Finding Food in the Forest in the Fall
Summary
TLDRJoe from Ether Planet explores foraging for food in New England forests during fall. He discusses the challenges of finding edible items due to the locked-up calories in trees and the competition from wildlife. Joe highlights the importance of identifying oak trees for acorns, the edibility of Japanese Barberry, and the potential of sassafras roots. He also cautions about the consumption of beechnuts and the need to process acorns to remove tannins. Joe emphasizes the need for careful identification to avoid toxic look-alikes and shares his findings on hickory nuts, showcasing the edible parts after cracking them open.
Takeaways
- 🌳 Joe from Ether Planet explores foraging for food in New England forests during fall.
- 🍂 In forests, focus on seeds, nuts, and edible mushrooms as primary food sources in autumn.
- 🐛 Edible insects like white grubs can be found, but are not the main focus due to seasonal changes.
- 🌰 Oak trees are highlighted as a source of acorns, with white oak acorns being more edible than red oaks.
- 🔍 Oak saplings indicate the presence of larger oak trees, which could have acorns.
- 🐛 Acorns may contain edible grubs, but care should be taken due to potential health risks from what the grubs have consumed.
- 🌲 Sassafras trees are identified for their root beer scent and edible leaves, despite potential carcinogenic concerns.
- 🍄 Foraging for mushrooms is challenging due to quick consumption by slugs and other wildlife.
- 🌰 Hickory nuts, especially from shagbark hickories, are valuable for their edible nuts, though the meat is often small.
- ⚠️ Foraging requires careful identification to avoid toxic look-alikes and to ensure food safety.
Q & A
What is the main focus of Joe's video from Ether Planet Org?
-The main focus of Joe's video is to demonstrate how to find food in the forest during the fall season in New England.
Why is the forest not the easiest place to find food according to Joe?
-Joe explains that despite the abundance of biomass in the forest, much of it is not in an edible form as the calories are locked up in tree trunks.
What types of food is Joe primarily looking for in the forest during fall?
-In the forest during fall, Joe is primarily looking for seeds, nuts, edible mushrooms, and also mentions edible insects like white grubs.
What is the difference between red oak and white oak acorns according to Joe?
-Joe mentions that red oak acorns contain stronger tannins which make them more bitter compared to white oak acorns. White oak acorns are said to be edible in small amounts without processing.
How does Joe identify oak trees in the forest?
-Joe identifies oak trees by looking at the leaf shape and the tips of the lobes. Pointed tips indicate red oak, while rounded tips indicate white oak.
What is the significance of finding oak tree saplings in the forest?
-Finding oak tree saplings is significant because it suggests the presence of larger oak trees that may produce acorns, which are a source of food.
Why does Joe taste the white oak acorn without processing?
-Joe tastes the white oak acorn without processing to demonstrate that it has less bitterness compared to red oak acorns and might be edible without the need for leaching out tannins.
What does Joe find inside an acorn that indicates it's edible?
-Joe finds that an acorn is edible if it contains a white, edible substance inside, which is the nut meat, and it's free from significant insect damage or decay.
What is the importance of identifying the shagbark hickory tree during foraging?
-The shagbark hickory tree is important to identify because it produces large hickory nuts, which are one of the best trees for collecting and eating hickory nuts.
Why is foraging in the forest difficult according to Joe?
-Foraging in the forest is difficult because animals, including insects, often consume the available food sources like mushrooms and nuts before a forager can get to them.
What advice does Joe give about consuming wild mushrooms and plants?
-Joe advises that one should never eat anything that they cannot positively identify, as there are toxic species that closely resemble edible ones, and it's important to be 100% sure before consuming.
Outlines
🌳 Foraging for Food in the Forest
Joe from Ether Planet introduces a video on how to find food in the New England forest during fall. He explains that while the forest has abundant biomass, much of it is inedible, and the focus should be on seeds, nuts, and edible mushrooms. Joe also mentions that in temperate forests, one can find edible insects and twigs, but these are not the priority in fall due to the season's changes. The video aims to explore the availability of nuts, seeds, mushrooms, and other edible items in the forest.
🍄 Identifying and Preparing Edible Forest Finds
Joe discusses the identification of oak trees by their saplings and leaves, distinguishing between red and white oak groups based on leaf lobe tips. He explains the process of finding and preparing acorns, including the removal of the outer shell and the brown coating, which is bitter. Joe also mentions the presence of acorn weevils, which are edible, and their preference for acorns. He then moves on to discuss the beech tree and its small, often inedible nuts, and the sassafras plant, which has edible leaves and roots that smell like root beer. Joe emphasizes the importance of caution when foraging, especially regarding the potential toxicity of certain plants.
🌰 Collecting and Consuming Hickory Nuts
In the final paragraph, Joe focuses on the shagbark hickory tree and its large, edible nuts. He describes the characteristic shaggy bark and the difficulty in accessing the edible nut meat due to the hard shell. Joe demonstrates how to crack open the nuts and assess their edibility, noting that older nuts may be decayed and not suitable for consumption. He concludes the video by encouraging viewers to subscribe to his channel and to engage with the content by asking questions and sharing their thoughts.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Forest Foraging
💡Edible Biomass
💡Acorns
💡Tannins
💡Edible Insects
💡Mushrooms
💡Sassafras
💡Shagbark Hickory
💡Processing Wild Foods
💡Foraging Ethics
Highlights
Joe from Ether Planet Org explores foraging for food in New England forests during fall.
In a survival situation, meadows and coastal areas can also provide food sources.
Forests are not the easiest places to find food due to the inedible nature of much of the vegetation.
In temperate forests, focus on finding seeds, nuts, and edible mushrooms in the fall.
Edible insects like white grubs can be found, but are not the primary focus in fall.
Japanese Barberry is an invasive species with edible, albeit bitter, red berries.
Oak tree saplings can indicate the presence of acorns, a valuable food source.
White oak acorns are generally less bitter and require less processing than red oak acorns.
Acorns need to be processed to remove tannins, which can be done by using a river's flow.
Beech trees have small nuts that rarely contain substantial edible meat.
Sassafras, an Eastern native plant, has roots that smell like root beer and are used as flavoring.
There is a debate over the potential carcinogenicity of sassafras, but many foragers still consume its leaves.
Mushrooms are a potential food source, but they can be quickly consumed by slugs and other wildlife.
Shagbark hickory trees produce large nuts with a hard shell that protects the edible interior.
Hickory nuts are a good source of food, but the edible portion is small compared to the shell.
Foraging in the forest can be challenging due to competition from animals for the same food sources.
Transcripts
hey guys it's joe from ether planet org
today I'm going to forest in New England
and I'm gonna do a video on how to find
food in the forest in the fall now there
are other places to find food if you're
in a survival situation like meadows and
you know the coast along the beach the
forest isn't always the easiest place to
find food despite the fact that there's
a lot of biomass out here all the
calories are locked up in tree trunks
basically so there's so much vegetation
out here but a lot of it is not in
edible form in other types of
environments like meadows and fields in
the fall you're going to be looking
primarily for roots and green vegetation
so in the forest you're going to
primarily in the fall be looking for
seeds and nuts and also edible mushrooms
now this is in temperate forests you
also can find edible insects like white
grubs you can also find some edible
twigs and leaves although in the fall
this isn't the primary thing you're
looking for because the leaves have
usually hardened off and become inedible
by this point alright so hopefully we'll
find some nuts or seeds and we'll find
some mushrooms and hopefully we'll find
a few other things out there let's see
what we find
this is Japanese Barbary they're an
invasive species because they can handle
the shade of the forest
there's red berries that come out in the
fall they get quite a bit redder as the
winter comes on and a lot of times they
stay on through the winter these are
edible although they have a little bit
of a bitter flavor like I said sometimes
you will find these in mass in the
forest so there could be quite a large
quantity one thing to look for is oak
tree saplings this is one here this is a
typical oak leaf shape the pointed tips
of the lobes tell you that it's in the
red oak group of Oaks as opposed to the
white oak group the reason I'm looking
at this sapling is not because any part
of its edible but because it identifies
that there's likely Oaks around here and
now I'm just looking for a larger hope
that's producing acorns
this is an oak leaf and by the rounded
tips of the lobes you can you'll know
that it's in the white oak group of Oaks
as opposed to the red oak group in my
experience up here in New England the
white oaks you have a chance of being
able to eat them without processing in
small amounts there's tannins but
they're not as strong as in the red oaks
although I've heard that in the red oaks
when you process the tannins it works
better than in the white Oaks and I'm
hoping to find a red oak egg corn so
that I could show you how large they are
around here the red oak acorns are
pretty large and in large quantity also
another thing to look for is obviously
acorn caps that will indicate that there
should be some acorns around that have
not been taken by squirrels yet over
here it looks like here's some these are
kind of small this is a type of white
oak so I'm gonna keep looking for a
bigger egg corn and then we'll crack
these open and see if they're good
inside or not okay I'm going to crack
these open and we'll see what's inside
first take the caps off if you can all
right we'll start with these three here
alright that'll break it open
that's not bad inside you've got a
little bit of evidence of insect damage
in there but a lot of the white stuff is
edible and put that to the side for now
you want to try to take all the brown
out of there if you can there's also a
brown coating on the outside and that
tastes bitter so take that out too so
those are somewhat edible definitely if
you're looking for food
you could eat those another one this
one's in really good shape the problem
with foraging in the forest is the
animals take the stuff before you
including insects for example mushrooms
are always taken by slugs within days so
normally you would want to take that
outer coating off even more and let's
check this last one oh look at that
that's perfect so this is what you're
looking for it when you're trying to
find food in the forest in the fall in
particular okay normally if you're going
to eat egg corns you'd have to process
them by smashing them up with a rock and
then you have to run cold water through
them for a while you can either do
changes of water like in a you know pot
or something but what people used to do
was put them in some kind of sack and
put them in a river and let the river
wash out the tannins the tannins are the
bitter contents of the egg corn that
make it almost inedible
now this egg corn is from the white oak
group which I found to have less tannins
and I'm going to taste it now and see if
it's edible without any processing
it's not bad it's a lot better than red
oak but I could still taste the
bitterness in the egg corn all right so
I cracked this one open and I did find
the egg corn weevil here these are the
edible grubs I'm going to show you what
they look like there's one right there
not very active it actually just got
cold today there was it at least two in
here right there's another one so if you
open a bad egg corn and there's a corn
weevil inside obviously cook them first
but you can add those to what you're
eating now one concern with grubs is
that sometimes what they've been eating
is bad for you so with these you don't
have to worry because you know that all
they've been eating since an egg is egg
corns so they shouldn't taste too bad
although they might be a little bit
bitter because of the tannins in the egg
corn this right here is a beech tree one
identification feature is that smooth
bark you can look for beech nuts below
they're pretty small and I rarely find
edible meat inside the beech nuts but if
you see a beech tree it's worth at least
taking a look here's a beech nut and
I'll try to crack this open and see if
there's anything inside these but
usually I have not found anything this
is one of the beech nut seeds and as you
can see there's no substantial you know
nut material inside it's probably been
eaten so like I said it's worth looking
if you find a beech tree but don't have
high hopes if you're looking for food I
didn't expect to find this out here but
it's an Eastern native plant called
sassafras the roots of this plant smell
like root beer this is the original
flavoring for a root beer there's a
little bit of controversy on whether
they're carcinogenic or not some tests
have been done but others have doubted
those tests the leaves are generally
considered edible by foragers obviously
there's the warning I just gave about
potential carcinogens but I eat these
leaves a lot most
foragers do one way to identify
sassafrass's especially when they're
young they have three different leaf
shapes on one plant there's this shape
with three lobes and then there's one
with two lobes which I'm looking for and
don't see
so another identification feature is
just to either scratch or break off the
stem and smell it the upper part of the
tree will smell like citrus peel and the
roots will smell like group here I found
some cool little mushrooms here so just
obviously make sure that you don't eat
anything that you can't identify I found
that in the in the plant mushroom
foraging community every once a while
you find people on the two extremes some
people won't touch anything even if they
know it's edible and some people aren't
worried at all about toxicity and plants
and mushrooms both have extremely toxic
species and edible species and
look-alikes between toxic and edible
species so if you're not a hundred
percent sure what you're looking at
definitely don't eat it the saying is
when in doubt throw it out this is one
reason why it's difficult to forage in
the forest in particular here's an
example of two slugs eating the mushroom
this mushroom probably came out a few
days ago or less and now it's already
being consumed by by slugs so it's
difficult to find things like mushrooms
and even nuts because the animals just
pick them up as soon as they're
available this right here is the
shagbark hickory as you go up you can
start to see the shaggy bark flaking off
in large strips there's a good example
of it right here you'll see that up up
and down the whole trunk of a mature
shagbark hickory I'm gonna be looking
for hickory nuts here shag bark has
large hickory nuts and they're one of
the best trees for collecting and eating
hickory nuts I found some hickory nuts
these are not shagbark hickory but
they're a decent size this is what they
look like and that's what they look like
green so these shells are useless you
can't eat these at all so I'm going to
discard those and the good thing about
Hickory
nuts is that as they age the shelves
usually just pop off on their own and
this outside is so hard that it's
difficult for animals to get in there
all those squirrels managed to do it
pretty reliably let me crack this one
open and see if there's any anything
edible inside this nut so that's where
the edible material is this one looks a
little bit old like maybe it's decayed
so let's try a couple more and see if
any of them are good this one's probably
too old also yeah that's alright nothing
in there this one looks like it might
have something inside that's edible yeah
cuz that shell is nice and hard see all
right there you go so the edible part is
in between it it's hard to pull out but
that's it right there
and that's why you want to go for a shag
bark Hickory or a larger nut because the
meat on the inside is a very small
amount unless you have one of those
larger hitters thanks for watching guys
I hope you learned something and enjoyed
the video please consider subscribing to
my channel and if you do make sure you
hit the little alarm button next to the
subscribe button that'll make sure that
you could update and when I have a new
video and please post any questions you
have in the comments thanks again for
watching
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