top of page

1 item found for ""

  • Wild foods

    Finding food and eating it can be a great pleasure in life. While it is satisfying to grow and nurture vegetables in the well-tended garden bed, there is an excitement about finding plant food that has similarities with a successful hunt. Reconnect with the hunter-gather in yourself and gain some knowledge about plant foods unique to New Zealand.  Gathering naturally growing wild plant foods can be a rewarding hobby, provide real health benefits, and also be a great tool to add to your ‘survival preparedness’ toolbox. While it is said that there are close to 200 native edible plants in New Zealand, many of these are unpalatable or require extensive preparation.  Nevertheless the usefulness of New Zealand native plants goes beyond their edibility and while in a survival situation some of them can be deemed as significant survival food, their medicinal purposes are also good to know when you are out in the bush.  The medicinal value of many wild plant foods has been known to humanity for eons. Many of our current pharmaceutical products stem from the beneficial properties first identified in wild plants. For example in the early 1800s scientists discovered that the abundance of salicylic acid in willow bark meant that an infusion of this is good for reducing fever and also functions as a pain reliever, this directly led to the development of what we now commonly refer to as Aspirin.  Medicinal uses of plants in a survival situation.  The salicylic acid in willow bark is good for reducing fever, pain relief and as an anti-inflammatory aid.  The best method is to brew a tea from the inner bark, but if the situation is urgent chewing a few small green twigs and swallowing the (rather revolting tasting) resulting saliva-juice should yield similar results. Just don’t eat too much, high doses are toxic and can cause stomach pains and diarrhoea. It is not recommended for those under the age of 16.   To support your immune system and keep your spirits up drink some pine needle tea. All pine needles are suitable, although the tastes do vary by species and location. Pine needles are packed with vitamins, especially C and A, as well as antioxidants. Simply adding hot water to a handful of pine needles makes a refreshing tea.  For stomach cramps and diarrhoea the Mānuka seed balls can come to the rescue. Chewing the seed balls supposedly stops diarrhoea. Infusions made from the leaves or bark can also ease the discomfort of diarrhoea. Tea from the leaves is also a useful mouthwash and can even reduce fevers. If you wish to drink the tea merely for its pleasant taste, ensure you use young leaves and don’t steep it too long.  Kawakawa can be taken to ease digestion problems and also functions as a mild analgesic. Perhaps most importantly it is said that consuming Kawakawa provides one with strength and rejuvenation to face extreme physical and psychological stress situations. The slightly crushed leaves can simply be brewed into a tea. In large quantities the leaves are thought to be toxic, but one or two leaves for a cup of tea won’t be problematic. The berries are amongst the more pleasant tasting berries in New Zealand bush, as long as you don’t bite into the tiny hard seeds!  For toothache one can chew on Kawakawa leaves, which won’t taste great but will certainly numb out the pain of the toothache. Application of a poultice of Kawakawa leaves is also useful for wounds.  Alternatively you can apply the sticky sap found inside flax (Harakeke) leaves. This is said to have an antiseptic quality as well as purgative qualities. Of course as an added bonus the seeds of Harakeke are edible and quite sweet when in their green or white state. Simply snap the pod and squeeze the seeds out. And don’t forget about the delicious nectar provided in abundance by the flax. A real energy boost in a survival situation!  Plant food for nourishment in a survival situation.  Food is not as high on the list of survival priorities as many people believe it is. Nor are you likely to easily gather enough nourishing wild foods to thrive on for longer periods of time. Needlessly to say you’d be a bit silly to enter the bush unprepared to face unfortunate circumstances. However, if you ever do find yourself having to survive in the wild, it will only aid your situation if you have at least some basic knowledge about edible wild plants.  While surviving on native edible plants in the New Zealand bush is unlikely to maintain the weight you started with, they should provide you with the energy and sustenance to survive. The average person can survive around 30 days without food but only 3 days without water. So gathering food should not be your priority in a survival situation. But if the situation is somewhat longer term then energy levels need to be maintained and boredom and depression need to be avoided. For these reasons gathering wild plant foods can be extremely beneficial.  The easiest and most recognisable for most people would be the New Zealand Ferns. Some caution is required here as only a few of the many hundreds of fern species are edible, although it appears none are highly poisonous. Even the edible ones are likely to have some carcinogenic qualities but as a survival food this may not be avoidable.  Māori commonly ate the roots of Bracken fern (Rārahu) and although their preparation methods were quite complex, in a survival situation you could roast them and chew them to obtain the juices. The fibres part of the root is edible but according to Elsdon Best (author of Forest Lore of the Maori ) not terrible pleasant to swallow. The young fronds (the koru shaped fiddleheads) have historically been eaten but are now known to be carcinogenic. Although the carcinogenic compound appears to be destroyed with cooking. It is best to avoid this plant unless absolutely necessary and then only consume after cooking.  It is preferable to obtain the young shoots, or fiddle heads, of the Hen and Chickens Fern (Mouku), the Common Shield Fern (PikoPiko), the Gully Fern (Pākau) or the Hound’s Tongue Fern (Kōwaowao). All of these young fronds are quite palatable when steamed or boiled until just tender.  The easily recognised Mamaku (Black Tree Fern) is a useful survival food to know. Māori steamed the Mamaku pith taken from the trunk.  But due to the slow regeneration of the tree it was only used in times of scarcity or by travellers. Removing the pith from the trunk prevents the tree from renewing and should only be attempted in a genuine survival situation. According to Andrew Crowe from A Field Guide to the Native Edible Plants of New Zealand , it is possible to remove some of the pith from the frond stems without damaging the tree. These can then be sundried, steamed, baked or boiled.  Another tree that grows in abundance in New Zealand is the Cabbage Tree (Tī Kōuka). The tender shoots of all types of cabbage trees can be eaten and can be eaten raw or cooked. The trick is to get the new shoots growing out of the top of the stem, peel away the outer leaves and eat the tender white part, which looks a bit like a leek and tastes a bit like cabbage. Depending on the season and the age of the shoots the taste can be fairly bitter but this does improve somewhat with cooking. Due to the year around availability of this plant it truly is a great survival food.  A great survival food to keep in mind is the Supple Jack (Kareao). The new growth at the end of the vine have a mild similarity to asparagus or green beans and are at their best in summer and eaten cooked. The berries are little red ones and can be found throughout the year. They don’t taste brilliant but do provide some good protein and energy. The tubers and leaves of Supple jack are all purportedly edible but not known to have been consumed by anyone on a regular basis.  The well-known Nīkau palm is not only beautiful it also supposedly provides one of the best bush meals in New Zealand. The tender heart or cabbage is a delicacy but sadly removing it will kill the tree and as these special palms take around 20 -200 years to grow it is highly unethical to remove the heart simply to eat it unless you are facing an absolute dire emergency. This delicate heart of the palm is commonly referred to as the millionaire’s salad. The good news is that there are parts of the palm you can eat which are not a death sentence for the plant. You can eat the cooked immature flowers (before they open) and the berries while still green (before they mature and turn red) without killing the plant.  Cautions regarding eating native wild plant foods.  While it is undoubtedly useful to have sound knowledge of at least some native edible wild food plants that you may find in New Zealand bush, this knowledge comes with great responsibility and very little practice! Many of the most edible native plants foods (such as the Nīkau palm or the Mamaku) place the plant itself in great jeopardy when harvested for food.  And it is not only humans that threaten many of New Zealand’s native plants. We must heed this caution and deeply respect and honour the wonderful native plants that our beautiful country has to offer. Often this means that we can’t simply go out into the bush to ‘experiment’ with eating the various plants we may have learned about. Often it may be a case of gaining a lot of theoretical knowledge and possibly trying a little in practice.  Aside from being unethical it is also illegal to harvest living plants from New Zealand’s national parks and reserves. So during non-emergency situations it is not okay to remove edible wild plants from the forest. However, there are many other places where many of the plants, such as ferns and flaxes, grow. You might even already have some in your own backyard. Removing some of the plant to strengthen your knowledge of wild foods is quite acceptable if it will not harm the plant and if the location is not a protected one.  A surprisingly useful non-native invader A surprisingly wonderful survival food to keep in mind is the much despised Gorse. Gorse is sadly found invading many areas of New Zealand and depending on your particular survival situation you may just be able to find gorse within your reach. The well-known bright yellow flowers are quite edible and are simply eaten raw or steeped into a tea. They have some resemblance to the taste of almonds. Although slightly toxic due to containing alkaloids the small level of toxicity is not something to be concerned about in a survival situation. Neither the seeds nor pods are edible.  Another interesting note about gorse flowers is that Bach practitioners often prescribe their essence for individuals who have given up hope, those that have lost motivation and given up. This negative state is something that you want to avoid in a survival situation, so a tea from the bright little yellow flowers wouldn’t go astray.  And finally this invasive and obnoxious weed has been found to serve a purpose in the reestablishment of native forest. In places of abandoned land, gorse has been found to be a useful nursery for native bush regeneration. The newly growing native seedlings grow through the gorse and as they get bigger they compete for the light, nourishment and water usually at the demise of the gorse.  So while you are unlikely to locate a delicious five course menu of New Zealand native wild plants, there are many that will provide you with energy, nourishment and medicinal benefits in a survival situation. Combined with the many edible introduced species, it is not impossible to gather enough wild plants food for a reasonable meal in the amazing New Zealand bush.

bottom of page