Wild Plant Foraging - Tasty or Toxic? Donna Lotzer Poison Education Coordinator UWHC Poison Education Center Madison, WI 2012

Before You Decide to “Live Off the Land”… It’s not like you see on TV –Dual Survival, Survivorman, Man vs. Wild –Do you notice the disclaimers? Be prepared – know your environment –Are you in your backyard garden? –Headed to an exotic locale? Act like the locals when traveling –But remember their diet is NOT comparable in most situations

…Become a Food Prep Expert What parts of the plant are edible? –Mayapple RIPE fruit Is cooking required to detoxify plants? –Nettles –Elderberries What about seasonal variations? –Burdock

Do “Shrooms” Count as Plants? Some are delicious –Morels, puffballs Some can be fatal –Amanita virosa Guidebooks are NOT reliable for mushrooms –Never assume wild ‘shrooms are edible raw –Toxic varieties are in your yard or woods…

What is “Wildcrafting”? Wildcrafting is a term for the age-old practice of collecting plant materials in their natural habitat for food, medicine, and craft. can connect youwww.wildcrafting.net –Allows for mapping to share locations for edible plants –Submit pictures for possible ID Reasons for wildcrafting –Gather plants to prepare as medicines or food –Harvest plants to sell to others – has an herbalist approachwww.7song.com

A “Go-To” Guy for Foraging He even has an app for that on his webpage (!) has pics of edible and other plants and mushroomshttp://foragingpictures.com also has good information by searching under “foraging”

WikiHow or What the Heck Suggests steps to survive off the land Caveat: “If you are near death…” –Lots of confidence (!) –May not survive the testing steps  –Remember you can go weeks with just water if needed Decide what plant part is to be tested Test for dermal effects –Which has nothing to do with being edible!?! Test on lips, tongue, then swallow a bit –If you are OK 8 hrs later perhaps you are safe

Best and Worst Choices for “Edible Arrangements” Aggregate berries Chamomile, Dandelion Gardenia, Garlic mustard Jasmine, Lilac, Mayapple Nasturtium, Nettles Radish, Rose Squash blossom, Sumac Violet, Water cress Wild carrot, garlic, leeks (roots) Berries (all colors) – most Bulbs (daffodil, tulip) Castor beans Hemlock, esp. roots Horse chestnut Jimson weed Mushrooms Often due to mistaken ID

Foraging Fatalities Two people “living off the land” found dead in a forest –Opted for a vegan lifestyle –Turns out they ate oleander leaves which are very toxic to the heart (contains digoxin) Mistaken identity – hemlock vs. wild carrot or parsnip –Easy to confuse, especially in spring –Seizures and death possible in minutes to hours, and no antidote Apricot pits and cyanide –Very toxic in small numbers, especially in children

Foraging Misadventures Jimsonweed stew –Six people hospitalized with hallucinations and other symptoms –Leaves picked from plants growing in the yard (!) Tomatoes and potatoes –Leaves, sprouts, vines poisonous while tuber/fruit are edible Easter lily toxic – fatal in cats –Even though safe for humans, plants in Lily family are toxic to the kidneys in cats and can kill them

Foodborne botulism Asparagus, mushrooms, chili, ketchup, beef stew, beans, (along with fish, beaver tail & whale blubber {Alaska}) –Not exactly foraging but can come from harvesting/collection in a contaminated environment Due to improper processing –Must follow strict storage/canning/processing guides No signs that food is bad when eaten –Look, taste, smell all normal Prep/preventive steps critical

Where Does Your Poison Center Come Into the Picture? Help to ID plants (or mushrooms) Help to determine if plants are toxic Not so helpful with recipes (!) Available 24/7/365 to handle questions or exposures Poison Center

Tips for Foragers Educate yourself –Get a GOOD guidebook to help ID plants –Being “pretty sure” isn’t good enough Learn from an expert –Take classes or forage with an experienced person Know the environment where you are foraging –Avoid areas likely to have contamination with pesticides, and soil that may be contaminated with pollutants Be sure foraging is legal –National and state parks often do not allow harvest of plants or mushrooms for environmental reasons –I broke the law unknowingly in Alaska by picking morels in a national forest 

Sources for Edibles, Recipes Going online is great –Be sure source is reliable –This site also has links to toxic plants County ag. extension Historical cookbooks –I have some recipes from a 1940’s cookbook that are delicious