Wild Food Foraging- Season 1

welcome to today's episode of outside fun where we'll be learning how to make Daniel in coffee now since most people with Daniel know what dandelions look like because they're easily identifiable I'm not gonna go into great detail about what they look like but here are a few examples of Daniel ions now for digging out plants and especially roots this is my favorite tool to use I like it because the teeth on the back edge of the knife which I can use to cut through the soil and I use this knife exclusively for digging out plants and getting roots out because that way all my other good knives are kept sharp because I'm not putting them in the soil a day lines are extremely nutritious every part of the plant can be eaten and used but for the purpose of making dandelion coffee we'll be using the root and the root of the day line has been used for many medicinal purposes including treating anemia kidney disease jaundice arthritis respiratory infections and other things Danny lions are known in some studies to actually reduce obesity and they are packed with vitamin A and they actually have a higher nutritional value than broccoli now as you see here I'm cutting the roots up and throwing them in the bucket so that I can wash them and get all the dirt off okay so I finished washing the roots off and now they're nice and clean so now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cut them up into smaller pieces now it's rumored that Danny lions were brought over by early European explorers and they did so because the plants were extremely nutritious like we've already talked about and they were easy to grow and as you and I both know today they are extremely easy to grow and it very hard to get rid of now that I've cut the roots up into smaller pieces I've put them into a pot and I'm setting them setting them in the coals of the fire to roast them until they turn black and as you roast them you'll actually smell a bit of a coffee flavor coming off of them here they are finished roasting all a nice black color now I'm kind of cheating here because I'm using an electricity to grind them up but if you're a survival situation what you can do is put them between some kind of piece of fabric like a cotton t-shirt and beat them between two stones until they're ground up in a nice black powder like this I'm using a coffee filter here to strain the water through the grounds but when you're in a survival situation again a cloth or a t-shirt would work just perfect to strain the hot water through and I made enough powder here and I made enough grounds here to make probably half a pot of coffee and here's the end result you can't tell the difference between Daniel and coffee and regular coffee and the taste is quite similar it's very good and since I'm a sweet tooth I'm adding some sugar and some cream and I really enjoyed it this is one of my favorite drinks that you can make from wild edibles if you liked today's video or you like any sort of video that focuses on the outdoors and please feel free to subscribe to this channel thank you for watching you welcome to outside fun where today we'll be learning how to make Bush lemonade otherwise known as sumac aid now right now we're looking at some sumac and right away you'll see that there are some prominent features about the sumac bush and number one is that you'll you'll see these upright deep red clusters and we'll take a closer look at them here in a second but anyways the sumac clusters are deep red like I said before they're very tightly formed berries that are covered in fuzz really fuzzy and if you rub your fingers on them and lick your fingers it'll kind of have a salt and vinegar taste to it which is the kind of the tangy sour flavor that you get from lemons which is why it's called sumac aid or Bush lemonade sumac likes to grow in open places where there's plenty of sunlight light they don't like to grow in the shade they like to grow in well-drained drier soil now I want to explain that a lot of people confuse sumac which is what we're looking at today with poison sumac and poison sumac is very different it's actually not even related as a plant species that's totally different poison sumac has white hairless and waxy berries that hang downward they grow in dense swampy areas and so as you can see from my description poison sumac and sumac are totally different plants and again I recommend that with any wild edible that you're looking into consuming or using make sure that you thoroughly research it and this video is just a guideline but make sure that you do the research yourself as well now anyways as you see what I'm doing here I'm I click pick about six to seven clusters and I'm putting them in a pitcher here and I'm gonna be pouring cold water in and letting it sit for several hours now it's important that you don't boil the sumac clusters because if you do that it'll actually make the pit of the mixture really bitter tasting and you don't want that so it has to be soaked in cold water and I'd say for at least three hours this batch I soaked for about eight hours I think and it turned out quite nicely as well you'll find that the flavor of sumac matures and gets stronger as the summer goes on and so the best time to pick sumac clusters is actually at the end of summer early fall time and you'll find that they'll taste a lot more bland in spring because they haven't had a chance to kind of build up their flavor and now this is the first time that I've actually had sumac I thought I drank sumac aid and in the beginning I wasn't too struck by it and just like with lemonade you have to it's probably the best add sugar I know some people who don't drink it or drink it without the sugar but you know you don't hear a lot of about a lot of people drinking lemonade without sugar in it so I recommend putting some sugar in with your sumac aid which is what I did and although I wasn't struck on it right away it actually kind of grew on me and sumac aid has been used by the natives for generations to actually treat indigestion stomach aches and things like that so it is a very healthy drink a very natural drink and a great substitute for lemonade well I hope you found today's video helpful and if you like what you see then I encourage you to subscribe welcome to today's episode of outside fun where we'll be learning how to make chicory coffee now this right here is a chicory plant and right away you'll notice that the flowers are light blue in color and they're very unique looking chicory is considered a root sorry a weed and it grows in many dry areas Dry fields roadsides and even between the cracks of sidewalks and these flowers I filmed on a rainy day and you'll see that they're kind of crinkled up a little bit but on a sunny day the flower will actually open all the way up and here you see some chicory leaves and they look very similar to dandelion leaves here are a couple of chicory stems and they're very tough and you'll find it hard to break them with your hand now to make chicory coffee you'll need the root and to take a root out of the ground my favorite tool to use is my knife here which has special teeth on the back to make it easier to cut through the soil now I dug up about half a dozen chicory roots and I laid them out on the ground here just to show you what they look like and in a moment I'm gonna take them wash them up and cut them into smaller pieces now back when coffee was just starting to be popular the lower class couldn't afford to drink coffee and so what they did is they took the chicory root and made coffee out of the out of it for themselves because it was a cheap alternative and so to the state chicory root coffee is also known as poor man's coffee I've got my little knife knife out here I'm trying to cut through the root but did find it to be quite woody so I ended up having to switch to a bigger knife we just chopped it up so there you go my there's my machete and it did a pretty good job now in a previous video of mine I made coffee from Danny line root and I did find the Danny line roots to be easier to work with they are easier to slice up I didn't have to work so hard the chicory root is quite woody at least in my experience but I am excited to try this chicory coffee and just to compare it in flavor to the day line coffee that I've made in the past and so I washed the roots up here and they're all nice and clean ready to chop up into smaller chunks there you go I'm gonna take these smaller pieces now and put it into this campfire here and set it on the coals for about 15 to 20 minutes basically until the pieces turn a nice black color but not too black and here's a closer look at the chicory root once it's been roasted and I am cheating a little bit here because I am using electricity to grind the roots up but if you're a survival situation the best thing you can do is wrap it up in a cloth or a t-shirt and grind it between two heavy rocks and I recommend about a tablespoon and a half of chicory coffee for every cup of water and there you go the grounds look very similar to coffee grounds and I'm using this coffee filter here to filter hot water through and you'll see it'll come out looking very similar to coffee and again if you're in a survival situation you won't have a coffee filter on you of course and so again using a t-shirt is probably your best bet for a for a filter now I did enjoy the chicory coffee quite a bit it tasted very good better than I expected I did find it a little more bitter than dandelion coffee and here's a here's some chicory coffee with some cream in it which I really enjoyed but anyways try it for yourself I liked both daniel and coffee and chicory coffee and if you liked today's video and you want to see more please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to this episode of outside fun where we'll be learning how to use wild peppermint to make mint tea and as well mint iced tea I was walking along this riverbank one day when I came across a stump and as I looked underneath I actually found a whole bunch of mint plants growing you can kind of see them to the right there and on closer look you can see that the formation of the leaves is quite distinct it's quite easy to recognize an mint plant and at the top here is the purple flower that they produce you see that the petals are kind of falling off there because it's getting near the end of the summer it's it's getting more into the fall but the leaf formation and the flowers are two ways that you can recognize them and when all else fails you can easily pick a leaf break it open and you will definitely be able to smell that signature mint smell and with any wild edible I always encourage you guys to to not just go out and eat it because you see me doing a video on it but to research it well you know find multiple sources that talk about the plant that you're interested in and just make sure you get to know it very well you're soft before you start dealing with it but anyways you can use this video as a guideline and there's a close-up of a mint leaf and I'm just breaking it open and it definitely has that mint smell to it so I've gathered a bunch up here and brought it home and I'm just going to go through the stems now and pull off all the nice green healthy leaves and and collect them into a pot [Music] and here I pulled one of the root the mint plants up and kept the root because I'm gonna go take that into the backyard and plant it so that next to I can just go outside and and pick some wild mint whenever I want and I'm just adding some water in here I'm just gonna wash the leaves really quick before I boil them I just want to add that mint likes to grow in moist soil but that is also well-drained so kind of a most gravelly kind of soil is where it likes to live and so usually it is quite easy to find mint along riverbanks just like I found it found this stuff and I'm setting some washed mint leaves aside here I'm just gonna end up drying those and storing them in a jar so I can make mint tea later on in the year but with the mint leaves that I'm gonna use in this video I'm now breaking them up and that'll just help release the flavor when I make the team and so now with my hot plate I'm going to bring the mint leaves here to a boil and I brought it to a boil for five minutes and then I took it off and five minutes was was enough to infuse the water with the mint flavor and there you go I really really like the mint tea it had a really good flavor and it even freshen my breath so definitely a double bonus there and with the leftover mint tea that I had I put it in the fridge cooled it off and added some sugar to it and now it is iced mint tea which also is an amazing drink refreshing and definitely again a breath freshener and if you liked today's video anything about two wild edibles for the outdoors then please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to this episode of outside fun we're all be showing you how to make a simple but delicious dessert made from peppermint leaves I was admiring the same along this river one day when I noticed that I was standing right next to a bunch of government plants and so anyways I picked about a couple dozen of them and here they are now in a previous video I tell you how to better identify a peppermint plant and what traits to look for and if you're interested in seeing that video a link will be appearing for it now anyway I'm just gonna get right into it here so here are my two dozen leaves give or take and these are the two ingredients that we'll be using just two and that's it an egg and a bowl full of icing sugar as you can see I'm using egg white and I'm gonna whisk that into a white fluffy consistency kind of like a mime and there's my cookie sheet I'm just lining it with some tinfoil and I'm gonna just give it a light spray of some cooking oil and now for the next part I'm just gonna dip each leaf into the meringue and powder it with the icing sugar before putting it on the cookie sheet now the meringue sometimes doesn't stick too well to the leaf but just do the best you can to coat the leaf before putting the icing sugar on and so now that I've got the cookie sheet full I'm gonna put it in the toaster oven and I'm gonna set the heat at about 100 degrees Celsius or 210 degrees Fahrenheit and I'm gonna leave it in there for around 30 minutes and here they are 30 minutes later you can see the meringue on them has gotten into a nice golden brown and although it may not look exceptionally appetizing I promise you will not regret making these they are delicious they're basically like a mint flavored chip really good something healthy to have after supper or with a cup of tea or coffee welcome to this episode of outside fun where I'll be showing you a special plant that can be used as an ointment to treat cuts bruises mosquito bites burns bee stings rashes acne or basically anything on the skin that is a wound it she or painful the plant we need to make the ointment shown here is called plantain it is a common weed that grows pretty much everywhere in fact there's a 90% chance that it's growing in your backyard right now plantain is as common as Daniel Lyons and they grow in the same areas too so if you see one you're probably gonna see the other close by plantain grows fairly low to the ground and they have very distinct leaves that have smooth edges and have three main veins that spread out toward the tip of the leaf each plant has at least one long stem that grows up past the leaves this stem is full of seeds but it will likely be missing if you're looking for it in your backyard because the lawnmower lawnmower will have chopped it off now the leaves are extremely healthy and can be eaten raw the flavor of the leaves has been compared to that of spinach and in my own experience some patches of plantain leaves can be slightly bitter tasting while other patches have a mild and pleasant taste to them similar to celery these leaves can be thrown into a salad or boiled like you would a spinach now let's talk about the healing properties of plantain plantain is antibacterial antimicrobial as well as being anti-inflammatory and antitoxin in the past the leaves have been eaten or brooded and tea to calm an upset stomach and they have also been used on the skin for example if you're out in the bush and you cut your hand grab a plantain leaf and chew it up in your mouth then place the chewed up leaf over your cut to soothe the pain and keep it from being infected and now I'm just putting this on my scar that I've got a couple of months ago from working with some scrap metal just as an example now if you want to make an ointment that you can keep with you or keep at home then gather up the leaves and the seeds from the plantain plant and once you've gathered what you need wash everything up next you can either tear the leaves into smaller bits with your hands or you can finely chop the leaves off with a knife now take the stems that you've collected pinch the tip of the seed seed stems and slide your fingers down them to remove the seeds and they'll come off quite easily now gather everything up and place it into a jar next fill the jar up to the brim with olive oil now close the container up and let it sit for about four to six weeks this will allow the medicinal properties of the plantain to leech out into the olive oil after you've let the mixture sit for an appropriate amount of time all you have to do is strain out the oil from the leaves and seeds as you can see the olive oil is now green in color the open doesn't smell the greatest but it sure works I've personally used it on some irritated pimples that I had and within about 15 minutes the irritation was gone and it reduced the size and redness of them overnight the skin around my wife's fingernails were very dry which made them crack and bleed a lot and her fingertips stung a lot with pain because of it and so she decided to try the plantain ointment on them again within 15 minutes the stinging was gone and within a day or two the cracks and bleeding had cleared up needless to say we highly recommend this natural ointment here I'm putting the ointment on a cut I received from my axe while cutting up some kindling a few days ago and again after about 15 minutes the pain had subsided and it kept my cut from getting red and puffy whenever the pain came I simply dabbed a little more ointment on the cut until it started to clear up I like using the olive oil with the plantain mixture because the oil helps it stick to the skin which is really helpful as well to allow the the healing properties of the plantain to get into your skin anyway there you go now if you enjoy today's episode or anything that has to do with the outdoors or wild edibles and please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to today's episode where I'll be showing you how easy it is to make your very own apple cider and apple syrup wild apple trees are probably more common in your area than you think it's just that you haven't been looking for them but in the fall if you're driving down a dirt road be sure to keep your eyes peeled by the roadside and along the edges of fields this is where you'll most likely see a wild apple tree now since most people know how to identify an apple I'm not going to get into detail about how to identify them so if you're unsure I suggest that you do some research now a common misconception about wild apples is that they are bitter tasting and therefore unpalatable but wild apples can be just as sweet as an apple from your local grocery store now crab apples on the other hand are known for being bitter but as you can see they look quite different from a regular while apple anyway I found a couple wild apple trees at the edge of this field one with green apples and the other with red apples I shook the branches on both trees causing the ripe apples to fall to the ground where I collected them into a five-gallon pail if the apple had a hole in it I threw it aside if the apple had only a bruise or some spots on it I kept it because it was still a good apple i rinsed the good apples in a container of water after that I clean my axe up and I used it to mash the apples into a mush once I mash the apples up I added the rest of the apples to the mixture and I mash them in as well now since I don't have access to an expensive Apple press and I'm assuming that you don't either I needed to devise a cheap and efficient way to extract juice from the apples so I took a block of wood and I cut it I cut it to fit perfectly inside my five-gallon pail and I cut it into a you know a bit of a coral shape I placed a garbage bag over the pail to keep dirt from getting into the apple mash and next comes the cork that I just made now all that is needed is a good steady weight to press down on the cork and so I stood on top I strongly recommend having something to hang on to when you do this because well it's pretty easy to fall off and hurt yourself after I've stomped on the cork for about a minute or so it was time to drain the juice holding the cork in place I held the bucket upside down and let the juice drain into a pot from a five-gallon pail of apples I was able to extract one pitcher of juice which equaled about two and a half liters and I mashed a second batch of apples into a finer mush and I was able to get about three liters out of that batch I strained the juice to remove any leftover apple chunks then I put the juice onto the stove as you can see here the moment the juice comes to a boil there's a thick froth that forms on the surface this froth is all the impurities rising to the surface take a mesh strainer and scoop this froth off the top keep scooping until the froth is gone you can now remove the pot from the burner pour it into a pitcher and allow it to cool their remaining impurities will settle in the bottom of the pitcher and and you can see them settle down in the bottom already in the in the bottom inch of the pitcher there keep your cider in the fridge until you're ready to heat it up for a hot mug of homemade apple cider don't forget to throw in a cinnamon stick here's a preview of the next episode where I show you how to turn your apple cider into Apple syrup you'll be surprised how easy it is to do now if you liked today's episode anything involving outdoors or wild edibles please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to today's episode where I'll be showing you how to make apple syrup otherwise known as apple molasses or apple butter in a previous episode I used wild apples to make apple cider if you haven't seen the apple cider episode I suggest you watch it first and then come back to this one that's because you'll need the apple cider to make apple syrup to make the syrup all you need to do is boil it down until the cider becomes syrup but you'll need to know what ratio to boil it down to the ratio for maple syrup is forty to one this means if you want one liter of maple syrup you'll need to boil 40 litres of sap down to the 1 liter burps syrup is even worse at 100 to 1 again this means that you'll need to boil 100 litres of sap to make only one liter of syrup making maple syrup and birch syrup is impractical because it takes a lot of work and energy for a small amount of product but here's the good news apple juice is so high in sugar that the ratio is much lower to make it into syrup the ratio is a mere seven to one so instead of having to boil your liquid for days and weeks on end like you have to with maple syrup you can make apple syrup and only a couple of hours ok so let's get started by filling a pot with your cider and keep it out of boil if there are any remaining impurities in the cider they will rise to the surface as a froth all you have to do is skim it off the top with a strainer now to make things easier on myself I filled the pot to a depth of 7 centimeters that way following the ratio of 7 to 1 I know the syrup will be ready when the liquid boils down to a depth of 1 centimeter I took a popsicle stick and I made a notch at 7 centimeters 2 centimeters and 1 centimeter depth that way when the cider boils down below the 2 centimeter mark I'll know too constantly be checking the depth after that to make sure that I don't let it get below the 1 centimeter cutoff point the cider will boil down very quickly near the end and so it's very important that you keep a close eye on it and keep measuring it when the syrup gets low it'll start to bubble which makes it hard to measure the depth this is why you'll need to take it off the burner and allow the bubbles to settle before taking each depth measurement now at the 1 and 1/2 centimeter mark the syrup started to stick to my popsicle stick and so I figured it was time to take it off and I'm glad I did because the syrup turned out great if you're using a jar to hold the syrup make sure to heat it up with hot water before pouring the syrup into it now let it cool at room temperature overnight before sticking it in the fridge I found the syrup tasted absolutely amazing on toast in a second batch that I did I allowed it to boil right down to the one centimeter mark and it turned out as a spreadable Apple butter which also was really nice to use I also put the Apple syrup with some pork for dinner and my whole family loved it also why not try drizzling it on your favorite cheese if you liked today's episode or anything to do with the outdoors or wild edibles please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to this episode of outside fun where I'll be showing you how to make grape juice using wild grapes wild grapes grow on a creeping vine that means if left alone they will completely take over anything that stands in their path including telephone poles buildings and trees ahead is a wild grape vine that has completely swallowed up on unsuspecting tree the leaves and branches of the tree have been completely choked out under the weight of the wild grape vines which now hang all the way to the ground although while grapes are quite easy to identify with their vines distinctive leaves and clusters of fruits there is one poisonous look-alike that I know of known as moon seed and so knowing the difference is important especially before popping a wild grape in your mouth the two easiest ways to identify moon seed from wild grape are by looking at the seeds and the vine tendrils but before I talk about these features I'd like to say that you will not be seeing a single moon scene plant in this entire video everything you see is of the wild grape plant also in dealing with any wild edible including wild grapes don't just take my word for it make sure that you thoroughly research anything before handling it okay now on to the two main identifiers first the seeds the moon seed fruit has only one seed that is crescent shape or moon shaped this is how the plant has come to be known as moon seed wild grapes however have multiple seeds that are more teardrop in shape the seeds will be bunched together in the center of the grape second you will know the difference by looking at the tendrils this is a tendril from a wild grape plant which sprouts from the vine moon seed plants don't have any tendrils at all now that I've correctly identified a wild grape plant I gathered a bunch of grape clusters which I took home to process into a wild grape juice wild grapes are both sweet and sour so if you pop one in your mouth make sure to spit the seeds out and be prepared to pucker up now that I've got the grapes home I picked all the good grapes from the clusters and threw them into a pot now fill the pot with water make sure that there are at least two or three inches of water covering all the grapes you can use a masher to break the skins on the grapes as well now simmer the grapes for thirty minutes once you've allowed the juice to cool run it through a strainer to extract the grape flesh and seeds at this point the grape juice will probably be quite concentrated which is why you will most likely need to add more water add water to the grape juice until it tastes right to you the juice will be on the sour side so you will also need to add sugar until it's at the proper sweetness once you've done this simply put the juice in the fridge to cool and enjoy if you like today's episode anything to do with the outdoors or wild edibles then please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to this episode of outside fund where we'll be taking a look at Hawthorne berries it is said that there are several hundred different species of ha thorns out there but they are all generally the same hawthorn berries are widely known as being wonderful for the heart and in some cases have been used to lower blood pressure treat early stages of heart disease and strengthen the heart in general Hawthorn grows as a small tree or shrub and is covered with huge spines this is what puts the thorn in Hawthorn the reason why ha thorns have thorns is because they are related to the rose family as you can see the hawthorn berries look very similar to rose hips the Hawthorn tree is also known by some as the bread and cheese tree apparently the leaves are very healthy and can can in be eaten raw it is said that the leaves are nutritious enough to sustain someone in a survival situation I haven't done enough research on the leaves to confirm that statement but it certainly is compelling I heard one person say that the taste of a Hawthorn leaf is similar in flavor to eating an apple skin at this point I would like to remind you not to go out and eat something just because of this video it's important that you thoroughly research anything using multiple trusted resources before handling any wild edible anyway I've shown you a few examples of the Hawthorne berry they grow in clusters but be very careful when you pick them the thorns have a way of sticking you when you least expect it a Hawthorne berry has anywhere from three to five seeds depending on the species although the berries are healthy to eat make sure not to eat the seeds the seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide and can make you sick if ingested don't let that scare you away though even apple seeds contain trace amounts of in them it's just not a good idea to eat them that's all I picked a bag full of hawthorn berries and I took them home I cut each berry and a half and extracted the seeds that were inside this species has four seeds after I had shelled all the hawthorn berries I left them on these trays to dry out for a week or so the seeds that are on the far left tray I simply threw out once the berries had time to dry they actually looked like dried cranberries and they actually tasted a little like dried cranberries too so why not throw them into your stuffing at Thanksgiving in place of dried cranberries you could also bake them into muffins add them to your gravy throw them into a salad or eat them as they are think of them as cranberries that are really good for your heart if you liked today's episode anything to do with wild edibles or the outdoors please feel free to subscribe feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to this episode of outside fun or we'll be taking a look at black walnuts here's what the black walnut tree looks like notice how deeply furrowed the bark is the leaves are narrow and grow in pairs along the branch one across from the other the leafy branches also grow outward from a central hub which the walnut fruits are also attached to this is a black walnut it doesn't look too much like a walnut now but that's only because the shell is covered in a thick layer of this green flesh in this form the walnuts loosely resemble a lime they will also have a potent odor which to me also resembles the scent of a lime only much stronger don't ask me why in these shots I'm picking the walnuts from the branches but the best time to harvest a walnut is in the fall when they drop to the ground that's because when walnuts ripen they automatically fall to the ground once you've gathered the walnuts the next step is to peel the outer layer of flesh from them I suggest wearing a pair of gloves to do this because the flesh will stain your fingers green and you probably don't want the smell getting on your hands either another way to tell if a walnut is ripe is by lightly pressing your thumb into the flesh if you can easily leave an indentation then it's right if it's hard to make a thumbprint then that means it's not yet ripe peeling the flesh away should be quite easy and after that the flesh can be discarded and there's what the walnut looks like after it's been washed anyway I gathered a bag full of ripe green walnuts however I let the bags sit for a few weeks and the walnuts all the walnuts quickly turned to a black color and started to disintegrate it's best not to let the flesh turn black like this because the juices from the flesh can leech into the shell and will stain them black that being said walnuts said of turn black are still good to eat it's just that they may not as good as they could have when they were right so I decided to use the walnuts anyway I peeled the flesh off and I threw them into a container of water the water quickly turned black and I washed any remaining fibers from the walnuts and I agitated the water to let the shells rub against each other to continue to remove the any fiber from the flesh that was left on when the water becomes black I poured out and I filled the container back up again and I continued to wash the shells I repeat this process until the water remains clear I then hang the walnuts walnuts to dry in a cheesecloth you want to let these shells aerate for at least two weeks this will help the nut meat inside to mature and harden if you crack them nuts open too early the nut meat will be soft and it won't taste very good I've been told that you can keep the shells for up to a year before needing to crack them open but I recommend that you let the walnuts sit for about a month after D flashing them here's a quick way did it to discover which nuts are good and which ones are bad fill your sink up with water and drop the nuts in the nuts with good meat will sink to the bottom and the nuts with underdeveloped or bad meat will float once you've tossed the floating walnuts into the garbage you're ready to shell the good ones here I'm using the blunt end of my hatchet to crack the nuts I place the nut on its end and I gently but firmly hit away at it until it cracks the trick is not to use excessive force but rather to hit it at the right angle with each half I lay it face down and crack it again I keep gently cracking the shell until the nut meats are loose enough to remove without any problem and here they are fresh black walnut as you may have been able to tell black walnuts are different from the store-bought walnuts which are called English walnuts I found the flavor of the black walnut to taste a little sweeter and fruitier than its English walnut counterpart they are definitely worth a try just to show you I cracked open the bad floating walnuts to show their nut meats as you can see the meat from the bad walnuts are shriveled and dry this allowed cavities have air to form inside the shell which is why the bad ones float if you liked today's episode anything to do with wild edibles log cabins or survival then please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to this episode of outside fun where we'll be taking a look at rose hips rose hips are one of the few wild edibles that can be found almost all year round they flower in spring and ripen as berries in the summer rose hips will continue to stay on the branch into the fall and winter seasons during the winter the bright red rose hips will slightly fade in color and they will also be a little wrinkled but they are still perfectly good to eat this makes them a great winter survival food there are several different species of rose hips some are shorter and fatter than others and these ones are longer and more slender but no matter what species they are rose hips are quite unique in their appearance notice how the rose hips grow at the ends of the branches now be careful when picking them because the branches of a rose hip bush are covered in these nasty thorns if the bright red color of the berries doesn't catch your attention especially in the snow then the thorns will definitely grab your attention as a matter of fact I've discovered most Rosia bushes by accidentally being caught up in them from what I've observed rose hip bushes grow along forest edges or beside rivers notice how rosette berries have a little tassel on the end where it's flower has withered away rose hips are so high in vitamin C that it only takes three of them to equal the amount of vitamin C found in an orange although Rose hips are extremely nutritious it is difficult to eat them because they are packed full of seeds and so if you want to eat them off the bush you will have to gingerly nibble the outer flesh from the berries while avoiding the seeds on the inside I picked a handful of rose hips to take home and after washing them I'm now ready to make a tea out of them here I throw about 10 rose hips into a small pot of boiling water I let the rose hips boil for about 10 to 15 minutes until the water turned an orange II red after that I took them off the stove and strained out the seeds and remaining flesh now the tea is ready to drink the flavor of the tea was between that of apple cider and tomato juice now I know that might not sound all that appetizing but it didn't taste all that bad I felt very healthy drinking it and it warmed me right up after being outside in the cold this isn't a tea that I would buy from the store but it is definitely something that I wouldn't hesitate to drink on a camping trip if you liked today's episode anything to do with wild edibles log cabins or survival then please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching welcome to this episode of outside fun where we'll be taking a look at the birch tree there are several different species of birch and each one has their own use the three species that I'm most familiar with are white birch otherwise known as paper birch yellow birch otherwise known as swamp birch and black birch otherwise known as sweet birch black and yellow birch trees contain wintergreen oil this oil can be utilized by tapping the trees for their SAP or by boiling the young twigs to make a wintergreen flavored tea this is helpful to know especially during the cold winter months black birch has a stronger wintergreen flavor than the yellow birch but both are are of good use these species of trees often grow together in moist well-drained soil the white birch was first used by the natives for its paper-like bark the bark was used to make skins for canoes shelters bowls and cups keep in mind though that every tree needs its bark and so stripping it of its bark will most likely kill it so it is best to use the bark from a tree that's already been felled or one that is already dying however in a survival situation it's whatever you can find on one of my treks through the bush I came across a yellow birch which is the focus of this episode the bark of a yellow birch tree looks a little more rough and ragged than other birch tree bark as you can see the bark is curled and tattered and has a yellowish tinge that shines like faded bronze in the sunlight and as with any birch tree the grains of the bark run horizontally so after identifying this tree as a yellow birch I gather a handful of young twigs a healthy twig will be very flexible and hard to break if the twig snaps off easily it is dead and won't taste very good when I gathered what I needed I put the twigs in a pot of water and boiled them for 15 to 20 minutes to make yellow birch tea since it is yellow birch tea will be mild and flavor as compared to the stronger wintergreen flavor of black birch so in this case with the yellow birch only boil enough water to fill a mug or two if you want to make more yellow birch tea you'll probably need to fill the entire pot with twigs instead of gathering just a handful as the tea boils the water will turn light red in color once you're done boiling the tea remove the twigs and pour yourself a cup of winter green flavored yellow birch tea as I mentioned earlier the flavor of the tea is mild in fact it is the mildest wild tea that I've had to date but it is still very good it has a slight wintergreen flavor with a hint of campfire if you liked today's episode anything to do with wild edibles survival techniques or log cabins then please feel free to subscribe thank you for watching

Channel: The Outsider

Views: 981,928

Rating: 4.941483 out of 5

Keywords: wild edibles, edible, edible plants, Garden, Food, greens, dandelion, cedar, tea, sumac, lemonade, natural, sumac ade, mint, peppermint, iced tea, chicory, coffee, decaf, dessert, bread, flour, coffee substitute, flour substitute, primitive bread, ointment, plantain, apples, apple cider, apple syrup, grape, juice, hawthorn, mustard garlic, vinaigrette, black walnut, walnuts, rose hip, rose, les stroud, baer grylls, man vs wild, survivorman, ray mears, foraging, forager, survival, SHTF

Id: YevUz69iWvs

Length: 57min 14sec (3434 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 14 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Nice_Marm0t]

Well well well, look at Henry David Thoreau over here! Thinks living a simple life off the abundance of Nature's Bounty makes him a goddamn philosopher.

Fuck off, hippie. I'll stick with eating spoonfuls of sludge from the IHOP grease trap.

[u/Frozen_Esper]

He's trying to trick us away from the cities, so that he can horde the leftovers thrown out by restaurants! They'll be bathing in calories while we waste ours fighting the beasts of the wild for goddamned dandelion tea!

[u/lyraseven]

Look at this fat cat guys, he can afford to just eat forage instead of selling it to buy lentils.

[u/sadop222]

I don't see the guy actually drink any of his stuff...