Page 16 - 104 Lost Food Items

104 Lost Foods Items That Can Be Used For Survival

20. Clover

Almost every grassy area will yield a good crop of clover. It’s easy to recognize
from its three-lobed leaves (yes, sometimes they do have four) and it’s worth
looking for. The leaves and stems can be eaten raw as a salad vegetable, or boiled

for a minute or two and served as greens.

21. Chickweed

This small plant – up to 16 inches high – is a traditional herbal remedy used for
skin conditions. It also makes a great salad vegetable or, lightly boiled, a green.
The plants grow vigorously and form dense mats, so it’s easy to collect large
quantities, but don’t eat too much at one time; it contains mildly toxic chemicals
called saponins, and if you eat a couple of pounds of it you’re risking problems.
The edible variety has fine hairs on one side of the stem; if there are hairs all
round, avoid.

22. Chicory

This small bush is another good source of wild greens. Boil the leaves to take
the bitterness out and serve as a vegetable. The roots can be boiled; they’re tasty,
and also help treat intestinal parasites. Alternatively, they can be roasted, ground
into a powder and used as a coffee substitute.

23. Crab apples

These small wild apples grow on shrubby trees that some gardeners like as
ornamental plants. There are also over 50 wild species scattered across the
northern hemisphere. You can eat crab apples straight off the tree, but unless
you like sour flavors you might want to avoid that. Instead use them for pies,
applesauce of jelly. Sliced and stewed, sweetened with sugar or honey, they’re a

tasty and simple dessert. The leaves make an antibacterial tea, and an infusion of
root bark fights fevers.

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