Christopher Nyerges (left) pictured with his brother Richard Nyerges (right)

Christopher Nyerges has been teaching wild food plant and survival/primitive skills classes in the Los Angeles area since 1974. Richard Nyerges is a long-term volunteer with the Angeles National Forest, who just happened upon our wild food outing in the Angeles National Forest on Saturday, February 10th. It was fun to see the two brothers together, and to see how they both respectively share a love of the great outdoors.

Christopher has been into using the abundant resources of the natural world around him since the age of 12. His initial attraction was to Native American skills, which eventually led to his deep connection with the plants. He’s a great teacher, allowing the natural curiosity of the group to guide his teachings. I asked him what the most common wild food plants, most likely already found in the urban Los Angeles yard:

1. acorns
2. roses; hips and petals (do not eat if treated with fertilizers)
3. lambsquarters; leaves and seeds
4. mallow; leaves and seeds
5. sow thistle; leaves, flowers, roots

He estimates that thousands of people in the LA area are already aware of gathering wild food plants, and do so on a somewhat sporadic but ongoing basis. He recommends learning with someone in person. The next best is a video, and finally a book. Don’t rush it, learn the plants one by one and never eat something when you are in doubt. Christopher offers regular classes in the Los Angeles area, Click here to see his schedule.

I asked him why he has chosen this path, “I don’t do it for money, I don’t necessarily do it for health. I do it because it just feels right to me.” Foraging is part of an ecological whole. To learn more of Chistopher’s vast knowledge of surviving in our natural world, and in the LA area in particular, Click here to visit his online store.

So here’s the Wild American version of soba noodles. In Japan, these thin noodles are oftentimes hand-crafted, the more buckwheat used the more desirable they are. Mine are a bit rough, but the slightly sweet flavor of the California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) is amazing, and it’s just so fun to eat something that grows wild right out your own backdoor.

These noodles are a delicious addition to a bowl of miso soup. Miso is so wonderful in its flexibility of ingredients you can throw in the pot. For this pot I had some local spring onions, local garlic, powdered wild ginger from MN, inner core of locally grown broccoli, some Bragg’s liquid amino’s, local olive oil, sesame seeds, and precooked wild soba noodles.

Wild Soba Noodles
1 cup finely ground California buckwheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour, or flour of your choice
dash of salt
2 eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, olive oil and water. Start mixing from the center of the well until all of the dry ingredients have been mixed in. If you need more moisture, simply add some water. Too wet, add some more flour. Divide dough into 4 separate dough balls and cover with a towel to keep in the moisture. Take out one dough ball and place onto well floured surface. Roll out into a thin wide sheet and cut your noodles. Hang them on the back of a chair, or wherever you can find some space (I used my clothes drying rack). You can make them as thin or as wide as you like. To cook bring water to a full boil. Place noodles in and cook for roughly 5 minutes.

I actually found a few Calfornia buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) flowers in bloom on the trail to Eagle Rock, in Topanga Canyon State Park, last weekend. This really speaks to the amazing biodiversity of this plant. I’ve been harvesting it since September, and will continue to do so until the rains wash the seeds away. This extremely wide range in harvesting time isn’t as common in cultivated plants, which are designed to perform under a more narrow set of conditions.

When you are 100% certain that you have correctly identified Calfornia buckwheat, you can begin to harvest it. I think the leaf structure is similar to another common plant of the chaparal, chemise (Adenostoma fasciculatum). And although the seed head balls of the buckwheat are distinctly rust colored, the seed head balls of black sage (Salvia mellifera) could be confusing to the beginner. So again, once you are 100% confident of your identification, harvest the seeds and clean out any sticks, twigs, or insects. Place the seeds and chaffe into a coffee grinder, spice grinder, blender, or mortar and pestle. Grind until you have a fine flour. This flour does not have gluten, so you will need to mix it with a gluten containing flour if you wish to use it in a similar manner.

I learned to make chapati over an open fire while living in India. If you do not have an open fire, or gas stove in your kitchen, simply skip the open fire method described below and let them cook longer in the pan. Chapati’s are a bit lighter than tortillas, and I’ve found they’re good for the more fibrous consistency of the buckwheat.

California buckwheat chapati

1 c California buckwheat flour
1 c unbleached white flour, or flour of your choice
water
butter
clove of garlic
salt

Mix California buckwheat flour and unbleached white flour in medium-sized bowl. Pour in small amounts of water until you have a pliable dough. Separate dough into 5 separate balls and cover with a hand towel. Take one dough ball out and roll it out onto a well floured flat surface using a rolling pin. Roll as thinly as you can and place into a hot pan (I like to use cast iron) for roughly 10 seconds on each side. Then use tongs to pick up your chapati, move your pan to the side, and place the chapati directly over the open flame until it puffs up. Make sure to fire both sides and watch the air bubbles expand. I like to then brush them with butter, rub them with a garlic clove that has been cut in half, and lightly sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately.

Have fun experimenting!

Welcome to wildfoodplants.com! I hope together we can create an organized, worldwide movement of people interested in wild food plants. Today is celebrated by Pagans as Imbolc, and Christians as St. Brigid’s Day. Regardless of how it is defined, today’s full moon reflects the fires which have begun to stir deeply within Mother Earth. It is also Groundhog Day. Although the groundhog is recognized here in the US for his ability to predict the weather, I am much more interested in the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which is officially released today. This consortium of over 2500 scientists from around the globe will give us a clearer picture of our upcoming weather forecast. In April it will release its observations and predictions regarding food production and climate change.

This site will continually evolve, including a database of wild food instructors, links to resources on wild foods, on-line videos showing how to harvest and prepare wild foods, interviews with wild food experts, and more. I have trips planned to Peru, the plains of North Dakota, northern MN, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Arizona this year. Join me on this adventure in wild foods and the wild people who love them.

Breathe life into your visions. The time to act is now. Those who hold deep-seated ecological knowledge, from experience, will be forced to share that knowledge as we enter the throes of global climate change more thoroughly. Lets transmute the negative energies around us into something positive and sustaining for our future generations.