Page 136 - The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

Wood/Canada Nettle, Laportea

canadensis (URTICACEAE)

WOOD/CANADA NETTLE is an herbaceous perennial
growing in rich moist soils along streams of open de-
ciduous forests. Plants grow 3 ft. (1m) tall from tuber-
ous roots and clump into small 3. ft. (1m) patches. Wood
Nettle can be confused with Stinging Nettle, which has
smaller, opposite, hairier leaves, and False Nettle, which
is hairless with opposite leaf attachment.
FLOWER: Male and female flowers are separate on the
same plant with male flowers branching from leaf axils
halfway up hairy stems, and female flowers on the top of R Matt Lavin, CC-BY-SA-2.0-3.0
C-B
-
Y
S
affi K
ojian, C
A
stems. Greenish-white male flowers are less than 0.13
handling raw, fresh plant parts. Don’t eat this plant
inches (0.3cm) across with 5 tiny petals. Female flowers
raw. Snip young plant tops.
are in flat branching clusters and have 4 tiny, green se-
COOKED WOOD NETTLES: Wash young shoots in
pals that look like curly leaves.
cold water and dry. Heat pan with butter and stock,
LEAF: Pointy, oval leaves are rounded at the base, ser-
add Wood Nettles, season to taste, cover and simmer
rated, and alternate on long stalks. They can grow to 6
4-5 min. until completely wilted.
inches (15cm) long and 4 inches (10cm) wide. Stinging
WARNING: Stinging hairs on undersides of leaves are
hairs are thinly distributed on leaves and their stalks.
barbed and can get stuck in skin, causing skin irrita-
EDIBLE PARTS: young shoots and leaves
tion, including blisters that last several days. Cooked
KEY MEDICINAL USES: The root is diuretic. leaves are perfectly safe.
HOW TO HARVEST AND EAT: Always wear gloves when
Yampah, Perideridia spp. (APIACEAE)
YAMPAH is a collective name for a genus within the
carrot and parsnip family. Yampah grows 4 ft. (1.2m)
tall. It’s found in open grasslands and prairies.
FLOWER: A hollow stem grows from the tuberous root
and ends with an umbrella-shaped flower head (umbel),
typical of the carrot family. This umbel is made up of 10-
20 tiny, white flowers clustered at the end of erect stalks
and can collectively measure up to 4 inches (10cm).
LEAF: Yampah starts with bipinnate basal leaves that
look like very slender parsley. As the plant matures, the
stalks and leaves grow longer. Each bipinnate leaf has Thayne Tuason, CC-BY-SA-4.0 Matt Lavin, CC-BY-SA-2.0
multiple, slender leaflets that can grow up to 5 inches similar to parsley and stems taste like asparagus.
(13cm) long. Leaves start to wilt and die off when the
YAMPAH OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPE: Ingredients:
flower heads start to appear.
2 tbsp. dried ground yampah roots, 1 tsp. yampah
EDIBLE PARTS: roots, leaves and seeds seeds, 1 cup melted butter, 2 cups self-rising flour,
KEY MEDICINAL USES: Tea made from roots can ease 1½ cups brown sugar, 2 eggs, 3 cups oatmeal. Com-
stomach cramps and vomiting. bine butter and sugar, add the eggs, flour, roots, seeds
and oatmeal. Leave it in the fridge for 1 h., then roll
HOW TO HARVEST AND EAT: Roots are best harvest-
the dough into balls, lay them out on a baking tray.
ed after the plant goes dormant in autumn, and become
sweeter after the first frost. Can be cooked and eaten like Flatten them with a fork. Cook for 8 min. at 375 °F
potatoes. Seeds can be harvested once the umbels have (190 °C).
turned brown, in July-September. The whole plant can POISONOUS LOOK-ALIKES: Poison hemlock, Coni-
be dried and ground into flour for baking. Leaves taste um maculatum, and Water hemlock, Cicuta douglasii
135