Finding Food in the Forest in the Fall

Summary

Joe 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

00:00

🌳 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.

05:01

🍄 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.

10:02

🌰 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.

Keywords

💡Forest Foraging

Forest foraging refers to the practice of searching for and collecting wild food resources within forested areas. In the video, Joe from Ether Planet Org explores how to find food in the New England forest during the fall season, highlighting the challenges and opportunities of foraging in such an environment. The concept is central to the video's theme, as it demonstrates the skills and knowledge required to survive and thrive off the land.

💡Edible Biomass

Edible biomass pertains to the organic matter in a forest that can be consumed by humans. The video discusses the abundance of biomass in forests but notes that much of it is not in an edible form, as many calories are locked up in tree trunks. This concept is important for understanding the limitations of foraging in forests and the need to focus on specific, edible sources like seeds, nuts, and mushrooms.

💡Acorns

Acorns are the nuts produced by oak trees and are a traditional food source for foragers. In the video, Joe identifies oak tree saplings and searches for acorns, emphasizing the difference between red and white oak acorns in terms of edibility and processing requirements. Acorns are a prime example of a wild food resource that can be found in forests and are a focal point in the video's foraging demonstration.

💡Tannins

Tannins are a group of naturally occurring compounds found in various plants, including oak acorns, that can have a bitter taste and may require processing to be palatable. The video explains that white oak acorns have fewer tannins than red oak acorns, which affects their edibility and the methods used to prepare them for consumption. Tannins are a key consideration in foraging for acorns and other plant materials.

💡Edible Insects

Edible insects are insects that are safe and nutritious for human consumption. The video mentions the presence of edible insects like white grubs in the forest, adding to the diversity of potential food sources. This concept expands the idea of foraging beyond plants and highlights the broader range of organisms that can contribute to a forager's diet.

💡Mushrooms

Mushrooms are fungi that can be found in various environments, including forests. The video discusses the importance of identifying edible mushrooms, as well as the challenges of finding them before they are consumed by other organisms like slugs. Mushrooms represent a valuable but often overlooked food source in the forest foraging context.

💡Sassafras

Sassafras is a native plant to eastern North America, known for its roots that were historically used to flavor root beer. The video describes the plant's identifying features, such as its three different leaf shapes and the scent of its roots and stems. Sassafras serves as an example of a plant with both cultural significance and potential foraging value.

💡Shagbark Hickory

Shagbark hickory is a type of hickory tree known for its distinctive peeling bark and large nuts. In the video, Joe searches for hickory nuts from this tree, which are considered a high-value food source due to their size and the relative ease with which the edible nutmeat can be extracted. The shagbark hickory exemplifies the importance of tree identification in foraging for nuts.

💡Processing Wild Foods

Processing wild foods involves various methods to make them more palatable or safe to eat. The video demonstrates how acorns need to be processed to remove tannins, and how nuts and mushrooms must be prepared for consumption. Processing is a critical aspect of foraging, as it can determine the edibility and nutritional value of the collected food.

💡Foraging Ethics

Foraging ethics encompass the principles and practices that guide responsible and sustainable gathering of wild foods. The video touches on the importance of not overharvesting and being aware of the potential impact on local ecosystems. Foraging ethics are crucial for ensuring that wild food sources remain available for future generations.

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

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