by Jon E. Lewis
Acorn (Cuercus Petraea)
Acorns can be roasted and then ground into a passable coffee.
However, you do need to spend time leaching them in water to remove some of the bitterness. They can also be ground and leached and used as a flour.
Removing underground parts from the earth is not always easy. Plants such as first-year burdock have a particularly tenacious root, which requires major excavation before you can get it out. Use a stick to dig a crater around and under the root, and lever it out. If the ground is frozen, thaw it by lighting a fire or putting heated rocks above the root.
Roots can be cooked by steaming, pit baking or boiling. When learning to recognize edible roots make certain you examine them during the summer, when you can study them attached to identifiable stems. The roots and bulbs of poisonous plants are very often the most deadly parts.
Stems and leaves: The green parts of most edible plants are usually more bitter and fibrous than cultivated vegetables. For this reason you may find that you need to boil them in more than one change of water, but don’t overcook them, or you’ll destroy their nutrients. The best way to overcome this problem is to include them in a stew.
Try things out
Experiment with your local edible greens to discover which can be cooked like asparagus (the tender young shoots), those best used in stews, and those that make a good tea substitute.
Tea substitutes, such as dried bramble leaves, are very important as morale boosters. Try to build up a stock of them, so that in the dark evenings you can brew up. This will give you confidence in your ability to overcome your difficulties.
When picking edible leaves, choose the succulent young leaves just as you would in a market.
Bark: The inner bark of many trees can be used as a source of food – especially, in the high north country, birch, pine, aspen, willows and cottonwoods. The white inner bark is often fibrous, and the best way to prepare it is to dry it and then grind it into flour. In an emergency it becomes more palatable when toasted.
Pollen: Hazel catkins and bulrushes are two of the best sources of pollen. This can be cooked as a form of gruel or, better still, mixed in with other wild flours.
Flowers: The flowers of edible plants are often neglected as a source of food. They can be colourful as part of a wild salad. Many are full of flavour and can be used as seasoning for stews.
Fruits: Besides eating wild fruits raw, you can cook them into warm syrups and sweet fruit drinks. These too are tremendous morale boosters.
Grain and seed: Seeds and grain can be made into flour. While the process may seem laborious, the results are well worth the effort. First, thresh and winnow the seed to remove the chaff. After this it can be parched on hot stones, if you need to store it for long. Or you can grind it to produce flour. The easiest way to collect the seed in the first place is to beat it off the stem onto a spread tarpaulin or jacket.
Nuts
Nuts contain much protein and can even be used to produce cooking oil. Some nuts, particularly acorns, are too bitter to eat raw but can be leached (soaked in many changes of water) to remove their bitterness. Cook them into a gruel or dry them and use them for flour.
FROM FIELDS AND WOODS
Bracken (pteridium aquilinum)
The fern has coarse compound leaves about a metre long. The young leaves can be boiled and eaten as greens. Limit the amount of bracken you eat as it may contain substances that interfere with enzyme action in your body.
Foxtail grasses (Setaria species)
These are grasses recognized by their narrow cylindrical head containing long hairs. The dense heads of grain drop when ripe.
The grains are edible raw, but become less bitter when boiled.
Juniper (Juniperus species)
Junipers or cedars are trees or shrubs with very small, scale-like leaves densely crowded around the branches. Each leaf is less than half an inch long. The berries and twigs are edible.
Mulberry (Morus species)
This tree has alternate simple, often lobed, leaves with rough edges. The fruits are blue or black and many-seeded, and can be eaten raw or cooked or dried for later use.
Nodding onion (Allium Cernum)
This is just one example of a great number of wild garlics and onions. The bulbs and young leaves are edible and if you eat enough they will give your body a smell that will repel insects.
Nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus)
This is a very common plant which has a triangular stem and grasslike leaves. It grows to a height of eight to 24 in (20 to 60 cm). Edible tubers of half to one inch (1 to 3 cm) in diameter grow at the end of the roots. They can be eaten raw, boiled or baked. They can also be ground into a coffee substitute.
Pines (Pinus species)
The seeds of all species of pine are edible, as are the young cones which appear in spring and should be boiled or baked. The bark of young twigs is edible, as is the inner bark of thin twigs. It is rich in sugar and vitamins especially when the sap is rising. Pine resin can be used to waterproof articles and made into glue by heating.
You can also roast nuts to use as a coffee substitute. One way to occupy your time is to blend different nut coffees to make the best approximation of real coffee.
Making the most of edible plants
Once you have learnt a bit about edible plants, you will be able to conjure up amazing meals. Make your menus as varied as possible, and always keep your eyes open for opportunities. Birds’ eggs can be cooked into an omelette, or even scrambled. Wild birds’ eggs have a strong flavour, so season the meal with herbs, such as wild marjoram, or even wild mushrooms such as the ink-cap or Jew’s ear. Served with a side order of ramson stems (the survivor’s spring onion) and boiled nettle leaves, this makes a survival meal of Cordon Bleu standard.
Presentation
Food is more important to you than you probably realize. In a survival situation food is crucial, for every meal you cook affects your level of morale. By making an effort in cooking and presenting your meal, you give your mind something to work on, helping you to retain your identity and self-esteem. It is also more likely that you will make full use of the nutrients in your food, and so remain fit and healthy.
During World War II many soldiers were stranded on islands in the Philippines. Daily diet became an all-absorbing part of their life, prompting the saying “You’ve got to have an appetite to survive.”
PREPARING PLANTS AND FUNGI
RULES FOR WATER
If you have plenty of water, drink more than your habitual amount every day. It’ll keep you fit even when your food is in short supply.
If you are short of water but have plenty of food, remember that eating will make you thirsty. If you have to ration yourself to less than a quart of water a day, avoid meat, or dry, starchy foods, or those that are highly flavoured. Go for foods with a high carbohydrate content – hard sweets and fruit bars are ideal if you have them.
If both food and water are limited, keep work to a minimum. Hunting animals is hard work – another reason to learn how to survive on plants.
PREPARING PLANT FOOD
To improve the taste of plant foods you can soak, parboil, cook or leach them. To leach, crush the food, put it in a container, and pour boiling water through it.
Boil, bake or roast roots and tubers. Boiling gets rid of most harmful substances.
If the sap of the plant contains sugar, dehydrate it by boiling until the water has gone.
Bake or roast tough, heavy-skinned fruit. Juicy fruit can be eaten raw or boiled.
Cooking methods
You can boil, fry, parch, bake, steam, roast or broil food in the wild just as you would at home in your kitchen. But you’ll probably have to make your own substitute pots and pans and cooker, as few plants take well to being cooked on a spit!
Boiling is one of the best methods, as it retains the plant’s juices, which contain salts and vital nutrients.
Frying is something you can do on a hot, f
lat or concave rock if you don’t have a frying pan. Use the rock just like an ordinary skillet.
Parching works well with nuts and grains. Put the food on a rock or in a container, and heat until it is scorched.
Baking calls for an oven and a steady, moderate heat, as does steaming. You can bake by using a closed container over a slow fire, or wrapping your food in leaves or clay. But both baking and steaming are best done in a pit when you’re surviving in the wild.
To bake food, dig a pit and partly fill it with hot coals. Put your food – and some water – in a covered container, and put it in the pit. Cover it with a layer of coals and a thin layer of earth.
THE EDIBILITY TEST
1 Do not eat for eight hours before starting the test.
2 During the test period, take nothing by mouth except purified water and the plant part being tested.
3 Sniff the plant to test for strong or acid odours, but bear in mind that smell alone does not indicate that a plant is inedible.
4 Break the plant into its basic components – leaves, stems, roots, buds and flowers – and test only one part at a time.
5 Select a small portion of a single component and prepare it the way you plan to eat it.
6 During the eight hours before you try the plant, test for contact poisoning by placing a piece of the plant part you are testing on the inside of your elbow or wrist. Usually 15 minutes is enough time to allow for reaction.
7 Before putting the prepared plant in your mouth, touch a small portion (a pinch) to the outer surface of your lip to test for burning or itching.
8 If after three minutes there is no reaction on your lip, place the plant part on your tongue, holding it there for 15 minutes.
9 If there is no reaction, thoroughly chew a pinch and hold it in your mouth for 15 minutes. DO NOT SWALLOW.
10 If no burning, itching, numbness, stinging or other irritation occurs during the 15 minutes, swallow the food.
11 Wait eight hours. If you suffer any ill effects during this period, induce vomiting and drink a lot of water.
12 If no ill effects occur, eat half a cup of the same plant part, prepared in the same way. Wait another eight hours. If there are still no ill effects, the plant part as prepared is safe for eating.
CAUTION: Test all parts of the plant for edibility, as some plants have both edible and inedible parts. Don’t assume that a part that was edible when cooked can also be eaten raw. If you want to eat it raw, test it raw.
POISONOUS FUNGI
As well as the Amanitas and Inocybes, you must avoid:
Cortinarius speciosissimus
Gyromitra esculenta
Entoloma sinuatum
Pascillus involutus
Agaricus incanthodermus
Agaricus placomyces
Ramaris formosa
Clitocybe rivulosa
Clitocyle dealbata
Lepiota fuscovinacea
Strepharia Homemannii
Hebeloma crustuliniforme
Boletus santanas
Russula ementica
Scieroderma aurantium
You can also line your pit with dry stones. Build a fire in the pit then, as it burns down scrape the coals back, put in your container of food, and continue as above.
Steaming works best with shellfish or other foods that need little cooking, such as plantains or green bananas. Wrap the food in large leaves or moss, and put one layer on the coals. Add another layer of moss or leaves, and then another of wrapped food, and so on. When your pit is almost full, push a stick right down through all the layers. Seal the pit with more leaves, or earth, and then remove the stick.
Poisonous fungi
Before beginning to learn about edible fungi, make sure you are familiar with the features common to the high poisonous Amanita family of fungi, with their bulbous base, “volva” or skirt, and white gills. In fact you should avoid any fungus with white gills. Amanita phalloides, the death cap, is one of the most common deadly species of fungi, having all of the above features under a greenish yellow cap.
The toxin in this fungus destroys the liver and kidneys, but the symptoms may not appear for up to two days. The symptoms are vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and dehydration, followed by depression and, after apparent recovery, death. This takes place over a period of approximately a week – not a pleasant way to end.
Avoid all Amanitas, and all Zinocybes. Learn to recognize them – they are particularly dangerous families.
Edible fungi
There are a lot of myths about eating fungi, but if you are a survivor or evader, edible fungi give you a versatile, easily gathered and tasty source of nourishment.
Fungi are an unpredictable source of food. When you have a chance to gather edible fungi, take it. You can dry and store for future use what you don’t eat immediately.
While the vast majority of fungi are harmless, the small proportion that are dangerous can cause serious poisoning, which may be irreversible. Never experiment with fungi you have not positively identified as edible. There are many old wives’ tales about how to recognize edible fungi, but never follow such rules. If you do not know the fungi, leave them alone.
The field mushroom
Usually found in meadow or pasture, these are the mushrooms you usually buy in the shops. They can be dried for later use.
The parasol mushroom
A very tasty and large mushroom that grows in woods and pastures. In the early stages of development, before the cap spreads, it can look like a different species to the untrained eye. The parasol is excellent baked or sliced and added to stews. The delicate top is the best part and has a meaty flavour. Remember, some fungi are toxic if eaten raw. If in doubt, leave well alone.
The giant puffball
There are several species of puffball or edible boletus; all are more edible when young. They are white or grey when young, becoming yellow or brown with age.
RECOGNISING EDIBLE FUNGI
The essential feature about fungus is that you must know exactly what you are eating. You cannot take short cuts; there is no general rule on what is and is not edible. Start by learning a few easily-recognized edible species such as those in the suggested list. Once you are confident you can identify these, you can add to your knowledge. Do not experiment: get expert help.
The shaggy ink cap
The ink cap, which disintegrates progressively into an inky liquid mess, is edible before the rot has set in and is common in mixed woodland.
Dryad’s saddle
This is a large fleshy fungus that, when cooked, has a similar flavour to meat and is very filling.
Sparassius crispa
This is an edible fungus that usually grows on rotting tree trunks and fallen branches. It is commonly associated with pine.
Jew’s ear fungus
This is found in mixed woodland throughout the year. It is especially common in autumn and favours elder. It is one of the “jelly” fungi and, although revolting to look at, tastes good.
Chicken of the woods
This fungus usually grows on the sides of trees, has a very tasty chicken flavour and can be eaten raw.
You can also eat:
Horn of Plenty (Craterellus cornucopioides)
Cep (Boletus edulist)
Morel (Morchella esculenta)
Oyster mushroom (Plrurotus ostreatus)
Chanterelle (Chantharellus cibarius)
Wood blewit (Lepista nuda)
Food value
The food value of fungi is high. They provide valuable fat, carbohydrate and protein in quantities between those of meat and green vegetables. More importantly, they are good stomach fillers, making you feel well fed. This is a big plus in psychological terms.
SEASHORE FOOD
The coastline offers the survivor a wide variety of food sources if you know what to look for. The major problem is a psychological one: you may have to eat some fairly unappetising items. The essential precaution is to learn as much as you can about t
he subject first by familiarising yourself with the food sources the seashore has to offer and trying some of the techniques described below. You will be able to overcome your initial reluctance. Then if you find yourself in a survival situation near the coast, you have already won half the battle.
Drinking water is always one of the survivor’s top priorities. By digging a shallow well just above the high water level you will be able to collect fresh (if a little brackish) water. Don’t dig too deep, or the sea will seep in. This is a good technique to practise next time you visit a beach. If you have a vessel to boil water in, boil sea water and collect the steam in a clean cotton cloth. Squeeze out the cloth and you have distilled, drinkable water. Now it is time to forage for food.
The coastline is abundant with food sources, but there are a few basic rules to remember to avoid food poisoning or contamination from all the waste man so thoughtfully dumps into the sea. The edible items discussed here are all standard European shore life; tropical beaches are more abundant but so are the dangers. The basic rules are:
CONSERVATION
1 Never take excessive quantities of any of these wild foods.
2 Always cut seaweed rather than pull it up.
3 Do not take undersized molluscs or crustaceans.
4 Leave some roots of a plant for regrowth.
5 If a plant has gone to seed, scatter the seeds for next year’s growth.
6 Do not kill birds or take their eggs: buy an unplucked chicken from the butcher and practise on that. Likewise, the fishmonger should be your source of most shellfish and fish.
1 Don’t eat anything too brightly coloured red, yellow or green. It is a natural sign of poison being present.
2 Don’t eat any items washed up or away from their natural environment.
3 Avoid anything with a very strong smell.
4 If in doubt, don’t eat it.
SHELLFISH
Only eat shellfish you find alive; dead ones can be used as bait. Bivalve molluscs feed by filtering food particles out of the water. They also filter out and retain bacteria which, in warm weather, multiply and can cause food poisoning to humans. This is especially true of mussels and oysters, which filter large quantities of water daily and relish the warm, soupy conditions near sewage outlets.