foods – CuredByNature.net

Foods to Eat to Help Depression

Aug 032020

Many have heard the question posed what came first, the chicken or the egg? But how does that concept apply to depression? It’s well-known that when we’re depressed, our motivation and interest in maintaining a healthy and balanced diet subsides in the same way our energy does. Harvard Medical Students positioned that same question in relation to depression; what came first, depression or a poor diet?

Thankfully, researchers have addressed this question and found that a healthy diet was indeed associated with a significantly decreased risk of developing depressive symptoms. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, patients were treated for two years with antioxidants or placebos. After two years, those who were treated with antioxidants had a significantly lower depression score.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Eating healthy foods gives you a better chance to reduce your depressive symptoms than eating a diet of processed food that may be high in sugars and fats.

Additionally, it’s known that there are approximately 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the body. These bacteria serve many purposes including the curation of Vitamin K, digesting the food we consume and even regulating our immune system.

This implies that maintaining a healthy gut bacteria and overall diet can improve your mood.

SO, WHAT SHOULD I EAT?

Suggested foods to eat are lots of green leafy plants (including fruits and vegetables), whole unprocessed grains, seeds & nuts, and lean proteins such as yogurt or fish. To break them down even further, take note of the following foods and their purpose (all of which fight depression):

Inflammation: Spinach, Kale, Swiss Chard, Berries, Mushrooms and Onions.
Mood Boosting & Omega 3: Walnuts, chia seeds, Fish (salmon, tuna and sardines), and even certain brands of egg or yogurt.
Oleic Acid: Avocado, cheese, pasta and meats such as chicken, beef or pork
Antioxidants: Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries are some of the highest antioxidant foods available to us. Other foods include sweet potato, oranges, and peppers.
Folic acid and alpha-lipoic acid: Tomatoes, broccoli, spinach and brussels sprouts.

WHICH FOODS SHOULD I AVOID?

Avoid foods made with added sugars or flours such as baked goods (donuts and pastries), breads, pastas and cereals. One should also minimize the consumption of animal fats, processed meats such as bacon, and even butter.

OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER

It’s important to remember that health starts from within. Maintaining a healthy balance of self-care, such as providing yourself with adequate sleep, hydration and physical activity is just as important as eating well.

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that supports the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Having balanced health helps with everything from cardiovascular disease, dementia, cancer and even mental health disorders including- you guessed it – depression!

If this article has inspired you to turn a new leaf and start becoming healthier, be sure to follow our social media pages. We post other content on health, acupuncture, traditional chinese medicine and so on that can help you keep your life on track.

Don’t forget! Schedule an acupuncture appointment with us if you have any questions about depression and how traditional chinese medicine can help.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/therese-borchard-sanity-break/foods-eat-every-day-beat-depression/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/diet-and-depression-2018022213309

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Foods And Remedies To Improve Your Child’s Memory And Concentration

Ayurvedic

Feb 032020

Concentration refers to a skill that helps you to focus all your attention on one particular aspect of your environment. Since there are so many distractions around you, such as noise, color, and novelty, concentrating on one thing is a major challenge. Find what the benefits of concentration for children are.

They can make quicker decisions.
They will score better results because of enhanced short-term and long-term memory.
It will reduce day-dreaming.
The mind will remain free of negative thoughts.

Best Brain Boosting Foods For Children

Common concentration problems children face

Some of the most common concentration problems in children are-

Restlessness: This leads to a state where the child cannot still. Fidgeting with items on the desk, shaking of the legs, and constant hand-movements are signs of restless behavior.
Day-dreaming: This is a condition where the child is physically present in the classroom, but mentally he is in another zone. A drifted look is the first key to identify a child who is day-dreaming and lost in thoughts.
Hyperactivity: Last but not least, a child who wishes to engage in too many class tasks cannot concentrate fully on anything.

Food that children should avoid for better concentration

The food items that can affect concentration are-

Processed food items: Processed dishes are high in sugar, salt, and fats. Thus, they lead to lower mental capacities and increase brain-blood barriers.
Sugary drinks: Since sugary beverages can lead to diabetes, the child is exposed to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s later in life. It can also cause dementia in those who do not have diabetes.
Food with a high level of trans fats: While natural trans-fat is not a topic of concern, artificial trans-fat found in instant cakes, snacks, and frosting can lead to poorer memory.

Food that children should eat for better concentration

The best memory boosting foods are-

Blueberries: Blueberries have antioxidants that improve the blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain.
Green tea: The top two ingredients of green tea that help you concentrate better are caffeine and L-Theanine. Green tea is a memory booster contributing to both speed and accuracy.
Green and leafy vegetables: While vitamin B is the best way to improve memory and concentration; folic acid plays a major role in developing mental clarity.

What is Ayushakti’s Sumedha Syrup?

Ayushakti’s Sumedha Syrup is a safe and natural ayurvedic brain tonic for children to help them enhance their brainpower. Herbs like Brahmi, Neer Brahmi, Kushmand, Shankhapushpi, Mundi, etc. in Sumedha Syrup are proven to increase IQ by 20% in 3 months. These herbs also help improve concentration, awareness, memory, and cognition. It is available online & at all the Ayushakti clinics.

Ayushakti Sumedha Syrup | Ayurvedic Memory Booster Tonic For Good Memory & Concentration

Ayushakti has more than 32 years of excellence in treating child health and memory problems such as Low Memory, Low Immunity, Poor Concentration, Slow Body Growth, Slow Mental Growth, Restlessness, Stress, and Depression. Visit http://bit.ly/37Gaf3K to know more and to book an appointment online.

Find the nearest Ayushakti Clinic simply by searching ‘Ayushakti’ on Google! You may contact us on our toll-free numbers 18002663001 (India) & +18002800906 (Global) or email us at info@ayushakti.com for more details.

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Healthy Foods for Fall

Acupuncture

Oct 072019

traditional chinese medicine foods for fall

The season of fall brings cooler weather and shorter days. As with any season, the world adjusts accordingly. Plants begin to go dormant, animals begin scrounging for food to store to get them through the upcoming winter months and humans start winterizing everything.

As fall descends on the land, it reminds us we need to start cutting back on the numerous cooling foods that are consumed during the summer months. Things like raw foods, salads, juices and fruits should be decreased because they can create too much cold in the body, according to traditional Chinese medicine.

There are many facets to traditional Chinese medicine and nutrition is one of the most important. The ancient Chinese observed what took place in nature and followed those cues accordingly. So when the season changed to fall and the amount of daylight decreased and the temperatures cooled, the Chinese began to eat what was available. This is what it means to “eat for the season.” By eating according to the season, we can avoid many illnesses and diseases. If we continue to eat raw, cold foods during the cooler fall and winter months, then we set ourselves up for digestive problems, colds, sinus infections and even painful joints. When a person eats seasonally, they will inevitably notice that certain foods are no longer abundant or available. During fall, one should fill his or her cupboards with dried foods, heavy grains, seeds, roots and squashes. In TCM, these foods help move the body’s energy or qi (pronounced “chee”) inward.

Fall is also a time to slow down. This means that we should cook food for longer periods of time on lower heat. How we cook food will affect how the body tolerates it and how the energy is used. For fall, TCM suggests making soups and stews, using a crockpot or slow cooker, roasting and baking foods. These methods create a deeper warmth and supply greater energy from the food.

Foods that are nourishing to the lungs are very important during fall. Since many people get sick during these months, lung tonifying foods can be very beneficial. This includes foods like ginger, onion, garlic, pears, walnuts, miso, navy beans, almonds, asparagus, broccoli, apricots, bananas, apples, plums and grapes.

The drier weather can also cause chapped lips, a dry nose, an itchy throat, rough skin and even dry stools. To counter these issues, it is recommended to eat foods that promote the production of bodily fluids, such as nuts, seeds, pears, pumpkins, honey and a traditional Chinese porridge known as congee.

When we follow the cues given to us by nature, we can maintain a very healthy existence. Ask me to learn more about eating according to the seasons in TCM.

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The best foods for gut health

Naturopathy

Jun 072019

Traditional naturopathic healing principles have always been based around ‘heal the gut first’. This is the first thing we learn in our education and it is something that we evaluate in every patient that we see. Here we will explore the best foods for gut health.

‘All disease beings in the gut’ – Hippocrates

This famous statement was said over 2000 years ago, yet it is only in the past few decades that science has caught up and the enormity of this statement is being fully understood.

We now know that gut health not only determines the quality and efficiency of our digestion and metabolism, but it is also critical to our overall health. Poor digestive health, and most importantly a poor gut microbiome (the ecosystem of bacteria that lives within our gut) contributes to a wide range of diseases such as mental health issues, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune conditions, autism spectrum disorder, chronic fatigue, skin disorders and poor immune health.

When it comes to optimal gut health, it is a necessity that we look at the diet first and foremost. What we eat reflects everything in regards to the health of our gut and our entire health.

When we eat well then all the influencing factors of good gut health fall into balance.

This includes –

Good level of digestive enzymes to break down the food that we eat
A robust and healthy gut lining to promote nutrient absorption
Optimal gut-brain connection to stimulate the movement of digestion
A healthy liver to process our food and detoxify toxins
Minimal inflammation
A diverse colony of good bacteria

Sounds complex, but when we address all these areas our health thrives.

So what are the best foods for gut health?

Foods to heal the gut lining

The lining of the gut is a tight network of cells that selectively lets certain sized molecules into the circulatory system. When this becomes damaged and ‘leaky’ then we set ourselves up for a whole host of health complaints.

Support your gut lining with these foods – bone broth (rich in nutrients that heal the gut lining), grass-fed butter (contains butyrate which is a preferred fuel source for these cells), slippery elm and aloe vera.

Digestive Support

Your digestive enzymes start the whole process of digestion, if it goes wrong at the beginning then your body will struggle to continue the process of digestion.

Enhance your digestive enzymes with these simple foods – apple cider vinegar, kiwi, pineapple, lemon and papaya

Liver Support

The liver has a central role in digestion is the process the nutrients that are absorbed in the small intestine.

Try to include these foods in your diet – dandelion coffee, globe artichoke, garlic, onions, turmeric, leafy greens and beetroot.

Microbiome Support

A healthy balance of good bacteria can be achieved by including fermented foods in your diet daily. These will always offer a more diverse range of bacteria that can survive the digestive process than any probiotic will.

These foods include anything fermented such as sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, miso, kimchi. These foods will provide the right bacteria but we also need foods that feed these bacteria within the gut so that they can colonise and get to work. Prebiotics are the foods required for this and they include coconut oil, fermentable fibres (sweet potato, onion, garlic, dandelion greens, leek, chicory, cabbage, banana, oats, lentils)

Anti Inflammatory Foods

Inflammation is at the root of all damage to our cells and therefore it is a direct influencer of our level of health and quality of ageing. Consuming anti-inflammatory foods will not only support your digestive health, but the health of your whole body.

Anti-inflammatory foods include – turmeric (this is one exception as it is best taken in supplement form for a therapeutic benefit), coconut oil, aloe vera, wild caught oily fish, green leafy vegetables, beetroot, walnuts, berries, ginger, chia seeds, flaxseeds and pineapple.

Anti Microbial Foods

Just as we want to encourage the colonisation of healthy bacteria we want to get rid of the bad bacteria that is destroying our digestive system. We will naturally be exposed to bad bacteria in the foods that we eat, and when our digestion is not the best then we will be at more risk of these strains of bacteria from taking over. Including regular amounts of naturally anti-microbial foods will help to kill off these bad bacteria. Don’t worry about them killing off the good bacteria, mother nature and our bodies are much smarter than us and will selectively kill off the bad bacteria only.

Try to include – coconut oil, garlic, onion, fermented foods (see above), honey, turmeric, horseradish and pineapple.

Just as important as what we do eat, is what we don’t eat. You most probably know the drill here –

1 – Avoid processed and packaged foods

2 – Limit sugar intake

3 – Eat a diet in fresh whole foods in their natural forms

4 – Avoid factory raised animal products

5 – Reduce stress

6 – Only take antibiotics if they are absolutely necessary.

So if you are ready to take charge of your gut health get your free copy of

12 Tips for a Healthy Gut.

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Wild Foods Recipe Round-Up

Uncategorized

Apr 112019

By Meghan Gemma
Photography by Juliet Blankespoor (except where otherwise credited)

Wild Foods Recipe Round-Up

Foraging seasonal wild foods is an exciting and nourishing way to celebrate the turnings of the year—one that connects us to our ancestral stories of sustenance. Each season offers something unique, perfectly timed to nourish the cycles of life.

This recipe round-up is a duet: we’ve included every wild foods recipe from our blog, plus we’ve added recipes from some of our favorite foraging foodies. There are bushels of fantastic wild foods recipes out there (both in cookbooks and online)—this is really just a nibble to get you inspired!

Please remember: foraging wild foods calls for a healthy dose of caution and a solid grasp on foraging ethics and etiquette. You can find a detailed guide to all of the above in our article on Sustainable and Safe Gathering Practices.

This article is a featurette on recipes; not on plant ID! Some of the links may include ID information, but many will not. You’ll want to find a couple field guides relevant to your region by searching our book list. Find a local foraging and/or plant identification teacher, if possible! Remember, there are deadly poisonous plants and mushrooms out there: one wrong move could be your last.

Have fun and be safe—which means being 110% sure of any plant’s identification before you sample or harvest.

Spring foragers creating a mandala

Spring: Wild Greens Galore

The spring foraging season is all about the greens! Spring presents us with a cornucopia of delectable wild greens that are both abundant and off-the-charts nutritious. This is a traditional time to integrate wild green foods and juices into meals as a way to cleanse the body after a winter of heavier foods. Depending on your region, look for fresh greens like chickweed (Stellaria media), wintercress (Cardamine spp.), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), daylily (Hemerocallis fulva), and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) from January through May.

Fern and Francine Hedgeworthy of Thistlebottom Dell harvesting daylilies from the village hedge

Daylily Greens Garlic Butter Sauté

I anticipate the arrival of daylily greens every year in early spring! They’re fantastic cooked up with little more than butter, garlic, and salt. Note that some people have daylily allergies, so try a small portion the first time, prepared from cooked greens. (Raw daylily is more likely to cause a reaction.) Please read this article for ID tips as it’s easy to confuse many poisonous plants for daylily.

Pecan Feta Wild Greens Pesto

Whirl this pesto together with whatever array of greens is handy to you, and combine them with salty, savory additions like toasted pecans, feta cheese, and tahini. Perfect for keeping in the fridge as a snack; fancy enough to serve as an appetizer course at dinner.

Wild Greens Pâté

Herbal pâté is a thicker, creamier variation on pesto. Made with wild greens, this is one of my all-time favorite condiments (especially when stinging nettles are added to the mix!). I spoon it onto eggs, crackers, veggies, and grain dishes. You can also try this vegan version featuring black walnuts and nutritional yeast from our friend, Asia Suler, of One Willow Apothecaries.-

Wild Greens Bagel-

Wild Greens Bagel

One of my favorite breakfast dishes—a heart-friendly, wild foods/herbal version of the classic toasted bagel. This recipe features violet (Viola spp.) leaves and flowers, plus chickweed greens—which are high in antioxidants, bioflavonoids, and soluble fiber.

Wild Grape Leaf Dolmas by Dina Falconi

I love spicing up traditional dishes with wild foods flair. These dolmas, wrapped up in tender wild grape leaves, are a popular finger food at my house. I especially like to mince dried wild fruits in with more savory ingredients.

Wild Spring Green Tabouli; photo by Danielle Prohom Olson

Wild Spring Greens Tabouli by Gather Victoria

Serve this regional take on classic tabouli as a delicious and mineral-rich side dish, or as the base for a light entrée. (Poached egg and kimchi on top, anyone?)

Clearwing hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) in a summer field of wild bergamot

Summer: Foraged Berries and Blossoms

Summer’s wild foods dishes are loaded with the antioxidant gifts of flowers, mushrooms, and berries. This is hands-down the most colorful season to bring foraged foods to the table. This is also a prime-time window for food and herb preservation. Dry, freeze, jam, ferment, and infuse your extra harvests—your pantry will be a wonder come winter.

Stuffed Daylily Blossoms

Stuffed Daylily Blossoms

These appetizer-sized blooms will likely be the most beautiful dish on any table you set. Colorful, tantalizing, and savory, few will be able to resist their novelty and floral allure. Daylily petals are lightly crunchy and succulent, which pairs well with the creamy filling in this recipe.

Cherry Chipotle Nopales Salsa

Cherry Chipotle Nopales Salsa

This sweet and savory salsa is high in bioflavonoids, with its array of vibrant rainbow colors. Nopales (Opuntia spp., Cactaceae) are an important medicine and traditional food in Mexico, Central America, and the Southwest.

Wild Fruit Ice Cream by Dina Falconi

Homemade ice cream has it all: high-quality creamy sweetness that you can tweak to suit any dietary preference. I personally like using raw cow’s milk (or coconut milk) and local honey when I churn up a batch. Dina’s recipe is perfect for any of summer’s wild berries.

Dark Magic Reishi Truffles by Asia Suler

These chocolate reishi (Ganoderma spp.) truffles are decadent AND loaded with antioxidant, adaptogenic medicine. Reishi mushrooms are gathered in the summer months, but can be dried and saved for making treats any time of the year.

Nettle Seed Salt by Rebecca Altman

I try to always have this condiment on hand. The simple combination of salt, seeds, and lemon is tasty and medicinal; nettle seeds nourish the adrenals and kidneys, and can impart a boost of energy (sans caffeine!).

Nasturtium and Sumac Hot Sauce; photo by Danielle Prohom Olson

Nasturtium & Sumac Hot Sauce by Gather Victoria

Any pantry benefits immensely from a good jar of hot sauce. Even if you yourself do not partake, you’ll be glad you prepared a batch the next time you host Taco Tuesday or set out fixings for the burrito bar.

Dandelion Flower Fritters by Mountain Rose Herbs

This is an old-time classic that every child will be excited to try! I like to serve piping hot dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) fritters alongside a homemade dipping sauce à la plain yogurt blended with lemon juice, garlic, and fresh herbs.

Spiced Hawthorn Pear Persimmon Brandy

Fall: Wildcrafted Comfort Foods & Drinks

Whereas summer’s harvest is bright and bold, I find the wild foods of fall to be softer, sweeter, and more earthy. This is the season for gathering ripening tree fruits, savory nut meats, edible roots, and sun-browned seeds. Again, this is an abundant time for putting up any foraged surplus to nourish you through the frosty months of winter.

Spiced Hawthorn Pear Persimmon Brandy

A warming, lightly boozy concoction that can be made alcohol-free by substituting apple cider for brandy. This beverage blends some of fall’s tastiest fruits and herbs into a cold season tonic that will have you feeling ready for crisp nights and wood stove fires.

Foraged Chai Masala by Ellen Zachos

This wild chai features spicebush (Lindera benzoin) and juniper (Juniperus spp.) berries, wild ginger roots (Asarum canadense), and spruce needles (Picea spp.). Local, regional, and domestic substitutions are 100% acceptable! According to its creator, this chai is “freakin’ amazing.”

Burdock Root Roast by Colleen Codekas

Burdock root (Arctium lappa, A. minus) is a classic food herb whose flavor is earthy and sweet—somewhat like a carrot or parsnip. This simple recipe really lets burdock shine. Consider switching out the olive oil for other fats that have a higher smoke point (like ghee or coconut oil), and adding more root veggies to the mix—I like carrots and sweet potatoes.

Raw Persimmon Pudding by Wild Abundance

This creamy, raw pudding is one of my favorite fall treats—and it’s so easy to whip up. Make sure the persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) you gather have sweetened up properly; they are extremely high in mouth-puckering tannins until well and fully ripe!

Chanterelle Stuffing with Pine Nuts by Hank Shaw

Stuffing is one of the most comforting foods to put on the table at special fall feasts. Add delicacies like chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) and pine nuts (Pinus spp.), and you’ve got a masterpiece!

Black Walnut Butter by Woodland Foods

If you’re willing to crack all the nuts needed for this recipe, you’re in for a treat (that’s rich in magnesium). The author doesn’t specify which plant oil to use—I prefer coconut.

winter

Winter: The Wild Feast Continues

Yes, there are wild foods to forage throughout the winter months! Admittedly, I tend to do more foraging in my pantry than in the hedgerows this time of year, but if you know what to look for, you’ll be impressed by the nourishment available during the cold moons. Rosehips (Rosa spp.), edible roots, seaweeds, certain mushrooms, hardy greens, and many conifer needles can be gathered through the hard frosts of winter.

Conifer & Wild Berry Winter Syrup by Gather Victoria

Nothing calls to mind the sweetness of winter like the comforting aroma of evergreens. Conifer needles can be stirred into a decadent spread of recipes, including this vitamin C-rich syrup. Take by the spoonful, or drizzle over yogurt or cream.

Juniper Berry Sauerkraut; photo by Miss Wondersmith

Sauerkraut with Juniper Berries by The Wondersmith

I consider sauerkraut to be a year-round staple, but I especially appreciate its probiotic benefits in winter when my diet tends to be heavier. Juniper “berries” (Juniperus spp.) are a traditional addition to krauts, and I love the piney flavor they impart. Gather in late fall to early winter—use fresh or dried.

Herbal Bone Broth by Ritual Kitchen

Another winter essential. Bone broth (or veggie broth) can be amped up with the addition of herbs. This recipe offers up plenty of possibilities, from nettles to rosehips to burdock roots.

Rose Hip & Cranberry Compote by Rosalee de la Forêt

Vitamin C is strengthening to the immune system, and this recipe is loaded with it! Take care with foraged rose hips: they need to be split and de-seeded before they can be eaten as food (tiny hairs that irritate the throat surround the seeds). They can be used whole when taken as tea.

Oyster Mushroom Udon Soup by Fat of the Land

Winter is soup season! Various species of oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) fruit throughout the year, and I’ve collected many nice harvests in the heart of winter. You can also rehydrate dried mushrooms for this recipe.

Homemade Maple Syrup by Wild Abundance

Maple syrup is made from the sap of sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum). Don’t have any near you? Other trees can be tapped, including hickory (Carya spp.), birch (Betula spp.), walnut (Juglans spp.), and other species of maple (Acer spp.).

Hungry for more?

These recipes are just an amuse-bouche at the wild foods feast served up by Mother Earth. Visit the following resources we’ve whipped up for more inspiration:

Meet Our Contributors:

JULIET BLANKESPOOR founded the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine in 2007 and serves as the school’s primary instructor and Creative Director. She's been a professional plant-human matchmaker for close to three decades. Juliet caught the plant bug when she was nineteen and went on to earn a degree in Botany. She's owned just about every type of herbal business you can imagine: an herbal nursery, a medicinal products business, a clinical practice, and now, an herbal school.

These days, she channels her botanical obsession with writing and photography in her online programs and here on her personal blog, Castanea. She's writing her first book: Cultivating Medicinal Herbs: Grow, Harvest, and Prepare Handcrafted Remedies from Your Home Garden. Juliet and her houseplants share a home with her family and herb books in Asheville, North Carolina.

MEGHAN GEMMA is one of the Chestnut School’s primary instructors through her written lessons, and is the principal pollinator of the school’s social media community—sharing herbal and wild foods wisdom from the flowery heart of the school to an ever-wider field of herbalists, gardeners, healers, and plant lovers.

She has been in a steady relationship with the Chestnut School since 2010—as an intern and manager at the Chestnut Herb Nursery; as a plant-smitten student “back in the day” when the school’s programs were taught in the field; and later as a part the school’s woman-powered professional team. Meghan lives in the Ivy Creek watershed, just north of Asheville, North Carolina.

Are you intrigued with the idea
of foraging but intimidated by where to start?

The course begins with the basic ground rules of foraging safety and ethics, and then moves on to botany and plant identification. Before you know it, you’ll have the skills and confidence to safely identify and harvest wild plants.

You’ll befriend THE most common edible and medicinal wayside plants, including dandelion, stinging nettles, violet, yarrow, burdock, rose, goldenrod, and many others. The printable manual is hundreds of pages long and filled with close-up photos for identification, medicinal uses, and loads of easy-to-follow recipes. In fact, most of our plant profiles contain more detail than you’ll find in any book on wild foods and herbs.

Registration for the Foraging Course is closed until 2020.

Sign up for free tutorials (videos + articles) on Foraging and herbal medicine, and to be notified when enrollment reopens.

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The Best Wild Foods and Medicinals for Beginning Foragers and Wildcrafters

Uncategorized

Mar 052019

By Juliet Blankespoor and Meghan Gemma
Photography by Juliet Blankespoor

If you’re just picking up a foraging basket for the first time, what a truly special moment. I’m willing to bet that getting to know your local food and medicine plants (and bringing them home to your kitchen and apothecary) will be one of the most meaningful experiences of your life.

When I first began foraging my own food and medicine, I focused on a particular array of plentiful, generous, and nourishing plants—the wild weeds, the common flora, and the invasives. I strongly encourage you to do the same! These plants are some of our most superb medicinal allies and nutrient-dense wild foods. And these feral botanicals continue to be my main squeezes: non-native, “weedy” medicinals and wild foods are the most sustainable options out there.

And to sweeten the deal, they grow prolifically throughout the temperate world, so they are easy to find and befriend. Believe me, making connections with these plants is a bit like working a magic spell—one that reveals a generous landscape literally blooming with food and medicine.

But wait! Before you venture off into paradise, please ready yourself to partake of the cornucopia. You will need a proper set of resources to begin your foraging adventures safely and wisely. Tools, field guides, an ethical conscience, and some education on sustainable wildcrafting are all requisite (or at least very highly recommended). We’ve got you covered on each of these points; just pick and choose as needed from our list of articles below:

Please note that this article is introductory in scope—we won’t be discussing plant identification, and we’re just scratching the surface on medicinal uses and safety information. Depending on where you live, there may be different look-alikes than those that are listed in the article. We’re hoping to whet your appetite with these botanical vignettes—you’ll need to learn more before you can safely harvest these wild foods and medicinals. Therefore, the bulk of the botanical and herbal detective work will be up to you!

Find a couple field guides relevant to your region by searching our book list. Find a local foraging and/or plant identification teacher, if possible. Remember, there are deadly poisonous plants and mushrooms out there: one wrong move could be your last.

Have fun and be safe—which means being 110% sure of any plant’s identification before you nibble or harvest.

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

1. Chickweed, or Starweed (Stellaria media, Caryophyllaceae)

Edible Parts: Tender leaves, upper stems, and flowers

Medicinal Parts: Aboveground parts in flower

Preparations: Infusion, vinegar, pesto, salad, smoothie, juice, poultice, compress, salve, and infused oil

Herbal Actions:

Nutritive tonic
Anti-inflammatory
Alterative
Demulcent
Expectorant
Galactagogue (stimulates breast milk)
Gentle laxative
Diuretic
Vulnerary

Chickweed leaves

Chickweed is one of my oldest green friends—we became acquainted over two decades ago, and I’m as smitten as ever. This sprawling weed is beloved among wild foods enthusiasts for its succulent mild flavor. It’s one of the best wild foods for beginning foragers, as it’s tasty and fairly easy to identify. Harvest chickweed with scissors, cutting back the top few tender inches, which generally includes some leaves, stems, flowers, and buds. After receiving a “haircut,” the plant grows tender new shoots, making it possible to repeatedly harvest until it gets too leggy and chewy.

One of my all-time favorite ways to enjoy chickweed’s delectable leaves is in pesto. The leaves can also be added to salads and used in lieu of lettuce on sandwiches and in tacos, burritos, and wraps. Chickweed tea is often recommended as a daily tonic, along with red clover (Trifolium pratense) and burdock (Arctium lappa and A. minus), for acne, psoriasis, and eczema. It is a classic spring cleansing food and infusion.

Harvesting chickweed with the "haircut" method

Related Species and Look-Alikes: Chickweed’s close relative, mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium fontanum), is quite similar in appearance and grows in similar habitats. It’s also edible, although not as tasty (as it’s more fibrous and hairy). Chickweed may also be confused with the non-edible Persian speedwell (Veronica persica) and scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis).

Contraindications: Chickweed contains moderate levels of dietary oxalates, which can reduce mineral uptake from food and increase kidney stone formation. This is generally not an issue, as chickweed is also high in calcium, which balances the effects of the oxalates. You may want to avoid chickweed if you are prone to kidney stones.

Common blue violet (Viola sororia)

2. Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia, V. odorata, and select other species, Violaceae)

Edible Parts: Leaves and flowers

Medicinal Parts: Leaves and flowers

Preparations: Infusion, syrup, honey, vinegar, poultice, compress, salve, and infused oil

Herbal Actions:

Demulcent
Anti-inflammatory
Alterative
Vulnerary
Diuretic
Lymphagogue
Expectorant
Antirheumatic
Gentle laxative

Not only are violets spritely springtime charmers, they are also highly nutritious wild edibles and versatile medicinals, with countless topical and internal uses. Children seem to have a special affinity for this charismatic group of plants, perhaps because their bright flowers are well within reach. Violets grow in lawns, gardens, sidewalk cracks, and along trail sides. The leaves and flowers can be harvested with scissors in a “haircut” style.

I enjoy fresh violet leaves and flowers in salads, pestos, sandwiches, and wraps—and sautéed or steamed. I also like to stir them into soups as a nutrient-dense thickener. The flowers make a lovely garnish—try sprinkling them on salads, cakes, and pancakes.

Violet has a rich tradition as a springtime tonic, anticancer folk herb, and pulmonary remedy for dry hacking coughs. The leaves contain a good bit of mucilage or soluble fiber, and thus are helpful for lowering cholesterol levels (similar to oatmeal) and restoring healthy populations of intestinal flora. Topically, violet is used as a poultice, compress, infused oil, and salve in the treatment of dry or chafed skin, abrasions, insect bites, eczema, varicose veins, and hemorrhoids.

For more information on how to prepare violet as food and medicine, and a discussion on different violet species, check out our blog on Violet’s Edible and Medicinal Uses.

Viola sororia flowers

Related Species and Look-Alikes: The Viola genus contains around 550 species. Most wild foods authors report that the blue- and white-flowered species of violet are all edible, but not the yellow-flowered species. There are rare species of violet, so do your research on each violet’s abundance. The leaves of crowfoot (Ranunculus abortivus) and golden ragwort (Packera aurea) resemble violet leaves and are sometimes confused. Only harvest when violet is in flower so you can be sure of your identification. Don’t use the roots of any violet species, as they are emetic.

Contraindications: Avoid internal use with individuals who have the rare inherited disorder G6PD (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) deficiency, because it can aggravate hemolytic anemia.¹

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

3. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, Asteraceae)

Edible Parts: Leaves, roots, and flowers

Medicinal Parts: Leaves and roots

Preparations:

Leaf: Infusion, vinegar, bitters, salad, nibble, and cooking green
Root: Decoction, tincture, vinegar, bitters, and roasted herbal “coffee”

Herbal Actions:

Leaf
- Diuretic
- Bitter
- Cholagogue
- Hepatic
- Alterative
Root
- Bitter
- Hepatic
- Cholagogue
- Alterative
- Prebiotic
- Diuretic
- Gentle laxative
- Antirheumatic

Dandelion is a classic medicinal in our beloved food-herb tribe and can be used safely as a tonic remedy over a long period of time. Despite its familiarity, dandelion is one of the plants I see misidentified over and over—so be sure to check out its look-alikes below!

The roots and leaves have some overlapping medicinal applications, but they are distinct medicines, each with their own therapeutic benefits. Dandelion root is a classic liver and blood tonic and has long been used to aid conditions like eczema, psoriasis, acne, and hives. Clinical studies demonstrate that dandelion is strongly anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

The leaves of dandelion are exceptionally nutritious, with higher levels of iron, riboflavin, and vitamin E than any of our commonly cultivated greens. The tender spring leaves are edible, both raw and cooked, but I’ll let you know here and now that they are bitter. I like to mix them with milder greens in salads or steamed with other vegetables. Learn more by checking out our dandelion sample lesson from the Online Herbal Immersion; head over to Dandyland and watch the lesson here.

Dandelion leaves can be harvested for medicine whenever they’re green and vital. If you’re gathering the leaves for food, the early spring greens are less bitter than summer greens. The roots are best harvested in the fall.

Related Species and Look-Alikes: Chicory (Cichorium intybus) and cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata) are sometimes mistaken for dandelion. Wild lettuce (Lactuca spp.) and sow thistle (Sonchus spp.) may also be confused with dandelion when they’re in their vegetative state.

My treatise on dandelion has more information about identification, including its look-alikes. Download it here.

Contraindications: Because dandelion leaf is a powerful diuretic, it will enhance the effects of pharmaceutical diuretics. Although rare, people have experienced contact dermatitis from the topical use of dandelion. People who are allergic to bee pollen or honey have a high likelihood of reacting to dandelion pollen, and therefore should avoid ingesting the flower or any preparation from the flower that would contain pollen.

Stinging nettles harvest (Urtica dioica)

4. Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica, Urticaceae)

Edible Parts: Leaves and seeds

Medicinal Parts: Leaves, seeds, and roots (rhizomes)

Preparations: Infusion, tincture, vinegar, pesto, cooked greens, juice, broth, powder, capsules, and finishing salts

Herbal Actions:

Nutritive tonic
Alterative
Anti-inflammatory
Antirheumatic
Diuretic
Galactagogue
Astringent

This celebrated herb is an emerald queen who proudly reigns over her realms—food and medicine—with vim and vigor. Nettles is packed with vitamins, minerals, and chlorophyll—this vitality infuses into nutritive herbal teas, vinegars, and medicinal foods.

Nettles is a supreme blood builder, nourishing tonic, and herbal ally for fasting and cleansing. It is one of the best herbs to take daily when you feel tired or depleted. Use nettles greens anywhere you would use spinach or kale. The sting is disarmed when the leaves are dried or cooked.

Nettles grows close to humans and waterways—it thrives in open, fertile ground. You’ll find it growing in floodplains, forest edges, ditches, hedgerows, along open trail sides, and around old farms, especially in barnyards with compost and manure piles.

When harvesting for medicine, wait until the plants are knee-high and pick before they flower. Wear thick clothing that covers arms and ankles and use leather gardening gloves. Use a scythe or similar tool for large-scale harvesting, and use pruners or kitchen scissors for smaller yields.

Only wild-harvest nettles from clean locales, as they are adept at bioaccumulating heavy metals and other toxins. If plants are growing in the floodplains of polluted waterways, there is a good chance their leaves will have accumulated some of the toxins found in the water.

Emerging stinging nettle shoots

Related Species and Look-Alikes: Two North American species of plants—false nettles (Boehmeria cylindrica) and nettle-leafed vervain (Verbena urticifolia)—closely resemble stinging nettles but lack the characteristic stinging hairs. The wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) is a close relative of stinging nettles and is also edible, although it’s not used medicinally in the same fashion. Other species of stinging nettles in the Urtica genus can be used medicinally or as food; consult a local wild foods expert or herbalist to learn about regional varieties.

Precautions and Contraindications: Although nettles is generally safe, it can be very drying when ingested daily, especially for folks who already have dry skin and sinus membranes. To counter this effect, add marshmallow (Althaea officinalis), linden (Tilia spp.), chia seeds (Salvia hispanica), or other demulcent herbs to nettles tea. Additionally, its diuretic effects may compound pharmaceuticals with the same action, such as diuretic antihypertensive medications. Nettles may potentially alter blood sugar levels—diabetics should monitor blood sugar levels closely when ingesting the plant as food or medicine.²

Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)

5. Brambleberries, including Blackberries and Raspberries (Rubus spp., Rosaceae)

Edible Parts: Berries

Medicinal Parts: Berries, leaves, and roots

Preparations:

Berry: Food, infusion, syrup, vinegar
Leaf: Infusion, vinegar
Root: Decoction, tincture

Herbal Actions:

Fruit
- Antioxidant
- Nutritive tonic
- Anti-inflammatory
Leaf
- Nutritive tonic
- Anti-inflammatory
- Uterine tonic
- Partus preparator (childbirth aid)
- Astringent
Root
- Astringent

Blackberry leaves (Rubus spp.)

Wild berries are truly a delight, and as Rosemary Gladstar says, they “carry the indescribable, yet discernable, strength and vitality of things that belong to the wilderness”.³ The juicy fruits of both raspberries and blackberries are nourishing food-medicines rich in antioxidants, phenolic acids, and anthocyanins—a powerhouse of compounds and plant pigments that stimulate the immune system, nourish the blood, and protect against heart disease and cancer.⁴

Interestingly, studies reveal that raspberry’s leaves may be even higher in flavonoids and antioxidants than the richly colored fruits.⁵ They are also packed with vitamins and minerals—especially calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, and vitamins B, C, and E.³

Raspberries and blackberries can be used interchangeably as food and nutritive beverage teas, but medicinally they have different uses. Raspberry is a classic herb for nourishing pregnancies and bringing them to fruition—the leaves are a pregnancy tonic that has been employed by midwives for centuries.

Blackberry is one of our best astringent allies (raspberry leaves are also astringent). The leaves are mild in action, but the roots are truly powerful (and should therefore be used for only a short period). Blackberry is a top-choice first aid remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, and cases of “loose bowels.”

Related Species and Look-Alikes: There are hundreds of Rubus species and subspecies, all of which can be used for food and medicine. Get to know your local varieties, as there are likely several. Most herbal books list red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) as the official medicinal species, but you can use any species of raspberry for medicine, including wineberry (R. phoenicolasius), black raspberry (R. occidentalis), and American red raspberry (R. strigosus).

Precautions and Contraindications: Blackberry root is a powerful astringent and should not be used internally for more than a few days. Brambles in general are astringent and drying—use cautiously with those who have dry constitutions. Blackberry leaf can lower blood sugar levels—diabetics should avoid or closely monitor plasma glucose levels.⁶ Both raspberry and blackberry leaves and roots should be avoided in constipation. The presence of tannins in both medicines interferes with iron absorption—avoid taking with iron supplements.⁷

Multi-petaled rose varieties yield more petals

6. Rose (Rosa spp., Rosaceae)

Edible Parts: Flowers, flower buds, and rosehips

Medicinal Parts: Flowers, flower buds, leaves, and rosehips

Preparations:

Flowers and flower buds: Infusion, tincture, honey, poultice, compress, salve, syrup, elixir, oil, vinegar, flower essence, hydrosol, soak
Rosehips: Decoction, syrup, honey, vinegar, jam
Leaf: Infusion, compress, poultice

Herbal Actions:

Flowers and buds
- Nervine
- Astringent
- Anti-inflammatory
- Cardiotonic
- Antimicrobial
- Anticatarrhal
- Diuretic
- Aphrodisiac
Rosehips
- Nutritive
- Blood tonic
- Astringent
- Antimicrobial
Leaves
- Astringent
- Antimicrobial
- Diuretic

Rosa multiflora blooms

All roses have edible petals and hips that are profoundly nutritive. Roses with pink and red petals are especially high in bioflavonoids, carotenoids, and anthocyanins, and contain as many (if not more) antioxidants as green tea.⁸ Rosehips are one of the most concentrated sources of vitamin C in the world and are a blood-building tonic.

To enjoy, pull rose petals from the reproductive parts and add them to salads, smoothies, fruit salads, and salsas. They make a show-stopping garnish on birthday cakes, and the dried and powdered petals are beautiful when dusted over homemade truffles. One of my favorite ways to use the blossoms is to add them to berries when making jam—this fanciful addition turns any fruit preserve into an alchemical delicacy.

In the summertime, I combine the beautiful fresh flowers and flower buds with hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and mint (Mentha spp.) to make a cooling and refreshing herbal iced tea. Rosehips are delicious in tea, brandies, compotes, and so on.

Take care to gather flowers only from organic rose bushes or those that are growing wild in clean locations, as roses are one of the most heavily sprayed plants in gardens and commercial farms alike. Along these lines, absolutely avoid using bouquet roses from florists as food or medicine.

Related Species and Look-Alikes: Note that there are many plants with rose in their name that are not related to the true roses (Rosa spp.), and are thus not used as medicine or as food in similar fashion (some are poisonous!). These include Lenten rose (Helleborus spp.), rock-rose (Cistus spp.), rose mallow (Lavatera spp.), and others.

Precautions and Contraindications: Rose is cooling and drying and can aggravate cold and dry constitutions if taken regularly.

Black walnuts (Juglans nigra) in the hull, dehulled, and the shelled nutmeat

7. Black Walnut (Juglans nigra and select other species, Juglandaceae)

Edible Parts: Nut meats

Medicinal Parts: Fresh green hulls and leaves

Preparations: Tincture, decoction, powder

Herbal Actions:

Antifungal
Anti-parasitic
Astringent

Black walnuts are a delicious late summer wild food; the nuts, encased in thick green hulls, begin pinging down from the trees in August. I’ll admit, these nuts take a bit more processing than your average foraged food, but they’re worth it. Gather freshly fallen nuts, remove the husks, then allow the nuts to dry, which “cures” them. When removing the hulls, you’ll want to wear gloves, or you’ll wind up with a persistent yellow-brown stain on your hands.

The fresh, green hulls can be powdered, decocted, or tinctured for a medicine that is helpful topically for athlete’s foot and other fungal skin infections. The leaves in tea or tincture form are beneficial for some disorders of the GI tract—particularly leaky gut and malabsorption of food. Black walnut is a classic folk remedy for cleansing the digestive tract of internal parasites like pinworms. The hulls can be boiled to make a beautiful brown dye.

Later, cracking the nuts and picking out the nut meats will keep you (or any children who happen by) occupied for hours. I recommend using a hammer and doing your cracking outside. The nuts are delicious in breads, cakes, pies, and pestos. You can also whip up a decadent black walnut butter by blending with coconut oil and maple syrup.

Related Species and Look-Alikes: Black walnut is a relative of the classic English walnut (Juglans regia), though its flavor is distinctly more unusual. Black walnuts may be confused with butternuts (Juglans cinerea), whose nuts drop at the same time. Butternuts are also edible and delicious.

Precautions and Contraindications: Do not use the tincture or decoction of black walnut hulls internally during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima)

8. Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima, Fagaceae)

Edible Parts: Nut meats

Medicinal Parts: N/A

Preparations: Eat freshly cooked, or add to stews, chilis, breads, or pie crusts

Herbal Actions: N/A

Chinese chestnuts are a common yard tree in the southern Appalachians, and can easily be found in the fall, when their spiny burrs and nuts fall from the trees. Most people who have them growing in their yard do not pick and eat their chestnuts, and are happy for you to take them away.

After gathering, wash the nuts in large buckets and discard the floaters, taking care to repeatedly stir the water. You can then eat the steamed or roasted chestnuts out-of-hand, or add them to soups, stews, chilis, and so on. We generally freeze the peeled chestnuts, and sometimes dry them. The boiled and mashed nut meats, mixed with butter or coconut oil, make a delicious and hearty crust for pie or quiche. Chestnuts are a particularly “starchy” nut, with more carbohydrates and less fat than other nuts.

Related Species and Look-Alikes: Take care not to confuse Chinese chestnuts with horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum) or buckeye nuts (Aesculus glabra), which are poisonous. Chinese chestnuts are distinct from American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) and chinquapin trees (Castanea pumila), which have been strongly affected by the chestnut blight in North America.

Precautions and Contraindications: Chestnuts cause gassiness in many folks.

Freshly dug burdock root

9. Burdock (Arctium lappa, A. minus, Asteraceae)

Edible Parts: Roots, young flower stalks, and leaves (these are marginally edible)

Medicinal Parts: Roots, leaves, and seeds

Preparations: Decoction, tincture, infused vinegar, food, poultice, compress, and wash (food and tea are best for imparting burdock’s prebiotic qualities)

Herbal Actions:

Nutritive
Alterative
Bitter tonic
Hepatic
Demulcent
Prebiotic
Antioxidant
Diuretic
Hypoglycemic

Burdock leaves

Burdock root is one of my most esteemed nutritive allies, competing heavily with my passion for stinging nettles (Urtica dioica). Delicious and strengthening, burdock is a classic food herb whose flavor is earthy and sweet—somewhat like a carrot or parsnip.

It can be prepared in a similar vein to other root vegetables by steaming, boiling, or roasting. Medicinally, burdock supports the primary cleansing systems of the body: the skin, kidneys, liver, lymph, and GI tract. Both Traditional Chinese Medicine and modern clinical studies demonstrate that burdock is high in antioxidant activity.

In my eyes, burdock is one of the true hunks of the plant kingdom. Big and handsome, with a whopping taproot, it has been blessed with a crush-worthy combination of strength and charisma. It prospers in many places—in old fields and grazing pastures, farm and garden beds, parks, backyards, and anywhere the earth has been turned up and disturbed.

You’ve likely encountered its infamous burrs—seed heads that cling stupendously well to clothing, animal pelts, and hair. These appear in late summer and are a sticky memento of burdock’s ubiquitous presence. Dig first-year roots (before a flowering stalk appears) in the fall or early spring.

Burdock’s flower heads

Related Species and Look-Alikes: Burdock species are frequently confused with the cockleburs (Xanthium spp.), which are major weeds of row crops and pastures in temperate and subtropical regions around the world. Some folks confuse broad-leafed yellow dock (Rumex obtusifolius) with burdock. Also, be sure not to mistake garden rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) for burdock—their leaves are strikingly similar. It’s important to note the difference because though rhubarb’s delicious stalk is edible, its leaves are poisonous—containing dangerously high concentrations of oxalic acid.

Precautions and Contraindications: Burdock may cause reactions in those who have a sensitivity to plants in the aster family (Asteraceae), although this is rare. Use caution in hypoglycemia or diabetes as burdock can lower blood sugar levels.⁹

Lamb's quarters (Chenopodium album)

10. Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album, Amaranthaceae)

Edible Parts: Tender young leaves (fresh tips)

Medicinal Parts: N/A

Preparations: As food, in any way you’d use spinach or Swiss chard (raw, steamed, sautéed, pureed, etc.)

Herbal Actions:

Nutritive food/medicine

Lamb’s quarters is one of the most common and widespread weeds on the planet. It’s also one of the most nutritious greens ever analyzed, outcompeting many common vegetables in vitamin and mineral content.

With tender edible greens packed with vital nutrients and edible seeds, it’s no wonder humans have both foraged and cultivated this nutritious plant for hundreds of generations. The choicest parts are the fresh tips—the top few nodes of tender leaves. They can easily be pinched off by hand.

The succulent greens of lamb’s quarters can be used in any dish where you might otherwise use spinach or Swiss chard. They can be eaten raw, steamed, sautéed, or added to soups and stews. I enjoy them in lasagna, omelets, quiche, and cold pasta salads. The sky’s the limit with this pleasant green! To preserve the bounty, you can blanch and freeze the greens or freeze a batch of pesto or pâté.

Related Species and Look-Alikes: The various species of Chenopodium can be hard to differentiate—use a local field guide to identify your local species. Several species of hairy or black nightshade (Solanum nigrum, S. villosum, S. physalifolium, and S. sarrachoides)—common garden weeds—could ultimately be confused with lamb’s quarters. These species of nightshade can be toxic in larger doses, so it’s important to be able to differentiate them.

Lamb's quarters (Chenopodium album)

References

Tobyn, G., Denham, A., and Whitelegg, M. The Western Herbal Tradition: 2000 Years of Medicinal Plant Knowledge. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2010.
American Herbal Products Association’s Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. CRC Press, 2013.
Gladstar, R. Herbal Healing for Women. Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Hakkinen, S., Heinonen, M., et al.“Screening of selected flavonoids and phenolic acids in 19 berries.” Food Research International. 1999.
Wang, S., and Lin, H.S. “Antioxidant activity in fruits and leaves of blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry varies with cultivar and developmental stage.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2000.
American Herbal Products Association’s Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. CRC Press, 2013.
Mills, S., and Bone, K. The Essential Guide to Herbal Safety. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2005.
Vinokur, Y., Rodov, V., et al. “Rose Petal Tea as an Antioxidant-Rich Beverage: Cultivar Effects.” Journal of Food Science. 2006;71:S42–S47.
Barnes, J., Anderson, L., and Phillipson, D. Herbal Medicines. Pharmaceutical Press, 2007.

Meet Our Contributors:

These days, she channels her botanical obsession with her writing and photography in her online programs and here on her personal blog, Castanea. She's writing her first book: Cultivating Medicinal Herbs: Grow, Harvest, and Prepare Handcrafted Remedies from Your Home Garden. Juliet and her houseplants share a home with her family and herb books in Asheville, North Carolina.

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10 Natural foods rich in Calcium to Build Healthy Bones

Ayurvedic

Aug 172018

As you age, your bone density starts decreasing. If not enough bone mass is created or bone loss occurs later in life, you have an increased risk of developing fragile bones that break easily. Consumption of healthy foods for bones can avoid such issues.

A good lifestyle habit can help you build strong bones and maintain them as you age. Adults over 50 should get 1000-, 200 milligrams of calcium and 400 to 600 IU of vitamin D. Hence, the addition of ayurvedic calcium supplements or calcium-rich foods is a must in one’s diet.

Here are 10 natural ways to build healthy bones with natural calcium supplements.

Eat Lots of Vegetables

One cup of cooked spinach contains almost 25% of your daily calcium, plus fibre, iron, and vitamin A.

One cup of cooked cabbage contains more than 25% of your daily calcium.

200 gm Cooked broccoli provides more than 25% of your daily calcium and protein and is rich in bone protective antioxidants.

100 gm amaranth in any form. It is a good source of calcium, protein and amino acids and is rich in iron, magnesium and Vitamin A, B and C.

Getting enough protein is important for healthy bones. About 50% of bone is made of protein. Eat minimum 100 gms of any protein food daily.

Lentils

Mung

Tofu

Beans

Include Foods High in Magnesium and Zinc

Along with Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc also important for bone health. a Magnesium and zinc help in converting vitamin D into the active form that promotes calcium absorption to the bones.

Nuts

Nuts like almonds, cashews 20 gm per day or Brazil nuts 2 per day are the powerhouse of essential vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. Walnuts are the great source of omega – 3 which helps to strengthen bones.

The proven powerful home remedy to take daily:

1 Green ripe Banana
½ glass Pomegranate juice
1 pinch Cardamom Powder
Mix very well and take every day after the age of 40 compulsorily.
This remedy contains 600 mg calcium and pomegranate is helping to boost metabolism too. So calcium is converted into bones naturally and faster.

The amazing remedy for pain in knee, hips and back an improve bone density:

Tinospora cordifolia (Rasna) powder 1 teaspoon

Boswella serrata (Shallaki) powder 1 teaspoon

Cissus quadrangularis (Asthishrunkhala) powder 1 teaspoon

You can write to Ayushakti vaidyas and get a free advice on how to manage your health naturally. Email: info@ayushakti.com. Website: Visit.

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The Best Regional Books for Plant Identification and Foraging Wild Foods and Herbs

General

Nov 222017

The Best Regional Books for Plant Identification and Foraging Wild Foods and Herbs

By Meghan Gemma with Juliet Blankespoor

The following article is a sneak peek into our 375-hour Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs, which begins in early 2018! The course begins with the basic ground rules of foraging safety and ethics, and then moves on to botany and plant identification. Before you know it, you’ll have the skills and confidence to safely identify and harvest wild plants.
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You’ll befriend THE most common edible and medicinal wayside plants, including dandelion, stinging nettles, violet, yarrow, burdock, rose, goldenrod, and many others. The printable manual is hundreds of pages long and filled with close-up photos for identification, medicinal uses, and loads of easy-to-follow recipes. In fact, most of our plant profiles contain more detail than you’ll find in any book on wild foods and herbs.

Registration for this online course runs December 20th, 2017 through January 15th, 2018 and is only open once a year. The course runs January 15th through November 1st, 2018!
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Juliet Blankespoor’s study, including her “top shelf” books

If you’ve ever felt frustrated trying to choose a reliable field guide to take foraging with you, you’re not alone. There are heaps of books on the subject, and the selection can be dizzying. It’s truly important—you might even say a matter of life and death—to make solid choices in this department. To give you a hand, we cozied up in the Chestnut library and got studious, reviewing all the regional wild food and medicine books we could get our hands on, and checking each one for botanical accuracy and attention to detail. The best are queued up here, and there’s a little something for everyone, from bright-eyed beginners to seasoned foragers and plant enthusiasts.

The books we feature are fairly specific; they dial in on bioregions throughout North America and are tailored to help you safely identify plants and forage wild food and medicine right where you live. As a companion to this list, please check out The Ten Best Books on Foraging Wild Foods and Herbs, which is the field guide lowdown to our favorite general foraging books (which pertain to most of temperate North America and Eurasia). We highly recommend starting with our article Sustainably Foraging for Wild Edibles and Herbs. You’ll notice some general guides on botany and plant families at the beginning of this list. Understanding plant families—and how to identify them—is a huge first step for any forager or self-respecting plant nerd.

And if all this merely whets your appetite, come join us for our Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs (releasing with the New Year 2018). We’ll give you all the tools you need to explore plant identification, wild food and medicine foraging, and the herbal uses of the most abundant and healing wild plants of the temperate world. Plus, we’ll share our very favorite culinary and medicinal recipes. On the other hand, if a more comprehensive course on DIY herbalism is up your alley, take a peek at our Online Herbal Immersion.

In good conscience, we simply couldn’t list many popular wild food guides here, mostly because they do not emphasize poisonous look-alikes in their plant descriptions, which could mean fatal consequences for foragers using those books. If you think there’s a book that deserves to be mentioned but isn’t, please let us know—we’ll continue expanding this guide as new resources become available!
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I can’t wait to really dive into this book!

General Botany Books

Botany in a Day by Thomas J. Elpel. A botanical classic and best seller that has a place on every forager’s shelf. Elpel shares what he calls “The Patterns Method” of plant identification, a fast and easy way to begin recognizing the key traits of various plant families. This tutorial has helped more budding botanists, herbalists, and foragers than any other identification guide I know! Elpel also features descriptions of plant families throughout North America, along with profiles of notable members from each family, including comments on edible and medicinal uses. Highly recommended. Be sure to purchase the most recent edition.

Flowering Plant Families of the World by V. H. Heywood. A beautiful book for the coffee table or reference library, this hardcover classic is filled with gorgeous, scientifically accurate illustrations and range maps for over five hundred plant families throughout the world. Make sure to purchase the 2007 edition.

Photographic Atlas of Botany and Guide to Plant Identification by James Castern. Easy to read, with detailed color photographs that illustrate plant family characteristics, this guide is perfect for those who are really excited about botany and plant identification. The book is spiral-bound and quite hefty, so it’s more of a desk reference than an actual field guide. Some of the plant family classifications are out of date, but the general botany photos are still applicable, as is the bulk of the plant family photographs and descriptions.

Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary by James Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris. An excellent reference for those studying botany or wanting to use technical keys in the field, this guide clearly illustrates nearly two thousand botanical terms!

A Tour of the Flowering Plants by Priscilla Spears. Filled with high-quality color photographs, this is a wonderful reference for those who prefer visual learning. The author illustrates and explains over a hundred flowering plant families and includes a botanical glossary to help the beginner get started.
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Usnea (Usnea sp.) harvest

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Northwestern United States + British Columbia

The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North by Beverley Gray. Part plant-identification guide, part food- and medicine-making manual, this book is a treasury of plants that grow throughout the north (and much of the temperate world). Excellent reading for beginners, experienced foragers, and anyone who loves herbs. Speaks to the heart and soul of wild food and herbal medicine. Features lots of photography and beautiful writing.

Discovering Wild Plants: Alaska, Western Canada, the Northwest by Janice Schofield Eaton. This superb field guide covers 147 wild plants, detailing their identification, range, traditional and contemporary uses, and medicinal properties. Each plant is accompanied by photographs and line drawings. The book is currently out of print, making used copies a bit more expensive than other field guides, but it’s worth the splurge!

The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition edited by Bruce Baldwin et al. This is a hefty hardcover tome that covers both native and naturalized vascular plants throughout California. This is a technical key best suited to seasoned botanists; IT’S NOT A BEGINNER GUIDE! Unlike many technical keys, however, it features illustrations, and a new chapter on the vegetative history of California is included.

Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West by Michael Moore. One of several invaluable guides written by herbalist Michael Moore. This book covers plants ranging from Baja California to Alaska, featuring identification tips, medicinal uses, preparation, and contraindications for each herb—all infused with Moore’s characteristic wit and humor. Simple line drawings, maps, and some color photos are included throughout.

Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of Coastal Northern California by Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz. A gorgeous and trustworthy guide to the mushrooms of coastal California, from Monterey County to the Oregon border. Splendid photographs and thorough information on identification, edibility, and toxicity. Easy enough for beginners, detailed enough for experienced mushroom hunters.

Northwest Trees: Identifying and Understanding the Region’s Native Trees by Stephen Arno. An easy-to-use guide with beautiful illustrations and species descriptions. Arno includes writings about the traditional uses of trees, ecology, as well as detailed descriptions, inviting the reader to slow down and take in each tree deeply. Highly recommended. This makes a good companion to a more traditional field identification guide for trees. Be sure to get the thirtieth-anniversary deluxe edition.

Pacific Seaweeds: A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast by Louis Druehl and Bridgette Clarkston. A beautiful guide to Pacific seaweeds. It features color photos, nutritional information, and accessible recipes—like seaweed kimchi and kelp chips. A lightweight book perfect for foraging trips to the coast.

Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon. This user-friendly field guide features nearly eight hundred species of plants commonly found along the Pacific coast—from Oregon to Alaska—including trees, shrubs, wildflowers, aquatic plants, grasses, ferns, mosses, and lichens. The book encompasses the entire coastal region, from shoreline to alpine, and the western Cascades. Perfect for the beginner and experienced forager.

Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest by Mark Turner and Ellen Kuhlmann. This is Mark Turner’s companion guide to Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. It covers 568 species of woody plants throughout Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and northern California with vivid color photographs, identifying characteristics, and range maps. This is an excellent book for beginners or those new to the region.

Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest by Mark Turner and Phyllis Gustafson. This colorful guide describes and illustrates 1,220 plant species that are common to the Pacific Northwest, from southern British Columbia to northern California, from the coast to the mountains and high desert. Plants featured include natives, nonnatives, perennials, annuals, and shrubs. Beautifully photographed, the book is small enough to carry in your backpack and is suitable for all experience levels.
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Field guides and foraging books for the Pacific Northwest and coastal British Columbia

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Regional California Guides

The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California by Margriet Wetherwax. A comprehensive field guide focused exclusively on native and naturalized vascular plants of California’s southeastern deserts, including the Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and southern Great Basin (including the White Mountains). This is a technical key, NOT A BEGINNER GUIDE!

The New Wildcrafted Cuisine by Pascal Baudar. This is a truly groundbreaking book, with delectable imagery and recipes that push the edge of even wild cuisine (edible insects, for example). More cookbook than field guide, you’ll find a wealth of wild recipes arranged by foraging season. Most plants in the book can be found throughout the temperate world, but others are found only in Southern California and Mediterranean climates. This is a gorgeous book sure to spice up wild food conversation.

Sierra Nevada Wildflowers: Including Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks by Karen Wiese. A handy pocket guide meant to be used while plants are in flower. This is an accessible book for the novice botanist, and features easy-to-read descriptions and color photos, plus notes on range and bloom season.

Trees and Shrubs of Nevada and Placer Counties, California by the Redbud Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. The arboreal companion to Wildflowers of Nevada and Placer Counties (see below). Equally charming.

Wildflowers of Nevada and Placer Counties by the Redbud Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. A lovely little guide brimming with photos, brief ID descriptions, and plenty of interesting comments on ecological role. Edibility is briefly mentioned where applicable.

Wildflowers of the Eastern Sierra and Adjoining Mojave Desert and Great Basin by Laird Blackwell. An easy-to-use pocket guide for identifying regional flowers and shrubs. Each plant description is accompanied by color photos and information on habitat, bloom season, and viewing locations.
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Juliet’s library

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Southwestern United States

Common Southwestern Native Plants: An Identification Guide by Jack Carter, Martha Carter, and Donna Stevens. An easy to-use field guide with detailed line drawings and color photos that features both woody and herbaceous flowering plants. This book lives up to its name, introducing the most common species and not being thorough in its scope.

Cooking the Wild Southwest: Delicious Recipes for Desert Plants by Carolyn Niethammer. A flavorful cookbook and field guide that features hand-drawn illustrations, identification tips, harvesting instructions, and 150 southwestern recipes. Ideal for foragers and cooks of all skill levels.

Desert Wildflowers of North America by Ronald Taylor. A beautifully photographed pocket guide featuring range maps, descriptions, and commentary on the desert ecosystem. Geared toward amateur botanists.

Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert by Wendy Hodgson. A beautiful and well-researched hardcover book featuring the traditional uses of nearly 540 edible plants. Includes wonderful black-and-white photos and gorgeous drawings throughout. More ethnobotanical in scope and less how-to guide. Best accompanied by a field guide.

Medicinal Plants of the American Southwest by Charles Kane. Like Michael Moore’s books, this guide blends herbal materia medica with plant identification, making it very handy for medicinal foragers. Along with botanical descriptions and suggestions for collection and preparation, Kane shares medicinal indications, herbal precautions, and dosages. There is a centerfold of color photos.

Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West: A Guide to Identifying, Preparing, and Using Traditional Medicinal Plants Found in the Deserts and Canyons of the West and Southwest by Michael Moore. A must-have guide for any herbalist or wild forager of the Southwest. Arranged alphabetically, the book features the medicinal plants of the region as well as simple line drawings and a centerfold of color photos. Excellent for both beginners and pros; features a therapeutic use index and a glossary to explain botanical and medical terminology.

Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West (revised and expanded edition) by Michael Moore. One of the very best medicinal field guides for the region, this guide is highly relevant to New Mexico, Arizona, west Texas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and California. Moore writes with his characteristic dry humor but is completely thorough, discussing identification, range, medicinal use, preparation, and contraindications for each herb. The book features line drawings and a centerfold of color photographs and is light enough to easily carry into the field.

Plants of Arizona by Anne Orth Epple. The only complete guide to the rich and unique flora of Arizona, featuring more than nine hundred full-color photographs and detailed descriptions of each plant. Also applicable to much of New Mexico. Be sure to get the latest edition, published in 2012.

The Prickly Pear Cookbook by Carolyn Niethammer. A delightful cookbook devoted to one of the most treasured native foods of the Americas. Learn how to prep and cook the abundant prickly pear cactus.

Southwest Foraging: 117 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Barrel Cactus to Wild Oregano by John Slattery. Highly recommended for southwestern foragers. This guide is wonderfully accessible to all skill levels and features a range of nourishing edible plants, from wild greens to cacti. The book is filled with full-color photographs and detailed information on identification, harvesting, and preparation.

Trees and Shrubs of New Mexico, Revised and Expanded by Jack L. Carter. Designed for use by both laypersons and plant scientists, this book includes illustrations, descriptions, distribution maps, and dichotomous keys for more than 430 native, naturalized, and cultivated trees, shrubs, and woody vines that are known to occur in New Mexico. A pictorial glossary provides much of the basic information needed to find the plants in question.

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Regional Southwestern Field Guides

A Guide to Plants of the Northern Chihuahuan Desert by Carolyn Dodson. This is a great book for beginning botanists or visitors exploring the region. Filled with photos, line drawings, and brief descriptions, it occasionally references edible and medicinal uses along with notes on toxicity.

Mojave Desert Wildflowers by Jon Mark Stewart. Most notable for its gorgeous photos, this is very small guide that’s easy to tuck in your daypack. A handy reference for identifying desert wildflowers in bloom.

Sonoran Desert Wildflowers by Richard Spellenberg. A light and handy guide to desert wildflowers (best used when plants are in bloom). Spellenberg shares brief plant descriptions, comments on ecological roles, and wee mentions on edible uses. Lovely photos throughout.
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The extensive library at Mountain Gardens in Celo, NC

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Western North America

Trees of Western North America: Princeton Field Guides by Richard Spellenberg, Christopher Earle, and Gil Nelson. A comprehensive and illustrated guide that covers 630 species of native and naturalized trees in the western United States and Canada as far east as the Great Plains. Features color illustrations and range maps. Small enough to put in your backpack.

Weeds of the West, Revised Edition published by University of Wyoming with multiple authors. A pictorial and descriptive identification guide for wild western weeds that shows the plants throughout their life cycle. A very useful reference, but a bit “down” on weeds in general—talks about spraying, eradicating, etc.

Western Trees by George Petrides and Olivia Petrides. A pocket field guide in the Peterson Field Guides tradition, with color drawings, photos, range maps, and identifying descriptions. Occasional, brief references to indigenous uses. One of the best Peterson Field Guides on plants.
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I can’t find the catnip entry in the darned index!

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Rocky Mountain North America

The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North by Beverley Gray. Part plant-identification guide, part food- and medicine-making manual, this book is a treasury of plants that grow throughout the north (and much of the temperate world). Excellent reading for beginners, experienced foragers, and anyone who loves herbs. Speaks to the heart and soul of wild food and herbal medicine. Features lots of photography and beautiful writing. Especially relevant to the northern Rockies.

Handbook of Rocky Mountain Plants by Ruth Ashton Nelson. This book comprises fairly technical keys for wildflower identification and includes over 350 black-and-white illustrations. Small enough to take into the field; recommended for more experienced botanists and foragers.

Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West (the revised and expanded edition) by Michael Moore. One of the very best medicinal field guides for the region—highly relevant to New Mexico, Arizona, west Texas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and California. Moore’s entertaining and completely thorough writing discusses identification, range, medicinal use, preparation, and contraindications for each herb. The book features line drawings and a centerfold of color photographs, and it’s is light enough to carry into the field.

Plants of the Rocky Mountains: Lone Pine Field Guide by Linda Kershaw, Andy MacKinnon, and Jim Pojar. Over thirteen hundred species of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses, ferns, mosses, and lichens are described and illustrated. The authors include notes on origin of name, ecology, native uses, edibility, and similar species. The book also features color-coded sections to allow for quick reference. Perfect for all skill levels.

Wild About Wildflowers: Extreme Botanizing in Crested Butte, Wildflower Capital of Colorado by Katherine Darrow. Applicable to the central and southern Rockies, filled with beautiful photos, identification tips, folklore, ecology, and occasional references to edible and medicinal uses. A useful pocket guide organized by plant family.
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Does this book taste as good as it looks?

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Midwestern North America + the Prairie States and Provinces

Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide by Kelly Kindscher. A companion guide to Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide (see below) that merges historical and modern knowledge of the wild food plants of the prairie.

The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer. Thayer’s books are hands-down the best resources on wild foods, being enjoyable to read and very informational. Thayer shares detailed material on plant identification (accompanied by color photos) and food preparation, along with entertaining anecdotal stories. He specifically emphasizes wild foods and doesn’t discuss medicinal properties; however, his books are valuable field guides for identifying many herbs that straddle the food-medicine divide (elderberry, for example). Highly recommended. (Note: Thayer does not discuss medicinal uses.)

Incredible Wild Edibles: 36 Plants That Can Change Your Life by Samuel Thayer. Incredible Wild Edibles is styled in a similar fashion to Thayer’s other books but covers a completely new selection of herbs, roots, nuts, and berries. (Note: Thayer does not discuss medicinal uses.)

Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide by Kelly Kindscher. An interesting guide for those who enjoy plant history; includes Native American uses, modern medicinal uses, cultivation, and identification characteristics. Black-and-white drawings and range maps accompany each plant. Includes common and traditional names.

Nature’s Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer. Did you notice we’re recommending another book by Sam Thayer? That’s because he’s simply one of the very best wild food writers around. If you can only purchase a book or two to get started, we suggest beginning with his guides. This is the companion guide to Thayer’s The Forager’s Harvest, featuring a fresh collection of plants. Equally essential and recommended. (Note: Thayer does not discuss medicinal uses.)

Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide by Lawrence Newcomb. Lawrence Newcomb’s system of wildflower identification is based on natural structural features that are easily visible to the untrained eye, enabling amateurs and experts alike to identify almost any wildflower quickly and accurately. This is a great first field guide for beginners and is small enough to fit in a very big pocket. More applicable to the eastern portion of the Midwest.

Trees of Eastern North America (A Princeton Field Guide) by Gil Nelson, Christopher Earle, and Richard Spellenberg. Illustrated and comprehensive, this field guide uses a simple botanical key. The book covers 825 species, including all the native and naturalized trees of the eastern United States and Canada as far west as the Great Plains, with mention of those species found only in tropical and subtropical Florida and northernmost Canada. Somewhat heavy, but small enough to tote into the field.

Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians by Dennis Horn, David Duhl, and Tavia Cathcart. An excellent color photo guide that is tailored to the layperson. This book includes a few botanical keys as well as some edible/herbal tidbits, a little ecology, and the etymology of plant names. More applicable to the eastern portion of the Midwest.
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Ruby and the Morel (Morchella esculenta)

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Northeastern United States + Southeastern Canada

100 Edible Mushrooms by Michael Kuo. Engaging to read, Kuo’s book features a hundred of the most common edible mushrooms and includes color photos, edibility ratings, descriptions, poisonous relatives and look-alikes, and a recipe section in the back of the book. Not exactly a pocket guide, but small enough to accompany you into the field. Juliet’s favorite book on wild mushrooms for beginners.

Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada by David Spahr. Filled with beautiful photos, this guide features easy-to-read descriptions of the Northeast’s most common medicinal and edible mushrooms. Includes harvesting and preparation suggestions.

Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada by Henry Gleason and Arthur Cronquist. A technical flora geared toward the experienced botanist or dedicated beginner. This is a technical key, NOT A BEGINNER GUIDE! Uniquely accompanied by a separate illustrated manual, which we recommend as a complementary resource: Illustrated Companion to Gleason and Cronquist’s Manual by Noel Holmgren.

The Smithsonian Guide to Seaside Plants of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts, from Louisiana to Massachusetts, Exclusive of Lower Peninsular Florida by Wilbur Duncan and Marion Duncan. Includes nearly one thousand species of wildflowers, trees, shrubs, grasses, rushes, and sedges. A tad outdated at this point—especially the plant family designations—but still a good primer on the most common plants of the Gulf and coasts.

Wildflowers of New England by Ted Elliman and the New England Wildflower Society. A field guide that features a straightforward key for identifying over a thousand wildflowers throughout all six New England states. Each plant is accompanied by brief descriptions and a color photo. Pocket sized.
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Our favorite field guides and foraging books for the northeastern U.S. and adjacent Canadian regions

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Southeastern United States

A Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of the Southern Appalachians by Robert E. Swanson. A detailed field guide compiled by the authors over a decade of hiking through the region. Covers 280 species of trees, shrubs, and woody vines in a range of ecosystems. Applicable to the Carolinas, Georgia, and eastern Tennessee (including Great Smoky Mountains National Park). Features illustrated keys that can be used in all four seasons.

Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States by Alan Weakley. This is a technical flora (not for beginners; this is VERY technical) of the Southeast available for purchase as a print copy or free PDF from the UNC Herbarium. This is a weighty book and not easy to carry into the field.

Florida Ethnobotany by Daniel Austin. Nearly a thousand pages on the traditional and indigenous uses of southeastern herbs—medicines, dye and fiber plants, foods, and mystical tools. Includes line drawings and a selection of color plates. On the expensive side, but this book is worth the splurge if you live in Florida and are into bioregional herbs!

Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians by Patricia Kyritsi Howell. An introductory medicinal guide written by a knowledgeable Southern herbalist. Herbal descriptions feature both traditional and modern medicinal uses, general ID, habitat descriptions, harvesting and preparation suggestions, dosage, and a sprinkling of recipes. No photos, and should be accompanied by a more detailed field guide for foraging.

Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States by Alan Bessette, William Roody, Arleen Bessette, and Dail Dunaway. A descriptive guide to the fungi of the Southeast, featuring ID characteristics, color photos, and comments on edibility. Simple enough to be used by any forager, this book has some extra features that make it appealing for more advanced mycologists (such as photos of microscope slides).

Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians by William Roody. A fantastic guide for Appalachian mushroom foragers. Includes detailed descriptions, notes on edibility, and vibrant color photographs. Small enough to be carried by hand in the field. Highly recommended for both novice mushroom hunters and experienced foragers.

A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants: Herbal Medicine Past and Present by John Crellin and Jane Philpott. Based on the teachings of southern folk herbalist Tommie Bass, this guide is a treasury of old-timey herbal wisdom and little-used local medicinals. Featuring over seven hundred plants, the book blends folk wisdom with modern scientific research. An excellent reference for those interested in the historical uses of herbs.

Trees of the Southeastern United States by Wilbur Duncan and Marion Duncan. This field guide features excellent keys, species descriptions, ecological ranges, and color photos. It’s midlevel to technical and very comprehensive. The guide treats more than three hundred species—every one known to occur in the region—from the Coastal Plain to the highest elevations. Included are trees native to the region as well as those introduced and now reproducing.

Weeds of the South by Charles Bryson and Michael DeFelice. A guide to four hundred of the most common weeds of the southern United States, featuring range maps, color photos, and handy descriptions of both seedlings and mature plants. Includes notes on toxicity and habitat, but there is no medicinal or edible information. The authors label weeds as “troublesome,” so don’t expect a plant-positive experience (but we still think it’s a handy guide)! More of a desk reference in size.

Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont by Timothy Spira. A unique field guide! Rather than organizing plants by flower color or family characteristics, as most guidebooks do, botanist Tim Spira takes a holistic, ecological approach and organizes plants on the basis of their natural communities in the wild. His beautifully photographed book includes trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Not quite pocket-sized, but it’s still small enough to slip into your daypack.

Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians by Dennis Horn, David Duhl, and Tavia Cathcart. An excellent and comprehensive color photo guide that is tailored to the layperson. This book includes a few botanical keys as well as some edible/herbal tidbits, a little ecology, and the etymology of plant names. The book is most specific to Tennessee but is applicable to most southern and mid-Atlantic states.
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The Southeast’s finest botanical field guides

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Florida

Florida Wildflowers, a Comprehensive Guide by Walter Kingsley Taylor. A colorful field guide that discusses plant description, time of flowering, habitat, and Florida distribution. Often includes comments on related species, etymology, and even culinary, medicinal, and landscape uses. Features bright photography.

Florida Wildflowers in Their Natural Communities by Walter Kingsley Taylor. A unique field guide that features plants and their ecological communities. The book is filled with color photos and botanical descriptions that are accessible for both amateurs and more experienced botanists.

Florida’s Edible Wild Plants: A Guide to Collecting and Cooking by Peggy Sias Lantz. An easy-to-read guide to the edible plants of Florida, including their uses, basic identification traits, drawings, photographs, and recipes. A more detailed field guide should be used as a companion to properly ID plants.

Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida, Third Edition by Richard Wunderlin and Bruce Hansen. This is a very technical key tailored to the experienced botanist; NOT recommended for beginners.

The Shrubs and Woody Vines of Florida: A Reference and Field Guide by Gil Nelson. A companion guide to the Trees of Florida, this book is written to help you identify plants in the field—you won’t find any edible or medicinal information. Easy to use, with simple line drawings and color photos. A bit on the technical side for absolute newcomers.

The Trees of Florida: A Reference and Field Guide, Second Edition by Gil Nelson. A comprehensive guide to Florida’s amazing variety of tree species. There are nearly six hundred color photographs and many drawings and range maps. And now included is a key to tree families that will help with field identification. A bit on the technical side for absolute newcomers.
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The best field guides for Florida

This article is a sneak peek into our 375-hour
Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs,
which begins in January 2018!

This groundbreaking program is shaping up to be THE most comprehensive online course on the topic of harvesting wild medicinals and edible weeds.

Registration for this online course runs December 20th, 2017 through January 15th, 2018 and is only open once a year. The course runs January 15th through November 1st, 2018!

Click for detailed story

The Ten Best Books on Foraging Wild Foods and Herbs

General

Nov 172017

By Meghan Gemma with Juliet Blankespoor

The following article is a sneak peek into our 375-hour Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs, which begins in January 2018! The course begins with the basic ground rules of foraging safety and ethics, and then moves on to botany and plant identification. Before you know it, you’ll have the skills and confidence to safely identify and harvest wild plants.
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You’ll befriend THE most common edible and medicinal wayside plants, including dandelion, stinging nettles, violet, yarrow, burdock, rose, goldenrod, and many others. The printable manual is hundreds of pages long and filled with close-up photos for identification, medicinal uses, and loads of easy-to-follow recipes. In fact, most of our plant profiles contain more detail than you’ll find in any book on wild foods and herbs.

Registration for this online course runs December 20th, 2017 through January 15th, 2018 and is only open once a year. The course runs January 15th through November 1st, 2018!

The best way to learn about wild plants–right at their side

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Every season speaks to the heart in its own way, and the brisk days of fall beckon us—one leaf at a time, and in the most ancient manner—to fill our pantries with nourishing food and medicine and softly burrow in. While the squirrels are thriftily gathering black walnuts and acorns, my family is doing the same. By the time winter blows in, we have a rich and wild supply of food—jars of nettles pesto, baskets of nuts, stores of hawthorn berries and rosehips, bottles of elderberry syrup; the list goes on. These are our winter treasures, unpacked one by one as the dark days unfold.

This makes winter a season of literally tasting and counting our blessings. It’s also a time for other slow and gentle pleasures, like curling up with a great book or delving into new studies. At the Chestnut School, we’ve been brewing nourishing cold-season treats to share with our herbal community: a reading list, a collection of fresh blog posts, and a brand new online course. The theme for all this seasonal inspiration? Wild food and medicine foraging.

If you’re curious about foraging, we recommend one of the first things you do is cultivate an ethos centered in sustainability and reciprocity. See our article Foraging for Wild Edibles and Herbs for more on this. Next, set yourself up with a stack of great foraging guides (see the resources listed below) or, better yet, apprentice yourself to a seasoned forager. As we spin into 2018, we’ll be offering our own mentorship to you in our 375-hour Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs. This program is shaping up to be THE most comprehensive online course on the topic! The printable manual is over 500 pages long and filled with close-up photos for identification, medicinal uses, and loads of easy-to-follow recipes. You can also check out the wild foods section of our blog, and our Online Herbal Immersion, which features an entire module on foraging.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of cold-season stockpiles and cozy reading nooks everywhere, we’ve gathered a list of our most cherished books on wild food and herb foraging. Plenty of fantastic field guides and wild food books didn’t make it into this post. But keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming features on regional wild food books and our top picks for free online foraging resources. We don’t receive any compensation for promoting the books in our list—they are simply our personal favorites. We’ve included links to purchase directly from the author, when applicable, but you can find almost all of these books online or order them through your local bookstore. Note that some of these books cover medicinal and edible uses, whereas some cover only wild foods.
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Juliet’s top shelf library and reading nook

1. Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook by Dina Falconi, illustrated by Wendy Hollender (Botanical Arts Press, 2013).

We treasure this book for its beautiful illustrations and delicious recipes. It’s easily our most reached-for wild foods cookbook. The book is divided into two main parts: botanical drawings paired with key identification tips, followed by a bounty of herbal, wild foods recipes. Many of the recipes are flexible to work for a variety of diets—gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, raw—and Dina includes an array of master recipes that can be adapted to different plants throughout the seasons. There’s also a brief medicinal discussion of each herb as well as some nutritional tidbits. Many of the featured plants are common in the herb garden (elderberry, rose, bee balm, etc.), so this is an excellent resource for the gardener and forager alike.

If you love Dina’s recipes, you can catch more of them in our Online Foraging Course—she’s a contributor! You can purchase her book and access her blog via Botanical Arts Press.
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2. The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants (Forager’s Harvest Press, 2006) and Nature’s Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants (Forager’s Harvest Press, 2010) by Samuel Thayer.

Thayer’s books are hands-down the best resources on wild foods, being enjoyable to read and very informational. These two are companion guides, each featuring unique plants. Thayer shares detailed material on plant identification (accompanied by color photos) and food preparation, along with entertaining anecdotes. His books apply widely in the United States and Canada and include many plants found elsewhere in the temperate world. Thayer emphasizes wild foods specifically and doesn’t discuss medicinal properties; however, his books are valuable field guides for identifying many herbs that straddle the food-medicine divide (elderberry, chickweed, and raspberry for example). Highly recommended. You’ll need to buy the books separately, and they can be purchased directly from the author here.
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Samuel Thayer’s books are indispendable for the wild foods forager

3. Incredible Wild Edibles: 36 Plants That Can Change Your Life by Samuel Thayer (Forager’s Harvest Press, 2017).

Did you notice we’re recommending another book by Sam Thayer? That’s because he’s simply one of the very best wild food writers around. If you can only purchase a book or two to get started, we suggest beginning with his guides (Note: Thayer does not discuss medicinal uses). Incredible Wild Edibles is styled in a similar fashion to Thayer’s other books but covers a completely fresh collection of plants. And it’s equally wonderful and essential. You can purchase Thayer’s books directly, and check out his blog here.

4. Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants by “Wildman” Steve Brill and Evelyn Dean (William Morrow Paperbacks, 2010).

You can gather an immense amount of wild food knowledge from this book. Over 500 edible and medicinal plants are organized by harvesting season, with identifying characteristics, detailed preparation information, and beautiful line drawings to accompany each one. This was one of the first books on foraging Juliet owned, she’s learned more about wild foods from this book than any other. In the back of the book, you’ll find a collection of Steve’s recipes. You can purchase the book and visit Steve’s blog here.
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“Say what-I’ve never come across that before!”

5. Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate by John Kallas (Gibbs Smith, 2010).

This is one of the finest books on wild edible greens, with thorough species descriptions, beautiful photographs, nutritional profiles, and lots of recipes. Wild greens are an abundant food source in nearly all temperate places—including cities—so this book is a valuable resource for foragers everywhere. Kallas himself is a botanist, teacher, nutritionist, and wild foods expert who has foraged throughout the United States, Canada, and the European countryside. We appreciate that the book covers fewer plants in greater depth, which is more helpful than superficially covering hundreds of plants. This book focuses on identifying and harvesting wild foods; it doesn’t explore medicinal uses. More about John’s work can be found on his Wild Food Adventures website.
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The library and apothecary at Mountain Gardens in Celo, North Carolina

6. Ugly Little Greens: Gourmet Dishes Crafted from Foraged Ingredients by Mia Wasilevich (Page Street Publishing, 2017).

There’s nothing ugly about this book, which spoofs on the common misconceptions about weeds. It’s packed with fancy wild food recipes and sumptuous color photos. Many of the recipes are easy to prepare, but in general, this book is ideal for the epicurean forager, with dishes like nettles benedict and cattail pollen madeleines. Not just limited to greens, it features a diverse collection of plants that grow in most temperate to subtropical climates. The book blends plant identification with preparation but dials in on the recipe side of things. Therefore, it’s best accompanied by a field guide that features a lot of identification.

We’re excited to say Mia is a recipe contributor in our Online Foraging Course! You can check out her blog and schedule of classes at Transitional Gastronomy.
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These wild foods books focus on the culinary aspect of wild edibles

7. Wild Food by Roger Phillips (Little, Brown, 1986).

This wonderful classic was written by a British family who spent time in North America, camping and preparing wild foods and drinks. A wide range of wild edibles are covered, including mushrooms, herbs, seaweeds, flowers, roots, greens, nuts, and berries. The book features loads of simple recipes accompanied by sublimely staged photos of wild foods dishes in their native habitat. (Think glamping, with a wild foods twist.) Be sure to purchase the 1986 edition of this book, which is affordable to purchase used and offers more recipes and species profiles than the newer edition.
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Everyone LOVES to key plants out

8. The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival by Katrina Blair (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2014).

We love the spirit of this book. It covers fewer plants than your average field guide but takes you on a deep journey of discovery with each one. It includes edible and medicinal uses for many of the most common weeds found worldwide in the temperate climate, along with ethnobotanical information. Some tips on identification are included, but we recommend using a field guide along with her descriptions to make sure you have the right plant. This is a great resource for both urban and rural dwellers. You can order the book here.
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Burdock harvest (Arctium minus)

9. The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terroir by Pascal Baudar (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016).

Baudar’s book is truly groundbreaking, with delectable imagery and recipes that push the edge of even wild cuisine (edible insects, for example). In this light, we recommend his book for the curious and adventuresome cook, or for anyone wanting to take their wild food dishes to the next level. Arranged by season, the book balances progressive recipes with traditional preparations; lots of pictorial how-to’s feature fermentation and food preservation. Most plants in the book can be found throughout the temperate world, but others are found only in Mediterranean climates. This is a gorgeous book that is sure to spice up wild food conversation. You can read more about Pascal here.
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“That looks good enough to eat!”

10. Discovering Wild Plants: Alaska, Western Canada, the Northwest by Janice Schofield Eaton (Alaska Northwest Books, 2003).

Don’t let the title of this book put you off—it’s relevant to temperate climates around the world. And it’s a superb field guide. The book covers 147 wild plants, detailing their identification, range, traditional and contemporary uses, and medicinal properties. Each plant is accompanied by photographs and line drawings. The book is currently out of print, making used copies a bit more expensive than other field guides, but it’s so good that it still made our top 10!
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Juliet’s herbal and botanical library

Do yourself a favor and also read: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions, 2015).

This book will grow your heart and soul, and we recommend it to absolutely everyone. Though not technically about foraging, Kimmerer’s writing on our relationship to land, food, medicine, and legacy will change how you live and, yes—forage. Prepare yourself for incredible storytelling, immense beauty, and possibly a lot of tears.

Do you have a favorite wild foods book that didn’t make it onto our list?

We’d love to hear about it (including any regional guides that you enjoy)! There are so many wonderful books on this subject that we couldn’t include them all here. However, we’ll be giving a shout-out to even more wild foods and medicines resources on the blog soon, so stay tuned.

Felines enjoy the finer points of wild food identification

This article is a sneak peek into our 375-hour
Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs,
which begins in January 2018!

This groundbreaking program is shaping up to be THE most comprehensive online course on the topic of harvesting wild medicinals and edible weeds.

Registration for this online course runs December 20th, 2017 through January 15th, 2018 and is only open once a year. The course runs January 15th through November 1st, 2018!

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Foods to fuel your brain

Naturopathy

Oct 082017

It is well known that nutrition plays a big role in our ability to maintain concentration, learn and recall information, however having a well-balanced diet is often low on the list of priorities when studying for exams. Whilst making the effort to eat properly may take you away from the books for a few extra minutes, it will certainly reward you with greater concentration and improved memory.

Preparing meals that are well balanced in protein, essential fatty acids and complex carbohydrates can help fuel your brain and provide you with the sustained energy needed to commit information to memory and recall that information when required. Try make the most of your exam preparation by indulging in these quick and easy meal ideas.

Breakfast and lunch options:

Overnight oats; this recipe has been included on the Total Balance blog.
Eggs with avocado on grainy or sourdough toast.
Omelette; include olives, feta cheese and whatever vegetables you like.
Smoked salmon with cottage or ricotta cheese on grainy or sourdough toast.

Snacking options:

Avocado on rice cakes or sourdough/grainy bread. To boost the protein content, add tinned fish such as mackerel, tuna or salmon, cottage cheese or feta cheese.
Peanut butter with banana or strawberries on rice cakes. To improve your energy balance, add a sprinkle of cinnamon which can help with blood sugar regulation.
Mixed berries, plus a serve of your favourite nuts (preferably raw and unsalted). To bulk up this snack, add yoghurt or coconut yoghurt.

If all of this snacking has made you thirsty but you’re not in the mood for water, select a “brainy beverage” such as green tea. Consumption of green tea has been known to increase the production and growth of brain cells, providing benefits for memory and spatial learning.

Written by Julia D’Angelo, Naturopath

Book today with Julia

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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

SO, WHAT SHOULD I EAT?

WHICH FOODS SHOULD I AVOID?

OTHER ITEMS TO CONSIDER

They can make quicker decisions.

They will score better results because of enhanced short-term and long-term memory.

It will reduce day-dreaming.

The mind will remain free of negative thoughts.

Common concentration problems children face

Food that children should avoid for better concentration

Food that children should eat for better concentration

What is Ayushakti’s Sumedha Syrup?

By Meghan GemmaPhotography by Juliet Blankespoor (except where otherwise credited)

Spring: Wild Greens Galore

Daylily Greens Garlic Butter Sauté

Pecan Feta Wild Greens Pesto

Wild Greens Pâté

Wild Greens Bagel

Wild Grape Leaf Dolmas by Dina Falconi

Wild Spring Greens Tabouli by Gather Victoria

Summer: Foraged Berries and Blossoms

Stuffed Daylily Blossoms

Cherry Chipotle Nopales Salsa

Wild Fruit Ice Cream by Dina Falconi

Dark Magic Reishi Truffles by Asia Suler

Nettle Seed Salt by Rebecca Altman

Nasturtium & Sumac Hot Sauce by Gather Victoria

Dandelion Flower Fritters by Mountain Rose Herbs

Fall: Wildcrafted Comfort Foods & Drinks

Spiced Hawthorn Pear Persimmon Brandy

Foraged Chai Masala by Ellen Zachos

Burdock Root Roast by Colleen Codekas

Raw Persimmon Pudding by Wild Abundance

Chanterelle Stuffing with Pine Nuts by Hank Shaw

Black Walnut Butter by Woodland Foods

Winter: The Wild Feast Continues

Conifer & Wild Berry Winter Syrup by Gather Victoria

Sauerkraut with Juniper Berries by The Wondersmith

Herbal Bone Broth by Ritual Kitchen

Rose Hip & Cranberry Compote by Rosalee de la Forêt

Oyster Mushroom Udon Soup by Fat of the Land

Homemade Maple Syrup by Wild Abundance

Hungry for more?

Meet Our Contributors:

Are you intrigued with the ideaof foraging but intimidated by where to start?

Registration for the Foraging Course is closed until 2020.

Get 95 pages of herbal resources with our Budding Herbalist Guide!

By Juliet Blankespoor and Meghan GemmaPhotography by Juliet Blankespoor

1. Chickweed, or Starweed (Stellaria media, Caryophyllaceae)

2. Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia, V. odorata, and select other species, Violaceae)

3. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, Asteraceae)

4. Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica, Urticaceae)

5. Brambleberries, including Blackberries and Raspberries (Rubus spp., Rosaceae)

6. Rose (Rosa spp., Rosaceae)

7. Black Walnut (Juglans nigra and select other species, Juglandaceae)

8. Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima, Fagaceae)

9. Burdock (Arctium lappa, A. minus, Asteraceae)

10. Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album, Amaranthaceae)

References

Meet Our Contributors:

Are you intrigued with the ideaof foraging but intimidated by where to start?

Registration for the Foraging Course is closed until 2020.

Get 95 pages of herbal resources with our Budding Herbalist Guide!

Here are 10 natural ways to build healthy bones with natural calcium supplements.

Eat Lots of Vegetables

Include Foods High in Magnesium and Zinc

The Best Regional Books for Plant Identification and Foraging Wild Foods and Herbs

By Meghan Gemma with Juliet Blankespoor

Contents:

General Botany Books

Northwestern United States + British Columbia

Regional California Guides

Southwestern United States

Regional Southwestern Field Guides

Western North America

Rocky Mountain North America

Midwestern North America + the Prairie States and Provinces

Northeastern United States + Southeastern Canada

Southeastern United States

Florida

By Meghan Gemma
Photography by Juliet Blankespoor (except where otherwise credited)

Are you intrigued with the idea
of foraging but intimidated by where to start?

By Juliet Blankespoor and Meghan Gemma
Photography by Juliet Blankespoor

Are you intrigued with the idea
of foraging but intimidated by where to start?

This article is a sneak peek into our 375-hour
Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs,
which begins in January 2018!

This article is a sneak peek into our 375-hour
Online Foraging Course: Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs,
which begins in January 2018!