Kansas City Blog

Last week in Breakfast Buffet I linked to a Forbes article on foraging for spring-time food. It was written in the first-person about a trip to the Catskill Mountains and contained mentions of cattails and mushrooms galore but no actual pictures.

This line had me worried: "one cap of the well-named Destroying Angel mushroom, abundant in the spring, can kill you." What the hell did this Destroying Angel look like, so I know how to avoid it?

It looks like pretty much every other mushroom. (It's pictured to the left.) Thus the realization: If you're going to actually go foraging, you need more information than Forbes gave but at the same time, no one wants to read several hundred pages on obscure plants.

That's why I enjoyed Eco Salon's short piece, with multiple photos, about 20 commons plants you can forage for and eat until your heart's content. Besides dandelions and wild carrots, there's a proper way to eat milkweed. (Turns out the non-poisonous parts are pretty nutritious but always err on the side of caution.)

If 20 plants aren't enough or you like videos rather than photos of the plant, forager Jerilee Wei has put together her own extensive list of plants to eat. Over at Herb Videos, it recommends violets as the perfect spring-time plant, calling it one of the "best sources of vitamin C, with ample amounts of potassium, vitamin A and health protecting bioflavonoids."

(Image via Flickr: Gavatron)