The Fantastic Four – 4 Essential Wild Edible Plants that May Just Save Your Life
Did you realize that knowing just 4 wild edible plants could one day save your life?
If there were any four categories of plants that I would recommend all people to know how to use and identify it would be these: Grass, Oak, Pine, and Cattail. For the knowledgeable survivor, knowing just these four plants can make the difference between life and death if stranded in the wilds – for each one is an excellent food source which can sustain you until help arrives.
Throughout this week and part of the next, I’ll be going into details on how you can prepare and eat these plants. For now though, here’s a quick overview into what they have to offer:
Grass
Surprising to many is the fact that you can eat grass. Despite there being hundreds of varieties of bladed grass found in the Americas, almost all (99% of them) can be eaten. This ranges from wheat, oats, and bamboo to the wild meadow varieties.
The young shoots up to 6 inches tall can be eaten raw and the starchy base (usually white and at the bottom when you pluck it) can be eaten as a trail nibble. The more mature the grass plant gets, the more fibrous the plant becomes. For older plants the base can be chewed and spit out — extracting the beneficial juices in the process. Or a tea can be made from the fresh or dried leaves.
The best part of the grass plant to eat are the seed heads, which can be gathered to make millet for breads or filler for soups & stews. Of the 99% that can be eaten raw, about 1% have toxic seeds and require that you roast or cook the seeds first. As a word of caution, stay away from blackish or purple colored grass seeds. This is a good indication of toxic fungus. Just make sure they are green or brown. Also use common sense when gathering. Don’t gather where there has been recent sprayings of weed killer.
Oak
Oak – specifically the acorn – is a great source of food in the fall and early winter time. Like most nuts, acorns contain a good amount of protein and fat which is beneficial in keeping you alive. While White Oak species of acorns can be eaten right after shelling, the remaining oak varieties require processing of the acorns first in order to remove the bitter taste.
I found that many ‘survival guides’ explain you only need to shell the acorns then boil them in a couple changes of water to remove the bitter taste. However, in my experience, it takes far more than a couple of boilings and on top of that it is a waste of fuel. The best way to do this is to crush the acorns into a course flour then immerse this flour into water and boil it. Depending on how much water used, it can take only one boiling (at most two) to remove the bitter taste.
After straining the flour into a t-shirt, the resulting acorn ‘dough’ can be eaten as is, set out to dry to be used as flour at a later time, or added to other flours for a great tasting bread – in fact, every Fall I make a killer ‘acorn bread’ that is a family and friend favorite.
Pine
“You can eat pine?!” Yes, pine trees are an awesome food source that I’ve eaten throughout the year. “OK…so how do you eat it” Good question, let me explain.
First of all, if you’ve ever eaten pesto, chances are you’ve eaten pine. ‘Pignoli’ or pine nuts are a common ingredient in pesto and are often served on ice-cream . Every species of pine produces seed (or nuts in this case) and all can be eaten. In the late fall and early winter, the cones can be gathered, opened, and the seeds extracted. The only issue is that most pine don’t produce large seeds like for example the pinion pine does.
In most other species the seeds are quite small and it takes quite a few to make a decent meal. However, if you’re lucky to live in the Great Basin or other arid areas where pinion pines love to grow you’re in luck, if not and if you don’t feel like spending so much time for a meager meal, read on…
In the spring, the male pollen anthers can be eaten and are high in protein. The inner bark of the pine can also be eaten and surprisingly makes quite a tasty meal if prepared right. And with some species – like the white pine – it can be surprisingly sweet.
In addition, pine needles can be gathered year round to make a great tea which contains a ton of Vitamin C (not in the least bit ‘piney’ tasting as you would expect).
Cattail
This is my favorite wild edible. Not only is it referred to as the wilderness ‘supermarket’ (because of its many edible parts), but it has some great medicinal and utilitarian purposes as well.
Cattail provides something to eat year round. And the amount that you can gather is quite substantial. In fact, a study was conducted at the Cattail Research Center of Syracuse University’s Department of Plant Sciences by Leland Marsh. He reported that he could harvest 140 tons of rhizomes per acre near Wolcott, NY. That equates to more than 10 times the average yield per acre of potatoes!
In the early spring the young shoots and stalks can be eaten raw or cooked. The flower heads in late spring can be husked like corn and boiled — in fact it has an almost corn-like taste. Very yummy. 
In summer, the brown-orangish pollen heads can be eaten raw or dried into flour. Fall is the best time to gather the horn-shaped corms (the sproutings of next years’ plants) which are eaten raw or roasted. And in winter, the root stalk is full of starch which can be broken up into water, dissolved, strained and dried into flour as good as wheat flour.
Conclusion
Even if you can only identify the previous four categories of plants, knowing how to use them can give you enough nutrients to stay alive. Supplement that with some additional plant knowledge and some hunting/trapping skills and you can forget surviving, you’ll be well on your way to thriving out in the wilds!
For the next week, I’ll be going into detail on how you can process and use each of the above groups of plants for life-sustaining food. Stay tuned!!
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- Posted in Featured, Wild Edibles, Wilderness Survival
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Very nice site. First time here.
I agree with everything you’ve written- and I would like to point out that the tanic acid you leach from the acorns can be saved and used to “tan” the hides of animals. Soak a cleaned rabbit hide in a 5 gallon bucket of tanic acid for a week- stretch, dry and work it and you will have a very supple rabbit skin- for clothing, shoes, bags…
I’ll be posting your site on my blog- hope it helps with traffic.
Jimmy
Jimmy,
Thanks for the tip! Your absolutely right about the tannic acid used for animal hides, although I’ve never tried that way (I’ve only done the traditional brain-tan method). It also makes a great astringent to be used on cuts and gargled for a sore throat.
Thanks for the link (I’ve added you to my links section as well).
- Erich
I didn’t know any of this! Thanks, Erich, for some great information. Do you also know a bit about plants for medicinal purposes? That’s something I’d like to learn more about.
Thanks Lisa,
Yes I’ve been taught quite a few medicinal plants as well (have used a number of them for my own and family ailments). I’ll be doing some future posts on this as well.
you my sir are a genious. there is so much info on the web. but this cuts it right to the point. thank you
j,
far from it. But thanks for the kind words!
Stumble upon brought me to your site. Great info! I think a major plant you missed though would be the much maligned dandelion. Super high in nutritional content, with some medicinal properties and found almost everywhere in abundance. Once again, excellent!
I tried a Dandelion salad two weeks ago, and found it to be horrendous! Any suggestions for a palatable dish from them?
I used to think that it was an accquired taste but I was wrong.
Try this receipe.
Take about two lbs of dandelions (fresher the better) cut off the bottoms and larger stems. Rince the leaves in cold water and use a salad spinner to remove sand and access water. Place dandelions in a salad bowl and pour over a Raspberry vinaigrette mixed with honey. Stir and serve cold. I have also used bacon bits mixed with the vinaigrette heating the honey and vinaigrette and pouring over the greens for a warm dish.
The combination of the bitter and sweet was pretty good for a weed diner.
By the way 40 years ago I tried the dandelion wine and have been looking for that receipe.
Alltek,
First of all, thanks for visiting! Yes, I agree. The dandelion is a wonderful little plant – great source of food and medicine. I will be covering it late this spring.
Great site I would have never thought you could eat grass, great info
Thanks for visiting! You can smoke it too (although not recommended)
I like your article but have to ask one thing about cattails, HOW do you eat the white inner plant?
I’ve tried it on several occasions and to me, it simply tastes like crunchy swamp water. Disgusting!
Is there a method of cooking that will get rid of this flavor? Oh, and that included the rhyzomes too.
The seed heads are nice if you add the pollen to pancake mix about 50/50.
I’ve never tried the “horn” but will certainly give it a try this year.
Again, thanks for the article!
Blacksmith,
I’m not sure if you’ve read it already but my article on How to Eat Cattail details the process for eating cattail rhizomes and corms (I’ll be adding to it this coming spring and summer for the foods it provides at that time of year).
Let us know how it works out for you, we’d love to hear from you again!
- Erich
As a kid someone told me that you shouldn’t eat acorns till after they laid on the ground for a certain amount of time. Something about them making you VERY sick, could that be the tantic acid?
Dave,
It may be, consuming tannic acid in large amounts probably isn’t too healthy. I can’t imagine that someone would ever eat that many acorns without removing the acids given the bitterness of them (caused by the tannic acid). However, if you process it the way I outline in How to Make Acorn Flour you will effectively remove all the bitter tannins.
Thanks for the comments!
yeah, check out both of these articles for awesome tasting dandelion dishes:
Dandelion Greens
How to eat Dandelion Flowers
I am so very encouraged by your blog I too will be posting on my blog as well and try passing this wonderful info around. Thank you. Faith
happee holler
Thank you Angela!
I would probably not have chosen the pine, acorn or grass as their availability is too dependant on seasonality or location. The gathering and processing of these 3 are also too labour intensive to be a realistic survival food.
Things like dandelions, chicory, plantain and nettles are more readily available and have no processing time. Dandelion is available all year round. Burdock root is an excellent choice too,but more labour intensive.
Probably one of the best is Daylillies since their flowering season is so long.
Ramps, fiddle heads and asparagus are great early spring choices, dandelions, plantain and nettles are late spring foods until berries become available in the summer along with milkweed buds, lambs quarters and purslane.
The fall is the time for roots and tubers, nuts and seeds, but, in a survival situation, they should be evaluated based on caloric return. Jerusalem artichoke is an easy and rich target in the fall but the consumer will be plagued with flatulence until a tolerance is built.
For those who raised the issue of tannic acid in acorns, there is a difference between oak species. White oak (rounded leaves) have less tannin than red oak (pointed leaves). The meat needs to be ground, rinsed for several days in running water then dried if it is to be stored.
If the nutmeat processing is delay by even a day, the acorns should be baked to kill the worm. Even delaying the processing by one day could result in the loss of your whole find to the worms..
I am happy to see discussion on these wild foods. People who are looking at these foods as part of their survival or eco initiatives should be incorporating them into their diet now so they can learn how to best identify and prepare them.
Thanks for the great input Sherri. You’ve got a great resource available with your site.
Great info. i would add earth worms to the list for a little extra protein and nutrients….yum.
Just don’t chew them ;(
Acorn is a commonly used as a Korean appetizer. I have had it as a jelly type snack that is quite good
That’s pretty cool Milo, I didn’t know that.
Amazing! I was wondering if people can eat cat grass as well. I grow it for my cats of all year long. I’m going to be watching out for those cattail plants.
Jenna,
Both cat oat grass and cat wheat grass have edible seeds. The cat wheat grass is what we often use to make wheat grass juice, so yes cat grass is fine for humans.
just a warning, cattails are pretty good at absorbing pollution, so it’s probably no good to eat cattails in polluted environments.
Hi Joyce,
You are indeed correct. If you’re looking to try out cattail be sure to try to look into an area that is away from farm run-off or nearby major roads. If it was for survival purposes, that’s a whole different ball game.
Unbelieveable!! Just found your link through SurvivalMom. Started reading about processing and eating acorns. Already knew about dandelions, although I haven’t actually tried them yet. What has me laughing, though, is how hard in years past I’ve tried to get rid of both the dandelions and HUGE acorn crop that cover my yard every year!!! Wish I’d known sooner!!!!
Thanks so very much for the information – I really can’t wait to try the acorns. How fresh do they need to be to use? I still have acorns on the ground from last fall!! I have 2 huge, prolific oak trees in my yard.
Hey GrannyB,
Thanks for visiting! As for acorns this late in the season, you may get lucky with some of them, however most by now will be eaten through by the acorn weavil and other bugs (they drill a hole in the acorn and lay an egg inside so that when it hatches the larva will eat the acorn while it develops). To test it out, just open a few and see if the nut is still white all the way through. If so, it’s good to use.
I am really enjoying reading all the posts on this wonderful site! I’ve been Googling a question that I haven’t really found an answer to and hope you can answer it for me. I love wheatgrass juice but I am not really good at growing it. I have kits (seed, soil, kelp) and have been able to grow it but I would like to know if the seeds are edible without having to plant them? Can the seeds be eaten alone when they are just sprouting from soaking in water?
Hi Gail,
Wheatgrass berries are edible (as is most grass seed).
This is a great resource! I really want to learn more about how to survive in the wild, without having to eat animals, and this article is a great start! Thank you so much! Whenever I hear that we can eat pine trees, I always laugh and think of the Donner Party that couldn’t see the abundance all around them and felt the need to munch on each other. Knowledge is power AND survival!
How true. Pine is definitely more appealing than human flesh
I, for one, am surprised to see grass being labeled “edible”. I have heard (read) stories about “grass salads” turning people green and bloating them out – to death. I know that cows have 2 stomachs to process grass, which I think is high in silica. I will accept that the seed may be edible, as you stated. but, still question the high silica content in the seed.
Thanks for the great comments Michael.
I’m also not sure about the amounts of silica in grass seed however keep in mind that the suggestions given in this article are for a temporary survival situation. None of these foods should be exclusively eaten on a long term basis.
To your point, new studies seem to indicate that although many of our native grasses (specifically the seeds) have been used by the native Americans for centuries, they were only consumed a few weeks out of the year. The human gut is not adapted for consuming exclusively grains long term (especially if they are not ground up and cooked which aids in the digestion process).
Although the seeds are quite safe and edible, they should only be eaten during a short-term duration.
Lisa, large leaf Plantain is one of the useful medicinal plants that grows wild in a large part of the U.S. During the American Revolution it was called, “The Soldier’s Friend”. I’ve used it on wounds myself in the field. Aloe Vera is another one. There are hundreds. I highly recommend “The Green Pharmacy” by James A. Duke, PhD.
could you direct me to “how you can process and use each of the above groups of plants for life-sustaining food.” Thanks!
Raven,
Here’s a few articles I wrote that go into more details:
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-make-acorn-flour.htm
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-eat-a-pine-tree.htm
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/how-to-eat-cattail.htm
My family would fry a little fatback or bacon and make a vinagrette sauce to cook the dandelion greens in…then serve it over boiled potatoes. (We’re Irish extraction…) I still hated it, but the grapefruit eaters (I hate that, too…) in the family loved it.
Bo,
Dandelion greens should be in no way bitter if you grab them at the right season (early spring). Late in the year (summer/fall) they’re pretty bitter but still good if you’re into that taste (like your grapefruit eating family members).
Excellent article…. Johnson and Sudan grasses in particular are apparently very good in preventing cancer…some say it has cured them. Pine needles make great tea – and if you don’t have water while hiking, chew on these! (Take a few to stuff an old sock too and place it near your head when you sleep….. wow is the scent amazing!!)
True, but even when they are “older” the bitter taste won’t harm you… and you’ll still benefit from all the nutrients. (I always say bitter is better for you!)