Wild edibles in Calgary

[speedog]

I have always been one that has explored interesting and sometimes wild ares in Calgary and wild edibles has always held an interest for me. Berries can easily be found in Calgary including Saskatoons, chokecherries, strawberries and rapspberries. Other easily found edibles include a variety of mushrooms, chickweed, pineapple-weed, bulrushes (cattails) and in the past two years I have also found patches of wild asparagus and have added stinging nettle into the mix.

This morning I read that beaked hazelnuts can be found in Calgary and more specifically, Fish Creek Park although I suspect they're elsewhere as well. That said, is there anyone on beyond who knows about beaked hazelnuts and have they had any lick finding them. I do suspect people often will not give up the location of a stand they may have found no different than only myself and my daughter know where we found wild asparagus in Calgary and have not spread that locale to anyone.

Stinging nettle is something I will be trying a bit more and beaked hazelnuts sound like they'd be a most wonderful find - has anyone out there found them locally?

[BokCh0y]

I haven't found the beaked hazlenuts myself, but I have friends who have found them in fishcreek. Like you said though....it's not something publicly shared on the location.

I remember as a child, I used to hike with my mom on Banff somewhere and she used to pick either watercress or water spinach. I only know the name in chinese, but that a while back. Not sure where it is now or even how it looks, just know it grew in a somewhere swampy area and she used to make soup with it. Also when she cleaned the plant there would sometimes be leeches.

[mazdavirgin]

:dunno: Not what I think of at all when I hear the term edibles...

I recall finding hazelnuts as a kid in fish creek... I do know there's a pretty regular mushroom hunting scene in Alberta though. Might be something you would be interested in as it's a bit different from the usual stuff.

https://www.wildmushrooms.ws/

[speedog]

I've done the edible mushroom thing quite a bit int he past, less so in recent years - it's quite surprising how many good eating mushrooms there are in the city. Boletes and puffballs are good - puffballs are actually very tasty.

[BokCh0y]

I heard about the wild mushrooms, would definitely be interested to learn about them and where to find them. Have not done it myself though for obvious reasons - collecting the wrong ones.

[speedog]

Red Cap Boletus - you can find tons of these in the foothills, cook up nicely and can get quite large, caps up to 7 inches across...
http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~antoy/private/mushrooms/00058.jpg

Meadow mushroom - yupp, it's the same as you can buy at Safeway except they can by found much larger in the wild, we've found them with caps over a foot across on oil exploration roads in SE Alberta...
http://northernbushcraft.com.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushrooms/meadowMushroom/1.jpg

Common Puffballs - so tasty when fried up with some butter, have never found the giant puffballs yet...
http://img-aws.ehowcdn.com/350x235p/photos.demandstudios.com/getty/article/176/2/87835996_XS.jpg
http://www.northland-paradise.com/pic/pear-shaped.puffball.JPG

Ink Cap - do not eat with alcohol in your system or consume alcohol afterwards for a few hours, are not bad tasting though...
http://northernbushcraft.com.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushrooms/inkCap/1.jpg

Shaggy Mane, tastes good...
http://northernbushcraft.com.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushrooms/shaggyMane/1.jpg

Fairy Ring mushroom - haven't tired them but are edible...
http://northernbushcraft.com.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushrooms/fairyRingMushroom/1.jpg

Comb's Tooth - supposedly very good taatng, I've seen these but haven't gathered any to date...
http://foragerchef.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Hericium-mushrooms_-3.jpg

Edible mushrooms of Alberta (http://www.wildmushrooms.ws/documents/mushroom%20posters/Alberta_Edible_Mushrooms.pdf) - PDF document.

As far as poisonous mushrooms in Alberta, I don't believe there are any although I could be wrong. There are many mushrooms that have no taste or do not taste good, just be very safe in correctly identifying what you collecting.

[ExtraSlow]

Crawfish and trout is all I am interested in gatherng . . .

[speedog]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Crawfish and trout is all I am interested in gatherng . . .

Been there, done that, pike is better.

[Maxt]

I remember eating wild mushrooms with my Dad 30 years ago, and my Mom making sure the phone was working in case She had to call 911.. We cooked them up in butter and my Mom was freaking out, even though we had guide book for identification.
A few years ago when it was wet , our lawn was covered in a ton of different mushrooms.

[BokCh0y]

That's quite the mushroom guide, thank you for that.