 | Cattails being a very easy to identify plant with distinctive notable catkins from late spring threw fall, are a major wild food source as well as an overall useful utility plant. As a food plant it can be prepared in a wide variety of ways from eaten raw to boiled, roasted, in salads, baking flower from pollen, pancakes, cat cobs, muffins even sauteed .This plant is a good source of vitamins A, B, C phosphorus, and potassium. In harvesting this plant for food, It will be important to only collect cattails from clean, contaminated water and soil. It has been said that raw cattail shoots taste like cucumber, although i find them to be a bit more like okra. This plant also has many utilitarian uses, such as older outer leaves can be used for basket weaving and mats. The fluff can be used for stuffing pillows or insulation, the older stems can be used for improvised arrow shafts and mature fibers from the plant can be used to make simple cordage . This plant is like a foragers grocery store and hardware store all in one. |
 | Arctic berries such as Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) are almost unknown outside the arctic regions. Crowberry shrubs are evergreens native to cool the regions of North America, Asia, and Europe. In the southern hemisphere they can be found on the Falkland islands. The fruits of these shrubs are black plump round berries. These berries grow in great quantities on the plants. The leaves of the mountain crowberry are dark green with a whitish line on the underside of the leaf . Crowberries can be made into a delicious juices and preserves, or used for a mixed berry pie together with bilberries or blueberries, and blackcurrants. The mild flavour make it a suitable ingredient for baked goods, berry soups, porridges and milkshakes, either on its own or combined with other berries. Crowberries can also be used to make marmalade. The cloudberry is a perennial plant related to raspberries that grows in bogs.The plant grows 10–25 cm tall, has two-leaflets and has a woody stem. Cloudberrys grow a single solitary flower. The plant is dioecious. During the growing season it blossoms in June. The fruit changes colour a number times during this time: initially a soft greenish-yellow then it then turns a shade of red as it ripens into an amber-coloured berry. They can be made into jams, juices, berry soups and pies. |
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 | There are more than 80 varieties of gooseberries and currants grow wild in North America. The fruit when it is ripe can vary in size, color, texture and taste the outer skin on some can be either spiny or smooth. Early autumn is the prime time to go foraging for wild berries . . . and when you do, be sure to pick enough to make your pie, preserves or berry bread . best places to locate wild berries are any wooded Knowles , mountains, or coastal areas these berries thrive wherever the climate is relatively cool and the soil is moist. Most gooseberry and currant are mid size to tall bushes growing from two to five feet high. In the mountains they can be found creeping close to the ground and along rocks . . . Golden currants, can be found hanging from trees of up to ten feet tall. The leaves on these bushes in the genus Ribes resemble maple leaves along with scalloped edges . | |
Bushcrafting with the Survival Chef
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