Edible Wild Plants in Alaska

I joined Mother and my friend Elizabeth up at the Eagle River Nature Center today for a talk on edible wild plants in Alaska. Summer is upon us finally, and for me that means doing the Discovery Tour at The Alaska Zoo. I used this talk as a refresher course on the material I’ll need.

It was a great talk with a slide show followed by a short hike on some trails to see the plants in person. Not that you could see much; summer may be here, but Green isn’t yet.

Briefly, here’s the rundown of some common edible plants.

Please do keep in mind that you may have allergies to some of these foods, so use caution with all plants until you know for certain that they are safe for you. Please also be sure of your identification; some plants that are poisonous mimic others that are edible.

In a disturbed area (for example, the ditch alongside the roadway), you might find horsetail, pineapple weed, dandelion, yarrow, plantain, wild mustard, shepherds purse, lambs quarter, chickweed, goldenrod, stinging nettle, wormwood, sorrel, and Dock.

In a forest, you might find willow trees, cottonwood trees, red elder, red current, raspberry, devil’s club, cranberry, dogwood, sphagnum moss, fiddle head ferns, and watermelon berries.

The speaker didn’t really talk much about plants found in meadows, since there really aren’t any meadows nearby the nature center – but she did mention the cow parsnip, which can be eaten if great care is taken in the harvesting. Some people find that they are severely allergic to this plant, so it might be best to just avoid it and eat celery from the grocery store instead.

All of these plants listed above are edible in one form or another; raw, boiled, steamed, or roasted. On some you eat the leaves, others you’d eat the stalks.

There are several books available to guide you in harvesting the abundance that nature provides. Feel free to head out to the Nature Center and check out their selection!