# PA 2020 FORAGED EDIBLES



## trahn008

Post up your pictures of non mushroom foraged edibles!


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## beagleboy

I found some ramps today. They are very small yet but I took a few to transplant on my ground.


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## PickinFungi

Some ramps that I transplanted last year. They are growing real nice.


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## PickinFungi

beagleboy said:


> I found some ramps today. They are very small yet but I took a few to transplant on my ground.
> View attachment 27112


Cool ! Those look like the narrow leaf variety.


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## beagleboy

I know they are a different variety than my other spot but they taste just as good. Just about every plant has 3 leaves. I hope they get just as big as the other ones because I use the leaves more than the bulbs.


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## DanCB

Bittercress and violets next to the house.








Bittercress on beets and cheddar w/evoo.


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## steelernation

Got seven plastic bags of ramps yesterday, just across into WV from western PA. And they're just getting to size there. I barely touched even a little of that patch. Plenty for now. I think we saw 3 Inky Caps and no other mushrooms, not even polypores.


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## MoonRabbit

So the ones with the long thin hollow leaves is wild garlic? Around here people call them ramps and that's what I grew up understanding. Looks like I'll have to go searching for the real deal.


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## PNV

trahn008 said:


> Post up your pictures of non mushroom foraged edibles!


Ramps are out here in the catskill Delaware county


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## sb

beagleboy said:


> I know they are a different variety than my other spot but they taste just as good. Just about every plant has 3 leaves. I hope they get just as big as the other ones because I use the leaves more than the bulbs.


Beagleboy - *Consider sharing some Ramps recpes* with everyone on the latest - Ramps & Nettles' topic under the Mushroom Dinner Pics & Recipes forum. That is under Forums choice on the menue bar at the top.


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## Fluke216

I live on a mountain in Lebanon pa - I assume ramps and things would show up a bit later here ?


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## bushman01

steelernation said:


> Got seven plastic bags of ramps yesterday, just across into WV from western PA. And they're just getting to size there. I barely touched even a little of that patch. Plenty for now. I think we saw 3 Inky Caps and no other mushrooms, not even polypores.


Hey SN, I'm not far from u at all. Here in the NP of Wv. Im still kinda new. What types of woods are u finding them in so far? Ty!


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## steelernation

bushman, I have an old spot that I've always gone to. I never had to hunt for ramps. Morels, on the other hand...

I have found other spots in stream valleys. Are you in Brooke? Ohio? I grew up in Ohio County.


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## beagleboy

sb said:


> Beagleboy - *Consider sharing some Ramps recpes* with everyone on the latest - Ramps & Nettles' topic under the Mushroom Dinner Pics & Recipes forum. That is under Forums choice on the menue bar at the top.


sb, I don't really have any particular recipes. I just put them in anything that I would use green onions with. They are good in salads, but some people might think they are a little strong.


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## trahn008

Ginseng


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## bushman01

steelernation said:


> bushman, I have an old spot that I've always gone to. I never had to hunt for ramps. Morels, on the other hand...
> 
> I have found other spots in stream valleys. Are you in Brooke? Ohio? I grew up in Ohio County.


Brooke. Yes I seem to have to work for whatever I find lol. I imagine things may be alittle slow w the cool week ahead?


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## DanCB

trahn008 said:


> Ginseng
> View attachment 27946


WOW! I see that all the time....never knew. Thanks.


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## steelernation

bushman01 said:


> Brooke. Yes I seem to have to work for whatever I find lol. I imagine things may be alittle slow w the cool week ahead?


They're up just fine in Ohio County, so you should have them in Brooke, though I don't know where they might be there. Somewhere up Buffalo Creek? I don't know places in Brooke overall, as we never spent any time there. Good luck. Check hillsides and along the creeks with sycamore and some flooding.


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## bushman01

steelernation said:


> They're up just fine in Ohio County, so you should have them in Brooke, though I don't know where they might be there. Somewhere up Buffalo Creek? I don't know places in Brooke overall, as we never spent any time there. Good luck. Check hillsides and along the creeks with sycamore and some flooding.


Thanks I will give it a try!


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## shroomsearcher

MoonRabbit said:


> So the ones with the long thin hollow leaves is wild garlic? Around here people call them ramps and that's what I grew up understanding. Looks like I'll have to go searching for the real deal.


Not sure what you mean. Back a while I was invited to turkey hunt on a farm. No turkeys, but I did find something growing that I took for ramps! Stuffed a back pack full of them! They tasted great. Further research online indicated that they were NOT ramps. Turned out to be wild onion. I found some honest to God ramps a couple of years later. One thing I found out. You can pull wild onion bulbs up out of the ground. You CANNOT do that with ramps! The stems will separate from the bulbs before the bulbs will come up out of the ground, no matter how soft it is! 

It seems the ramp plant knows how important the bulb is!


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## steelernation

No, if the soil is moist enough, they can easily come out by the bulb. I don't like taking too many bulbs, and I refuse to dig them up, and at the best place I pick at I can usually count on getting 10-15% with bulbs on them. Usually the biggest ramps do that for us. Drier soils, no bulbs. It could just be your soil type.


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## PNV

Fluke216 said:


> I live on a mountain in Lebanon pa - I assume ramps and things would show up a bit later here ?


I believe so just a little bit warmer and hop they go


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## shroomsearcher

steelernation said:


> No, if the soil is moist enough, they can easily come out by the bulb. I don't like taking too many bulbs, and I refuse to dig them up, and at the best place I pick at I can usually count on getting 10-15% with bulbs on them. Usually the biggest ramps do that for us. Drier soils, no bulbs. It could just be your soil type.


Well, the place I find them is a creek bottom with beautiful, sandy loam soil! It would have to be soaking wet for me to pull a ramp up. And this place produces ramps with nice bulbs. Let me check here and see if I can find a pic that I know I have. Only thing is, I have so many pics saved, that I don't know if I can find it. Here goes.










Found it!


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## Swampy16

I found these in Hunterdon County NJ last week. This was the first time I’ve had them or even seen them. I just started hunting morels this year and someone on a hunting forum mentioned ramps. I had no clue what they were and researched them. The next day, poof there they were. I’ve been eating them all week different ways. I chopped some up, sautéed in butter, then laid boneless seasoned trout fillets in on top of them. Wow


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## PickinFungi

I have to vent. I head out to a rather large park to maybe grab a few ramps for a meal or 2. There are quite a few patches ,some quit large, that seem to be mindfully harvested over the years. Today, there are no parking places and I see people coming out of the woods with shopping bags packed so tight that the seams were almost popping! I check a number of patches and they are trampled with so many ramps dug that it's disgusting. Certain areas may look huge but are definitely dwindling. Some people are just ignorant, greedy, irresponsible pieces of garbage! Sorry I had to get it out.


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## PNV

PickinFungi said:


> I have to vent. I head out to a rather large park to maybe grab a few ramps for a meal or 2. There are quite a few patches ,some quit large, that seem to be mindfully harvested over the years. Today, there are no parking places and I see people coming out of the woods with shopping bags packed so tight that the seams were almost popping! I check a number of patches and they are trampled with so many ramps dug that it's disgusting. Certain areas may look huge but are definitely dwindling. Some people are just ignorant, greedy, irresponsible pieces of garbage! Sorry I had to get it out.


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## PNV

unfortunately a lot of people are like this ,the only way that they understand is to give them a fine .But it is not regularize .


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## PickinFungi

PNV said:


> unfortunately a lot of people are like this ,the only way that they understand is to give them a fine .But it is not regularize .


It's a shame and is everywhere. The same kind of people see a sign for something that reads "please take one" and they grab a handful...


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## Swampy16

I hope nobody ever finds mine. I only take enough for my wife and I for a week. Maybe 2lbs? I also only take a piece from the edge of a larger patch, never from small bunches or singles. To take giant shopping bags? That’s just wrong. People get nuts because they’re free and a lot of people think no one knows what they are or where they are.


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## MiLilWinmil

My husband makes fun of me. "Why do you always have to eat everything you find?" I reply "because it's there." If I'm hiking and I find a blueberry patch or a mullberry tree, I'll grab a handful and snack. A few elm oysters to take home, tea berries, a birch branch to chew on, a wild apple or plum. To me taking a bite of the things nature had to offer is no different than smelling and admiring a beautiful rose from your neighbors yard. I grew up foraging and my dad made sure I knew safe things to eat and things to avoid. You pay respect to what nature gives you; live off the land but never take to much. 
I also get disgusted with the people who are ignorant of the fact that nature isn't the grocery store. Its not the produce department where there are cases to refill in the back. There is no one to refill it. If you trample and kill it, it's gone. Don't pick the wild orchids, they will die. Cover the chantarelle after you harvest so it doesn't dry out and die. Take only what you need or else it's going to go bad in your fridge anyway. Whoever find my morel spot ripped all the bark down off the elm tree, tore up the dead logs laying near by, and broke branches on the apple tree. It is sad. And I completely agree, @PickinFungi


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## Swampy16

MiLilWinmil said:


> My husband makes fun of me. "Why do you always have to eat everything you find?" I reply "because it's there." If I'm hiking and I find a blueberry patch or a mullberry tree, I'll grab a handful and snack. A few elm oysters to take home, tea berries, a birch branch to chew on, a wild apple or plum. To me taking a bite of the things nature had to offer is no different than smelling and admiring a beautiful rose from your neighbors yard. I grew up foraging and my dad made sure I knew safe things to eat and things to avoid. You pay respect to what nature gives you; live off the land but never take to much.
> I also get disgusted with the people who are ignorant of the fact that nature isn't the grocery store. Its not the produce department where there are cases to refill in the back. There is no one to refill it. If you trample and kill it, it's gone. Don't pick the wild orchids, they will die. Cover the chantarelle after you harvest so it doesn't dry out and die. Take only what you need or else it's going to go bad in your fridge anyway. Whoever find my morel spot ripped all the bark down off the elm tree, tore up the dead logs laying near by, and broke branches on the apple tree. It is sad. And I completely agree, @PickinFungi


It sounds like a black bear found your morel spot. They tear up dead logs for grubs, same with dead bark. And I always see wild apple trees that they rip down trying to get at the fruit.


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## MoonRabbit

Some people found my morel spot. It's a big area and I usually never mind unless I see someone clearly over picking. Well as of late, this new person likes to leave their trash littered around. I think he is even using his empty soda cans as markers because he keeps hanging them on branches near freshly harvested stumps.. And well I keep removing the trash. 

I already have to share mushrooms with the forest bugs, but I will not share with a litter bug.


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## MiLilWinmil

Swampy16 said:


> It sounds like a black bear found your morel spot. They tear up dead logs for grubs, same with dead bark. And I always see wild apple trees that they rip down trying to get at the fruit.


If it was a bear I'd be happy to share. But I've seen people with big solid plastic bags loaded with mushrooms on the same area. They didn't even have bags for the spores to spread. I haven't seen any bear tracks, but I've porcupines, possums, raccoons, and lots of deer and their tracks.


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## Swampy16

MiLilWinmil said:


> If it was a bear I'd be happy to share. But I've seen people with big solid plastic bags loaded with mushrooms on the same area. They didn't even have bags for the spores to spread. I haven't seen any bear tracks, but I've porcupines, possums, raccoons, and lots of deer and their tracks.


You must have quite a spot for mushrooms. I’d love to be able to fill a shopping bag.


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## DanCB

Fiddleheads!


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## MiLilWinmil

DanCB said:


> Fiddleheads!
> View attachment 29528


I must be in like a dead zone for fiddle heads. Every one I find had a hairy bottom instead of the brown papery bottom. Sadness


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## shroomsearcher

PickinFungi said:


> I have to vent. I head out to a rather large park to maybe grab a few ramps for a meal or 2. There are quite a few patches ,some quit large, that seem to be mindfully harvested over the years. Today, there are no parking places and I see people coming out of the woods with shopping bags packed so tight that the seams were almost popping! I check a number of patches and they are trampled with so many ramps dug that it's disgusting. Certain areas may look huge but are definitely dwindling. Some people are just ignorant, greedy, irresponsible pieces of garbage! Sorry I had to get it out.


Disgusting! My buddy is a member of a Facebood group of ramp hunters. Some of them will NOT dig up the bulbs because it takes so long, 7 years is the number usually quoted, for a ramp seed to produce a plant. These folks just cut off the tops, and leave the bulb in the ground. I have found a huge patch that I guesstimate to be close to a mile long, which is unfortunately, located in a county metropark where no hunting or gathering is permitted. 

I used to feel that this was wrong! The metroparks should offer classes on this stuff, and open up the woods for hunting! Your post makes me reconsider. I only take what I need for personal use, but it's obvious the crowd you ran into is selling! Maybe it's because so many people are laid off right now. Don't get me wrong, hunting and gathering goes on in that park all the time. We can always spot each other, and trade knowing glances when we pass by. 

I've found ramps, chickens, chants, reishi and hens in there, and there's probably lots of stuff I haven't found. Mushroom are one thing. You can take them and not harm the parent organism. A ramp bulb is another story!


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## MiLilWinmil

Went out yesterday after work and found a few interesting things.

Daldinia childiae













Not edible but I've read it may be useful as a tinder. At first I thought it might be chaga, but my research said otherwise 

Wild violets













I know the blue/purple ones are edible, but I'm not sure about the white ones. One of my books states that the yellow violets may be slightly toxic, while another says all violets are edible. Anyone have any experience?

Wild ginseng







The unfurling arch of the stem didn't show up to well in the picture, but I'm pretty sure it's ginseng.

Fiddlehead of possible wood fern?







I finally found ones that aren't hairy!!! They have paper like scales, a groove in the stem, and are green in color. However, the groove isn't deep and the paper seems to stay on the stem. I have read that wild ferns will hybridize and have characteristics of several types or of "no classified type" of fern. This one seems to fit mostly the characteristics of the evergreen wood fern. The papery scales wiped off easily. However, I am still not sure its identification. Does anyone have any insight or thoughts?


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## DanCB

Fiddlehead of possible wood fern?
View attachment 30002

I finally found ones that aren't hairy!!! They have paper like scales, a groove in the stem, and are green in color. However, the groove isn't deep and the paper seems to stay on the stem. I have read that wild ferns will hybridize and have characteristics of several types or of "no classified type" of fern. This one seems to fit mostly the characteristics of the evergreen wood fern. The papery scales wiped off easily. However, I am still not sure its identification. Does anyone have any insight or thoughts? [/QUOTE]
It's difficult to ID from the photo but they could be Ostrich Ferns (Fiddleheads). Do the stems have a groove like celery? If so, likely Fiddlehead. A really good way to positively ID is the presence of dried plumes from last year like these:


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## MiLilWinmil

DanCB said:


> It's difficult to ID from the photo but they could be Ostrich Ferns (Fiddleheads). Do the stems have a groove like celery? If so, likely Fiddlehead. A really good way to positively ID is the presence of dried plumes from last year like these:
> View attachment 30006


They have a groove but it's not deep like celery. There are no old vertical fronds. But there are old, not necessarily "dead," fronts from last year's infertile fronds laying on the ground around the crown.


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## DanCB

MiLilWinmil said:


> They have a groove but it's not deep like celery. There are no old vertical fronds. But there are old, not necessarily "dead," fronts from last year's infertile fronds laying on the ground around the crown.
> 
> View attachment 30008
> View attachment 30010


Wish I could help but a photo is no substitute to being there.


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## trahn008

MiLilWinmil said:


> The unfurling arch of the stem didn't show up to well in the picture, but I'm pretty sure it's ginseng


 Mi, not ginseng. Happy Hunting!


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## DanCB

MiLilWinmil said:


> They have a groove but it's not deep like celery. There are no old vertical fronds. But there are old, not necessarily "dead," fronts from last year's infertile fronds laying on the ground around the crown.
> 
> View attachment 30008
> View attachment 30010


Just saw your latest photos. I don't think they are Ostrich ferns.


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## Jeffrey1findum

Ginseng?


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## steelernation

Nope. Ginseng's five leaves radiate from a central spot. Maybe a young hickory, hard to say.


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## Jeffrey1findum

steelernation said:


> Nope. Ginseng's five leaves radiate from a central spot. Maybe a young hickory, hard to say.


thanks for the tips Wasn't sure haven't found any yet. I thought it could be a sapling too


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## Swampy16

Isn’t it true you can’t harvest sing from most public lands? Because I know where there’s truck loads of it but was told I can’t touch it.


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## Jeffrey1findum

Swampy16 said:


> Isn’t it true you can’t harvest sing from most public lands? Because I know where there’s truck loads of it but was told I can’t touch it.


you can in Pennsylvania but there's a season for it and your supposed to have a permit. They want people to harvest it sustainably. WildGrown.com has a lot of info on that. They even have list of buyers. I really don't know that much or never found any yet, but have recently been doing some research. A lot of hunting mushrooms and ginseng but not much luck did manage to find a few half free morels though.


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## steelernation

I do believe the DCNR has info on their website about wise-use foraging. I know that I checked all areas in PA, WV and a little in surrounding states to be sure of what and where I can pick mushrooms. I've never looked for or picked ginseng.


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## beagleboy

You can only harvest mushrooms and berries on state game lands, not any plants. State forest lands have different reg. and also county and state parks.


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## Swampy16

Jeffrey1findum said:


> you can in Pennsylvania but there's a season for it and your supposed to have a permit. They want people to harvest it sustainably. WildGrown.com has a lot of info on that. They even have list of buyers. I really don't know that much or never found any yet, but have recently been doing some research. A lot of hunting mushrooms and ginseng but not much luck did manage to find a few half free morels though.


There are areas in NY where a buddy and I felt like we were practically wading through it at times. It was insane, it was everywhere. We kept wondering what it was because of the berries, wanting to know what Grouse forage on. That’s how we found out what it was. We both kinda looked at each other with giant eyes. He researched it and said it’s illegal to harvest in the area we were hunting.


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## MiLilWinmil

A few weeks ago I went out looking, just to see what I could see. I found a large stand of cinnamon fern, a few dried out birch boletes, and this little gem. Or many of them, rather. Dwarf ginseng. So now I can at least say I've seen it in the wild somewhere. Darn thing was pretty cute, too.


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## shroomsearcher

Swampy16 said:


> There are areas in NY where a buddy and I felt like we were practically wading through it at times. It was insane, it was everywhere. We kept wondering what it was because of the berries, wanting to know what Grouse forage on. That’s how we found out what it was. We both kinda looked at each other with giant eyes. He researched it and said it’s illegal to harvest in the area we were hunting.


Doesn't that always seem to be the case!?!


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