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YOUR EDIBLE LANDSCAPE
by Linda Runyon

CHOLLA

Opuntia fulgida
Cactus Family, Cactaceae

Other Names: Jumping cactus.
History: Native to North America. Used by Hohokam, prehistoric desert people. Indian women used baskets, sticks, and wooden tongs made from saguaro ribs to gather the buds. A firepit was dug in the desert floor, and the buds and joints were placed in a mesquite fire, roasted, and split in two to eat the succulent insides.

Habitat: Desert.

Characteristics: Treelike cactus with many branches. Cholla cactus has dozens of individual egg-shaped barbarous sections extending from tree-like stems reaching heights of 3 feet or more. Flower is light rose color, fruit is green and smooth. 
Primary Uses: Culinary, medicinal, cosmetic. Edible flowers, seeds, fruits, and bud extensions. Fruits are eaten raw, boiled, or baked. Dried for long-term storage. Fruits used in soups, casserole. 
Nutritional Value: High in calcium and iron.

Medicinal Value: Gel applied on skin burns.

Cosmetic Value: Gel used as skin softener.

Collection and Storage: Use tongs and paper bags to collect fruit, leaves, and flowers of cholla. Spines and glochids are removed in any of several methods. Indians used flash fire, holding a flame under the burr to remove the glochids, so that they could be opened easily and handled with the fingers. Another method is to place burrs in one paper bag and transfer to another several times. Dry cholla buds on screens in the sun. Cover with cheesecloth if birds pick at them. Dried buds are stored in paper bags until needed. When needed, reconstitute in water about 3 to 4 hours, then boil for one-half hour.
Evelyn Neithammer (1974) found that the easiest way to clean cholla buds is to fill each of 2 saucepans one-third full of clean gravel. The buds are added and the gravel and buds poured from one pan to the other four or five times, or until rid of spines and glochids. (Glochids are minuscule, dense pockets of small barbs which protrude from the pads of prickly pear cactus. They are small but mighty protection against antelope, deer, and cattle of the Western plains.)

Caution: Spines and glochids will penetrate skin with a voracious sting and burning sensation. Do not touch the cactus with bare skin.
Caution: All cholla, prickly pear, and saguaro cactus is “protected plant, by State of Arizona,” but it is legal to pick fruits and buds of the species in this field guide for food. The rare crested saguaro is completely protected, so NO fruits or parts may be taken. Be sure to check the regulations in your state.

CLOVER

   When I homesteaded in the Adirondack wilderness, the intake of calcium and protein was my main interest. Reading references about wild foods became a very necessary occupation when I went to the town library.

   Red clover is one wild food that is high in vegetable protein and calcium. Red clover buds are sold in health food stores as a tonic for the body.

   I began by putting red clover leaves between two pieces of whole wheat bread and pretending it was cheese. After a week or so, I began to forage freely on red clover leaves and buds for my sweet candy.

   Little did I know the plant would eventually supply casseroles, teas, stir-fry and flour for baking. For a few months, red clover was added to spaghetti sauce and cream sauce for a halfway normal diet.

   When foraging for any plant be sure include careful, 100 percent identification. For a complete set of foraging rules, please see below in the Dandelions section, “Rules of Foraging”. For red clover, rub the plant on your upper gum and wait 20 minutes for any reaction. If no reaction, make a weak tea then consume small sections of this new plant.

   You may be fortunate to have a weedy backyard. If not, locate an access field and call to inquire how long ago the field was cultivated and what was grown there as far back as five years ago.

   Most chemicals are washed down below the quick-growing weed root system and wild food roots are in the first 4 inches of topsoil as a rule. Hardy and fast-growing, these plants are the very ones the agricultural system needs to eradicate.

   Clover: Trifolium pratense (red clover), Trefolium repens (white clover), Legume Family, LeguminosaeTrefolium pratense (L.)

   History: Throughout all cultures; a Native American vegetable.

   Characteristics: Biennial or perennial herb. Red clover reaches height of 10 inches or more, with hairy stems. Red or purple blossom with oval nectar sections; elongated leaves form trefoil with white vein when mature. White clover reaches height of 2 inches or more. White blossoms have dozens of nectar filled sections; round leaves form trefoil at end of stem.

   Location: Fields, roadsides, backyards.

   Collection and Storage: Plants are most succulent in spring and early summer. Gathering a winter’s supply of clover takes only a few minutes. Clover can be frozen by placing it in a single layer on freezer wrap, folding over 2 sides to hold the clover in place, and freezing. After the clover is frozen, roll the paper to make a compact package, fasten, and label. Dry seed heads separately for an attractive potpourri.

   Parts used: Leaves, blossoms, stems, roots. All can be used raw or cooked, dried or frozen.

   Medicinal Value: Red clover is used as tea for cough, whooping cough; blood tonic or purifier. Clover syrup used for chest congestion and bronchitis.

Hot Clover and Rice

1 cup milk or water
2 cups washed clover leaves
4 cups fluffy cooked rice

Add rice to a greased baking dish. Stir in clover and water (or milk). Stir again and serve hot. A protein delight. Serves 4.

Clover Sprout Muffins

3/4 cup partly cooked clover sprouts
1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour
5 teaspoons baking powder (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar (or honey)
1 cup milk or water
1 egg (optional)
2 tablespoons melted shortening (author uses water, no baking powder or egg, and sesame oil)

Stir flour, baking powder and honey together. Add milk or water and egg. Mix well. Add sprouts and melted shortening. Bake in a well-greased muffin tin at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Serves 3.

   (Medicinal remedies suggested by this column are intended to be used solely at the discretion and responsibility of the user.)

CAUTION: Always check identification of wild foods with photographic sources. Some wild foods are toxic to humans. So when in doubt: DON’T! Also be aware of the use of chemicals in your lawn and neighbor’s lawn.

MAPLE

   Remember those pinwheels floating down from a maple tree? I used to call them helicopters. They are edible! The meat portion, or seed, makes maple flour.

   The Chippewa, who live along the Great Lakes, have been using maple seeds for years. Cut from the pinwheel, the seeds are then dried and pounded into flour. With the greenhouse effect on the trees, I notice thousands of these pinwheels hanging from maple trees in clusters. It is so simple to collect them, cut the seed part off with a pair of scissors, dry on a screen, and put through the grinder. I have eaten maple seeds for food several times.

   I prefer to simmer them in water and add a touch of maple syrup as a sweetener. The maple seeds may be rather bitter, but they are an undisputed source of energy and vitamins. Maple makes the finest pancake syrup we have. Using maple is a natural way to sweeten cereals, teas, etc.

   Forage for maple seeds only 100 feet or more from the road and check for chemicals, insecticides and pesticides.

   Here is my recipe for Maple Seed Tea:

Ingredients:

½ cup maple seeds, clipped from the wing
Water to cover
2 teaspoons maple sugar

Place seeds in a pot; add boiling water and steep, covered, for five minutes or more. Add two teaspoons of maple syrup for sweetening.

MALLOW

   The mallow family (malva neglecta) is composed of many varieties that include cotton, okra and the marshmallow (whose root produces a substance used in the marshmallows we buy at the grocery store). This column, however, will be devoted to the use of the common mallow.

   Found in backyards, barnyards and waste areas, the common mallow is a creeping plant with five petaled flowers that range in color from white to pink to lavender.  Its other name, cheeses, is derived from the fruit of the plant, which is shaped like a miniature wheel of cheese.

   Those little cheese-wheel fruits are good just to nibble on and can also be used in fresh salads. Mallow leaves can be used in a variety of ways. I like to add the whole, young leaves to stir-fried rice or potatoes. Native Americans gather the “cheeses” and dry them for future eating and Europeans stir-fry them. I enjoy the “cheeses” raw and floated in soups. Chopped fine, the leaves can also be added to casseroles, bread and cookies. I also use the leaves for making tea, or, as with other wild greens, they can be boiled, steamed or sautéed and eaten as a vegetable. I save the liquid when I boil them and cool it for a pleasant refreshing drink (honey can be added as a sweetener and it can be drunk hot if you prefer). 

   To collect these wild plants, shear them with scissors. (See Rules of Foraging below.) I use a laundry basket to gather the leaves, which yields a half-gallon of delicate flour or over 50 vegetable meals in my freezer—all in ten minutes’ work, plus ten more at home using the tub to wash the leaves thoroughly. Fill the tub up, swish the leaves thoroughly, and then drain. Rinse the leaves again for cleanliness. Drain and place the leaves on screens to dry. Mallow dries easily on screens and trays in the back seat of a car. (A convenient drying rack, cars are an unlimited source of practicality. In my 15-year homestead experience, an old car dried my winter supplies of many hundreds of plants.)

   Steam mallow for long-term freezer storage. As a rule, I steam only until the leaves wilt. If the plants have matured and have the “cheeses” or seeds, you may have to steam longer. I do not take the leaves off the stem, but steam the whole stem, cheeses and leaves. The result: a large serving of vegetable, plus soups, teas or blender drinks (called Green Drink).

   Mallow leaves will crumble easily when they are dried. To insure long-term storage (6 months), dry in oven for 5 minutes at 200 degrees, then store in glass containers in a dark place, for best results. The powder is used for flour or tea, or just plain nutritious additives (imagine the amount of teas you have in a half-gallon of flour). The flour can be added to a variety of recipes and also makes an excellent okra-like thickener for soups and stews.

   A highly nutrition plant, mallow contain 249 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams (one-half cup), while a glass of milk contains 148 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams. An adult needs 800 to 1,200 milligrams per day for health. Mallow contains 12.7 milligrams of iron in 100 grams (one-half cup), and cooked beef liver contains 7.8 milligrams of iron. The average adult needs 10-18 milligrams a day of iron.

   Mallow leaves reproduce very quickly, so you can pick as many as you want at one time without fear of damaging the plant or diminishing your supply! 

PHOENIX MALLOW

   I love mallow as a wild vegetable. It seems as though virtually every Arizona dirt area contains this abundant wild food. It is sold in the marketplaces of China and other oriental countries, and Europeans use it as a common food. From my observations, Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona, have more mallow than any other state I have visited. My New Jersey garden abounds with this plant, but even it is not as prolific as Arizona.

Delicate Wild Mallow Soup

1 handful washed mallow leaves
2 cups water
1/4 mallow “cheeses” or leaves

Place soup pot on medium heat. Place handfuls of malva neglecta leaves in two cups of water. Allow mixture to come to a boil. TURN OFF HEAT. Stir leaves and cover. Steep soup for 10 minutes, remove leaves if you wish, adds onion slices and cheeses. Serve hot. Serves two.

Wild Malva Wrap

1 cup water
1 dozen large mallow leaves with stems
1 cup wild rice, cooked
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon vegetable salt (of your choice)
Small, greased casserole dish

Bring water to a boil. Wilt mallows by gingerly dipping each leaf separately into boiling water. Rearrange leaf on a paper towel to drain. Place wild rice in a bowl. Stir in thyme and 1/4 teaspoon vegetable salt. Take a teaspoon of mixture and place in the middle of the leaf. Wrap up the mixture in the leaf with the stem securing it and place face down in a small greased casserole dish. Sprinkle rest of vegetable salt over wraps and bake in oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve piping hot. One dozen serves two people.

RULES OF FORAGING

1. Positively identify all plants you intend to ingest as food or medicine.
2. Use three photographic references whenever possible. Roll a tiny bit of the plant between your fingers and sniff. Does this smell good? Then, run that tiny bit of plant on your gums.   WAIT 20 minutes. Look for burning, nausea, itching, or stinging. If no reaction, take a TINY bit of plant, pour a cup of boiling water over and drink slowly, over a period of 20 minutes. Look for symptoms of nausea, upset stomach, burning, etc.
3. People with allergies should juice up a small piece, and place on inner arm using a bandaid and wait for several hours. If no redness, proceed with small amount of plant.
4. Keep all samples away from children, pets, storing seeds, bulbs out of sight.
5. Teach children to keep all plants out of their mouth.
6. Avoid smoke from burning plants.
7. If on a farmed land, find out how long ago the land was farmed, and whether the land was used for corn, cotton or orchards, as these crops are subjected to heavier chemicals.
8. Call and report chemical spills resulting in contaminated areas.
9. Keep plants in separate bags when foraging and collecting.

The above referenced from Linda Runyon’s National Field Guide The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide. Other publications include: A Survival Acre, Wild Food Cards, Coloring Book, available from Wild Food Co., PO Box 83, Shiloh, New Jersey 08353, or e-mail lrunyon8@yahoo.com.