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| Dandelion |
But let's start with dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). All parts of the dandelion except the stalks and seed heads are edible. Before the plant flowers the young leaves can be eaten raw and their bitter taste makes a great addition to salads. The flower heads are also edible. Once the plant goes to seed it's time to harvest the roots. Just like the Yellow Salsify we talked about in the previous post, dandelions have taproots and they're great stir-fried, among other things. Read Rosalee's monograph for more in-depth information about dandelion.
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| Young Douglas Fir tips |
Douglas Fir trees (Pseudotsuga menziesii) are spewing out their new bright-green growth and I love to eat those as I walk through the forest. They have a pleasant zing to them and a great texture. They also make a lovely tea if steeped in just-boiled water for 20 minutes. Refrain from picking tips that would allow the tree to grow taller. There should be plenty of tips on the lower side branches that the tree doesn't need as much.
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| Lomatium nudicaule |
There are three plants here that I call Yellow Lomatiums because they're very similar and are used in identical ways. They have great double-umbel flowers that look like little yellow fireworks and they have a very strong celery taste (they are in the parsley/celery family). Botanically speaking, they are Lomatium triternatum and L. ambiguum with divided, parsley-like leaves, and L. nudicaule with whole entire leaves.
All parts above ground are edible. As they have a fairly strong flavor I prefer to dry them and then use them as seasoning, in stews or other foods that could use a little "celery salt" to them.
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| Lomatium triternatum |
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| Stream Violet |
Stream Violets (Viola glabella) are pretty little flowers who like to dot stream sides and other moist edges. All above-ground parts, including flowers and their heart-shaped leaves, are edible and a great addition to salads.
Make sure that you're picking the right leaves as other undesirables may find their way into your gathering basket! Did you see that the leaves directly below the violet flower actually belong to arnica, which also has slender heart-shaped leaves but should not be consumed?
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| Oregon Grape Leaves |
Who on the Pacific Northwest is not familiar with Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)? Most famous for its prickly, almost holy-like leaves, and its incredibly tart berries, Oregon Grape has nevertheless other gifts to offer.
Its young, tender leaves, before they become glossy, tough, and prickly, can actually be eaten raw. Compare the young leaves in the picture on the right with the old leaves in the picture below. The flowers can also be eaten and are a fun addition to salads.
In my own experience, the Oregon grape in our region (M. aquifolium) is a lot more bitter than the one on the coast (M. nervosa) so I very rarely bother with them.
We'll come back and visit Oregon grape later, when it produces its berries.
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| Oregon Grape Flowers |
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| Hooker's Onions about to flower |
Wild onions (Allium cernuum) are a fantastic treat despite their small size. The entire plant is edible so you can gather them at any time, though it's best to gather the bulbs either before the plant flowers or after it has gone to seed. At other times, you can eat the leaves and flowers as you would commercial green onions.
Note that the leaves fade rapidly when the flower stalks shoot up, as in the picture to the right.
The small bulbs are found about three inches deep and are covered with a brown outer skin that needs to be removed before eating, as in commercial onions.
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| Bulb of Hooker's Onion |
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| Yellowbell gone to seed |
One of my very favorites here is Yellowbell (Fritillaria pudica). We gather the bulbs either before the plant flowers (which takes considerable amounts of practice and awareness) or after it has gone to seed (much easier!).
Just like we saw in the previous post for Spring beauties, it's important to carefully choose which plant you are going to dig. It's actually even more important because digging Yellowbell bulbs can be hard work, as they can be 5 inches below the ground level. So choose plants with thick stems and preferably several flower heads to make sure you get a good size bulb. The one seen on the pictures here is actually fairly small because I ran out of time and dug up the first one I saw but they can be a couple of inches across!!
The bulbs can be eaten raw and they have a somewhat nutty flavor, with both a creamy and crunchy texture. I actually prefer them cooked like potatoes and they maintain their crispness just the same.
They can also be dried easily if cut in half but they will need to be reconstituted in water before they can be eaten again. And just like Spring Beauties they can also be stored fresh in underground pits.
I have lots of information to share on Yellowbells but I forgot to change the setting on my camera and all my other pictures were blurry. So for now I'll just say that there are many rice-like bulblets attached to the main bulb and it's a good idea to rub them off and spread them in the hole you just dug. These bulblets will mature over the next years to produce more plants!
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| Yellowbell bulb |
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| Hooker's Onion (left) and Yellowbell (right) |
Like last time, I'll leave you with a little comparison between onions and yellowbells and you should compare those to the pictures of Mariposa Lilly and Death Camas from the previous post, as they all share some similarities.
Before they go to seed the Yellowbells are actually very similar to the onions, with a green stalk and thin, grass-like green leaves but the yellow bell-shaped flower is an obvious giveaway.
That early grass-like appearance makes it fairly similar to Death Camas, which is very highly toxic, but both onions and yellowbell tend to have a reddish stem at ground level while Death Camas doesn't.
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| Flower head of Hooker's Onion and seed head of Yellowbell |
The flower head of the Hooker's onion looks fairly similar to the seed head of the Yellowbell but the latter shows vertical ridges that define the six seed capsules.
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| Onion Bulb (left) and Yellowbell Bulb (right) |
The bulbs of the wild onions and yellowbells are very different, with the latter looking more like a flying saucer and having little rice-like bulblets attached on top.
The onion bulbs are more spherical and they can look like the bulbs of Mariposa Lillies and those of Death Camas so don't gather bulbs that are unattached or you may not know what plant they belong to!
Visit the other posts of this Edible Plants Series:
As usual, I'm 100% confident of the accuracy of this information and I have much personal experience with these plants. However, don't rely on my pictures to identify plants on your own. You should always, always have someone knowledgeable by your side to actually show you the plants and their characteristics until you have enough personal experience to be able to tell them apart from other plants. You take full responsibility for the mistakes you may make in the field.
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