Sugar maples are famous for their syrup but how many species of trees can you actually tap? In North America the answer is at least 22. “Sugaring” was a special time of year in New England. Warm days and near freezing nights in the spring started the sap flowing out of the roots back towards the top of the trees. A tap and a bucket produced pails of mildly sweet sap. Hours of boiling reduced that to maple syrup. Have you ever heard of Maple Walnut Ice Cream. It was common in sugaring country.
Sycamores drop a lot of leaves. Photo by Green Deane
The largest group of trees you can tap are maples ( Sugar, Black, Red, Silver, Norway, Boxelder, Bigleaf, Canyon, Rocky Mountain, and Gorosoe.) The birches can also be tapped (Paper, Yellow, Black, River, Gray, and European White Birch.) If I remember correctly no native group of Europeans ever tapped them for food until they learned of the practice in North America. Trees in the walnut group can also be tapped: Butternut (my mother’s favorite) Black Walnut, Heartnut, and English Walnut.
There are two outliers which grow locally. One is Hophornbeam or as I called it growing up, Ironwood. It also has edible seeds. The other tappable species is a very common native and ornamental: The Sycamore. It takes about four to five times more Sycamore sap to get a gallon of syrup than from a Maple. The biggest surprise is that Sycamore Syrup tastes like butterscotch. Processing a natural plant does not always have the outcome you intend. Seagrapes, for example, have a unique taste. Make them into jelly, however, and their originality disappears and they taste like apple jelly. And while birch syrup is a unique and commercial product. It can taste quite similar to molasses. You can read about Sycamores here, Ironwood here.
Ten Global Trends (although there are 78 trends in the book.)
In the book Ten Global Trends there is an article called “Improving Sanitation.” It states regarding human history: “In the rural areas, people lived with their animals, including chickens and cows, and used both animal and human waste to fertilize their crops — an extremely dangerous practice compounded by the fact that people could go throughout much of their lives without ever washing their hands.”
Historically people did not wash their hands.
Never washing your hands… I thought of that as I ate two mangoes with very dirty hands during a foraging class in Port Charlotte last Sunday. I had dug up — with my hands — two yam roots in an overgrown lot. I strongly advise against digging with your hands not because of germs per se but rather broken glass. A lot of drinkers toss bottles into empty lots and they can give you some horrible cuts. (As can booze bottles in mangrove mud.) In the same area as the bubils are several champagne mango trees that produce a lot of fruit that just rots on the ground. It’s the only time I eat super sweet fruit. So I had two, from off the ground, unwashed, dirty hands and all.
Back yards can also be a litter box.
I grew up on a small farm. We had horses, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, rabbits and pet squirrels. Moose and deer were a common sight in the barnyard scrimping for grain the hoses dropped. Us kids shoveled and played in a lot of manure… horse and chicken being the prime piles. One time while playing hide and seek under a barn I dropped down so not to be seen and gashed my right knee on a broken bottle in the horse manure pile. I still have the scar. Kids raised on farms, research shows, have less allergies (if they survive.) And I usually eat wild plants without washing them unless they are dusty et cetera. People ask me if I am concerned that animals using the wild as their bathroom. Not really. Urine is usually sterile, degrades quickly, and other matter is broken down fast. Most disease contraction today from scat is toddlers getting parasites from cat dropping in their own back yard. Cat manure, like most carnivore manure, is foul, and transmits disease to toddlers playing in the back yard or pregnant mom cleaning the litter box (toxoplasmosis.) Back yard chickens are not much of an issue either. It takes nine chickens to equal the manure of one dog, and the chicken manure is good side dressing (whereas horse and cow manure is weaker and can be used directly.)
Mangrove Mud can be deep and hide debris.
Thus I am not overly cautious nor overly brave. Soil dirty hands and unwashed mangos fits into that spectrum for me. Last year I foolishly stepped into mangrove mud to retrieve a lure. I sunk to my knee and what ever stopped me from sinking further left three deep cuts in my heel. (Yes, I had wading shoes, but I left them in the van. That won’t happen again.) And I had a tetanus shot five years ago after a to-the-bone bite from an injured squirrel that did not want to be rescued (and I’ve had the rabies series [2005] as well though squirrels rarely have rabies. A squirrel in the position to be bitten by a rabid animal usually becomes that animal’s next meal. ) The heel healed without even a minor infection. Apparently the immune system is still working well for 70-plus and I’m not diabetic.
Another reason to be cautious about vacant lots is you don’t know what was there before its vacancy. I know a nice, green location, that was once a home that burnt to the ground. The soil is black with soot (and who knows what other chemicals.) Not ground for good eating. When I read glowing articles about community gardens growing food on vacant lots in cities I wonder if the lot used to be a car garage or a tanning factory that used all kinds of chemicals. Before I would cultivate a vacant city lot I would do a historical search to find out what used to be at that location.
Foraging Classes We are entering the dodgy time of year, weatherwise. Long term forecasts say we could have much rain this weekend. I’d like to have a seasonal class at LeStrange Preserve before it is closed by flooding.
Classes are held rain or shine or cold. (Hurricanes are an exception.) Photo by Kelly Fagan.
June 17, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL 9 a.m.
June 18, Blanchard Park, 2451 Dean Rd, Union Park, FL, meet next to the tennis courts. 9 a.m.
Bring cash on the day of class or click here to pay for your class
Seen recently: Pawpaw fruiting and still blossoming, and grapes still blossoming and dropping fruit
One of two batches of experimental Beautyberry Wine.
Locally the American Beautyberries are blossoming and soon they will have magenta berries. I have about four gallons of Beautyberry Wine working, two different recipes, perhaps ready in a year or two. That said Beautyberries are near the bottom of the list on flavor when eaten out of hand, insipid more than offensive. But they make a great jelly… and perhaps a blush wine. They are not good pie material and in muffins they turn green. The shrub itself has been known for its ability to repel insects. You can read about Beautyberry here .
You get the USB, not the key.
150-video USB would be a good spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy. The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually.
Green Deane Forum
Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.
Sweet acacia, Dreher Park. West Palm Beach. Photo by Green Deane
In the works: Sweet Acacia, Vachellia farnesiana (Acacia farnesiana) has mixed reports on edibility, some say yes others say toxic. The tree was pointed out to me during a foraging class Saturday in Dreher Park, West Palm Beach. Cornucopia II, usually reliable, says on page 151 “leaves may be used as a substitute for tamarind in flavoring chutneys. Sprouted seeds are reportedly consumed. the pods are roasted and eaten.” Julia Morton skipped the tree in her “Plants for Survival in South Florida.” Daniel Austin in Florida ethnobotany mentions only herbal applications. The bark is used for tanning leather, and arrow poison, and that the seeds have an alkaoid used to kill dogs in Brazil. James Duke for Perdue University, wrote: “The bark is astringent and demulcent, and along with leaves and roots is used for medicinal purposes. Woody branches used in India as tooth brushes. The gummy roots also chewed for sore throat. Said to be used for alterative, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, astringent, demulcent, diarrhea, febrifuge, rheumatism, and stimulant” (Duke, 1981a). Morton (1981) notes that Guatemalans value the flower infusion as a stomachic. It is also used for dyspepsia and neuroses. Mexicans sprinkle powdered dried leaves onto wounds. The flowers are added to ointment, rubbed on the forehead for headache. Green pods are decocted for dysentery and inflammations of the skin and raucous membranes. Colombians bathe in the bark decoction for typhoid. Costa Ricans decoct he gum from the trunk for diarrhea, using the pod infusion for diarrhea, leucorrhea, and uterorrhagia. Panamanians and Cubans used the pod to treat conjunctivitis. Cubans use the pod decoction for sore throat. For rheumatic pains, West Indians bind bark strips to the afflicted joint. The root decoction has been suggested as a folk remedy for tubersulosis.
Sweet Acacia blossoms. Photo by Green Deane
“Dried seeds of one Acacia sp. are reported to contain per 100 g: 377 calories, 7.0% moisture, 12.6 g protein, 4.6 g fat, 72.4 g carbohydrate, 9.5 g flber, and 3.4 g ash. Raw leaves of Acacia contain per 100 g: 57 calories, 81.4% moisture, 8.0 g protein, 0.6 g fat, 9.0 g carbohydrate, 5.7 g fiber, 1.0 g ash, 93 mg Ca, 84 mg P, 3.7 mg Fe, 12,255 mg b-carotene equivalent, 0.20 mg thiamine, 0.17 mg riboflavin, 8.5 mg niacin, and 49 mg ascorbic acid. Reporting 55% protein on a dryweight basis, Van Etten et al (1963) break down the amino acids as follows: lysine, 4.7 (g/16 g N); methionine, 0.9; arginine, 9.2; glycine, 3.4;. histidine, 2.3; isoleucine, 3.5; leucine, 7.5; phenylalanine, 3.5; tyrosine, 2.8; threonine, 2.5; valine, 3.9; alanine, 4.3; aspartic acid, 8.8; glutamic acid, 12.6; hydroxyproline, 0.0; proline, 5.1; serine, 4.1; with 76% of the total nitrogen as amino acids. Cassie has been reported to contain anisaldehyde, benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol, butyric acid, coumarin, cresol, cuminaidehyde, decyl aldehyde, eicosane, eugenol, farnesol, geraniol, hydroxyacetophenone, methyleugenol, methyl salicylate, nerolidol, palmitic acid, salicylic acid, and terpineol (Duke, 1981). The leaves contain lipids, carotenoids, alkaloids, and reducing and non-reducing sugars (Morton, 1981). El Sissi et al (1973) isolated and identified from pods, seven polyphenols (gallic acid, ellagic acid, m-digallic acid, methyl gallate, kaempferol, atomadendrin, and narigenin). Also they found narigenin-7-glucoside and naringenin-7-rhamnoglucoside (naringin), as well as naringenin, glucose, and gallic acid.” The flowers are used to make perfume. We also know the seeds have protein-binding lectins. Is the tree edible? Who knows, and is that really the species we saw? Clearly more research is needed.
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