When you look at many wild edible plant lists you may run across plants you’ve never heard of or seen (like fireweed and monkey flower for instance). Or worse, they list things that most of us are unlikely to want to eat and savor. If you know where to look, this middle-of-the-road swath of green contains a minimum of five edible plants. If you look closely (enlarged photo here) you can see Burdock, Dandelion, Red Clover, Plantain, and Chickory. All edible.
1. Burdock. Prized by the Japanese (although a different variety than the wild version), the roots can be cut up and used in soups to give a very nutritious and gently medicinal element to your hearty meal. Grows everywhere in our region.
2. Red Clover. The small pinkish clover heads can be added to salads, made into an infusion (tea), or just eaten raw. They are delightfully flavored, beautiful, and nutritious.
3. Dandelion. Good for the liver, these bitter leaves are better before the bloom and used as a stir-fry or addition to salads. Roots are edible as well and can be chewed on or made into a strong drink.
4. Chickory. Often used as a coffee substitute, the roots of this gorgeous plant can be harvested, dried, and saved or used fresh for a deep, rich, and delicious drink.
5. Plantain. Can be used much like collards and kale are used. Steams or stir-fried with garlic. Be sure to take the stringy parts out first.
6. Elder. The myriad uses of elder. Flowers, leaves, and berries are used for cordials, medicine, syrups, and food of all kinds. Do some research and get creative.
7. Daylillies. Some folks like to eat the sprouts, tubers, flower buds and flowers. Great article here.
8. Wineberries. A delicious edible raspberry-like berry. They grow like crazy on road edges, tickets, and in other places. Find your best spots and pick in June & July.
9. Chickweed. Probably the tenderest and tastiest of the edible wild greens, this plant loves cool weather to keep it succulent. So look for it in spring and fall.
10. Serviceberries or Juneberries. Most of the trees or shrubs that local folks harvest berries from are probably cultivated. So this is somewhat cheating. But they are native and they do grow wild, as do blueberries, in our region. The cultivated varieties are often producing more reliably and larger fruit. Find your trees and keep them secret. There are plenty of wild food foragers in the region who take advantage of these remarkably sweet berries.
Author: Lee Warren
Lee Warren has been homesteading and farming for more than 25 years. She is the former Executive Director of Organic Growers School and the manager of Imani Farm, a pasture-based cooperative farm in Rutherford County, NC. Lee is also an herbalist, writer, teacher, and food activist, with an avid interest in rural wisdom, sustainable economics, and social justice issues.
Lee, just stumbled on your website. FYI #8 above, wineberry is NOT native. Another name is Asian raspberry. The only 2 native raspberries are black raspberry and the rare (in nature around Southern Apps) red raspberry.
Thanks Keith. Thanks for correcting and good to know!
Found this:
Wineberry, or wine raspberry, is a spiny shrub that was introduced into the United States in 1890 as breeding stock for new Rubus (raspberry genus) cultivars and still used today by berry breeders. It is prized for its delicious edible raspberry-like berries that are produced in abundance in summer. From: https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/ruph.htm
Lovely as they are, wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) is not native to our area, but is from Asia.
Do you know where I can find wild burdock in Western NC? I live in Charlotte
Wineberry is invasive. Please consider modifying the post. Thank you.
Thanks for the tip. Article has been updated!
Hi Colleen,
Burdock thrives in areas where the earth has been turned up and disturbed. In old fields and pastures, garden beds, parks, backyards…Be sure not to harvest in polluted areas! Get out to the country if you can and look in the places listed above. She shouldn’t be too hard for you to find!
Hey Lee,
You did not include Stinging Nettle, one of the most highly nutritious plants in North America I have heard.
Is this true?
Whenever I eat it, I get more clear and my body feels more alive.
It’s also used as a preparation in Biodynamic food growing.
What do you think?
Thanks for this article,
Mark
Red raspberries also grow wild in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC – we live close to Blowing Rock, and they are so good!!
Hello Mark,
Thanks for your comment & questions. You can check out two of our blog posts about stinging nettle here: https://organicgrowersschool.org/perennial-plants-for-health/ and https://organicgrowersschool.org/rinse-spin-nettles-in-the-washing-machine/
There are also a myriad of articles online. Susun Weed is a big fan: http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/October08/healingwise.htm
Hope this helps!