Is this the common daisy found in one's garden?

If so I'd love to try it, does it need any special preparation?

Dan

Yes it is the common daisy that is mentioned and you can add the young leaves and white petals to salads (would recommend washing first).
The daisy is used in homeopathy to treat bruises, boils and eczema...............Jon

 

[Ahjno]

Nice list! It's great to eat wild plants

My favorite is the Stinging Nettle in a soup. Tastes delicious.

And now if all people would just put them in soups then I'd never have to run into them anymore (awww )


Are you making a booklet of edible plants? (By the way, no dutch names? :/ )

Since we both speak dutch, can I ask you if you have any favorite field guide for plants (in dutch) ?

I'm also studying a lot about plants, I follow a herborist course. There are so many plants that you are never done studying ! (or making a list of them)

Main aim was to put it together in english, as the majority on here is english Though already had a few requests if I had the same info available in dutch - I'll make a second copy of the lot and make it a dutch version which will be available to everyone interested (but will not be posted on here - everything posted will be in english).

As for the favourite field guide:
I'm not using a guide that states if certain plants are edible or not. Most of these books have plant drawings - which sometimes contain faults and errors. The drawings are made by illustrators and (mostly) not by the authors themselves ...
Note: I'm not saying there's no use for such field guides! I've got "Food for free" (Richard Mabey) and I find it an excellent book (I'm not saying there are errors in it. It just doesn't work for me ... I want to know MORE

I don't believe you can ID a plant in a proper manner if you use such a guide (there are plants that look-a-like ... ), and therefor I use a Flora*. I strongly believe in a proper plant ID as a first step, rather than going out with a field guide and basically go out to look for plants-that-look-like-the-one-in-my-book. If you've done this (ID) correctly you can obtain the information on what to do with it from various books and even the internet.

The Flora I use:

Heukels' Flora van Nederland (23e druk 2005)
Ruud van der Meijden
Wolters - Noordhoff
ISBN: 900158344x

This book is field tested by the Leiden University

I've taken notes in a seperate notebook. These notes contain:
- Plant name (dutch and latin)
- Reference to page in Flora
- Different uses of it (found in various sources: books, internet, people, etc.)



* = For the longtime BCUK members: Please do not make any association with an other respected BCUK member and his passion for the Starkie ... :rolleyes

 

[gunnix]

Well yea, I think there are uses for a flora and a field guide. To make my "herbarium" I ofcourse use a flora.
Yea I heard the Heukels flora is very good. Do you have the new version?

 

[JonnyP]

I personally find a field guide invaluable. For example I was doing some plant surveying today for our local countryside wardens on an area of wet meadow. I found some Mercury...............

Now is it Dogs Mercury mercurialis perennis or Annual Mercury mercurialis annua ? They both look similar in the book and can grow in similar habitats, but the field guide told me that dogs is hairy and annual is not. This lot was hairy, so it is dogs mercury...................Jon

 

[hammy]

Found this site ok.
If you need to cross reference try this site.

http://www.pfaf.org/

 

[hammy]

Now is it Dogs Mercury mercurialis perennis or Annual Mercury mercurialis annua ? They both look similar in the book and can grow in similar habitats, but the field guide told me that dogs is hairy and annual is not. This lot was hairy, so it is dogs mercury...................Jon

And should be noted that all parts of this plant are poisonous!!!!!(dogs mercury)

You can eat the leaves only of tha Annual Mercury(as you would spinach)
The rest is poisonous.