Edible Flowers are everywhere…
When we lived in Hawaii we got to eat lots of different
types flowers.. They would put flowers in drinks, salads, and even deep fried
(you would have thought being from the south I would have already had this
one.).. You might be saying “Yuck” but they actual taste good, many different
flavors as well… I have to say that my favorite is deep fried squash blossoms
“Yummy”… FYI, there is a drawback to
eating the blossoms you get no squash from the plant, after removing the
blossom..
Okay, let me get to the many flowers you might run across
while out in the woods..
Clover is sweet, anise-like,
licorice. Raw flower heads can be difficult to digest.
Dandelions, Flowers are sweetest when
picked young. They have a sweet, honey-like flavor. Mature flowers are bitter.
Dandelion buds are tastier than the flowers: best to pick these when they are
very close to the ground, tightly bunched in the center, and about the size of
a small gumball. You can use them in salads or cooked.. (this is the easiest
one to try.. everyone has them in their yard. If you put chemicals on your
yard, go to a different location to pick these.)
Citrus blossoms, Use
highly scented waxy petals sparingly. Distilled orange flower water is
characteristic of Middle Eastern pastries and beverages.
Sunflower, The
flower is best eaten in the bud stage when it tastes similar to artichokes.
Once the flower opens, the petals may be used like chrysanthemums, the flavor
is distinctly bittersweet. The unopened flower buds can also be steamed like
artichokes.
Honeysuckle, Sweet honey flavor. Only
the flowers are edible. NOTE: Berries are highly poisonous - Do not eat them!
Yucca Petals The white Yucca
flower is crunchy with a mildly sweet taste (a hint of artichoke). in the
spring, they can be used in salads and as a garnish.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm
Cactus Flowers are Edible The fruits of many
cactus species are edible. The juicy, purplish-red fruit of the prickly pear
cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica), for example, is commonly found in grocery stores
in Mexico and the southwestern United States. Few realize, however, that cactus
flowers also make delicious meals and snacks. The flower buds of the barrel
cactus (Ferocactus genus) were boiled and eaten in a similar manner to
vegetables such as cabbage by the native inhabitants of Arizona, where these
thorny plants proliferate. Barrel cactus flowers manifest in a multitude of
festive colors including red, orange and yellow.
Cactus Flowers
Used as Medicine
Prickly pear flowers
In
addition to making wine, prickly pear cactus flowers have been employed for
their purported therapeutic benefits. Author Margaret Joan Roberts, in her book
"Edible & Medicinal Flowers," reveals that these warm-colored
blooms are used in Mexico as a home remedy for relief from itchy insect bites
and other stings and scratches. Prickly pear flowers are astringent. Like their
associated fruits, they are also high in vitamin C.
Here in the south you can
find Prickly Pear jelly, slices, etc…
As for cattails you can eat every bit of this plant.. The
cattail is packed full of protein and other nutrients.. It is considered one of
the most important wild foods you can eat… go get some and try them out…
Today I am going teach you how to make fishing hooks from the stuff around you. Start looking around for suitable thorns to use. In this article I will be using Wild Orange Thorns. The sharpest and sturdiest the better. Be careful not to dull the sharp tip of the thorns because this makes the hook so much more effective. I started by scraping the thin bark layer off my thorns this is not necessary, You can see how the tree has allowed the tip of the thorn to die so that it is harder and sharper. You need to find the strongest thorn branch possible, look for it to be thick at the base (next to the branch) and thin at the tip the thorns should be facing up. you could whittle it at the top for the string to fit and stay in place.
The thorn in the picture is not attached to the wood...but you could stick it to the wood with a very small amount of Pine tree resin or other glue to make binding the thorn less fiddly
Make a length of very thin cordage or you can just use a plain length of some kind of strong fiber or even a shoelace. Put the thorn through a loop knot on the end of the cordage. Hopefully the following pictures explain themselves and show how to bind the thorn to the wood.
Finished hook... It would have been better to carve the top of the hook so that it is easier to attach the line. Have fun!
