Split from a POD thread after this picture:
  (You need to Login or Register

Mmmm!  Wintergreen!  Eat the berries, make tea with the leaves.  Yum!

OK, I'll bite (pun intended).

Who here has either gobbled down some wintergreen berries -- or made tea from its leaves -- while on a canoe trip?

Bear berries?

Actually, let me broaden the question: Who here has gathered food or drink from nature while in Quetico (or the BWCA), besides fish?

We've eaten blueberries, of course. And we've made pine needle tea. But nothing else, I don't think.

Who else? What? When? How?

-- kypaddler

Rose Hips, years ago, probably late August one year.  They are supposed to be very high in vitamin C.  I tried eating them, and also tried steeping them in some boiling water like tea.  I wasn't impressed.   :P   But they weren't awful, either.

I don't think I'm the only mushroom picker 'round here.

But of course I never pick wild plants in the provincial or national parks - that's illegal.

Thanks for the OT move.  I thought there already was a Wild Edibles thread, but couldn't find it to bump.

Yes wintergreen berries & tea.  Stuffed a trout with the berries once, added a nice tart bump.

Blueberries, strawberries, rasperries, saskatoons, pincherries are all on the menu when available.  As a child my family used to spend whole days picking berries in the bush.  Followed by a day or two of cleaning & jamming.

I'm wary about mushrooms.  Mom picks them.  If I'm with someone who's confident then I'll eat them.  A couple years ago someone picked a bunch of morels and at the campfire said, "If only we had some butter."  I pack butter!  So we had fried speckled trout with morels.  Yummy!

Sumac tea is good too.

Pretty sure you can pick the fruit in parks.  Back when the family would pick we would get our spots from the park staff and often picking in the park.  That was 25 years ago, maybe things changed.  The distinction being that you can't uproot a plant, but you can pick the berries. 

Proper mushroom picking is cutting the base so it can re-sprout.  Yanking out of the ground is bad form.

Part of me wants to try the Survivorman diet during a trip.  I'd still pack food, but just try to snare something small or catch some frogs.  Legally, of course.

Quote:

I thought there already was a Wild Edibles thread, but couldn't find it to bump.

Uh, I apologize if I violated a rule or courtesy about where  to post topics. ...

I've seen a lot of mushrooms in Canada of various types, but I would never feel confident about picking and consuming them. Maybe morels, if I ever came across a patch, tho I assume I go north at the wrong time for those.

Are turtles protected in Canada? Is there a season? I confess the thought has crossed our minds on more than one occasion.

-- kypaddler

Quote:

Are turtles protected in Canada? Is there a season? I confess the thought has crossed our minds on more than one occasion.

I pretty sure they have a season, but from looking at the Ontario Fishing regs, I'm still unsure as to the legality of catching/consuming them in the Q?
Plenty of snappers there. I doubt many visitors would be interested, so don't know if over consumption would be an issue?
I'd like to grill one over the campfire IF it was legal?
Anyone know for sure.

The Species At Risk designation appears to be largely toothless.  You can hunt them with a fishing licence.  I'm surprised to see them on the list as I often see them while tripping.

Excerpts copied from:
  (You need to Login or Register

NOTE: It is illegal to harvest bullfrogs or turtles in
provincial parks or Crown Game Preserves.

Snapping turtles and bullfrogs may be taken under the
authority of a valid sport or conservation fishing licence.
No commercial harvest of snapping turtles or bullfrogs is
permitted. You may only take snapping turtles by box or
funnel traps or by your bare hands. You may not remove
the upper shell from any snapping turtle until immediately
before it is prepared for consumption.

Well that settles that.
THX

Preacher wrote on Oct 27^th, 2011 at 12:47pm:

I thought there already was a Wild Edibles thread, but couldn't find it to bump.

I started a   (You need to Login or Register thread about a year ago when I made a stop by one of my favorite wild trees while on a walk ... persimmon.  As a matter of fact, I did that again last week.

dd

thanks, dd.

fascinating reading.

Not 20 yards from where we throw up Deer Camp every year in Northern Kentucky are stands of both sumac and sassafras. And elsewhere in our neck of woods are everything from ground nuts to cattails to blackberries to raspberries to wood sorrel to persimmons to walnuts and hickories (and of course a half dozen species of oaks).

In the unlikely event we were stranded there and forbidden to kill and eat meat (deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, groundhog, dove, grouse, etc. etc.), we surely wouldn't starve.

-- kypaddler

Anybody eat inner pine bark? heh heh

kypaddler wrote on Oct 27^th, 2011 at 1:50pm:

I've seen a lot of mushrooms in Canada of various types, but I would never feel confident about picking and consuming them. Maybe morels, if I ever came across a patch, tho I assume I go north at the wrong time for those.

I've stated before that mushrooms are probably not a viable survival food.  First, there is the obvious danger of selecting a "harmful" mushroom.  However, more at issue is the calorie value of mushrooms.  For example, 5 medium sized morel mushrooms run about 30 calories.  Thus, unless you just stumble on a patch while doing something else, you'd probably spend more calories than you'd gain if you had to go looking for them.

Now, eating them is another story ... calorie count or not ... I LOVE mushrooms!

Oh!  Frog legs ... GAME ON!  And yes, they do taste like chicken!  (They also tend run about 70 calories for 1/3rd ounce...100 grams.)

dd

Yeah, you shouldn't be picking mushrooms unless you know what you're doing.

There are only a few deadly poisonous ones out there, but there are some. Even if eating the wrong mushroom might not kill you, it could cause permanent liver damage, or you could just end up puking your guts out. On the other hand, you may (also) experience a transformative hallucinogenic experience, but I have no personal experience with that.

There is something called a "false morel" which I think is in the poisonous-but-not-deadly category. To me they don't look much like real morels, but apparently there are enough people who make the mistake.

All Europeans from Russians to Italians pick wild mushrooms. If you're culturally deprived, you might find a local university or community college that offers courses. There are lots of good books out there as well: Orson K. Miller's is a classic, and David Arora's is good too. But it's nice to have someone take you out and show you.

In addition to morels (delicious but fairly rare, in my experience), there are some other excellent eating mushrooms which are common in late summer and are easy to identify, such as lactarius deliciosus, various boletes, chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, and honey mushrooms. Though I'm not specially keen on them, some people like puffballs and coral fungi too.

Quote:

Oh!  Frog legs ... GAME ON!

Man, true be that!!

Not to perpetuate stereotypes about Kentuckians, but I've waded along many miles of creek in the dark of night with a flashlight and 8-foot gig in search of frogs.

A bit nerve-wracking and a lot of effort, but the taste is worth it.

As the loon's tremolo signify the north lakes, the bullfrog's croak on an early summer's night are one of the sounds that define Kentucky to me.

As far as continuing the "wild edibles" theme ... alas, the frogs I've seen in the Q are but tiny little things with skinny little supermodel legs.

-- kypaddler

Maybe the chicken-leg fogs in Q would taste even more like chicken!

I had fried frogs leggs once in a vietnamese restauraunt.  Mmmm tasty!  I commented on how crispy the batter was.  That's not batter, that the skin.  Mmmm tasty!