At a gathering of like minded souls, we had the opportunity to feast on raw violets, fried fern fiddleheads and munch on cooked poke weed covered in cheese sauce. Yes, we had poke weed -- and didn't get sick.
It doesn't hurt to go "foraging" for raw vegetables on a farm and in the woods. Our commercially grown vegetables have been produced in the same soil year after year and aren't "half" as healthy as goose foot, violet flowers and leaves or even dandelion. We try to obliterate dandelion with pesticides. What a waste -- they contain vitamin A, can be put in a salad and are good for "detoxing" your liver.
I learned most of this from Craig Russell, an edible food biologist from Pennsylvania. He came to Wythe County (VA) to Mr. Wright's farm to show a group of us "nature foodies" what is edible on the lawn and in the woods. Dandelions, violets, chickweed, watercress, wintercress, the inner white stem of cattails, can all be eaten raw. The cattail innards can also be put in soup, like onion. It tastes like a cross between cucumbers and celery.
Yes, what you can forage in the woods is jam packed with nutrients. It would be a good idea, though, to get a guide book on edible plants and maybe even attend a class if you are not sure about a plant. And poke weed: you can eat the young shoots and put ripe berries in a jam. With the shoots you cook them (boil) till the redness goes out of them and into the water. Then toss some cheese sauce on them. Yum.
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