Hey, I'm Josh Clark, and this is BrainStuff.
And this the BrainStuff where I talk to you
about survival foraging.
So I have bad news everybody.
America, and pretty much the rest of humanity,
has turned its back on our hunter/gatherer
roots.
Luckily some people have guarded this ancient
wisdom and kept it alive and can pass it along.
I am not one of those people.
I'm just a host.
And for legal reasons, you should not listen
to anything I say from this point forward.
But there are some things that even a schmo
like me - just a host, just a host - can teach
you about survival foraging.
To start, you always want to wear gloves when
you forage to protect yourself from plants
like poison ivy and things like that.
And you always want to be on the lookout for
snakes and insects that want to kill you.
Always be alert.
And then last but not least, make sure everything
that you pick, you take home and wash first.
Unless, of course, civilization has collapsed
and you're slowly rebuilding it and there's
no water.
When you're out there hiking around the wilderness
with your professional foraging guide who
is not me, you are going to learn the number
one rule of thumb.
And it is as follows: if you don't 100% recognize
a plant as edible, don't eat it.
So let's say that you've gone out, you're
on your first foraging hike, you know a little
bit, there's a legally binding expert there
with you.
The first thing you're going to try to do
is find an edible, universally identifiable,
plant.
And even once you say, "This plant is totally
fine, I could eat it, It's harmless," you
have to find out if it's harmless to you first,
because you still might be allergic.
There's a three-step test that you can put
a plant through to make sure that it's okay
for you to eat (after you've identified it
as edible).
Step 1: take a little piece of the plant,
pull your glove down (remember gloves), pull
your shirt up.
And just rub a little bit on your forearm.
Wait a couple minutes and see if your skin
reacts in any way.
If not, you can move on to step 2.
Step 2 is taking another little piece of the
plant and rubbing it lightly on your lips.
Which feels weird.
But wait a little bit and if they don't turn
into balloon animals, then you can move on
to step 3.
Step 3 is eating a little bit of the plant
and waiting a little bit.
Are you alive still?
Okay.
If you've identified the plant as edible and
it's passed the allergy test, you are probably
in the clear.
A couple of other pointers that you will learn
eventually from your wilderness guide is to
always know which parts of the plant you can
eat and can't.
Because some plants have poisonous leaves
and, say, edible stems.
Some plants are poisonous at different stages
of maturation.
And, while you actually can forage just about
anywhere (including cities), there are some
places you're going to want to avoid like
the plague.
For example: roadsides, or industrial parks,
or even farms.
Because these places use lots of chemicals
and you don't want that in your foraged food.
But when you do get your hands on a really
luscious, delightful foraged plant?
Brother, you are in for a treat because foraged
plants tend to have more fiber, more nutrients
like phytonutrients and antioxidants, and
they're usually more flavorful than their
agricultural counterparts.
So now that you're ready to go out there and
get started and learn, learn, learn about
survival foraging, go dip your feet in the
water.
And maybe start, after you learn from somebody
else, on things like dandelions or chickweed.
Universally edible plants.
And while you're at it, let us know how your
progress is going on survival foraging down
there in the comments below.
And while you're there, subscribe.
And for all sorts of great stuff, go to HowStuffWorks.
