/hob/ - Hobbies

How do you learn how to do this? I have woods within a short drive and would really like to be able to identify useful local plants. At this point I can't even tell a maple from an oak though.

>>56180
just learn about one plant per day, ask people online what it is or use the plant identification app

>>56180
I learned from books and double checking online for better photos.

So far the worst that has happened to me is harvesting some plants that had developed some sort of fungus that stunk up my kitchen when I cooked it. Obviously I didn't eat it as it smelled and cooked wrong and the water turned to slime which wasn't normal.

Also got into the habit of checking each berry for bugs and worm holes after eating a fire ant and it stinging the roof of my mouth before getting chewed up.
I rinsed them but I guess that little guy hung on.

>>56180
The only thing I forage for is morel mushrooms which are very easy to identify and very tasty.

>>56170

and risk getting poison
no thanks

just buy cheap shit
from the dollar tree and walmart

>>56180
>books, either online or from the library
>look up guides to local plants on the internet
There may also be foraging groups in your area, too, if you don't mind the social interaction. Or you can ask farmers

Yes I harvest wild chives and garlic. The garlic is quite interesting as you can either dig up the roots and get the garlic bulb, or you can wait until august when the garlic flowers. Each flower turns into 20+ small kernels of garlic. I discovered these plants years ago by accident while hiking, and now they are a regular part of my died. Both the garlic and chives typically grow near streams and creeks in clay soil.

not currently

https://pfaf.org/user/Default.aspx
here is one of my favorite websites. you can search by region, part of the plant, nutritional/food or medicinal values, etc. has thousands of plants. they have a database you can download too. it's cool to look at 'sleeper' plants that on paper seem phenomenal and incredibly useful but in reality haven't been utilised much

>>56170
I prefer growing.

the only edible plant is my region is dandelions but I don't trust eating parts of any roadside plant in this filthy city, I tried harvesting dandelion roots on my property (good kidney cleanser) but my mom ruined the box of them I filled

gave up that comfy idea and bought some at the store instead

>>56170
Careful, some mushrooms are poisonous.

>>59198
>some
most

>>59198
>>59200
are they deadly though or just give you diarrhea

>>59200
>>59201
Most are inedible though not technically poisonous, but there are many that are poisons with some being irrevocably deadly if eaten, such as death caps and destroying angels which cause liver and kidney failure with even small amounts.
All that said mushrooms have almost no calories and are low in most nutrients.

So for most people in most situations isn't worth the risk messing around with most wild mushrooms.
There are exceptions though, and there are some easily identifiable mushrooms that are quite tasty that also don't have toxic counterparts that look like them.

All that said, most people are aware of the risk and thankfully few just go eating mushrooms willy nilly.

>>56180
Books and probably the better way is for someone to show you irl that has done it for years. If you mistake something you can get poisoned.

>>56182
>>56183

How the hell is that reliable?

Me and my cousin were on a walk, I saw some berries and he picked one and ate it, talked about how these berries are this and that etc. and after he was was bedridden for days. Turns out it was nearly identical to it's edible kind except it had a slightly different color leaves or some shit like that.

He does foraging as a hobby, and often tells me about the dangers of safe plants looking identical to poisonous ones. So what the fuck.

Do you want all of us to end up like the guy from Into the Wild?

>>56216
We have those in Illinois. Boletes are pretty safe bets too

if anyone has bamboo near them, each spring they produce a bunch of shoots. you harvest them with a shovel by digging around the shoot to find its base, it should be growing from a rhizome, cut into it just above that with shovel and twist it out. any bamboo is fine. you want shoots that are sheathed like pic. doesn't matter how big the shoots are, as long as they look like that, different species have different sizes. cyanide content is somewhat proportional to the size of shoot and area that is exposed aboveground. the cyanide can be removed by simply boiling them for 2 hours or until they are no longer bitter. you can change the water if it helps. the outer parts are too tough to eat, but you can either peel them before or after boiling. if boiling them unpeeled, you have to remove the tip and score the whole shoot along its edge to help expose it to water. they are crunchy but also stringy and smell like corn or grass, it's hard to compare it to anything but it tastes great. they are really nutritious to boot

easy brainless food that anyone can harvest and cook

>>62149
Hey thanks, this is helpful I had once heard that people eat bamboo shoots, will any species work? There are several species where I live, notably one that's quite big, about 3in in diameter and growing up to perhaps 15m or more, could I eat that? Even the shoots should be good for a full meal.

>>62160
yeah any species and any size is edible, but some are more palatable than others. bigger stuff needs cooked longer. but they are all fine as long as they arent bitter after cooking

they just need to be shoots tightly packed into a sheath with a zigzag pattern like so