Urban Foraging: Wild Edibles In Cities -- Collect And Eat Fruit, Greens, Snails And More! (PHOTOS)

Eating locally is a big deal these days -- but few people know about all the edible treats growing wild in cities across America. Here at HuffPost Green, we think the most adventurous way to eat local is to throw on your wellies and go foraging for urban goodies. From delicious fruits to weeds you would never think to eat, clams and snails, cities are full of hand-picked eating opportunities!

We hope this slideshow gives you some great urban gathering ideas, but be sure to check with local experts for help identifying plants before stuffin' your face. Don't forget to vote on your favorite.

 

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Mustard Greens

Steve Brill leads urban foraging tours of Central Park. On the grocery list for the next tour? Lots of wintry mustard greens, including shepherd's purse and garlic mustard.

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Comments

[Tommygun264]

05:22 AM on 11/18/2009

A friend in school used to raise escargot. The secret to great tasting snails is to move them into a container with nothing but a steady supply of clean, fresh lettuce and clean out their droppings as quickly as possible for at least one week, preferably two or three, before harvesting and cooking them. You cannot allow a grain of sand or speck of dirt to remain in their enclosure during the cleansing process, as snails will eat sand to aide in their digestion. They store it in a secondary gut my friend called a sand sack - the grit helps to break down the plants they eat and passes out with their waste. If you don't keep them in a perfectly clean enclosure for at least a week, you run the risk of getting an unpleasant, crunchy surprise when you bite into the chewy, butter & garlic engorged delights - it happened to me once, surprisingly when I ordered escargot in an upscale restaurant. It is not a pleasant flavor or sensation. Be sure to study up on the different types of snails in your area and make sure you are collecting the right kind. Here in Hawaii we have gigantic snails they call "African snails". They look quite plump and juicy, but are toxic to humans. My Chihuahua loves to chew on the occasional banana slug. People have told me the slugs are poisonous to dogs, but she scarfs down about one a week without ill effects.

[paeanhera]

09:15 PM on 11/17/2009

The list of "wild urban foods" I find vague, naive, or even dangerous. Someone suggested mulberries; that was good. Here are others, kudzu shoots, kudzu root, bamboo shoots, all rapidly spreading and persistent weeds. I hear Japanese knotweed shoots are good; get them before they a foot high. Be careful that you do not destroy a native edible plant like camas or prairie turnip. Want to take a walk on the wild side? Try some poke sally. Get it when about 6 inches high. The berries will make you sick; the root will kill you. Stay away from mushrooms unless you're an expert; a mistake can be painfully fatal.

[future primitive]

06:10 PM on 11/17/2009

Dandelion greens! The video is also good cooking instruction for any greens you buy at the grocer. Usually under a dollar a bunch.

A word on apples. Not all apples taste good. Orchards grow apples by grafting not planting. If you plant an apple seed it wont necessarily grow the apple it came from. Most are fine for cider, but for eating many are "spitters," On the up side, you may be sampling one of the hundreds and hundreds of delicious apple varieties that commercial grocers have abandoned in favor those 5 or 10 that ship and present better.

[paeanhera]

08:47 PM on 11/17/2009

I hope you're not thinking of getting them off a lawn somewhere. Dandelion greens are terribly bitter once the plant flowers. They are also high in sodium.

[mclain]

04:22 PM on 11/17/2009

Take heed of the warning about mushrooms! If you don't know exactly what you are doing, leave them alone!

If you live in the Pacific Northwest although we are lucky have almost no poisonous critters, we do have a great many poisonous plants and berries. When I was a kid up here the saying was "If it's red, you're dead". That's not entirely true since if you know how to recognize them red Salmon Berries and Huckleberries are wonderful. Still be careful about all northwest plants. For example a friend of mine's goat died from eating Rhododendrons. If it can kill a goat, you can be sure it isn't good for you!

[paeanhera]

09:18 PM on 11/17/2009

Rhododendrons and mountain laurels are particularly dangerous. Teas made from either was a popular way for American Indians to commit suicide. Even the honey from their flowers is quite poisonous. That is why it is a good ornamental plant; you don't have to worry about deer eating them!

[wheezle]

04:00 PM on 11/17/2009

theres always a stray cat to be found if you are looking for something a little more substantial.. tastes a bit like fox.

[bbriani3842]

06:27 PM on 11/17/2009

I hear rats can be tasty -- with the right butter-garlic sauce. . .

. . .or you can make . . . . . wait for it . . . . . .

rat-tat-touie.


I'm sorry. . .

[Ivriniel]

03:28 PM on 11/17/2009

Garlic Mustard is an exotic invasive plant in North America that outcompetes our native spring ephemerals.

If people want to eat it, go for it.

[paeanhera]

08:48 PM on 11/17/2009

It tastes terrible; that is why the colonists quickly abandoned it for better tasting mustard greens.

[Zenergy]

01:24 PM on 11/17/2009

While I'm all about gathering food and wildcrafting, it's a really bad idea to gather food in urban areas, or anywhere within 100 yards of a major road or highway. These foods contain really high levels of heavy metals, and have really toxic effects when eaten in any kind of quantity over time.

Seriously, don't do it.

[WestcoastSteve]

02:20 PM on 11/17/2009

Very good point. Where I live (Richmond, BC) there are wild blackberries everywhere, and the city posts guidelines about where to safely harvest them. As you can imagine, this reduces the possibilities to only a few areas. But even without the ones besides roads, etc, there are stunning amounts of blackberries each year, so I'm not surprised there are other edibles to be found.

[camanokat]

03:41 PM on 11/17/2009

Please come to my home on Camano Island WA and pick all the blackberries you want. You have to agree to rip some bushes out of the ground

We also have awesome amounts of stinging nettles for springtime soup! Dig away!

[starrianna]

02:46 PM on 11/17/2009

Say that to a starving homeless person or one of the 49,000,000 Americans who are now going hungry.

[shthar]

08:08 PM on 11/17/2009

So you want em to eat poison?

I'd rather be hungry than dead.

[paeanhera]

08:53 PM on 11/17/2009

I find it hard to believe that 15% of Americans going hungry with SNAP (the old food stamp program) so easily available. Even the homeless can get them. The rule about having an address worked against me at one time. The rules changed in the Clinton administration.

[Henk]

12:58 PM on 11/17/2009

Around Minneapolis there a tons of Mulberry trees, Black Mullberrys I think. They're a little like a black berry, but they don't seem to get eaten. They line some of the bike paths that I ride and end up smashed on the trail.

On another note, I do notice the Asians and the Latinos out harvesting various fruits and herbs on road sides, in parks and along the various trails we have in the city, so at least someone is making use of them.

[wm1066]

02:44 PM on 11/17/2009

I live in the Twin Cities too, but its against the law to harvest anything from the parks...for good reason (maybe you should tell the park board if you think they are going to waste and get approval to harvest what you want ). and picking plants from the roadside is a bad idea as zenergy points out. BTW have you noticed the big eagles that are hanging around the city lakes.

[paeanhera]

08:58 PM on 11/17/2009

Mulberries are quite good eating. It is one of the few feral plant food items I WILL bother with. The trees are weedy; they produce heavily. Trouble is the berries don't keep well. That is why you don't see hem in stores, nor is there any commercial production.

Now, are those "Asians" and "Latinos" REALLY being ingenious, or are they desperate? Harvesting, picking flowers, etc. IS illegal in just about any area of protected land (and for good reason).

[rzzza]

12:18 PM on 11/17/2009

i dont get why people eat snails. there's nothing there to eat!

[Henk]

12:51 PM on 11/17/2009

Have you tried them?

[starrianna]

02:47 PM on 11/17/2009

nothing except Buttery Deliciousness!

[gotborked]

11:21 AM on 11/17/2009

If you're in the south where pecan trees are plentiful, you can load up on the nuts right about now.

[paeanhera]

07:41 AM on 11/19/2009

That's a good one; they are fattening but the tree is rather weedy. I've seen a big one in Harper's Ferry, WV.

[Politiqo]

10:36 AM on 11/17/2009

I love the idea of hunting for food in an urban area, but I have to admit I would be a bit nervous about it, especially because I don't know if the fruits have been contaminated (smog, toxines, etc) and are safe to eat. There are bad people out there.

Dandelions sound interesting, but they are very bitter. Maybe cooking takes some of it away, but I still cringe at the thought of eating them. And people, come ON, snails are a delicatessen!! I cant believe people rated it a 1 on this list (not world travelers for sure). I had my first escargot in Paris in a small resto close to Notredame and it was chewy and garlicky. Delicious accompanied with a glass of Bordeaux.

[jetphixer]

10:23 AM on 11/17/2009

In cities or along rural routs where ever i toss fruit bombs!! Take the seeds from what you have eaten (apricots, apples,pears, cherries,peaches), or what ever is great in your area Try squash seeds of any type,put these in a small piece of paper towel an toss them in a lot or some area where they will take, Preferred high sun lite, You have now made a fruite bomb an that might just feed people.
No one has ever said why cities ,towns,etc Do not plant fruit trees in there right of ways? Along roads streets etc. It feeds people.

[Henk]

01:01 PM on 11/17/2009

Along roads might cause a traffic hazard. Harvesters intent on pick fruits may not be aware of traffic or may not park in a safe manner. Its probably a liability thing.

[paeanhera]

09:01 PM on 11/17/2009

Fruit trees are messy as street trees, too. They require a lot of care (taxpayer $$$!!). If you like it, so do the bugs and critters.

[Gucci Mane]

10:22 AM on 11/17/2009

The main reason cities discouraged people from planting fruit tree's decades ago is because its basically rat food...

Its a great food source for the homeless, but if you live in the city there's a modern convenience known as the Grocery Store... you should visit some day, all kinds of fruit and produce, amazing really

[NewGenerationNewIdeas]

11:38 AM on 11/17/2009

Yes, you're right.

It's great how capitalism has trained us to think that food can't be free. What a 'convenience' it is to pay.

[Henk]

01:02 PM on 11/17/2009

If you want real convenience pay with a credit card!

[paeanhera]

09:06 PM on 11/17/2009

No kidding, what a concept, pay people to grow high quality food rather than forage for berries. It ain't "capitalism," O left-winged idealist. It's more like common sense and the desire to make the world a better place for your children. Teach the kids where their food comes from (out of the ground!).