Mary Anne's Alaska
Beauty in the Last Frontier
  • Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Editing Services
  • My Book

Foraging for and Eating Devil's Club

5/11/2015

14 Comments

 
Spikes and a bud on a devil's club stem
Yesterday I ate a poisonous plant. And I’m still here! (DISCLAIMER! I don't pretend to know all the safety guidelines for eating this plant! Do your own research if you plan to pick and eat this plant; don't go by what I say here.)

To be clear, the part I consumed wasn't poisonous. And the plant is not necessarily poisonous in a lethal sense. Many Alaska natives have used it for medicinal purposes for a long time. I ate devil’s club buds, which are edible for an extremely short timeframe in the spring. I read what I could in preparation, though it seems not many people have been brave enough to eat a plant whose spines give a nasty rash, or worse. (My main inspiration and guidance was this blog post by a well-known local cook.) My husband wasn’t too excited about eating this unfamiliar and unproven wild food, but I was determined to expand my skills of foraging for and eating Alaska’s bounty.

We had been out of town for a week, so we almost missed our opportunity since we hadn’t been able to check the progress of the buds around our house. We checked the other night and decided we couldn't wait another day; if we did the buds might start unfurling (quickly becoming the HUGE leaves they are in summer) and the spines would harden. So we donned gloves and carefully tromped through the woods.
Picking the delicate buds from the spiny brown stems
We just had normal clothes on, and because we didn't want to be poked with the painful spines that cover the stems or have to pick them out of our clothes later, we only chose buds from plants around the edges of the devil's club clusters. During the winter, each plant consists of mainly just a brown, spiny stick (as seen above).
Wearing gloves to pick buds from a wild plant
We found a few pretty fiddlehead ferns (below) along the way! These are another Alaskan delicacy that are edible for a short timeframe.
Young fiddlehead ferns growing in Anchorage, Alaska
The spring evening was just beautiful, with golden light coating all the vegetation around us. The sun isn't setting this time of year until after 10 PM, and the birds are awake and happy late into the evening. Buds and baby leaves are out on all the plants, and the rhubarb plants in the garden already have huge leaves!
Sunset and buds on a spring evening
Spring rhubarb leaves in evening sunlight
Then came the kitchen work. I didn't want to stay up late, so I put the buds in a bowl, sealed them up, and then stuck them in the fridge overnight. The next day, I carefully went through and weeded out ANY buds I was unsure of. I wanted only the greenest, most spineless buds possible for this experiment! I didn't quite know what I was doing.
A close-up of the inside of a devil's club bud
I rinsed my careful selection well and then blanched them for a couple minutes, followed by an ice bath to stop the cooking, as Laurie instructs in the blog post I mentioned in my second paragraph. The juice from the buds stained my fingers and knife. Fortunately it came off with a little scrubbing. I didn't expect that brown color to come from these pretty green buds!
Juice from cutting up wild foraged food
I finally had a whole bunch of buds ready to cook with or eat. I froze a few bagfuls and kept a little bit out to cook up (plus a few fiddlehead ferns we picked to eat).
Fresh Alaska edible plant ready to cook and eat
I cooked them in some butter and garlic, with fresh-ground lemon pepper on top. The taste is hard to describe, but it's woodsy and almost spicy. The texture is soft, and they are definitely a unique Alaskan treat!
Sauteed Devil's Club Buds - an Alaskan delicacy
If you want to see what devil's club looks like in its summer form, visit this page and look at the picture across the top of the page! You can also scroll down to read about the plant.

Have you foraged for any wild, edible plants in your area?
14 Comments
Cheryl Anderson
5/11/2015 03:44:54 pm

I had no idea you could eat devil's club buds!! I learned something new. How awesome of you to try something new and unique to Alaska!

Reply
Mary Anne Brady
5/11/2015 10:38:05 pm

It was a pretty neat discovery! Alaska has so many wonderful berries, and it was fun to try something wild and "green."

Reply
Nadezda link
5/11/2015 04:38:41 pm

Mary Anne, I think it was very dangerous experiment. I always do not pick up the plants for meals if I'm not sure. But I often go hunting mushrooms in the woods I know many edible varieties.

Reply
Mary Anne Brady
5/11/2015 10:37:02 pm

Nadezda, neither do I. We have so many kinds of berries here in Alaska, and quite a few are poisonous. I don't know many of the edible plants, but this one I knew was in its edible state. You are much braver than I am when it comes to mushrooms! I think a lot of the poisonous and edible ones look too alike and I just stick to the ones in the stores.

Reply
Heather
5/11/2015 09:34:11 pm

Fun! I'm not sure if I would have been confident enough to do this, but I sure enjoyed seeing the process you went through :)

Reply
Mary Anne Brady
5/11/2015 10:40:11 pm

I knew the buds were OK to eat, but it still felt so weird to eat something that can make me so itchy (when I accidentally brush it on a trail)! Always up for a little adventure here in Alaska. :)

Reply
Jim Feeney link
5/12/2015 12:49:56 am

Mary Anne, this reminds me of when Mom and I flew into the little village of Shaktoolik with our friends Gilbert and Eva. It was summer and the villagers had been gathering the leaves of local plants to eat as vegetables. Ever the adventurer(!), Mom tried a leaf. It didn't taste bad, but she chewed and chewed and never did succeed in swallowing it!

Reply
Mary Anne Brady
5/15/2015 12:37:54 am

The number of wild foods and medicinal treatments the natives have here is amazing! I'd like to learn more of them.

Reply
neil
5/12/2015 01:37:00 am

If you are still alive - grat job. I would have been too afraid to try. Super photos.

Reply
Mary Anne Brady
5/15/2015 12:38:35 am

Thanks Neil! Yep, still alive and no adverse effects. :)

Reply
Natasha link
6/3/2015 05:43:54 am

Hi Mary Anne,
Great post. This was my first season ever harvesting devil's club. I've lived in Anchorage my whole life and have not known this plant to make me itch when I encounter it (although its spikes are pretty brutal). Cow parsnip, or pushki, looks a lot like devil's club and that stuff can make you itchy if you brush by it on a sunny day because it's photosensitive. Not fun, that's for sure.

What else do you have planned for your harvesting adventures? I'm just waiting for the boletes to come up, but that's not for another month or so.

I'm having fun poking around your site.

Best,
Natasha

Reply
Mary Anne Brady
6/5/2015 08:28:42 am

Thanks for visiting, Natasha! Isn't it a fun adventure to forage for what we have right in front of us, especially if it's a "daring" food? :)

I've only gotten itchy/rashy when the spikes have broken off in my skin. I haven't brushed up against cow parsnip that I know of, but I've heard that's no fun either!

I'm not sure what else I'll forage for besides berries later. I should look at your site and get inspired!! I love learning what's edible in my back yard. :)

Reply
Nan
12/22/2017 02:11:59 pm

I had the fortune to try pickled devil club buds, oh gosh they were so good. Next spring it is my goal to make some, good food.

Reply
Mary Anne's Alaska
12/24/2017 09:46:53 pm

That sounds delicious! I would love to try them pickled! Hope you get a chance to try your hand at it!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Hello!

    I'm a mom of twins, published author, editor, amateur photographer, and nature enthusiast with an unlimited supply of curiosity. Come discover the little wonders I find during my everyday life in Alaska.

    Subscribe to be notified of new posts!

    RSS Feed

    Looking for a specific Alaskan place or thing? Check out the categories below!

    Categories

    All
    Alaska-Canadian Highway
    Alaska Colors
    Alaska FAQ
    Alaska Foods
    Alaska Hikes
    Alaska History
    Alaska Rivers
    Alaska Smells
    Alaska Sounds
    Alaska Wildlife
    Anchorage
    Bears
    Byers Lake
    Cabins
    Camping
    Chena Hot Springs
    Chitina River
    Chokosna River
    Denali
    Devil's Club
    Fairbanks
    Fall/Autumn
    Festivals
    Fishing
    Happy Valley
    Hatcher Pass
    Homer
    Iditarod
    Independence Mine
    Johnson House Cabin
    Kenai Peninsula
    Kenai River
    Kennecott Mines
    Kepler Lake
    Knik River
    Kuskulana River
    Matanuska Glacier
    McCarthy Road
    Owls
    Palmer
    Rabbit Creek
    Ravens
    Root Glacier
    Seward
    Sockeye Fire
    Spring
    Summer
    Wildlife Conservation Center
    Willow
    Winter

© Mary Anne Brady and Mary Anne's Alaska, 2015-2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Mary Anne Brady and Mary Anne's Alaska with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.