Growing and identifying elderberry: blue, black, and how to tell it apart
How to identify true elderberry (and avoid look-alikes), the difference between blue and American black, and how to grow named cultivars like Adams and Bob Gordon.
Topic
Foraging
Finding and using wild food safely — identifying edible plants, mushrooms, and fruits, foraging ethics and legality, seasonal calendars, and preparing wild harvests in the kitchen.
9 articles in this topic on agripure.
Purslane plant: how to identify the omega-3 weed and tell it from its toxic twin
Identify the purslane plant by its fat clear-sap stems and yellow flowers, tell it from toxic spurge, and use the richest leafy source of omega-3.
Plantain weed: how to identify broadleaf and narrowleaf plantain (and eat it)
Plantain weed is Plantago, not the banana. Tell broadleaf (P. major) from narrowleaf (P. lanceolata) by parallel veins and seed spike, then eat the young leaves.
How to identify poison ivy: leaflets of three, vines, berries, and the lookalikes
Leaves of three, let it be. How to identify poison ivy by its three leaflets, vine and shrub forms, seasonal color, and white berries — and tell it from Virginia creeper.
Wild violets: how to identify Viola sororia, eat the flowers, and decide whether to keep it
Identify common blue violet by its heart-shaped leaves and five-petal flowers, forage the vitamin-C-rich flowers and young leaves safely, and decide: lawn weed or keeper.
Lamb’s quarters: how to identify, harvest, and cook wild spinach safely
Identify lamb’s quarters (Chenopodium album) by its white mealy coating and goosefoot leaves, tell it from toxic nightshade, and cook out the oxalate safely.
Wild edible plants: a beginner’s guide to 6 safe-to-forage greens
Six beginner-safe wild edible plants — dandelion, purslane, plantain, lamb’s quarters, chickweed, violet — with the one ID trait and toxic lookalike for each.
How to identify morel mushrooms (and never confuse them with a toxic false morel)
True morels have a pitted honeycomb cap fused to a completely hollow stem. Here is how to tell them from a toxic false morel, and the rules that keep you safe.
How to identify chanterelle mushrooms (and the toxic lookalikes that fool foragers)
True chanterelles have blunt forked ridges, not sharp gills. How to tell egg-yolk chanterelles from the toxic jack-o’-lantern and false chanterelle before you eat.