Euell Gibbons: Author of Stalking the Wild Asparagus

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Less than 100 years ago, 90% of the population lived on farms. That means before agriculture became so mechanized it took nine people to grow enough food to feed ten . . . themselves and one extra. So foraging is not more efficient than modern agriculture. If it is, we've made a big mistake (laughter).

1 do think that gathering wild food is a great thing for people to do occasionally. For instance, these kids living on communes can get a huge part of their food by foraging . . . and it's a wonderful way for backpackers to relate to nature as they go along gathering a big portion of what they eat. When I go camping I carry sugar, salt, cooking oil and sometimes a little flour for thickening soup or flouring fish. But all the rest of my food is gathered, which makes it so much more fun. There's such a great challenge to foraging, and it also keeps you from having to carry a week's supplies on your back.

PLOWBOY: What's the story on sugaring? Is it possible for most homesteaders to gather their own sugar and syrup?

GIBBONS: If there are maples around, yes. I'd say you can get sugar from any kind of maple if the trees are big enough to drill, drive a spike in and hang a bucket on to catch the sap. (The experts we've talked to all say not to tap a tree less than 10 inches in diameter measured two feet above the base. — Ed.) I know people who've even made syrup from the strappin maple and the mountain maple.

PLOWBOY: What about the nutritional value of wild foods? How do they compare with garden vegetables?

GIBBONS: I could give you figures on that, but you can look them up in STALKING THE HEALTHFUL HERBS. I want to make it clear that you can get perfectly good nutrition without ever eating a wild plant. Generally, though, they're more nutritious than comparable domestic plants . . . at least those I've had tested.

I struck nutritional gold in a number of cases with wild plants so high in food value that their domestic counterparts just couldn't compare. The common stinging nettle proved to have more protein than any leafy material ever tested, and the strawberry leaf makes a tea that's incredibly rich in vitamin C. The analysts wouldn't believe that one, so they went out and gathered their own strawberry leaves . . . they thought I'd sprinkled ascorbic acid or something on mine before I brought them in. The new tests came out almost exactly the same. Of course, the vitamin C content does depend on how long the leaves have been picked, how much they've been exposed to the air and what ground the plants grew on.

PLOWBOY: When you cook dandelions and some other wild greens, you change the water three times. Do foraged foods generally have to be cooked a great deal? What does this do to their nutritional value?

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