Raw Food Gone Wild

[drraw]

I live in the forest and am fortunate to have thousands of acres of national forest within walking distance. This year, I have harvested a whole lot of gooseberry, elderberry and acorns.

The wild berries are a little on the sour side but they make good jam. Here's what I did:

1;1 ratio of wild berries to raspberry/blackberry
juice from 1/2 lemon
chia seeds
dates with pits removed

Put all in food processor. It is probably the first time in my life I have had raw jam.

Then I made raw acorn bread:

2 cups of raw acorns
2 cups of raw almonds
vanilla extract
dates

The acorns have natural tannens so they need to be prepared. Put them individually in the food processor and grind into a butter-like consistency. Then put them into a large mason jar along with water and shake vigorously. Remove the brown colored water and save (it can be used for colored laundry detergent or as an anti-septic). Keep leaching the tannens out in this process until the acorn meal does not have a sour taste. For me, it took three times.

After that combine the acorn meal with almonds, vanilla extract and dates and put in the food processor. Remove and put in the dehydrator.

Both of these taste amazing.

I've also heard that acorns can be added to raw almond milk which I will be trying next.

--drraw

[walnutty]

I am GREEN with envy!

[Raw Angel Mom]

Good for you for using these wild food. They are the best for you.

I envy you also, lol....

Anyway, enjoy your raw journey!

[Living Food]

Lucky!

I do hope you're not letting all of the wonderful wild greens go to waste? Eat them and especially juice them, as much as you can every day. Far more nutritious then conventional and even organic cultivated greens.

[drraw]

Of course I've been picking the wild greens as well. Most of them are out of season right now. They're still around but the leaves and parts you would normally eat have dried up and aren't very edible. My latest finds have been that the petals from wild sunflowers are edible and I have been also juicing the leaves of the gooseberry plants.

--drraw

[Living Food]

Right now I'm trying to gather the seeds of as many wild greens as possible, and then I'm going to sprout them year round. They're more nutritious then most ordinary sprouts, and make it a never-ending season for wild greens.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Right now I'm trying to gather the seeds of as many wild greens as possible, and then I'm going to sprout them year round. They're more nutritious then most ordinary sprouts, and make it a never-ending season for wild greens.

Yeah, wild weed seeds for sprouting would be more nutritious than most sprouting seeds, but l don't think many would rival alfalfa whose roots go as far as 60 feet into the ground.

[Living Food]

I'll still be juicing alfalfa, grasses, and various microgreens.

[Living Food]

Now, if only I could find wild alfalfa...

[drraw]

I got a few questions:

- How do you know what raw seeds can be safely sprouted? Is there a list or guide somewhere?
- I found wild rose hips today. A lot of them. Last year, we made tea with them. This year, I would like to keep them raw. What are the options? I think I remember hearing something about rose hip jam.

--drraw

[Living Food]

How do you know what raw seeds can be safely sprouted? Is there a list or guide somewhere?

If you can eat the leaves you can eat the sprouts. As fare as I know there is absolutely no exception.

There are other things you can sprout too, like certain wild nuts or wild grains, etc. I recently found some wild rye grass gone to seed and harvested the seeds for ryegrass, they're almost certainly more nutritious then ordinary rye seeds.


I found wild rose hips today. A lot of them. Last year, we made tea with them. This year, I would like to keep them raw. What are the options? I think I remember hearing something about rose hip jam.

M original inclination was to say just eat them raw, but I hesitate to give advice on a subject I know little about so I googled it and heard that you shouldn't eat them raw, because the seeds have hairs which will irritate the lining of your digestive tract. Is it true? I don't know.

I guess you could juice them if you wanted to.

[MysticTree]

What sort of weights of seeds are you harvesters getting?

[Living Food]

Probably around a few pounds of clover and dandelion (already juiced a fair bit), so far very little plantain seed but there's loads of it getting ready for the picking now. Still waiting on the oxalis, but I expect the harvest to be quite small.

[MysticTree]

I think those seeds are very fine aren't they? I know they seed heads are bobbly but does each bobble have lots a dots of seeds inside? I've not inspected the seed pods much. You can eat ox-eye daisy leaves and they seed well. Pennywort might be nice. I like the young leaves so they might sprout nicely. We have simply tons of wild horseradish which ought to make for a potent sprout.

[Living Food]

I think those seeds are very fine aren't they? I know they seed heads are bobbly but does each bobble have lots a dots of seeds inside

The seedpods aren't mature enough for me to tell yet, I already split one open very recently but there was nothing inside it yet (or rather, no seeds large enough to be visible).

I've heard that daisy leaves are poisonous, although maybe ox-eyes are an exception? I do believe you, after all you do teach foraging classes. Hmm, I guess I'm getting free instruction *smiles*

I'll look into the other two as well. Thank you.

[MysticTree]

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Leucanthemum+vulgareIt is true that the leaves are quite strong but very good for you by all accounts!

[Living Food]

Daisy sprouts..who can resist?

I do have daisies in my area, I'll check and see later if they are ox-eye or not.

[MysticTree]

Daisy sprouts..who can resist?I do have daisies in my area, I'll check and see later if they are ox-eye or not. you can eat regular daisy leaves as well but ox-eye ones have larger seed heads so easier to harvest.

[Living Food]

you can eat regular daisy leaves as well but ox-eye ones have larger seed heads so easier to harvest.

I am going to have to have a talk with the person who told me daisies were poisonous - shame on me for believing it without researching it first, though. A good lesson to learn.

[MysticTree]

I am going to have to have a talk with the person who told me daisies were poisonous - shame on me for believing it without researching it first, though. A good lesson to learn.

Goosegrass or cleavers - not sure of the Latin might be worth a try too. Very easy to collect at least. Do you eat the fruit of the Mahonia bush (Oregon grape)?

[Living Food]

I might have some goosegrass around, I'll see if I can make a positive identification later. I've never seen any Oregon grape.

Thank you for all of the suggestions. This is very helpful to me.

Keep em coming!

[MysticTree]

The other obvious two that spring to mind are hips and haws.