It can be intimidating to learn foraging. Here are the 8 principles that I use to organize my thinking about foraging. Ginkgo nuts make a good example of how to put these principles into action. I'll be going into more detail about each one in future videos.
Haphazard Homestead's 8 Principles of Foraging
1. The Plant: Here's an understatement -- before you eat anything you forage, it's good to know what it is! Ginkgos are easy to identify. First, it's a tree - and by the time it has any fruit to harvest, it will be a big tree! Second, there is no plant that has a leaf like it. Even when a gingko tree is bare in the winter, there are usually plenty of old leaves on the ground for a rock-solid identification!
2. The Part: Not all parts of edible plants are edible -- or even safe to handle! So it's good to know which parts are good to eat and which are not. In this case, it's the Ginkgo nut, inside the fruit, that's good to eat. Not the fruit -- the fruit is actually a problem!
3. The Place: There's a lot to consider about good places for foraging. Like whether a place is safe for foraging, if legal , ethical, and practical. Ginkgo trees don't grow in the wild. And they take 30-40 years to bear any fruit. So the practical place to forage for ginkgo nuts is in old, established neighborhoods, in parks, or even more common, along the streets.
4. Phenology: Phenology is just a fancy name for nature's calendar. And nature's calendar is a lot more flexible than ours! A plant's calendar depends on the overall climate of the region it's in, the specific weather this season, and the micro-climate where an individual plant lives. Most of what's written about foraging Ginkgo nuts says to harvest them in the autumn. But I just picked these in January, here in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The time to pick Ginkgo fruits is when they are falling off the tree, all soft and rotten. No matter what month that is on our calendar!
5. Picking: Picking seems so simple. But there can be easy ways to pick, hard ways to pick, and downright bad ways to pick. If you've seen any of my videos about picking wild salads, you know I stress Pick Clean and Pick Organized. But sometimes that's not practical or necessary. Thinking ahead to bring the right tools can be helpful, too. I could pick up Ginkgo nuts from fallen fruits splattered all over the sidewalk. But it's a lot easier to lay down a tarp and use a long pole to shake off a lot of fruit at once, from the high branches! With ginkgos, it doesn't matter if there are leaves and other debris in there, too.
6. Preparing: Some foraging is so easy. But some plants have to be processed in very specific ways to remove toxins or make them worth eating. And it's always helpful to have recipes and see what tasty food other people are making from their foraged harvests! Gingko nuts do take a lot of preparation! First the nuts have to be removed from the rotten fruit. The nuts have to be removed from their shell and they have to be cooked, too. But I think they are worth the effort! I use different methods to process a few fruits or a lot of them.
7. Precautions: Even foods that we eat every day may cause problems for some people - because of allergies, other health issues, or interactions with medication. And some garden crops have to be handled carefully or they can cause skin rashes or other problems. The same is true for wild plants - it all depends on the plant and the person. Just because a plant comes with precautions, that's no reason to fear them. It's just a question of knowing which ones matter for your situation.
Gingko nuts comes with a lot of precautions, even though many cultures have eaten them for thousands of years. The fruit surround the nut may taste good, but it is not for eating -- they have both toxic and irritating compounds in them. Even for processing the fruits to get the nuts out, it's a good idea to wear gloves to keep the juice from causing a rash or burning. The nuts have to be cooked to break down one set of toxic compounds. And it's not a good idea to eat too many nuts at once, or too many over a long period.
8. Practice: To be a forager, you have to forage! Foraging is not just book-learning for future use in unlikely situations. Wild food is real food for regular people. Every time we go for a walk, it's a chance to practice plant identification. Every day, every time we eat, is a chance to practice using wild plants and mushrooms. I've been practicing lots of ways to enjoy eating ginkgo nuts -- and I'll be showing some ways in future videos, so stay tuned!
My playlist on foraging for wild foods: [ Ссылка ]
Music: "Floating Cities" - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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My channel: Haphazard Homestead: [ Ссылка ]
