Newsletter #534, 7 December 2022

Goji berries are in the nightshade family and taste like tomotos. Photo by Green Deane

We might see some Christmasberries, above, during our Sunday class in Port Orange (Spruce Creek.)  When I was there about a month ago, some bushes were blossoming we’ll check them out Sunday (a it’s bit of a walk.) Christmasberries are our local Goji Berry and yes they are edible. They like to grow in areas with brackish water. To read more about them go here. And I have a video here.  

One of our winter comestibles is over due. Chickweed is a spring edible up north but it’s just too warm most of the year here for Chickweed to sprout. It takes several cold nights to chill the top couple of inches of ground for it to start growing. Another winter annual, Pellitory, is well up and several inches high in many places. We haven’t seen our third winter Musketeer, Stinging Nettles but it will be soon. We’ve also spotted Swine Cress, and and Sow Thistle. To read more about Chickweed go here.

This time of year two wintertime foragables come up, one quite esteemed the other barely edible. They can at first glance look similar so I’ll mention them together.

Henbit likes cooler weather. Photo by Green Deane

The first is Henbit. It’s in the mint family but does not smell or taste minty. It does, however, have a square stem and the blossoms resembles mints. In northern climates it is one of the first green plants to pop up after the snow goes (it and chickweed.) Locally it likes our cooler months of the year. It was esteemed by the natives because among all the annual greens it is not spicy but rather mild if not on the sweet side. What can be confusing about it is that the leave shape and stem length is different from young to old leaves. But they all have a scalloped shape. It also has a similar looking relative that is also edible called Dead Nettle. You can read about Henbit here.

Cranesbill is barely edible. Photo by Green Deane

Also found in lawns this time of year are wild geraniums, usually Cranesbill or Stork’s Bill which we saw last week. (Why one is one word and the other two-words possessive I do not know.)  Botanically they are Geranium carolinianum and Erodium circutarium.  Neither is great foraging. In fact both are more medicinal than edible but they seem to get mention in a variety of foraging books. The problem is they are extremely bitter. You might be able to toss a little bit of both in a salad but that’s about the extent of it. If you have what you think is a Cranesbill or a Stork’s Bill but it has more of a bottle brush blossom than five petals you might have the non-edible Fumaria. It comes up this time of year and from a distance the leaves can remind one of the wild geraniums. To read more about them go here. 

Common Sow Thistle. Photo by Green Deane

As mentioned above Sunday we saw young Common Sow Thistles in Port Charlotte. Not a true thistle it is one of the more milder seasonal greens with only perhaps Amaranth being more mild. Although Sow Thistles are commonly called “thistles” they are not in the thistle genus and do now draw blood like true thistles. True thistles are well-armed with needle-sharp spines. While the Sow Thistle can look intimidating it’s mostly just show in that most spines are soft. There are two species locally, the Common Sow Thistle and the Spiny Sow Thistle. The latter is a bit rougher than the former but no where near as abusive as true thistles. Both are slightly bitter raw. A few minutes of boiling takes away the bitterness completely (unlike wild lettuce which always stays slightly bitter.)  I have a video on the sow thistles and to read more about them go here. My wild mustard video is here, and 106 videos later my Wild Radish video. 

Foraging Classes, this week are near orlando and Daytona Beach. 

Saturday December 10th Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. meet by the tennis courts.

Sunday December 11th Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion.

For more information about the classes, to pre-pay, or to sign up go here.    For all communication with me use GreenDeane@gmail.com

FRIDAY December 23rd: 12th Urban Crawl it is  time to mark your calendar for my 12th annual Urban Crawl. It will be Friday December 23rd at 10 a.m. in Winter Park, Florida. We meet in front of Panera’s on Park Avenue. It’s difficult to believe I’ve had that walk for twelve years now. The Urban Crawl is free to all, and is wheel chair friendly.

The Glory Bower is not edible but has some relatives that might be. Photo by Green Deane

The Harlequin Glorybower, Clerodendrum Trichotomum, has a very showy calyx. A native of Asia, Clerodendrum means fate tree, referencing questionable medical uses, and trichotomum which means three trunks, which it apparently has often. But it has edible relatives: C. serratum: Young leaves and tops eaten raw as a side dish or roasted briefly and served with a hot pepper sauce. C. paniculatum, the Pagoda Flower, is also listed by some as having edible parts and is a common ornamental locally. I’ve never investigate it. 

You get the USB, not the key.

Changing foraging videos: As my WordPress pages are being updated the video set will go away.  They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy. The DVD format, however, is becoming outdated. Those 135 videos plus 36 more are now available on a USB drive. While the videos were played from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The 171-video USB is $99. If you make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here, that order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and is for the USB. 

This is weekly newsletter #534. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. This newsletter is late because I’ve been suffering from several colds.

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