Gathering Wild Asparagus

Wild asparagus is one of the most delicious of the survivalist foods that you could hope to ever find.  It is wonderful to eat lightly grilled over a wild fire. In fact, survivalist Euell Gibbons once wrote an entire book about this activity called “Stalking The Wild Asparagus” which was all about feeding his family by foraging edibles in the 1930s.

 

They first start appearing in the spring but can be quite hard to find because they are small plants. They can start appearing as early as the first week of April. The thick wild asparagus stocks grow all summer. By the fall they are quite easy to spot because the delicious thick stocks start turning orange. This makes them stand out quite starkly from the look of other vegetables.

 

Usually they grow in clumps however if the asparagus is tall enough to see from far away this also usually means that it is too tough to eat.  What you want to find is the younger, tender shoots that grow at the base of the older clumps.

 

You can find it growing across the United States but especially in the central and Southern states where it flourishes by the roadside. In fact all summer long you can see people picking wild asparagus by the highways.  One thing you need to be very careful of is contamination with pesticides especially if the asparagus is located in a space near the highway that seems a bit more manicured.

Generally wild asparagus has much thinner stalks than the domesticated kind but you can luck out and find patches boasting very thick stalks.  Wild asparagus is also a bit more sinewy and woody than the cultivated kind.  When it is very mature it boasts tiny feathery fronds that look a bit like angel ferns.

 

If you are in a survivalist situation and you have found a patch of asparagus it is very important not to overpick the cluster because it will not grow back.  If the stalks growing back seem to be a lot thinner than what you were picking earlier on in the season then it is time to scale back a bit or you could lose it as a source of food altogether.

 

Asparagus is very versatile and you can steam it and broil it out in the wild.  A good survival dish to make in the wild is some beef jerky or dried sausage, tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes and wild asparagus cooked up together.

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Gathering Wild Amaranth

If you are in a survival situation then try searching for Amaranth. Amaranth is also called pigweed. It is actually a grain that was used for making flatbreads and tacos by Central and South Americans.  If you are a survivalist in the American Southwest you should definitely learn about this edible plant.  It is a domesticated plant gone wild. In fact this plant was just as valuable to the Aztecs as corn.

 

The reason that amaranth became forgotten about is because when the Spanish conquistador took over Mexico in the early 1500s he made growing it a crime. That way it was easier to starve the native people. Until recently this former crop was completely forgotten about as a food source for humans.

 

Pigweed grows everywhere. You can find it along fence lines, on roadsides or on the edge of a garden.  It is also cultivated so you may be able to find fields of it if you are lucky.

There are over twenty species of wild amaranth and all of them are good sources of food. This is why you should take the effort to study up on it. Most commonly the plant is tall, has oval shaped leaves and has flower clusters growing in multiple spikes at the top.  The plant can grow at least six feet tall.

 

The plant can grow seven feet tall and when it goes to seed the plant droops right to the earth as if planting the seeds themselves.

 

The leaves are usually green, and some species have red-tinted or purple leaves. This is one of the most nutritious parts of the plant. They are full of fibre, cilium, iron and vitamins C and A. The younger plants are a better choice for a meal as the older ones are fibrous and bitter.

 

Amaranth is also a complete protein. In fact it has more protein than rice, corn or wheat, and a high amount of the amino acid lysine—making it a more complete protein. To harvest the seeds, cut the seed heads from the plant in late summer or fall, dry them and then rub them gently over a bowl or pan to release the tiny, black seeds.

 

You can prepare amaranth like most grains. You can pop it like popcorn, boil it like rice or roast it in the oven on low heat until it begins to sizzle. You can also make bread and nutritious seed pastes with it. Of course, it will take many seed heads to gather enough grain for a meal, but amaranth truly does grow in just about every nook and cranny you can find in the southern and central United States.

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