Nutritional Highlight: The bitterness of alder leaves, twigs, and buds is said to stimulate digestion and cure stomachaches. Alder consumption also reduces inflammation, tightens tissues, and stops bleeding.

Helpful Tips: Alders have an inner bark (cambium layer) that is sweet and delicious. The improper harvesting of this layer, however, can kill the whole tree. Instead of peeling away bark from the trunk of the tree, harvest individual branches for their inner bark.

ID Trick: Alders have waxy leaves with well-defined veins and serrated edges. They have seedpods that look like tiny pinecones.

Caution: Aloe is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves.

Flavor: Young leaves are mild and refreshing. Mature aloe is very bitter.

Description: Aloe has green, succulent leaves that are filled with clear gel. Leaves grow in a compound pattern and have hardy spikes at every tip.

Uses: Eat young leaves (and the gel) raw or add to smoothies. Use aloe gel to treat burns and other skin ailments.

Nutritional Highlight: Aloe vera is said to have antispasmodic properties, making it beneficial for people with asthma, colds, and congestion. Aloe gel also helps tighten skin and reverse wrinkles.

ID Trick: Desert plant with long, pointy leaves full of gel.

Sergei Says: Most people know aloe as an ingredient in skin products. It’s well known for its soothing properties. In addition to its topical applications, aloe is beneficial to eat. Aloe contains blood sugar–regulating nutrients that help diabetics and hypoglycemics alike.

Eating large amounts of aloe is nearly impossible, as it is very bitter in its raw form, but if you add a small, thumb-sized piece to a smoothie, the bitterness is undetectable. This is how I prefer to incorporate aloe vera into my diet.

Another great application for aloe’s slimy gel is to use it in place of shaving cream. Not only does it help a razor glide smoothly over your skin but it also helps heal nicks and cuts.

Helpful Tips: Aspens have an inner bark (cambium layer) that is sweet and delicious. However, the improper harvesting of this layer can kill the whole tree. Instead of peeling away bark from the trunk of the tree, harvest individual branches for their inner bark.

ID Trick: Aspens are often heard before they are seen. They grow in mountainous regions, and the leaves rattle in the wind.

Edible: Inner bark, twigs, sap, young leaves, and catkins.

Flavor: Bitter, but the young leaves and inner bark (cambium layer) are sweet.

Description: Slender deciduous tree with beautiful, white peeling bark. White bark with dark brown/black markings. The bark peels off the trunk of the tree and curls in on itself, giving it a flaky appearance. Leaves are dark green in color and range from pointy to oval.

Uses: Sap can be consumed raw or made into syrup. Tender young leaves, catkins, and buds can also be eaten raw or used in recipes.

Nutritional Highlight: Similar to willow and aspen, birch contains salicylic acid, which has pain-killing properties and is the active ingredient in aspirin. Tea made from birch bark has been used to treat fever, skin problems, urinary tract infections, jaundice, diarrhea, and parasites.

Helpful Tips: Birch trees have an inner bark (cambium layer) that is sweet and delicious. However, the improper harvesting of this layer can kill the whole tree. Instead of peeling away bark from the trunk of the tree, harvest individual branches for their inner bark.

ID Trick: Birch trees have bright white, papery bark that peels off the trunk.

Sergei Says: I don’t generally harvest birch leaves for food because they are rather bitter and often have an undesirable texture. However, birch leaves still contain nutrients that benefit the body. I think there is value in knowing that common trees are edible so that if circumstances ever call for it, the know-how is there. I invite you to experiment with birches to see how you like their flavor.

Caution: Please note that chemical changes occur in blackberry leaves during the wilting process that can cause stomach upset. Eating fresh, tender leaves or leaves that have been fully dried will prevent mishap.

Edible: Leaves, stems, berries, and flowers.

Flavor: Berries are sweet if harvested ripe. Greens are mild and slightly astringent.

Description: Blackberry bushes range in size from a single low-growing cane to bountiful mounds nine feet tall. Canes are fibrous with hearty thorns. Leaves are saw-toothed and grow in groups of three and five. Berries are pebbly and turn dark purple/black when ripe.

Uses: Blackberries are related to other berries, such as thimbleberries, raspberries, and salmonberries. All of these berries are edible and very delicious. They each have a unique flavor and fragrance. All four varieties have edible flowers and greens.

Helpful Tips: Blackberries are members of the rose family. This is a bountiful family with many edible relatives. Experts disagree on the actual number of varieties, but in the United States alone there are hundreds of species of each of these berries (Bradford 2002). If you can identify a blackberry, you will have no trouble spotting other berries in the rose family. Rose family berries are made up of many tiny, drop-like ovals containing juice and seeds.

ID Trick: Black or dark purple berries made up of many tiny drupelets containing juice and seeds.

Sergei Says: Blackberries, raspberries, thimbleberries, and salmonberries are great fever breakers. A couple of years back, I picked up some tropical germs in Thailand and got incredibly ill. I had a fever over 104 degrees for eleven days. Because of the severity of my condition, I decided to take some ibuprofen, which for me is rare. While the pills did help, they provided only temporary relief. Once the medication wore off, my fever climbed back up above normal. I decided to look into natural remedies for reducing fever and read about the benefits of rose-family berries and their leaves. I asked my mom to pick up some fresh berries at the store, and I began eating them and drinking highly concentrated raspberry-leaf tea. Within twenty-four hours my fever was gone and never came back.

Caution: Burdock is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, stems, and roots.

Flavor: Roots are earthy, starchy, and a little bitter. Greens are mild.

Description: Burdock leaves resemble rhubarb leaves. Leaves are dark green and oval, and have a distinct main vein. When mature (in their second year of growth), leaves can be more than two feet long. Young leaves emerging from the ground are covered with white, woolly fuzz. Flower heads are round and bur-like, with pink or purple flowers. Burs have Velcro-like hooks and easily attach themselves to clothing.

Uses: Tender young leaves are delicious raw in salads or boiled as potherb. Roots are used in stir-fries and soups, or can be baked or fried. Also good in sushi.

Helpful Tips: The hooked bristles of the burdock plant are said to have inspired the invention of Velcro.

ID Trick: Burdock has round seed heads that have Velcro-like hooks. This is the best way to identify this plant.

Sergei Says: Burdock is one of the few wild edibles that I harvest for its roots instead of its greens. While young burdock leaves are good in salads, the roots of burdock are the real treat. The roots are sweet, sort of like an earthy carrot. If this description doesn’t sell you on burdock root, I hope you get the opportunity to try it in a medley of roasted root vegetables before you make up your mind. In the right amount, burdock’s flavor makes a recipe finger-licking good.

Burdock roots can be harvested year-round if the ground it grows in is not frozen. Once the ground freezes, it becomes difficult to dig up the roots without destroying them. Furthermore, the cold temperatures make them woody and unpleasant to eat. That said, the fact that burdock is available during seasons when other wild edibles are scarce makes it a huge asset to every forager.

Description: Cat’s ears have dark green, toothy leaves that resemble dandelions. Leaves are fuzzy and grow in a basal rosette near the ground. Main stem is slender and shoots up to the sky (up to two feet). Cat’s ear stems produce white, milky sap. Flowers are compound, yellow, and dandelion-like.

Uses: Leaves, buds, flowers, and seeds can be eaten raw. You can also steam, sauté, boil, and marinate all parts of this plant.

Nutritional Highlight: Rich in vitamins A, B, and C, copper, phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, and magnesium (Kallas 2010). Cat’s ears are beneficial for the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen.

ID Trick: Dandelion look-alike with extremely fuzzy leaves. Cat’s ears and dandelion flowers look similar, which can make them hard to distinguish. Dandelion flowers generally have exponentially more petals than cat’s ears. Cat’s ears also produce several flowers per stem, whereas dandelions never grow more than one blossom per shoot.

Sergei Says: Cat’s ears are often confused with dandelions and vice versa. Unlike dandelions, cat’s ears grow hairs on the main vein of their leaves.

Because cat’s ears are bitter to the taste, and I’m not particularly fond of the bitter flavor, I have come to process them in one of several ways to reduce their overbearing taste. One way to kill the bitterness is to blend cat’s ears with fruit in a green smoothie. Another way is to process them in a food processor with some sort of fat (i.e., nuts, oils, or avocados). Finally, boiling cat’s ear greens will also take away their bitterness.

Flavor: Roots, rootstocks, and young shoots have the texture and taste of zucchini. Young heads resemble corn on the cob when boiled.

Description: Cattails grow in wetlands. They are often found growing in ponds and around lakeshores. Plants are tall and slender and can reach eight feet in height. Leaves grow wrapped around the stalk the way the leaves of a common leek wrap around inner leaves. Mature cattails display brown cotton-like heads.

Golf courses often plant cattails in their ponds to create a natural-looking scene. You should never harvest any plants from a golf course, as this is one of the most chemically polluted manmade areas.

Helpful Tips: Cedar trees have an inner bark (cambium layer) that is sweet and delicious. However, the improper harvesting of this layer can kill the whole tree. Instead of peeling away bark from the trunk of the tree, harvest individual branches for their inner bark.

When the tree is blooming and the buds are full of pollen (in the spring), you can cover the tip of a branch with a plastic bag and give it a vigorous shake. Pollen will accumulate quickly in the bag.

ID Trick: Cedar needles are easy to spot because they are flat and look like they are made up of tiny triangular puzzle pieces.

Sergei Says: Cedars are a good natural source of vitamin C and historically have been used by travelers to prevent scurvy. It might be hard to imagine a meal made from Christmas trees, but with the right preparation and know-how, you can come to enjoy and even crave a recipe that incorporates cedar.

Helpful Tips: Because chickweed grows in dense mats, it can be easily harvested with a pair of scissors. Simply grab a handful of chickweed in one hand and use your other hand to cut it near the base of the plant.

ID Trick: Tiny white flowers with five deeply cleft petals that look like ten petals. Alternating Mohawk hairline on the stem.

Nutritional Highlight: Chicory leaves are a good source of vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, plus potassium, calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, and magnesium. Chicory is beneficial for the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, and pancreas.

Helpful Tips: Similar to dandelions, the more mature a chicory plant is, the more bitter it is. If you get to a plant before it flowers, you will notice that the leaves will be more tender, less bitter, and more enjoyable.

ID Trick: Chicory flowers make this plant easy to spot. They are purple and daisy-like with serrated clefts at the tips of the petals.

Sergei Says: Chicory prefers dry soils and can often be found growing around deserted lots, construction sites, and ditches. It has been used historically as a caffeine-free coffee substitute in the South, because the root tastes similar to coffee when it is ground and roasted (Mabey 2007). While I am not a coffee drinker, I brew chicory coffee from time to time and enjoy the taste. After a long day of hiking, sipping on a dark, warm beverage makes me feel like an old-time cowboy.

Another practical application for chicory is to add its roots to mixed roasted vegetable dishes, along with carrots, yams, parsnips, and potatoes. When I’ve made this dish for community potlucks, it has been a raging success. Chicory flowers make a nice, colorful addition in salads. I eat the young leaves to aid my liver and kidneys in eliminating toxins. The older leaves are also very suitable for recipes that call for bitterness. I love adding them to homemade pesto.

Edible: Fruit and flowers.

Flavor: Slightly sour, like Bing cherries.

Description: Chokecherry is a large shrub or small tree. The bark is thin, and dark gray or brown. Leaves are alternate, oval, and sharply serrated with tiny teeth. Flowers are white with five petals and grow in dense, drooping clusters.

Uses: Eat fruit raw as a trailside nibble. Use in jams, jellies, pies, syrups, salads, and wines.

Nutritional Highlight: Chokecherry juice is used to reduce inflammation and has also been known to alleviate the pain from arthritis. Chokecherries are rich in antioxidants, which neutralize harmful free radicals, which can cause cancer. Chokecherries also have high amounts of melatonin, which help boost the immune system and improve heart health.

Helpful Tips: Like store-bought cherries, chokecherries contain hard pits. If you plan to use large quantities in cooking, purchasing a cherry pitting tool will make your life easier.

ID Trick: They look like small Bing cherries.

Sergei Says: Chokecherries are essentially wild cherries. They make scrumptious additions to pies and crumbles.

Description: Clovers have green, oval leaves with whitish, crescent-shaped markings. Leaves grow in groups of three. Flowers range in color and have upward of forty petals, which cluster together creating an overall spherical shape.

Uses: Clover flowers make a colorful addition to any dish. Leaves are tender and can be used in salads, stir-fries, soups, and so on.

Nutritional Highlight: Clovers have been said to contain beta-carotene as well as vitamins C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, and B12, plus biotin, choline, inositol, and bioflavonoids. Clovers are rich in minerals, such as magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, and selenium. Clovers are commonly referred to as the “blood-purifying weed.” In her book Discovering Wild Plants, Janice Schofield writes that clovers have been used to effectively treat disorders such as eczema, hepatitis, and mononucleosis (2003). They have even been known to shrink tumors. Michael Tierra claims that clovers contain blood-thinning coumarins that help the body fight chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer (1988).

Helpful Tips: Clovers are often confused with another edible plant commonly known as “wood sorrel.” It’s not hard to tell these two plants apart once you know what to look for. Wood sorrel has three heart-shaped leaves, while clovers have three oval-shaped leaves.

ID Trick: Clovers have some key characteristics that make them easy to recognize. The best way to identify a clover is by its round, colorful flower. If the plant isn’t blooming, the leaves are a dead giveaway. Unless you are tremendously lucky (and find a four-leafed clover), clovers will have three oval leaves. The top surface of the leaf often displays a whitish, crescent-shaped mark. If you pick a clover leaf and hold it up to the light, you will see that its edges have tiny serrations.

Bad Clover Joke: Question: Did you know that a four-leafed clover is more nutritious than a three-leafed one?

Answer: Yes, it’s 25 percent more nutritious.

When I was in kindergarten in Russia, my teacher taught my classmates and me how to pick clover flowers and suck out their nectar through the stem. During our school outings, we would often stop at colorful flower patches and take a few moments to enjoy their sweetness. After my family immigrated to America, I continued this practice and scared many adults half to death. It seems like there is more fear surrounding plants in America, and children are generally discouraged from eating wild fare. Several educators throughout my childhood even told me that clovers were poisonous and would cause severe pain and discomfort. While I agree that children should be instructed not to eat unfamiliar plants, teaching them that a healthy, edible plant is poisonous is equally detrimental. If children grow up believing that safe food is exclusively found in a store, they become dependent on others to tell them what they can and can’t eat. On the other hand, kids who have been taught how to forage properly can fend for themselves, which is a life-enhancing skill that may one day save their lives.

Caution: Currants are absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Berries.

Flavor: Ranges from sour to sweet.

Description: Currants grow on slender, upright shrubs. Shrub stems and branches contain woody thorns. Currant leaves resemble maple leaves, with five-lobed points. Berries are round and sometimes striped, and have flower-like fibers sticking out of one end. Berries are often sticky with sweet juice.

Uses: Eat berries raw as a trailside nibble. Use them in jams, jellies, syrups, salads, and wines.

Nutritional Highlight: Currants are renowned for their high content of vitamin C. They have been shown to have twice the potassium of bananas, four times the vitamin C of oranges, and twice the antioxidants of blueberries. Currants also have anti-inflammatory properties, which help alleviate pain from arthritis and fight cancer.

Helpful Tips: Currants are in the same family as gooseberries.

ID Trick: Currants come in red, deep purple, and white colors. Currant shrubs have long woody thorns.

Caution: Dandelions are absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, flowers, stems, and roots.

Flavor: Leaves, stems, and roots are bitter. Flowers are sweet.

Description: Dandelions typically have sharply serrated leaves, which grow in a basal rosette on the ground. Dandelions have one yellow flower per stem. As the flower matures, it turns into a white puffball. Stems are filled with milky, white sap.

Uses: Greens can be used in salads or smoothies, or as trailside nibbles. Flowers can be eaten raw or prepared in a gourmet fashion. Roots are often dried, roasted, and ground as a coffee substitute. I generally don’t eat the roots, as they are very bitter and require extra preparation.

Nutritional Highlight: Rich in vitamins A, C, E, and K, and the minerals copper, phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, sodium, and magnesium. Dandelions are widely used to treat obstructions of the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen. They have also been known to help diabetics reduce their blood sugar levels. Eating dandelions will also stimulate bile production and aid the digestive process.

Sergei Says: There are over 250 known species of dandelions (Wildflower Finder 2012). All species are edible and have no poisonous lookalikes. Dandelions are one of my favorite weeds, because of their many nutritional benefits and their widespread availability. I have been to thirty-one countries and found at least one dandelion species in all but three of them. This reason alone should be enough of an incentive to become familiar with this awesome plant. If you are a novice forager, learning how to identify a dandelion will greatly expand your diet and guarantee free food everywhere you go.

The first few times I tried dandelions, they tasted too bitter for my liking. After a great deal of experimentation, however, I found two ways to mask their sharpness:

Caution: Dock is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, stem, seeds, and flowers.

Flavor: Slightly bitter and a little sour. Dock greens look a little like kale.

Description: Elongated green leaves that curl at the edges. Showy clusters of seeds can be observed growing near the top of the plant. These seeds will turn brown in late summer and will rattle in the wind, making it easier to identify the plant. Flowers are green and inconspicuous.

Uses: Leaves can be eaten raw. You can also steam, sauté, boil, fry, and marinate them. Seeds can be used in crackers and breads.

Nutritional Highlight: Dock is one of the best sources of iron, which is great for treating constipation, blood disorders, skin disease, rheumatism, and indigestion. It is also great for cleansing the system of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and mercury. Seeds contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial for the heart.

Helpful Tips: Dock is very healing for the skin. Thus, you can apply dock paste (made from either chewing or blending the plant) onto the skin to treat rashes, bug bites, cuts, and bruises. Next time you’re stung by a bee, chew some dock, apply it to the sting, and see what happens.

ID Trick: Dock leaves ruffle at the edges. This makes them easy to spot. Seeds turn brown and rattle in the wind. In late summer, if you listen closely, you can sometimes hear dock before you see it.

When the tree is blooming and the buds are full of pollen (in the spring), you can cover the tip of a branch with a plastic bag and give it a vigorous shake. Pollen will accumulate quickly in the bag. Transfer the collected pollen to a glass jar and store in a cool, dry place. Add as a supplement to smoothies.

ID Trick: Identifying a fir tree can be tricky. After all, most evergreens look like Christmas trees. The easiest method I have found to tell common conifers apart is by their needles. All pines have long needles that grow in groups of two, three, or five. Fir and spruce trees have short needles all around the twig, so that the twigs resemble pipe cleaners. Fir needles are flat, while spruce needles are four-sided. If you are unsure whether you are looking at a fir or spruce, pick a few needles and roll them between your fingers. Since fir needles are flat, they will not roll easily. Douglas firs are extremely easy to identify by their cones. Douglas fir cones have little mouse-like tails that stick out between the scales of the cone.

Sergei Says: Firs are a good natural source of vitamin C and historically have been used by travelers to prevent scurvy. It might be hard to imagine a meal made from a Christmas tree, but with the right preparation and know-how you can come to enjoy and even crave a recipe that incorporates fir.

Edible: Berries.

Flavor: Ranges from sour to sweet.

Description: Gooseberries grow on slender, upright shrubs. Shrub stems and branches contain woody thorns. Gooseberry leaves resemble maple leaves with their five-lobed points. Berries are large, round, and striped, and have flower-like fibers that stick out of one end. Berries are often sticky with sweet juice.

Uses: Eat berries raw as a trailside nibble. Use them in jams, jellies, syrups, salads, and wines.

Nutritional Highlight: Gooseberries are renowned for their high content of vitamin C. They have been shown to have twice the potassium of bananas, four times the vitamin C of oranges, and twice the antioxidants of blueberries. Gooseberries have anti-inflammatory properties, which help alleviate pain from arthritis and fight cancer.

Helpful Tips: Gooseberries are in the same family as currants. While they can look quite similar, currants are much smaller than gooseberries.

ID Trick: Gooseberries range in color and have striped, slightly translucent berries. Both gooseberries and currants have maple-shaped leaves, and the shrubs have thorns.

Sergei Says: Gooseberries are antioxidant superfoods. Antioxidants are vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that protect and repair cells from damage caused by free radicals. Many experts believe people who consume foods that are rich in antioxidants are many times less likely to suffer from chronic diseases, such as cancer, arthritis, and hardening of the arteries.

Caution: Please take extra caution when identifying wild grapes. Grape leaves and berries have poisonous lookalikes. Check for red tendrils, saw-toothed leaves, and familiar grape odor.

Edible: Leaves, tendrils, and fruits.

Flavor: Leaves are mild and taste like spinach. Grapes taste like grapes.

Description: Grapes grow on vines. They have broad, saw-toothed leaves. These leaves are typically heart-shaped, with two deep clefts near the point. Fruits range in color from green to deep purple and grow in large clusters. Wild grapes generally have smaller berries than cultivated varieties.

Uses: Eat young leaves, tendrils, and grapes raw as a trailside nibble. Use all parts in stir-fries, soups, or stews.

Helpful Tips: Since grape leaves are so broad, I love using them as a substitute for tortillas when making wraps. In Greece, as well as in parts of the Middle East, dolmas, or stuffed grape leaves, are popular. Mixtures of rice and other ingredients are wrapped in prepared grape leaves and cooked.

ID Trick: Grape berries are the best way to identify grapes.

Sergei Says: Grape leaves and grape skins are said to contain high amounts of resveratrol, an antioxidant that reverses aging and boosts the immune system. Though the study of resveratrol is still new and unrecognized by conventional medicine, I like knowing that eating grapes has the potential of keeping my body young and healthy.

Edible: The entire plant.

Flavor: Sweet.

Description: Thin, tall, green blades growing in yards, forests, fields, and elsewhere. Grass comes in many shapes and sizes. Some varieties are tall and some are short. Some grasses crawl over the ground, while others grow upright.

Uses: Use grass as a survival food or add it to juices and smoothies as a nutritional supplement.

Nutritional Highlight: Grass contains most of the vitamins and minerals needed for human maintenance. It is a whole meal and a complete protein with about thirty enzymes, and it’s approximately 70 percent crude chlorophyll. Grass is also an excellent source of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulfur, cobalt, and zinc. Next time you think of buying a shot of wheatgrass juice from a health food store, consider making one with your own grass instead. If you don’t spray your lawn with chemical fertilizers, you can literally juice the grass and get the same benefits that you would get from store-bought wheatgrass juice.

Helpful Tips: Most grasses are considered edible. Some experts caution against eating certain grass varieties, not because they have toxic elements, but because they are very fibrous and hard for the body to digest. This issue can be easily circumnavigated by juicing or blending your harvest. In this way the tough grass fibers are broken down and become easier to digest.

While eating grass (except in the form of juice or a smoothie) may not bring you very much enjoyment, it will bring you health. If you are ever caught in a survival situation, grass can literally become your lifeline. Grass is easily recognizable and abundant worldwide.

ID Trick: Long, flat blades bend easily around your fingers.

Sergei Says: One plant family that is commonly neglected by foragers is grass. It may not seem all that appetizing, but it is very rich in nutrients and can provide your body with energy in a pinch. The great thing about grass is that most people (whether they are accomplished foragers or novices) can recognize grass amidst other plants. For this reason, grass is good survival food. If you are ever lost or stranded and need sustenance, chances are you will be able to locate some grass and nibble on its leaves.

Wild grass is not much different from the grass sold in health food stores in the form of wheatgrass juice. I would argue that wild grasses are more nutritious than store-bought varieties. Wild grasses grow in soil that has not been depleted, which allows them to acquire more minerals.

If you are not a fan of the grassy aftertaste, blend or juice grass with fresh or frozen pineapple to neutralize it.

Edible: Leaves, stems, seeds, buds, and flowers.

Flavor: Mild, like spinach.

Description: Plants can range from six inches to six feet in height. Green amaranth leaves are dull green and pointy. Seeds grow in clusters atop the plant. The whole plant is covered with a fine, waxy powder that shines in the sunlight.

Uses: Eat the tender parts raw or mix into your next salad. This spinach-like plant is also delicious when sautéed, steamed, or boiled in soups.

Nutritional Highlight: Green amaranth is rich in fiber, vitamins A and C, riboflavin, calcium, zinc, copper, and manganese. These nutrients have been known to fight and prevent cancer, reduce inflammation, alkalize the body, and strengthen bones.

Helpful Tips: Green amaranth is often compared to spinach, as it is mild and free from an overbearingly “green” taste. If you are not particularly fond of eating greens, then green amaranth would be a great starting point for you.

ID Trick: All amaranths develop bountiful seedpods at the very top of the plant. Seeds range in color from green to red to purple. Leaves are dark green on the top surface and slightly whitish on the underside.

Amaranth grain is extremely difficult to harvest. A few summers back, my girlfriend’s father was ready to harvest his quinoa and amaranth crops and invited me to help him hull and thresh the grain. After five hours of trying various primitive methods for shelling the seeds, George and I had hulled three cups of grain between us. We laughed about our struggles and joked that if we practiced every year, we could maybe boost our productivity to four cups of grain in the next decade. The labor-intensive process I endured helped me to appreciate the convenience of co-ops and health food stores for acquiring grains.

Edible: Berries, flowers, and young, tender leaves.

Flavor: Berries are sweet. Young leaves are bittersweet.

Uses: Eat berries raw as a trailside nibble. Use them in jams, jellies, syrups, salads, and wines. Add young leaves to salads.

Nutritional Highlight: Huckleberries rank at the top of antioxidantrich foods. Antioxidants neutralize harmful free radicals, which can cause cancer. Huckleberries are also a great source of vitamins A and C and also pectin, a soluble fiber that reduces cholesterol and lowers blood sugar.

Helpful Tips: Huckleberries have a familiar blueberry-like scent. If you need help with identification, crush fruit with fingers to see if it has the characteristic blueberry smell.

ID Trick: Huckleberries look identical to blueberries, except they are generally smaller. Like blueberries, they have a distinct eye on the bottom of the berry. This crater is a good way to distinguish them.

Sergei Says: There are numerous huckleberry species. The berries of these species range in color from dark blue to red. Berry size also varies. Typically, a huckleberry is 20 to 30 percent smaller than a store-bought blueberry. Huckleberries are low-glycemic fruits. They are rich in fiber and help lower blood sugar. This makes them especially good for diabetics. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes at nine years old, I remember having constant cravings for mangos and blueberries. No matter how many cases of blueberries and mangos my parents bought, I still craved more. Years later I discovered that both blueberries and mangos contain nutrients that help regenerate the pancreas. While experts generally caution people with insulin imbalances not to eat too much fruit, I discovered that as long as I ate whole fruit, with the fiber still intact, my blood sugar levels would not spike.

Wild huckleberries are even safer for diabetics than blueberries are, because they have not been modified or selected for sweetness. While they can be very sweet straight off the bush, I have never heard of an instance of huckleberries raising someone’s insulin levels.

Edible: Leaves, stem, flowers, and seeds.

Flavor: Like spinach.

Description: Lamb’s quarters can grow up to ten feet tall. The plant has triangular leaves that are dark green. Leaves are dusted with a waxy, whitish or purplish dust, which rubs off when touched. Flowers are green and tiny, and grow in the crown of the plant.

Uses: Lamb’s quarters can be eaten raw in salads, smoothies, or juices, or as a trailside nibble. Leaves resemble spinach in taste and texture. One plant can produce up to seventy-five thousand seeds. The seeds are similar to poppy seeds and are also a viable food source. Lamb’s quarters greens are delicious when sautéed, steamed, and boiled in soups.

Nutritional Highlight: Lamb’s quarters are rich in protein and vitamins A, B, C, and K, plus folate, iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and selenium. They are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Like all dark greens, lamb’s quarters help prevent cancer, reduce the risk of diabetes, strengthen bones, and reduce inflammation.

ID Trick: Lamb’s quarters can easily be recognized by the white/purple dust that forms on its leaves. You don’t need to wash this dust off, as it is very nutritious. Lamb’s quarters also have tough, kinky stems with reddish-purple lines.

Sergei Says: Over the last few summers I have been running a mobile green smoothie business from a custom-made tricycle. My tricycle has a huge cooler on the front, where I store prepared green smoothies in ice. After several months of being in business, I befriended some local farmers, who began supplying me with edible weeds from their farm. One of the weeds that grows abundantly on their farm is lamb’s quarters. I started blending lamb’s quarters in my drinks and offering my customers a choice between “wild” or “tamed” green smoothies. At first people were a little reluctant. Mothers would come up to me and say, “Do you really put meat into your smoothies?” I would tell them the name lamb’s quarters was a term farmers used long ago to describe a plant that livestock fed on. I explained that a better name for lamb’s quarters is wild spinach, because its nutritional properties and taste remind one of store-bought spinach. After weeks of talking to people about the benefits of wild edible smoothies, the majority of my customers began requesting them instead of the conventional ones. The feedback I received indicated that my customers enjoyed, and sometimes preferred, the flavor of the wild smoothies.

Uses: Young leaves can be eaten raw. Soft twigs can be chewed or used to make tea. Sap can be consumed fresh or processed into maple syrup.

Nutritional Highlight: Maple has anti-inflammatory properties and has been used historically to reduce the swelling from snakebites.

ID Trick: Leaves have five lobes. Tree has seeds that are commonly known as “helicopters” because of how they spin when they fall off the branches.

Sergei Says: I don’t generally harvest maple leaves for food, because they are rather bitter and often have an undesirable texture. However, maple leaves are still full of nutrients that benefit the body. I think there is value in knowing that common trees are edible, so that if circumstances ever call for it, the know-how is there. I invite you to experiment with maples to see how you like the flavor.

Edible: The whole plant can be eaten. Miner’s lettuce is mild, tender, and—most of all—delicious.

Flavor: Greens and flowers are mildly sweet and juicy.

Description: Miner’s lettuce is an annual that usually pops up in early spring. It is light green in color and has round, disc-like leaves, which surround its smooth, tender stem. This stem, which passes directly through the round leaf, is a key identifier of miner’s lettuce. When the plant blooms, one can observe a small white or pink flower growing above its round leaves. Miner’s lettuce ranges in height from one to twelve inches and may have anywhere from one to twenty-five or more stems growing out of a single root.

Uses: Miner’s lettuce can be used in salads or smoothies, or eaten as a trailside nibble.

Nutritional Highlight: Miner’s lettuce is renowned for its high vitamin C content. It has more than citrus, strawberries, currants, cherries, or kiwis. Early settlers ate miner’s lettuce to prevent scurvy.

Helpful Tips: Miner’s lettuce is most abundant in the spring. However, this tasty edible can be found late into summer if you know where to look. Miner’s lettuce prefers shade, so don’t forget to check under trees and other shady places.

ID Trick: Miner’s lettuce couldn’t be easier to identify. Look for round, disc-like leaves with a stem that grows through the middle of the leaf.

Sergei Says: Every March, as winter comes to an end, I begin impatiently waiting for the first miner’s lettuce crop to appear. There are few things I love more than a freshly harvested miner’s lettuce salad topped with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, and nutritional yeast. After a long winter of eating produce shipped in from far away, harvesting a wild, local green is such a treat. It is the wild equivalent for lettuce and therefore not very good when cooked. I prefer to eat it raw. I love using miner’s lettuce in salads, wraps, and sandwiches in place of ordinary greens.

Caution: Mint is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, stems, and flowers.

Flavor: Minty fresh.

Description: Plant has an aromatic, sweet smell. Mint leaves feature crinkly, serrated edges and grow in an opposite pattern. All mint varieties have a unique, square stem. Mint flowers grow from the place where a leaf joins the stem. Flowers are white to pink.

Uses: Eat the leaves and flowers raw as a trailside nibble or use in recipes. Steep fresh or dry leaves in boiled water to make a wonderful tea.

Nutritional Highlight: Rich in vitamins A and C, thiamine, folic acid, riboflavin, manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium, iron, calcium, and zinc. All mint varieties soothe the stomach and intestines. Mint is often used to treat nausea, morning sickness, and irritable bowel syndrome (Schofield 2003). Mint is a digestive aid. If you eat a sprig of fresh mint during or after a meal, it will help your body process the food. When applied topically, the cooling effect of mint stimulates circulation and blood flow. This has a revitalizing effect on the skin. Mint tea also helps eliminate dandruff when applied to the scalp.

Helpful Tips: Chewing on a small piece of mint after a meal will aid the digestive process and freshen your breath.

Sergei Says: All mints have soothing properties. For foragers, this is tremendously advantageous. As foragers, we are constantly being exposed to new foods. If you consume something that your body doesn’t like, you can quickly reduce the negative side effects by chewing on mint leaves and drinking lots of water. This works especially well for stomachaches and hives.

Edible: Berries, flowers, and roots.

Flavor: Berries and flowers are sour. Roots are starchy with a hint of bitterness.

Description: Oregon grape is an evergreen shrub with prickly, holly-like leaves. Oregon grape is not related to regular grapes (Vitis spp.); it gets its name because the berries resemble grapes. Leaves are tough and waxy. Flowers are round and yellow, and grow in tight clusters. Berries are dark blue and also grow in clusters, hanging underneath the leaves of the plant.

Uses: Eat berries raw as a trailside nibble. Use them in jams, jellies, pies, syrups, salads, and wines. Sprinkle flowers into salads and wraps to add exotic aroma and color.

Nutritional Highlight: Oregon grape is a great source of vitamins A and C and pectin, a soluble fiber that reduces cholesterol and lowers blood sugar. Berries also contain many immune-boosting properties, which provide relief for common conditions such as colds, flu, nasal and chest congestion, and yeast infections.

Helpful Tips: The leaves of Oregon grape are very sharp. I recommend wearing gloves when harvesting. It is also helpful to have a pair of scissors on hand to snip the berries straight off the plant.

ID Trick: Oregon grape resembles holly. Its leaves are tough and have sharp spikes, so I don’t recommend eating Oregon grape leaves. The flowers and berries are sour and pleasant.

Sergei Says: The berries are very sour, but they’re full of antioxidants. Add them to smoothies.

Helpful Tips: When collecting ostrich fern fiddleheads, be mindful not to overharvest from any one plant. Overharvesting can weaken or even kill the plant. Take no more than half of the fiddleheads from each plant. If you’d like more, find more ostrich ferns to harvest from. The brown casing that covers fern fiddleheads is not very pleasant to eat. I recommend using your fingers to separate the brown flakes from the green fiddleheads as you harvest.

ID Trick: Ferns have leaves that look like skeletons. Each branch is constructed of many hundreds of tiny leaves.

Sergei Says: Fiddleheads can be eaten raw, but only in small quantities. They contain a chemical compound that can accumulate in your body to an unhealthy degree (and cause a stomachache) if you consume too much too often. Each person and body is different, but the general rule for ostrich ferns is that you don’t want to eat them raw every day. If you eat raw ferns no more than twice a week, you shouldn’t have any problems. Boiling fern fiddleheads or adding them to soups will destroy the chemical compound, which makes it not an issue.

Uses: Leaves and flowers can be eaten raw. You can also steam, sauté, boil, and marinate all parts of this plant. The flowers make an awesome addition to salads and steamed vegetables.

Nutritional Highlight: Daisy greens are rich in protein, chlorophyll, and mineral content. Like all dark greens, they strengthen bones, reduce the risk of cancer, and benefit diabetics.

ID Trick: All daisies have compound flowers with long petals growing around a flat, disc-like seed head. This makes them easy to spot.

Sergei Says: Daisies are in the sunflower family, which does not contain any poisonous plants. Sunflowers are the largest family of flowering plants, containing nearly twenty-four thousand species.

According to John Kallas, wild mustard greens are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available to us. They contain high concentrations of beta-carotene, calcium, fiber, zinc, and vitamin A (2010).

Helpful Tips: Pine trees have an inner bark (cambium layer) that is sweet and delicious. However, the improper harvesting of this layer can kill the whole tree. Instead of peeling away bark from the trunk of the tree, harvest individual branches for their inner bark.

Pine pollen is incredibly rich in protein. You can use it in smoothies in place of artificial protein supplements. You can easily collect it by placing a plastic bag around the tip of a pine branch during its pollination cycle (in spring) and shaking it vigorously.

ID Trick: Identifying a pine from a fir or spruce can be tricky. After all, most of them look like Christmas trees. The easiest method I have found to tell common conifers apart is by their needles. All pines have long needles that grow in groups of two, three, or five.

Sergei Says: Pines are a good natural source of vitamin C and historically have been used by travelers to prevent scurvy. It might be hard to imagine a meal made from a Christmas tree, but with the right preparation and know-how you can come to enjoy and even crave a recipe that incorporates pine.

Helpful Tips: The plant is called “pineapple weed” because the flower caps can emit a pineapple-like odor when crushed.

ID Trick: The little seed heads look like tiny pineapples. Pineapple weed smells very sweet, like traditional chamomile.

Sergei Says: Pineapple weed is a calming herb that is particularly beneficial for women. It acts as a good remedy for urinary tract problems and soothes menstrual cramps. According to Janice Schofield, a weak tea made from pineapple weed calms colicky children and eases pain from teething (Schofield 2003).

During the Middle Ages, pineapple weed was a staple in soups and stews. It was also used as a household deodorizer, often scattered on the floor. When it was stepped on, it would release its fresh scent.

Caution: There are two common plantain varieties: broad leafed (round, wide leaves) and narrow leafed (long, skinny leaves). Both are considered edible. However, I have found the narrow-leafed variety to be much more potent and thus harder to digest. For best results, use broad-leafed plantain for food and narrow-leafed plantain for topical purposes.

Edible: Leaves, stems, shoots, flowers, and seeds.

Flavor: Slightly astringent, with a hint of bitterness. The flavor of plantain is most similar to dark collard greens.

Description: Plantain leaves can grow up to one foot in height. They range in shape from round to lance leafed. Leaves are solid green and have very defined parallel veins running up the underside. Plantain buds and flowers grow at the top of a long, narrow stem and bear a slight resemblance to baby corn.

Uses: Tender leaves can be used as salad greens. Buds and flowers can be marinated, stir-fried, baked, and so forth.

In addition to its topical applications, plantain also makes for a nutritious meal. It is extremely rich in essential amino acids and tastes great in soups.

Fun Fact: Did you know that psyllium husk, a powerful colon cleanser, comes from plantain? Each plantain plant can produce thousands of seeds. Each seed is covered by a fibrous husk, which is harvested, dried, and sold as psyllium (Duke 2001). Instead of this expensive powder, try eating fresh plantain to aid digestion and healthy bowel movements.

Edible: The entire plant.

Flavor: Fruits are juicy and sweet. The green leaves have a hint of sourness and are reminiscent of a cucumber.

Description: Spiny, round fruits that grow on spiky, flat cactus leaves. Thorns on the cactus fruit resemble tiny hairs and are much smaller than the thorns on the flat leaves. Flowers are large and showy. They come in many different colors.

Uses: Fleshy part of both the fruit and the cactus leaves are best eaten raw as a trailside nibble. You can also juice cactus to make a delicious drink.

Nutritional Highlight: Prickly pear cacti are a great source of vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, and copper. Cactus fruits have also been revered for their ability to stabilize blood sugar levels, thus making them extremely desirable for diabetics. Prickly pears also reduce brain swelling and are incredibly effective for treating concussions and hangovers (Rodriguez 2012).

Helpful Tips: Harvesting cacti requires gloves and a knife. To avoid getting pricked when peeling a prickly pear, cut off the top and bottom of the fruit. Next, make a partial incision (approximately one-quarter inch deep) along the remaining cactus skin. Use your fingers to carefully peel back the skin, and enjoy!

ID Trick: Bright, multicolored, barrel-shaped cactus fruit.

Sergei Says: Cacti are a great source of hydration in dry climates, when no other fluids are available. When I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail with my family, it was an El Niño year, and the weather and climate were hard to predict. While our guidebook noted places where hikers could get water along the trail, the weather irregularities sometimes left us high and dry. On several occasions our situation would have been much more dire had we not known that cacti were rich in liquid.

Edible: Leaves, stem, flowers, and seeds.

Flavor: Slightly sour, which is pleasant to the palate.

Description: Purslane leaves are green, paddle-shaped, and succulent, and have a reddish stem. The plant stem is smooth and succulent and will emit a slimy, okra-like juice when bent or broken. Hidden amidst the leaves of the plant are tiny yellow flowers with five petals.

Uses: The whole plant can be eaten raw as a trailside nibble. Bring purslane home and see how it tastes in salads, smoothies, and stir-fries, or try it on sandwiches or pizza. Purslane has a slightly gelatinous consistency, which makes it more favorable for smoothies than salads. Because purslane can be used as a thickening agent, adding it to a smoothie will prevent the smoothie from separating.

Nutritional Highlight: Rich in beta-carotene, vitamins A and C, plus folate, iron, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, and riboflavin. Purslane is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, which prevent heart disease and improve the immune system.

Helpful Tips: The way purslane leaves are structured can make them tedious to harvest. I find it helpful to have a pair of scissors on hand so that I can cut the stem near the ground. I then take these “purslane branches” home and process them in the comfort of my kitchen.

ID Trick: Purslane has oval leaves and looks like a succulent. It has perfectly tubular stems that begin to turn reddish-purple.

Sergei Says: Purslane is a weed that has adapted to live with humans. It prefers soil that has been turned and aerated and commonly grows on organic farms. Because I’ve never seen purslane growing in the wild, I rely on friendly farmer connections to support my purslane habit. In my hometown of Ashland, Oregon, I’ve developed good rapport with several local farmers. They allow me to come to their farms and weed at my leisure. This is a mutually beneficial venture; it provides me with food and helps the farmers manage the weeds.

Edible: Leaves, stems, berries, and flowers.

Flavor: Berries are sweet if harvested ripe. Greens are mild and slightly astringent.

Description: Raspberry bushes range in size from a single low-growing cane to bountiful mounds. Canes are fibrous, with hearty thorns. Leaves are saw-toothed and grow in groups of three. Berries are pebbly and range in color from red to yellow to black.

Uses: Raspberry fruits and greens are edible and very delicious. Collect the greens when they are very young, before they have developed sharp thorns.

Nutritional Highlight: Raspberries are rich in vitamins A and C, magnesium, potassium, copper, and folate. They are full of antioxidants that help prevent and fight cancer. Raspberries contain fragrine, a substance that tones reproductive organs. Tea made from raspberry leaves is said to lessen morning sickness. Raspberries also help break fevers, relax sore muscles, and strengthen the heart, and they can act as a gentle sedative.

Helpful Tips: Raspberries, thimbleberries, blackberries, and salmonberries are all members of the rose family. This is a bountiful family with many edible relatives. Experts disagree on the actual number of varieties, but in the United States alone there are hundreds of species of each of these berries (Bradford 2002). If you can identify a raspberry or a blackberry, you will have no trouble spotting other rose family berries. All of these berries are made up of many tiny drupelets containing juice and seeds. Raspberries come in different shades of red, but can also be yellow and dark purple.

ID Trick: Red or dark purple berries made up of many drupelets containing juice and seeds.

Raspberries, blackberries, thimbleberries, and salmonberries are great fever breakers. A couple of years back, I picked up some tropical germs in Thailand and got incredibly ill. I had a fever of over 104 degrees for eleven days. Because of the severity of my condition, I decided to take some ibuprofen, which for me is rare. While the pills did help, they provided only temporary relief. Once the medication wore off, my fever climbed back up above normal. I decided to look into natural remedies for reducing fever and read about the benefits of raspberries and blackberries and their leaves. I asked my mom to pick up some fresh berries at the store and began eating them and drinking highly concentrated raspberry-leaf tea. Within twenty-four hours my fever was gone and never came back.

Nutritional Highlight: Salmonberries are rich in vitamins A and C, magnesium, potassium, copper, and folate. They are full of antioxidants that help prevent cancer. Salmonberries contain fragrine, a substance that tones reproductive organs. Tea made from the leaves is said to lessen morning sickness. Salmonberries also help break fevers, relax sore muscles, and strengthen the heart, and can act as a gentle sedative.

ID Trick: Orange, yellow, or red berries made up of many drupelets containing juice and seeds.

Sergei Says: Salmonberries taste incredible. They have a rich flavor that explodes in your mouth. They begin ripening in midsummer and are a wonderful treat for those who live near mountainous areas.

To break a fever, eat salmonberries fresh, or drink tea made from salmonberry leaves.

Description: Salsify has long, slender leaves that wrap around the stem. The stem is hollow and tubular. When the stem is broken, white, sticky sap oozes from inside. Flowers are generally yellow or purple and grow in a compound pattern like that of a daisy. Salsify also has long green sepals growing from under the petals. Salsify ranges in color from yellow to deep purple. When salsify goes to seed, it displays a huge, dandelion-like puffball.

Uses: Cook roots like carrots in soups, stir-fries, or vegetable roasts. Eat young, tender leaves, shoots, buds, and flowers raw as a trailside nibble and in salads.

Nutritional Highlight: Salsify is said to contain a natural insulin and thus is beneficial for diabetics. It is also rich in vitamins A, C, D, and E, plus calcium, iron, phosphorus, and protein. Salsify also has abundant antioxidants, which improve immune-system health and reduce the risk of cancer.

Helpful Tips: Salsify is the only member of the dandelion family that is not bitter. You will be amazed at how sweet and delicious salsify flowers are. I love harvesting the most tender parts of this plant (shoots, buds, stems, and flowers) and adding them to salad mixes. Salsify is a delicate plant that does not preserve well. It is best when used fresh, within an hour of harvesting.

ID Trick: Pointy, daisy-like flowers with green sepals (green leaves under flower petals).

Sergei Says: Salsify has almost alien-like yellow and purple flowers that make it very easy to identify. Though its appearance doesn’t look particularly edible, grab a flower and give it a nibble. You will find it to be very sweet and scrumptious. Every part of the salsify plant is edible, but the tender parts taste best. Feel the long, thin stems to find the soft, meristematic parts. More often than not, I eat salsify as a trailside snack. Because it tastes so good, it rarely makes it to my house to be used in a recipe.

Edible: Berries, young, tender leaves, and flowers.

Flavor: Berries are sweet. All other parts are mellow and taste similar to blueberries.

Description: Serviceberries resemble blueberries, though they are typically rounder in shape. Berries grow on branching shrubs that are taller than blueberry bushes. Leaves are oval in shape with serrations along the edges from the middle to the tip. Serviceberry flowers are white, grow in clusters, and have very long petals. With five petals per flower, they look similar to apple blossoms.

Uses: Eat berries raw as a trailside nibble. Use them in jams, jellies, syrups, salads, and wines. Add young leaves and flowers to salads.

Nutritional Highlight: Very rich source of flavonoids. Serviceberries have one of the highest recorded antioxidant levels of fruits and vegetables. They are loaded with vitamins and minerals, including calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, and vitamin E. Serviceberries also contain pectin, a soluble fiber that reduces cholesterol and lowers blood sugar levels.

Helpful Tips: Serviceberry leaves contain small amounts of a cyanide-like compound. But don’t worry, you would need to eat a five-gallon bucket of serviceberry leaves repeatedly to experience any ill effect. In small quantities, this compound destroys cancer cells. Cooking or drying the leaves completely destroys any toxic qualities.

ID Trick: Serviceberries look like blueberries. They grow on tall, tree-like shrubs. Like blueberries and huckleberries, they also have an eye that makes them easy to identify.

Sergei Says: Serviceberries are also commonly called “Saskatoon berries.” Native American tribes from the north traditionally used the juice of serviceberries to heal snow blindness. They would take it internally and use the juice as eye drops.

Caution: Sheep sorrel is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds.

Flavor: Sour and lemony.

Description: Sheep sorrel can vary from six inches to two feet in height. Leaves are lance-shaped with two lobes. Many people who identify sheep sorrel for the first time notice that the plant’s leaves resemble a fish or a sword. The flowers grow on an elongated stock and range in color from white to red.

Edible: Leaves, stems, flowers, and fruits.

Flavor: Spicy.

Description: Shepherd’s purse is in the mustard family and thus has big green leaves growing in a rosette near the base of the plant. Leaves are dark green in color and are toothed, like dandelion leaves. Flowers are white, with four petals. After flowering, heart-shaped seedpods appear on the upper part of the plant.

Uses: Leaves, flowers, and seeds can be eaten raw. You can also steam, sauté, boil, and marinate all parts of this plant.

Nutritional Highlight: All wild mustard greens have been revered throughout history as the number-one healthiest green. They are rich in vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, plus calcium, potassium, sulfur, copper, manganese, and fiber. Shepherd’s purse has high levels of antioxidants, which help to prevent cancer and heart disease.

According to John Kallas, wild mustard greens are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available to us. They contain high concentrations of beta-carotene, calcium, fiber, zinc, and vitamin A (2010).

Edible: The whole plant can be eaten raw. Siberian miner’s lettuce is mild, tender, and—most of all—delicious.

Flavor: Greens and flowers are mildly sweet and juicy.

Description: Siberian miner’s lettuce is an annual that usually pops up in early spring. It is light green in color and has smooth oval leaves and tender stems. Siberian miner’s lettuce has bigger flowers than its sibling (miner’s lettuce). The flowers are its key identifying feature. Flowers are white, with five petals that have faint purple markings. Each petal has a deep cleft at the top.

Uses: Like miner’s lettuce, Siberian miner’s lettuce can be used in salads or smoothies, or eaten raw as a trailside nibble.

Nutritional Highlight: Miner’s lettuce is renowned for its high vitamin C content. It has more than citrus, strawberries, currants, cherries, or kiwis. Early settlers ate miner’s lettuce to prevent scurvy.

Helpful Tips: Siberian miner’s lettuce is most abundant in the spring. However, this tasty edible can be found late into summer if you know where to look. Siberian miner’s lettuce prefers the shade, so don’t forget to check under trees and other shady places.

ID Trick: Siberian miner’s lettuce has ovate leaves. It has a distinct white flower with five petals. Each petal has a deep cleft.

Sergei Says: Freeze miner’s lettuce flowers in water in ice-cube trays to create flower-infused ice. This is a beautiful addition to any drink.

Uses: Leaves, buds, flowers, and seeds can be eaten raw. You can also steam, sauté, boil, and marinate all parts of this plant.

Nutritional Highlight: Rich in vitamins A, B, and C, plus copper, phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, and magnesium (Kallas 2010). Sow thistles are beneficial for the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen.

ID Trick: Dandelion-like leaves that have a sharp, well-defined triangular lobe.

Sergei Says: Sow thistle is another great mildly bitter green. It has dandelion-like properties that stimulate digestive juices and cleanse organs. I love adding sow thistle to soups and stir-fries. There is a common misconception circulating that the sap of sow thistle is poisonous; this is not true. All parts are edible.

Helpful Tips: The chemical compound that causes stinging irritation when you brush up against the plant also soothes the skin. If you are stung by nettles, apply fresh stinging-nettle juice on the irritated area, and in seconds the itch will be completely neutralized. You can also neutralize the sting with dock or plantain juice.

ID Trick: Nettles are pretty easy to spot, because they grow in dense, tall thickets. Their leaves are serrated, like a saw blade, and they have droopy flowers and seeds that hang under their leaves.

Sergei Says: Stinging nettles are becoming increasingly popular these days because of the attention their nutritional benefits have received.

The best way to avoid getting stung is to crush the leaves. If you blend, boil, or pulverize nettles, the juice within their leaves and stem will neutralize the sting. You can then enjoy their delicious taste and healthy benefits without fear of pain. Some wild edible teachers recommend foragers bring gloves when they harvest nettles. Wearing protection on exposed skin is a great way to prevent being stung. My favorite way of harvesting nettles is with scissors, which allows me to painlessly snip the leaves directly into a blender container for a smoothie. Then all I have to do is take the container home, add fruit, and press blend. No fuss, no muss!

If you are super-adventurous, you can try eating nettles raw, straight from the plant. If you look closely at the stingers under the leaf, you will notice that they lean to one side. If you can press them down against the leaf in the direction they are leaning, you can prevent them from stinging your mouth. The easiest way to do this is to roll the leaf up on itself. Start at the wide end closest to the stem, and roll up the underside of the leaf.

Caution: Please note that chemical changes occur to thimbleberry leaves during the wilting process that can cause a stomachache. Eating fresh, tender leaves or leaves that have been fully dried will prevent mishap.

Edible: Leaves, stems, berries, and flowers.

Flavor: Thimbleberries are sweet if harvested ripe. Greens are mild and slightly astringent.

Description: Grow in shrubs ranging from two to eight feet tall. Thimbleberries form dense thickets. Leaves have between three and five lobes and closely resemble maple leaves. Thimbleberries have white flowers with five petals. The berries are red and look a lot like raspberries, except that their overall shape is flatter (like a raspberry that has been smooshed).

Uses: Thimbleberries are edible and very delicious. They each have a unique flavor and fragrance. Thimbleberry greens tend to get velvety as they mature, so young greens are preferred.

Nutritional Highlight: Throughout history, thimbleberries have been used to treat intestinal ailments and upset stomachs. When roots are dried and prepared in tea form, they are great for diarrhea and dysentery.

Helpful Tips: Thimbleberries, blackberries, raspberries, and salmonberries are all members of the rose family. This is a bountiful family with many edible relatives. Experts disagree on the actual number of varieties, but in the United States alone there are hundreds of species of each of these berries (Bradford 2002). If you can identify a raspberry or a blackberry, you will have no trouble recognizing thimbleberries. All of these berries are made up of many tiny drupelets containing juice and seeds. Berries are red. Thimbleberries do not have thorns.

Nutritional Highlight: Thistles are widely used to treat obstructions of the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen. They are also rich in vitamins A and C, plus copper, phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, and magnesium.

Helpful Tips: Sharp, hardy thorns can make harvesting thistles very unpleasant. It is a good idea to wear thick gloves when working with any thistle. I recommend using a knife to cut and peel the bottom three inches of the thistle stem. This section is tender, sweet, and juicy, and reminds me of a cucumber.

ID Trick: Thistles look like small artichokes. They have purple or yellow flowers surrounded by sharp thorns.

Sergei Says: Many thistles are considered invasive, so you can eat them without fear of overharvesting. They have a high water content and help you replenish bodily fluids. I’ve had to rely on thistles several times when I’ve been hiking without water. When no other fluids are available, thistles’ water-rich stems are a godsend.

Caution: Because watercress is a water-loving plant, take extra precautions to make sure that the water it grows in is not contaminated. Check with your local department of forestry and/or city government about water quality. Watercress has received a bad reputation for containing parasites called liver flukes. These parasites originate in the intestines of livestock (particularly sheep) and are excreted with their fecal matter. There is a lot of fear-based criticism of watercress in the foraging community because of a few cases of people getting liver flukes after eating it. These cases are very rare and can be easily avoided by not picking watercress where livestock are present. Cooking watercress also kills any parasites that may be present.

Edible: Leaves, stems, and flowers.

Flavor: Spicy.

Uses: Eat raw in salads, wraps, and sandwiches. Watercress is spicy, like wild mustard, and is a great addition to recipes that require heat.

Nutritional Highlight: Watercress is high in protein content. It contains vitamins A, B1, B6, C, E, and K, plus folate, iodine, magnesium, calcium, potassium, selenium, and iron.

Helpful Tips: Because watercress grows in crowded thickets, it can be easily harvested with a pair of scissors. Simply grab a handful of watercress in one hand and use your other hand to cut it near the base.

ID Trick: Round, lobed leaves that resemble arugula.

Sergei Says: Watercress is a popular green sold in most health food stores. It has a slightly peppery taste that improves any sandwich or wrap. Though it is cultivated and sold, watercress does grow wild. It is a water-loving plant that can be found near streams and in areas that experience spring flooding.

Helpful Tips: Despite its similar smell, wild ginger is not related to common, store-bought ginger, but the qualities and health benefits of both plants have many similarities.

ID Trick: The easiest way to identify wild ginger is by the smell. If you crush a large heart shaped leaf and it smells gingery, you’ve found it. Wild ginger also has three-petaled dull purple flowers. If you unravel the lobes of the heart-shaped leaf, you will notice a square crease.

Sergei Says: Wild ginger stimulates appetite and aids digestion. Chewing on fresh wild ginger leaves has helped me conquer several backpacking stomachaches. Adding a small amount of wild ginger to your meal will also give it more flavor. Wild ginger is a strong-tasting green, and thus I advise against using it for the bulk of your meal. For best results, use it like any herb—in small quantities.

Sergei Says: Have you ever wondered what food looked or tasted like thousands of years ago? Well, wonder no more, because wild lettuce is the origin of all lettuces. Thousands of years before the cultivation of romaine and red leaf lettuce, people knew lettuce as the wild lettuce that still grows today.

While wild lettuce tastes quite a bit more bitter than its store-bought relatives, this bitterness is hugely beneficial. Bitter flavors stimulate digestive juices and help process the food you eat. Additionally, the bitterness in wild lettuces helps cleanse organs of toxic matter or impurities.

Wild lettuce comes with woody spines and is therefore not a good addition to salads. If you insist on eating it raw, look for small, young leaves that have not developed tough thorns. I prefer to blend, steam, or boil wild lettuce, as this destroys the thorns—as well as the fear of getting pricked mid-bite.

Caution: Wild mustard is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, stems, flowers, and fruits.

Flavor: Spicy.

Description: Wild mustard leaves are large and dark green, and grow in a rosette near the base of the plant. Leaves are toothed like those of a dandelion. Flowers come in white, pink, and yellow. All mustard varieties have similar flower structures. Flowers consist of four petals and six stamens.

Uses: Leaves, flowers, and seeds can be eaten raw. You can also steam, sauté, boil, and marinate all parts of this plant.

Helpful Tips: The mustard family contains many plants. All mustards are spicy. I like to use them in recipes that require heat. I don’t recommend using them in smoothies as they will produce a drink that’s strongly flavored. On the other hand, adding such greens to salads or stir-fries will only add to the eater’s experience. Because wild mustard has broad leaves, I like to use them as a substitute for tortillas when making wraps.

ID Trick: The easiest way to identify a mustard plant is by crushing a leaf and smelling it. If it smells like mustard, it’s mustard. All mustards have a unique flower structure. Flowers have four petals and six stamens. Four of the stamens are long and two are short.

Caution: Wild onions are part of the lily family, which contains many members. Some lily varieties are not fit for consumption. Wild onions are the only lily variety that has a distinct onion smell. If you harvest a lily that smells like an onion, you can eat it without fear.

Edible: Leaves, stems, flowers, and roots.

Flavor: Like an onion.

Description: Looks, smells, and tastes like an onion. Leaves may be tubular or flat. Flowers grow in clusters and range in color from white to pink to purple.

Uses: The entire plant is edible and can be used in the same way as a store-bought onion. It can be consumed raw or cooked, in salads, sandwiches, soups, stir-fries, and so forth.

Helpful Tips: Wild onions have a reproductive safety mechanism making bulb harvesting difficult. If you tug on a stem, hoping to unearth the bulb, you will get a clean break every time. In order to harvest the bulb, you must physically dig into the ground about six to eight inches. I recommend leaving the bulb in the ground and harvesting the leaves. Not only is this easier, but it allows the plant to keep growing.

ID Trick: Smells like an onion.

Sergei Says: At the very beginning of my exploration with wild edibles, my family and I met a man who was sitting off to the side of the Pacific Crest Trail eating purple flowers from a mountain meadow. We had already started incorporating wild edibles into our diet at that point, and we were extremely intrigued by this fellow who was eating a plant that was unfamiliar to us. He turned out to be very friendly and was eager to share his knowledge. He explained to us that wild onions were members of the lily family and that this family was very broad and contained both edible and toxic species. He cautioned us to familiarize ourselves with “death camas” before attempting to consume any lilies other than wild onions. Then he taught us that a sure way to identify a wild onion was by the smell.

Uses: Tender leaves can be eaten raw in salads. Rose hips can also be eaten raw as a trailside nibble. They are often dried and made into tea or processed into jam.

Nutritional Highlight: Rich in iron and vitamin C. Roses have been used to treat ulcerous skin, headaches, inflammation, and anemia.

Helpful Tips: Rose petals make an awesome substitute for Band-Aids. If you ever cut yourself while on a hike, pick a rose petal and apply it to your wound.

ID Trick: Brilliantly colored, large-petaled flowers that grow on woody bushes with sharp thorns. Flowers smell sweet, like a less potent garden rose.

Sergei Says: A rose is a rose is a rose … meaning that all roses are more or less the same (Schofield 2003). Whether they are wild or domestic, all roses are edible as long as they have not been sprayed with pesticides.

A rose has many edible parts. The tender shoots, leaves, rosebuds, petals, bark, roots, and rose hips can be eaten raw or cooked. Roses have a high iron content. When I chew on rose leaves, their flavor reminds me of a sweet-and-sour Granny Smith apple. This is likely due to the fact that roses and apples are in the same family (the rose family).

During the winter months, when other wild edibles are scarce, rose hips are available in vast abundance. These delicious fruits are a wonderful, fresh wintertime treat that’s packed full of vitamin C. Last winter I taught my dog, Bella, how to find them on the bush, and she can’t get enough of them. Bella prefers rose hips to conventional dog treats. I have noticed that when she eats fresh rose hips, her digestion is improved and her coat maintains a healthier shine.

Strawberry greens and flowers are also edible and should be used along with the berries. When I make a green smoothie with strawberries, whether they are wild or organically grown, I make a conscious effort to blend their tops and leaves.

Flavor: Slightly sweet, similar to pea sprouts.

Description: Wild sweet pea grows as a creeping vine. Its curly tendrils (located at the base of the leaves, where they join the stem) help the plant sprawl across the ground and climb anything in its path. Wild sweet pea can grow to be over six feet tall. It is a frost-hardy plant, and its foliage becomes rather ragged and yellowish by late summer. Wild sweet pea also has brilliantly colored pinkish-purple flowers. Like all pea varieties, wild sweet pea develops peapods that store seeds.

Uses: Any parts that are tender can be eaten. I love to add sweet pea tendrils, young leaves, and flowers to fresh garden salads. Steamed or sautéed greens also make a great addition to Asian cuisine.

Nutritional Highlight: Rich in vitamins A, C, and folic acid. Wild sweet pea greens help lower blood sugar levels and improve cardiovascular health. They contain an excellent nutrient-to-calorie ratio and high amounts of dietary fiber, which helps regulate the metabolism and control healthy weight levels. Pea greens also contain powerful antioxidants and phytonutrients, which reduce inflammation in the body.

Helpful Tips: All members of the pea family are considered organ cleansers and blood purifiers. There is significant evidence that pea greens are especially beneficial for people with cancer.

ID Trick: Look for small bright pink or purple flowers (that are shaped similar to snapdragon flowers) growing on long, flat-leafed vines. Wild sweet peas also have curly, stringy tendrils that sprout from their stems. Like all peas, wild peas have peapods. Unlike conventional peas, these pods are long and narrow.

Edible: Inner bark, twigs, sap, young leaves, and catkins.

Flavor: Bitter, but the young leaves and inner bark (cambium layer) are sweet.

Description: Willows range from small shrubs to trees thirty feet tall. Leaves are long and thin, and follow an alternate pattern. Willows like to grow in wet soil and are often found near riverbanks and lakeshores.

Uses: Willows contain salicylic acid, which is the active ingredient in aspirin and is used as a painkiller. Making a strong tea from willow leaves, bark, and twigs can have a numbing effect on the body. For this reason, willow is often considered to be a medicinal plant that is rarely consumed in large quantities.

Nutritional Highlight: Prevents swelling and alleviates pain.

Helpful Tips: Willows have an inner bark (cambium layer) that is sweet and delicious. However, the improper harvesting of this layer can kill the whole tree. Instead of peeling away bark from the trunk of the tree, harvest individual branches for their inner bark.

ID Trick: Willows generally have long oval leaves with smooth edges. Willows love water and are easily spotted near rivers and streams.

Sergei Says: I don’t generally harvest willow leaves for food, because they are bitter and often have an undesirable texture. However, willow leaves still contain nutrients that benefit the body. I think there is value in knowing that common trees are edible, so that if circumstances ever call for it, the know-how is there. I invite you to experiment with willows to see how you like their flavor.

Caution: Wood sorrel is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds.

Flavor: Sour and lemony.

Description: Wood sorrel leaves consist of three heart-shaped leaves at the top of a slender stem. Wood sorrel is often confused with clover, because both plants have similar leaf arrangements. One easy way to distinguish clover from sorrel is by the shape of the leaves. Clover has three oval leaves, while wood sorrel has three heart-shaped leaves. Wood sorrel leaves come in green, purple, and red varieties. Sorrel flowers are usually pink or yellow in color.

Helpful Tips: Wood sorrel likes to grow in heavily shaded areas and probably gets its name for this reason. Next time you hike through a wooded area, try to spot a patch of heart-shaped leaves.

ID Trick: Wood sorrel never grows more than three leaves per stem. Leaves can range in color from purple to green. They are heart-shaped. If you find a plant that meets all of these characteristics, you can take a mini-nibble on one of the leaves. If it is sour, sorrel it is!

Sergei Says: Wood sorrel is almost always confused with clover and vice versa. Do an internet search for wood sorrel, and you will find countless images of clover that have been mislabeled. Perhaps the confusion stems from Saint Patrick’s Day and shamrocks. Saint Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint, used three-leafed clovers (shamrocks) to explain the Holy Trinity. According to Patrick, each leaf of a clover represented God, who is comprised of three parts: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is why shamrocks (clovers) are considered lucky. Since wood sorrel also has three leaves and grows near the ground like clover, people often confuse the two plants. When you know what to look for, differentiating between the two plants is actually very easy. Wood sorrel has three heart-shaped leaves, while clover has three oval leaves. Sorrel flowers have five wide petals, whereas clover flowers are round with many compound petals.

Caution: Yarrow is absolutely safe to eat.

Edible: Leaves, flowers, and stems.

Flavor: Bittersweet and fruity.

Uses: Use leaves and flowers as herbs to season recipes, or steep them in boiling water for tea.

Nutritional Highlight: Yarrow has styptic properties, which enable it to stop bleeding. It also has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and pain-killing properties.

Helpful Tips: A little goes a long way. To reap the benefit from yarrow, you only need to consume a small amount.

ID Trick: Yarrow smells a lot like chamomile. If you’ve smelled it once, you will remember it forever.

Sergei Says: Yarrow is a great antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory herb. It is in the sunflower family, which contains no poisonous plants. Though it is edible, it is not meant to be consumed in large amounts. Yarrow is very potent and can lead to an upset stomach if you overindulge. Tea brewed from yarrow leaves and flowers is a good remedy for fevers. It also purifies the blood and can be used to disinfect wounds. Young leaves can be eaten raw in salads, but use them sparingly, as the flavor can crowd the mix.