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Browsing the high country for things to nibble is a favorite pastime. This year's rains and fire scars have left the woods aglow with wildflowers, dandelions, berries and mushrooms.
A week ago found me scurrying about in a shady patch of high-alpine forest with a burbling brook and soft, spongy soil tangled with pine needles, rotting wood and moist leaves. I was looking for mushrooms to pick and eat but soon realized that with very few exceptions I was out of my league when it came to identifying the safe ones from the ones that sicken or kill. Even my trip leader was doing very little picking.
I had to be careful not to trip, especially when stumbling onto the iconic amanita muscaria. These red-topped toadstools with white spots on the lid will send you for a loop if you eat them. Best to leave that to the indigenous shaman and medicine healers who know how to prepare you and the mushrooms for a cosmic voyage to the bottom of your mind.
Our group took mostly pictures of the more exotic mushrooms that no one was going to touch or eat — but we did take home a small bag of puffballs, which are pretty easy to identify.
Meanwhile, I have been focusing on the low-hanging fruit like wild strawberries. The ones that I've been finding are no bigger than a small pearl but are bursting with strawberry flavor that really beats the massive, balsa wood monsters that you buy “fresh” at the market or in your grocer's freezer section. You are not going to fill up on the wild strawberries out there and you will probably eat some dirt but don't let that stop you from popping those tiny pleasure packets. Look down for the red dots!
I don't want to cause a rush into the woods, but right now the wild raspberries are ripening. You just have to look and you will find blinds of berries to keep you busy. It's the rain and the sun!
When you find water, you may also find nettles. And yes those stinging nettles are full of vitamins and whatnot. Just handle them with care until you get them home for processing.
I once enjoyed a batch of dandelion, nettle and thistle juice, freshly harvested and mixed in a blender. I enjoyed this concoction after my morning coffee and a bit of toasted seed bread. Healthy.
Dandelions and other wild stuff are more potent and powerful than you think, and different parts of the plant do different, potent and powerful things. Dandelions are not poppies, but they are a force to be reckoned with. My forest smoothy had me running for the bathroom under the spell of a powerful diuretic.
The internet is full of bogus information, but the purveyors of nature, nature products and alternative medicines all sing the praises of the humble dandelion. Once you are up on the latest you will be skipping the processed foods and processing and eating your own dandelions.
I hear you. They taste like s--t! I will remind you now that eating something that doesn’t taste good for a powerful effect is nothing new to mankind. Anyone who’s ever eaten a psychedelic mushroom knows exactly what I’m talking about.
Just like shrooms, there are ways to masticate dandelions without hurling. Instead of covering everything in chocolate, you have to do two things: develop a taste for foraged foods and find ways to fit them into recipes so they don’t take over your favorite flavors.
Why bother? Health benefits. Dandelion advocates, prescribers, pontificators and producers say that some of the side benefits include, but are not limited to, weight loss, relief from depression, headaches, menstrual and stomach cramps, improved vision, preventing skin infections, promoting blood circulation, treatment of corns, warts, kidneys, gall bladders, constipation, edema, acne, jaundice and more.
Disclaimer: Everyone dies, even those who follow a strict dandelion regimen. ( Editor’s note/other disclaimer: This column is in no way offering medical advice.)
The root is the most potent plant part. They say getting to the root produces a steady evacuation of toxins from the body. Who could be against that? Just make sure you are near a bathroom because the root makes you pee. The French called the little puffball plants “Pis-in-let,” which can be translated as “wet the bed.” The good news is that this dandy diuretic does not cause depletion of potassium like all the other diuretics in your medicine cabinet.
Just like other natural products that are everywhere and free, clock flowers can be purchased in processed, potent forms on Amazon. Tinctures and dried roots are but a few clicks away.
I would never consider consuming these produced plant products because Irish daisies are everywhere, even on lawns covered in Roundup. That’s why sourcing is important. You don’t want plants covered in pesticides and poisons. Those are already available in the national chain supermarkets.
I like to go into the local woods where the little swine snouts have a nice balance with other foragables like mallow, mushrooms and nettle.
Steve Skinner is heading out for berries. Reach him at moogzuki@gmail.com.
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