California Winter Wild Edibles ....

I'm putting together a list of California winter wild edibles to order. I'd like to get my order in very soon, so I can hopefully start planting these winter wild edibles by early January. I'm in Growing Zone #8, very close (about three miles) to Growing Zone #14.

This is what I have so far:
1) pepper grass
2) chia
3) dandelion
4) Indian turnip
5) wintercress
6) garlic mustard
7) plantain
8) daisy

Please help me add to this list! Thank!

 

Claytonia perfoliata (Miner's lettuce)

 

I found the botanical names for these winter edibles:

1) Chia (Salvia columbariae)
2) Chickweed (Stellaria media)
3) Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
4) English Daisy (Bellis perennis)
5) Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
6) Indian turnip/Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
7) Miner’s Lettuce/Winter Purslane (Claytonia perfoliata)
8) Peppergrass (Descurainia pinnata, lepidium fremontii)
9) Plantain (Plantago major)
10) Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)
11) Wintercress (Barbarea vulgaris)

 

Several of those (2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11 in the updated list) are invasive alien species, not California natives. You might want to consider avoiding them! Particularly as most of them are also only borderline edible at best, not worthwhile food crops.

 

After having cleaned the seeds of Arisaema triphyllum without gloves once I can safely say it's a plant I would never put in my mouth!

 

What wild edibles would you recommend?

 

Best thing to do would be find a book by Californian Native American groups on their food plants.

 

I have six books, in the process (slow) of reading them, and trying to figure out which plants to order ...

I need to get my order in soon. Cannot finish reading all those books in time. I may just have to go with what I've got so far .... And keep ordering stuff as I go ....

I was hoping that somebody could share some good choices for California winter wild edibles .....

 

Here is my list of seeds I'll be ordering:

1) Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
2) Chervil: Great Green (Anthriscus cerefolium)
3) Chicory: Early Treviso (Chicorium intybus)
4) Chicory: Catalogna (Chicorium intybus)
5) Chickweed (Stellaria media)
6) Kale: Ruso-Siberian (Brassica napus)
7) Mustard: Japonica Purple Rapa Pop Mix (Brassica rapa)
8) Orach: Golden (Atriplex hortensis)
9) Orach: Green Velvet (Atriplex hortensis)
10) Orach: Magenta Magic (Atriplex hortensis)
11) Purslane: Golden (Portulaca oleracea sativa)
12) Purslane: Tall Green (Portulaca oleracea sativa)
13) Rutabaga: Joan (Brassica napus)
14) Sorrel: Garden Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

I'm also working on preparing a list of wild edibles for Spring, Summer and Fall ...

 

Have you heard of Dr John Kallas, or of Sunny Savage? These are two wild foods enthusiasts on the left coast. There are others, maybe FeralKevin on youtube, Deane Jordan of eattheweeds.com and youtube, Wildman Steve Brill, and venerable Sam Thayer. Kevin is in Cali somewhere, Sam I think is Midwest, Deane is Florida, but Deane and Sam cover lots of turf, and lots of commonly available wild edibles. Wildman is NYC and "the tri-state area" but there will be lots of stuff available there that you would find in your area, too.

Dr John Kallas will be connected with all sorts of education and research. I've never met him, but he's often at wild edible summits and bushcrafting seminars, and widely published. Sunny is more far ranging as in visiting every continent, has a limited youtube presence, but a website and a television program/series. Never saw it, but you may be able to glean something from her website.

Do you have any native Sonchus spp. or Rumex spp.? I would expect to forage both of them in winter months here in the southeast US.

 

I was reading up on Sonchus. Need to be careful with that one! I've seen a couple plants in my backyard that look very similar, but I haven't positively identified them yet.

I have Rumex on my list to order. My list of what I've put together for my winter edibles order is above.