Wild Edibles with Daniel Titus! | Titus Morris | 05.05.26

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]There's just scabs of it around the east.

[00:00:06]>> I don't know how far north it goes. It's probably gets up into southern Canada.

[00:00:21]>> Spice bush uh makes good eat good has a few uses to it to make tea out of.

[00:00:28]You see that one baked for tea?

[00:00:30]>> And the fruits in the fall, I've they're supposed to make good a good allspice substitute. I've never got around to gathering them, using them in the kitchen, but I nibble on them out in the woods when they're red and ripe in September.

[00:00:49]>> We had lots of star chickweed this spring. I just got done picking some here hour or two ago.

[00:00:58]What were you looking at there, Daniel?

[00:01:01]>> Star chickweed.

[00:01:02]>> Oh, chickweed.

[00:01:03]>> It come It's one of the early bloomers in the spring.

[00:01:08]>> But then once the uh And there's a few blossoms. I've I've spotted just a few blossoms still on.

[00:01:14]But then that growth in the spring, it puts the blossoms on. There's still remnants of it here down on the ground level. See this stuff here?

[00:01:25]And then it's but then this time of the year it's sending up foliage shoots so it looks different. That's what I picked.

[00:01:31]>> I just I just got done picking a bunch of them here.

[00:01:40]>> They all look the same to me.

[00:01:44]>> Well, Sam the got a good I mentioned a few minutes ago Sam the got a good video that we can pull up.

[00:01:51]>> Five leafed ivy. Uh, Virginia creeper is another name for it.

[00:01:56]>> Poison or no?

[00:01:57]>> No, not poisonous at all. It may be some It may be there. It could have a little bit of toxin as far as eating, but not for not like poison ivy.

[00:02:06]>> Mhm.

[00:02:09]>> And the the appearance of that seems to vary a little bit from different parts of the country.

[00:02:14]>> Looks like poison ivy, but >> well, you compare the two and it's quite different. But >> Mhm. Poison ivy's got three leaves.

[00:02:25]>> Anyway, here's some jun.

[00:02:33]>> Here's a bigger plant. It's going to bloom right there in the heart.

[00:02:37]Right here's some jinsing seedlings.

[00:02:45]>> There's another jins singing right there. There's a whole cluster back over in here. whole patch of them >> really. So this is Jinsenk right there.

[00:02:54]>> This is >> and this is the seedlings that are real small just getting started.

[00:02:59]>> And Jinsen's in a lot of stuff.

[00:03:02]>> Yes. This is a wild ginsing. This is what you can dig and sell for >> I know in in Ohio that you get in trouble if you pick it early.

[00:03:11]>> Yeah. Not supposed to pick it. Well, it it may vary from state to state.

[00:03:15]Tennessee it's September one.

[00:03:16]>> Okay.

[00:03:17]>> Not supposed to harvest it before then.

[00:03:19]Right. I think it's probably the same in Ohio.

[00:03:21]>> And you get money for it?

[00:03:23]>> Yeah.

[00:03:24]>> Oh, 700 a pound on the root. On the dried root.

[00:03:28]>> 700 a pound.

[00:03:29]>> It still take It still takes a lot to find a pound. I mean, >> you got dried >> dried. Oh, >> yeah.

[00:03:37]>> Yeah. There's a uh virtual reality show about Jane Pickers in West Virginia.

[00:03:43]They would shoot each other. Really?

[00:03:44]>> If you went into somebody else's territory.

[00:03:47]>> Oh, yeah. It was pretty serious.

[00:03:49]>> How much of that is a Hollywood dramatization? Well, I wonder.

[00:03:53]>> I don't the uh the gold guy up in Alaska.

[00:03:57]>> Gold Rush.

[00:03:58]>> I It was called Gold Rush or what? But anyhow, his the old man, the old grandpa man, >> he was my cousin's father-in-law.

[00:04:07]>> And he said it was no, it was no act at all. This guy was just like he was in real life. He was on the television, just grumpy and mean.

[00:04:18]I don't know much Hollywood's in the >> I mean for all the Jins Singh hunting I've done I very very rarely run into anybody else out there doing the same. I mean I found evidence of it often enough but >> and if I do run into somebody else I'm maybe I'd say hi and be friendly or maybe I'd go the other way before they even got a chance to see me or something, you know? I don't know.

[00:04:44]Anyway, there's a whole cluster of it here. And >> that's nice.

[00:04:50]>> The leaf shape does have >> just the way the way there's five leaves. There's like three bigger leaves and then two smaller leaves.

[00:04:55]>> Uhhuh. It follows a specific pattern.

[00:04:58]There are an occasional look alike to Jun Singh.

[00:05:01]>> They'll still fool me from a distance.

[00:05:03]Yeah.

[00:05:03]>> Like a like a tree sprout, a Buckeye tree sprout cuz it's got the five leaf leaflets too. But you get a little clo get a few steps closer and then there's nothing quite like jinseng.

[00:05:14]>> Okay.

[00:05:14]>> As far as the exact pattern of >> the leaves turn red or something >> they often turn yellow along with the >> toward >> along with along with the tree leaves turning color and the berries are red.

[00:05:26]>> Uh-huh. And that one is fixing to bloom eventually. You see right down in the heart of it. That's where where it sends up a bloom spike. Is there is there usually three seeds to a plant or is there a variation of that?

[00:05:39]>> A large a jins sing that's knee high can have a pot of berries this big.

[00:05:45]>> Okay.

[00:05:46]>> Now one that big you might have three or four little berries on it.

[00:05:50]>> Are the berries good to eat?

[00:05:52]>> Yes.

[00:05:54]>> Uh I've eaten them and then split spit out the seeds. I mean they're pleasant flavored. Maybe a little bit of jins singing flavor. It's got kind of a bitter kind of a sweet bitter flavor.

[00:06:07]>> I don't know.

[00:06:08]>> You'll never know it, will you?

[00:06:11]>> We'll start.

[00:06:12]>> That's wonder.

[00:06:13]>> In the time of trouble, is anybody going to be around us?

[00:06:20]>> Me and David are pretty bad at this.

[00:06:23]>> Well, that's where the advantage of these card games come in.

[00:06:26]>> Oh, the card games he has. Um hoping there's a time slot we can >> play.

[00:06:31]>> Get several of you together. I got enough card games for five groups playing at the same time. So >> play. Yeah.

[00:06:39]>> Try to get that introduced to y'all and and there's a chance to do it.

[00:06:46]>> Let me see what's >> And again, the card games are for the >> It's out there. It was a little stick.

[00:06:51]Okay.

[00:06:51]>> And again, the card games are for training the brain to recognize the patterns. and kind.

[00:06:57]>> And once you've once you've all played the card games, and I've got bags of flowers I collected yesterday, give yourself a little bit of a challenge because you by the time you get done playing those card games for a while.

[00:07:09]>> Mhm.

[00:07:09]>> You should be able to rec tell me exactly which family those what I've got in those bags.

[00:07:14]>> Oh, see, I want to play the card games.

[00:07:17]>> Family's a good start, but you just don't know. Some in the family have might have might be poison, too. Well, the advantage of that is sometimes whole plant families are not known to be any toxin at all.

[00:07:28]>> Mhm.

[00:07:29]>> You know, like mint family, mustards or brassacas.

[00:07:33]>> Mhm.

[00:07:35]>> Like mustard family that includes a number of cultivated crops, but it includes a lot of wild ones too.

[00:07:42]And so learning that pattern can if you encount you you know if you learn the pattern of that mustard family well enough so you can dependably recognize it anywhere in the world that covers thousands of species and you don't have to know exactly what it is. As long as you know it's that mustard family then you already know it's edible.

[00:08:01]>> Oh good.

[00:08:02]>> Yeah. I would be scared like I'm going to eat the wrong plant. And the same is true of the same is true of other plant families like parsley especially where learning the pattern of that family is very important. Parsley >> parsley or carrot or comp um umble umble umble family there's been more than one name on it but it has com it has umbles or compound umbles anyway learning patterns of that family is very important and valuable because that family yes it contains some very good edibles >> but it's got some of the most poisonous plants around too >> like water hemlock poison hemlock we got lots of poison hemlock walk around these parts, including on the other side of the road from the house.

[00:08:51]>> Yeah, they love growing up around the roadsides and >> overall overall I'd say there's far more as far as percentages and volume.

[00:09:02]There's far more edible or non-toxic plants around.

[00:09:05]>> He's in there. He's like getting a tick happy. You want ticks?

[00:09:10]>> Well, I just got done wandering out through here a ways and picking some stinging nettles.

[00:09:14]>> Did you get a lot of ticks on you? cuz she just came and she already had one on her.

[00:09:18]>> I not any that I'm aware of. Yeah, I get ticks now, man. And pick them off and keep going.

[00:09:24]>> Oh boy. Not when it has a bullseye.

[00:09:27]>> Speaking of tick, you ever heard of the that alpha gal syndrome from the lonear tick?

[00:09:34]>> Oh, is that the one that makes people allergic to certain types of meat?

[00:09:37]>> Red meat and pork. It's God's way of turning everybody into a vegetarian.

[00:09:42]>> So, >> wait, we don't do that.

[00:09:44]>> That's true. I mean, it's a natural disease.

[00:09:47]>> Well, uh, we're we hit the hingen sing.

[00:09:49]So, you want to do a little bit more? I got stuff waiting to >> I'd rather be up watching your stuff up there.

[00:09:56]>> I got stuff to do in the kitchen for food for >> Okay, >> we'll have to set up a card game.

[00:10:01]>> Jin Singh is primarily found on the western slope.

[00:10:04]>> Get the card.

[00:10:05]>> Um, >> I want to say no on a western slope.

[00:10:12]>> Northern. I meant northern.

[00:10:13]>> Northern. Yeah. I'm sorry.

[00:10:15]>> I want to say yes on a northern slope, but I've found it on east slopes, on west slopes, sometimes on south slopes, but toward the bottom of the slope or maybe in ravines where it's a little more moisture.

[00:10:27]>> But there's a certain look to woods that constitutes a drier woods, >> you know, a little different mix of species, and that's not where you want to find trees. Um, >> that's not what pop.

[00:10:43]Yeah, it's um >> it's ivy. It's >> maybe don't see her but strictly speaking, but I'm not sure how to immediately describe it, but a drier slope. It's >> chestnut oak is sometimes dominant in a drier woods, south slopes and such. Not strictly speaking because it grows in the other places too. But >> but if it if it has its dithers, it's going to be on a southern slope dry. But that's where you see a lot of it sometimes and sometimes not not so much jins sing but sometimes it's surprising where jins sing shows up. So and yeah I've seen it on some south slopes too and sometimes the plants are smaller the tops and then the roots are bigger. They've been growing slower.

[00:11:33]I've seen that too.

[00:11:35]That would >> make sense. This mushroom season too, isn't it?

[00:11:39]>> Yes, probably.

[00:11:42]Maybe a little late. A little late for morelss. Sometimes I run into morelss and sometimes not.

[00:11:46]>> I figured morels wouldn't popped up because all the crazy the weather's been.

[00:11:51]>> There's all kinds of lot more edibles.

[00:11:56]There's uses for this for the stems. I haven't even explored all the different ways of using garlic mustard.

[00:12:03]That >> follows the pattern of your mustard family.

[00:12:13]And it's kind of an invasive weed, so the more you eat of that, the better.

[00:12:22]Cool. Good deal.

[00:12:24]>> Oh, I just got done picking a lot of uh sting metal down here.

[00:12:31]>> Yeah, stinging nettle. That's what I want.

[00:12:33]>> Or specifically wood metal to be more exact.

[00:12:37]There's some right here.

[00:12:42]>> I'll be there in about 10 minutes.

[00:12:50]>> It's got the rough leaf like the gensing does.

[00:12:52]>> Here's wood nettle. It's got some sting to it.

[00:12:55]>> Yeah, they get you.

[00:12:56]>> Notice all the hairs on it.

[00:12:58]>> Yeah, >> there is a lookalike that's called false nettle, but there's no hairs on it. No sting to it.

[00:13:05]>> Okay. And there's also a plant that I'm pretty sure is a little bit toxic that kind of resembles it.

[00:13:11]>> Is it that one?

[00:13:12]>> This one here? Yeah. But notice the difference in leaf shape.

[00:13:15]>> Right.

[00:13:16]>> Mhm.

[00:13:17]>> There are some distinct differences there. Like especially right there at the base. See, >> this one has opposing stems where this >> Uhhuh. That's a big part of it, too.

[00:13:30]>> Yeah.

[00:13:30]>> Sometimes my brain miss I'm so used to looking at stuff. Sometimes my brain misses the obvious.

[00:13:37]>> I've seen I used to take leaves, put it on my hand and pop them and hit them just right and it'll make a real loud popping sound and grabbed one of them.

[00:13:46]Didn't realize it and >> there's a stinging nettle that grows.

[00:13:52]It's a little more northerly plant. It's here in Indiana and I'm sure. But this one does have some hairs on, but still notice the opposite leaves. These are alternate, different shape to the leaf.

[00:14:06]>> Yeah, >> this one's kind of um what do you call it? Decurrent. Tone down the stem there, too.

[00:14:13]>> And rub it on your hands. If it stings you, you got you got the right stuff.

[00:14:16]>> Um the time you rub a stinging nettle leaf, you take the sting out of it and you can eat it.

[00:14:24]>> Yeah.

[00:14:24]>> The time you crush it or roll it around a little bit, >> a light brush against it, that's where you're going to get the sting. Try it and find out.

[00:14:34]I can often handle >> Got it. I just got stung there.

[00:14:36]>> I can handle You can often handle it with your palm side of your hand without a problem.

[00:14:42]>> It's just an oil that's on there.

[00:14:48]>> No, it's like some a little bit of toxin inside those those hairs are like hypodermic needles. Mhm.

[00:14:58]>> Do you feel anything?

[00:15:13]The stem is what would be most uh most prickly little hairs.

[00:15:19]>> Mhm.

[00:15:20]>> So you say you just take it and rub them and then you can eat it.

[00:15:23]>> Yeah. Crush it up. Fold it up.

[00:15:27]>> It's a little tight. I can get a >> Yeah, I can cut it very well.

[00:15:33]>> I'm trying to explain and maybe not doing real good. There's a >> good >> a standard sting nettle plant. It's tall.

[00:15:40]>> You know, it it just grows in it's calling plant. So, it grows thick massive >> that's your primary stinging nettle. I tend to call this stinging metal because it's a metal and it stings >> but more properly it's wood metal different genus even laortia canidance >> versus the type of dioa of the regular tallwood >> the roots I take I take stinging n root a tincture for prostate >> okay >> it's very rid of that one it probably do similar >> yeah it's got some swollen probably a bit maybe tough but I mean it may not be real tender but that's probably quite edible and medicinal too.

[00:16:25]>> Yeah, it's very medicissible for for prostate in particular for a male.

[00:16:30]Now that's the root, not the you might got the teeth from the other >> Well, there's probably all kinds of more stuff we could look at. There's a jack in the pulpit blooming still hanging on.

[00:16:43]>> Where? Which one?

[00:16:45]>> A big leaf.

[00:16:47]Okay.

[00:16:56]The wood on that I the natives gathered the roots and then dried them and cured them for a few months to take the what is it? Calcium oxalate or something out of it to make them fit to eat.

[00:17:11]>> Yeah. I've read descriptions of people biting into a raw root and it's like >> bitter.

[00:17:18]>> Sounds like an unforgettable experience.

[00:17:21]>> Very painful.

[00:17:24]>> Not so much bitter. It sounds like it sounds like it grows crystals into the t into the flesh a little bit or something like that.

[00:17:34]>> I've heard of pranksters say, "Oh, try this." You know, it's Indian turnup.

[00:17:40]>> Indian turnup.

[00:17:42]That's kind right up.

[00:17:43]>> That's kind of a mean prank, but anyway.

[00:17:47]>> Yeah. There's any Jerusalem art chokes around?

[00:17:51]>> Uh, I haven't had too great a success on finding wild ones.

[00:17:56]>> Wild are pretty tough.

[00:17:58]>> Um, I found wild ones with roots, swollen roots this big, >> you know, just little bitty things.

[00:18:04]>> Yeah, >> I've seen them in Missouri. I ran into some young small ones out in Missouri once. kind of stumbled into the fact there was some roots underneath of it and it tastes as good as your cultivated.

[00:18:14]>> Yeah.

[00:18:15]>> But the cultivated can get monster, you know, fill up a five gallon bucket in a >> few feet of row space or something.

[00:18:22]>> Well, they said during one of the wars that people had uh lived on them, kept them from starving to death.

[00:18:29]>> It's pretty good. It's they're good flavored. Raw, cooked, either way.

[00:18:33]>> Yeah. No, they >> It's like a what? An artichoke.

[00:18:36]>> Kind of a crunchy.

[00:18:37]>> Yeah. Well, they're actually a sunflower, but Oh, >> okay.

[00:18:41]>> Of course, I guess the ball the glow barted chokes we buy, that's a thistle.

[00:18:45]And I guess that's the same family technically composite family. Basically, a thistle.

[00:18:51]>> Yeah, >> for that matter. The wild thistles would make good eating, too.

[00:18:55]>> Especially the inside of the stems.

[00:18:57]Those are crunchy and good >> and things that stick over you when you go and walk through them. The thistle, >> you can get past the thorns easy enough.

[00:19:06]>> Yeah.

[00:19:08]is down in moist areas and roadsides where it's moist and that makes good greens too, but you have to boil it and pour water off.

[00:19:20]>> Okay.

[00:19:20]>> Of course, that water you pour off can be real good uh poison ivy medicine, too.

[00:19:26]>> Really?

[00:19:28]>> People boil that and make a tea out of it or just juice it and then freeze it into an ice cubes trays. All right. Then when they got poison ivy, pull that out and rub it on and let it dry on for a poison ivy treatment.

[00:19:41]>> Or just take the fresh leaf, you know, and crush that up and >> just rub it on there.

[00:19:45]>> Rub that on. That works, too.

[00:19:46]>> I don't catch poison ivy, so >> I don't either. At least not very much or very often.

[00:19:51]>> Yeah, just occasionally. Yeah. And usually when there's jewelry around or when there's poison ivy, you'll find jewel jewelry in the same area.

[00:19:57]>> Okay.

[00:19:58]>> Not always because >> not always. Quite often. Poison ivy grows in a much wider habitat range and jewel is a little more damp shaded.

[00:20:07]Well, not always shaded, but it can grow out in full sun too, but but if you include uh joeed for a remedy, plantain for its aringent properties for a remedy, >> and maybe add in a few more, then yes, any place you find >> poison. Any place you find poison ivy, you're sure to find one at least one of the one of the list of remedies for it.

[00:20:35]>> That's great.

[00:20:36]>> Well, I suppose I should get on back to the house and I starting to work up some poke stems for uh for eating.

[00:20:49]And yes, I down here I was down here earlier and picked a whole bag of sting nettles and I started on another bag of chickweed. Okay, >> you got a whole bag of sting.

[00:21:01]>> Yes, it's up there in the kitchen.