You CAN eat that

EVEN LONGTIME ALASKANS MIGHT BE SURPRISED AT THE VARIETY OF wild edibles you can find outside. Sometimes we get so caught up in fishing and hunting, we forget to look at what's growing in the ground; when we do, it's a veritable produce stand.
Sometimes when I'm out for a walk with my kids I ask them, "What would we eat if we had to live here without groceries for a few days?" and we start looking and pointing out all the foods available. My kids are pretty well versed in what can you eat, and they'll tell you that dandelion greens are not their favorite, spruce tips make a pretty good tea for sore throats and nettles will sting you but mom insists on picking them anyway.
Foraging, the act of finding wild foods to eat, is an age-old tradition that's alive and well, and you can play too, if you just know what to look for.

A few words of advice from someone who has been foraging for years, and still feels like a newbie:

Find a foraging partner, someone who knows what they're doing and will show you the ropes.

Always double-check what you're picking and if you're ever unsure about what you've picked, find someone to help you identify plants.

Taste test a small sample the first time you eat a new wild food to make sure you don't have any sensitivities.

Never pick a patch clean; always leave a plant enough foliage or roots to continue living. If you kill it, you can never eat from it again. (Unless it's a dandelion, then they'll always grow back, twice as strong.)

SPRUCE TIPS
In the spring, spruce trees develop new growth. These spruce tips grow on the ends of branches and have a small papery husk until they're almost full grown. You can harvest spruce tips anytime from early growth to right after they shed their husk. In fact, you can harvest spruce tips all year but the fresh tips have the best flavor. They make a wonderful addition to spring salads, you can steep them for tea or make them into jelly.

COW PARSNIP
Also called cow parsley, Indian celery or pushki. This is a love-or-hate plant. It either agrees with you or you develop a horrible rash from the sap. Unfortunately, the only way to know if it's going to give you a rash is to touch a little bit of the sap to your skin. If you start itching and a blister forms, stay away from it. If you know you've been exposed and it doesn't bother you, you can move forward with harvesting and consuming. To safely consume, the stems must be peeled first to remove the irritating hairs that cover it, so wearing gloves is a good idea. Once the stems are peeled, they can be stuffed and baked, fermented or dried and added to soups in the winter.

DANDELIONS
Fresh young leaves are perfect in a salad, a stirfry or even lightly steamed. Once they become big leaves, they get bitter, so pick young new growth for the best taste. The flowers can be made into wonderful little dandelion fritters and the roots can be roasted and ground for a coffee substitute.

WILD GERANIUMS
Warning: these need proper identification as they resemble deadly monkshood. Although wild geraniums are common throughout much of Alaska, many people don't recognize them until they're pointed out. They're sort of sneaky like that. Not only are their purple/blue flowers lovely to look at, they're a nice addition to fresh summer salads. And the leaves can be steamed for greens and work well added to other greens to help round out a meal.

NETTLES
Also called stinging nettles (for good reason). This is another plant you want to harvest while wearing gloves or you'll risk tingly fingers. Nettles are among the earliest of fresh greens to pop up in the spring and that's when it's best to eat them. Enjoy them early because once they've reached full size, they're rather a pain to pick and they just don't taste as good.

This story first appeared in the June 2016 Adventure Issue of 61°North. Contact the editor, Jamie Gonzales, at jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com.