High Sierra Topix

Do you supplement with what you can find in the wilderness or the wild? If so, what of the wild foods that you have sampled and prefer. Photos are helpful. Here is a starter. Some are more Oregon things.

Trout: Goes without saying. Here are a couple of goldens in the pan with the next wild food

Wild Onions -- Easy to find next to streams and marshes. Smell like onions. Nice purple flowers. Here is a photo of the flowers among the lupine:

You eat the leaves and stems. I've never been able to pull out a bulb. Great with trout.

Mushrooms -- I only eat what I know. Morrels, puffballs, coral mushrooms. Its been a while since I have found mushrooms as they are eagerly hunted now. Finding puffballs, trout and wild onions nearby is a great day!

Berries: I am from the northwest, so berries are a natural part of life. Blackcap rasberies, blackberries (wild, not himalaya) strawberries, currents, gooseberries, blueberries, huckleberries, salmonberries, thimbleberries. Haven't ate Elderberries or manzanita yet, but would when convenient. Watch out though, where there are berries, there are bears!

Coyote Mint (Pennyroyal): A great afternoon tea. Great with honey.


Other things I eat: Camas bulbs, bullfrogs, any other fish I catch (minnows, squawfish), miners lettuce, cattails, ferns (fiddleheads)


Along the beach (Lost Coast): Clams, rock crabs, sea urchins, muscles.
What is your favorite?

I ate some translucent spiky gooseberries and sweet-sour red currants in Emigrant Wilderness last October. On that trip I found many bolete mushrooms including a group of enormous ones, but I didn't dare to eat them.

Alpine sorrel. Lots of it alng JMT on high elevation.

Yarrow tea is one of the few items I've learned to make when on the trail.

Love this topic.
An older one along the same lines:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2679" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This thread covered most things I eat out there. Back at the end of 2008 I was into watching shows like Survivorman and it combined with my massive increase in Sierra hiking I went through a short phase of wanting to eat any and everything I could find that was edible but given more time I became lazy with the learning process and the fact that being on the move all the time I hardly come across much that is good beyond Wild Onion since the berries varry so much. Since carrying books on wild edibles is just too heavy I find that more often then not I will see a plant and know it is edible but I don't remember what exactly is edible on it.

I need to learn more about mushrooms for sure. If I come across some Sulfur Shelf this year I may cook some up and see if it is any good.

Here is a note about it's edibility from it's wiki page:

The mushroom can be prepared in most ways that one can prepare chicken meat. It can also be used as a substitute for chicken in a vegetarian diet. Additionally, it can be frozen for long periods of time and retain its edibility. In certain parts of Germany and North America, it is considered a delicacy.

L. sulphureus prepared dish
In some cases eating the mushroom "causes mild reactions . . . for example, swollen lips" or in rare cases "nausea, vomiting, dizziness and disorientation" to those who are sensitive.[4] This is believed to be due to a number of factors that range from very bad allergies to the mushroom's protein, to toxins absorbed by the mushroom from the wood it grows on (for example, Eucalyptus or Cedar), to simply eating specimens that have decayed past their prime. As such, many field guides request that those who eat Laetiporus exercise caution by only eating fresh, young brackets and begin with small quantities to see how well it sits in their stomach.

For all potential shroomers - BUY *AND READ* THIS BOOK:

Mushrooms Demystified, by David Arora, Ten Speed Press (1986)

http://www.davidarora.com/publications.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No exceptions!

With that caveat, good eating Sierra mushrooms include:

Cepes or Porcini (Boletus edulus) - everyone's favorite
Sierra puffball (Calvatia sculpta) - meaty and mildly fishy, good with "cream of ..." soups for chowder
Morels (Morchella elata) - early season; burn/disturbed areas

If you do manage to score, only problem is carrying enough oil