Wild Carrot on the left compared to Poison Hemlock on the right. source

Even though a human can technically survive a few weeks without food, after a couple of days, it can debilitate your morale and judgment, making it more difficult to survive. After only 24 hours without food, food is all you're thinking about, so getting access to it is essential.

As discussed in the last post, plants are easy to obtain, and in the correct assortment, can provide all your nutritional needs, but hard to classify whether they are poisonous or not. I will attempt to provide a basic guide to help you classify edible plants, and prepare them.

Classifying edible plants is incredibly difficult! And eating a poisonous plant can make you very ill and possibly kill you. For example, people have mistaken poison hemlock as wild carrots and parsnips (above image), which has led to their death, so be very very careful!

Cultivated and Wild Plants

Eat only the plants that you are certain are safe to eat. Plants that you are familiar with.

Cultivated plants are edible plants that are intentionally grown by humans for consumption. Corn fields, fruit and nut orchards, potato farms, tomato fields, etc… These plants are much easier to recognize as edible.

Farmland is usually found outside of cities. And community and individual gardens can be found in cities with arable land (ask permission before eating someone else's food). You can also grow cultivated plants yourself.

Wild edible plants are plants that naturally grow in the wild with little or no human intervention, but are much harder to recognize as edible. Every region has its own edible wild plants.

For example, where I live, blackberries and pecans grow naturally in the wild. So I can just pick the blackberries off the stem and eat them. Pecans, I usually have to kick soccer balls up into the tree for them to fall down, and then I crack and eat them.

Do not be afraid to ask people around you what wild plants they like to eat. Most people don't know, but some people do. And it never hurts to ask.

Chokeberry Plant source

Things to Remember.

• Even though it's not necessary to bake and/or boil all plants before consuming, preparing plants for consumption increases the probability that they are ‘safer’ to eat. Some wild plants require baking/boiling to destroy poisonous compounds, like shelled cashews.
• Be careful of edible plants in the city, sometimes they are sprayed with pesticides and exposed to car exhaust emissions. And in war zone, plants may be contaminated with compounds from exploded ordnance. At the very least, you should wash plants thoroughly before eating. Or to be safer, and if you have an alternative, its best to avoid eating anything that has been exposed directly to any ordnance (mortars, artillery, bombs, rockets, missiles, etc...).
• Plants that grow in or around contaminated water or land must be boiled or disinfected before eating. And I highly advise you don't eat them at all.
• Some plants develop fungal toxins, so don't eat any fruit that shows signs of spoiling or fungus.
• Plants of the same species may differ genetically enough to cause serious illness or death, like people mistaking poison hemlock for wild carrots.
• Any leaves or seeds with an almond like scent is an indication of cyanide compounds, ie...the leaves of a black chokeberry plant have poisonous hydrocyanic acid, avoid this. However, the black chokeberries themselves are edible (in moderation), and better when washed and baked.
• If you are more susceptible to gastrointestinal problems, be much more careful with unknown wild plants.
• Some wild plants, like acorns, are bitter and unpalatable. Boiling them several times can remove this bitter taste.
• Some other wild plants contain high doses of oxalate compounds, which cause a sharp burning in your mouth and throat which may cause kidney stones. Baking, roasting or drying usually destroys these compounds.
• Be extra vigilant when it comes to wild mushrooms. Mushrooms are INCREDIBLE difficult to classify and you can mistakenly eat something poisonous very easily. The most poisonous mushrooms can cause central nervous system damage. And by the time you show symptoms, it's too late to do anything about it.

In Conclusion:

It is always easier to classify cultivated plants as opposed to the edible wild variety. So reach out to your community, know who grows cultivated plants (farms and gardens), so you can either trade with them or learn from them so you can grow them yourself.

Wild plants are harder to classify. And you must protect yourself from poisonous varieties. So that is why I started with a “Remember” list. Because when it comes to survival, being sick is worse than being hungry.

Also, edible wild plants are based on region, so do not be afraid to ask farmers, amateur gardeners, or anyone you see chewing on a plant…they often have some information about what is safe to eat in the wild.

In the next post, I will cover avoiding poisonous plants in more detail.

Stay frosty people.

50% allocated to ph-fund.

Sources: U.S. Department of Defense - Survival Handbooks, Army Field Manuals, Soldiers Guides and Personal Experience.