You may think that with winter around the corner and fall already here that the time for foraging is long past. I'm happy to say that fall is a great time to forage. If you sit outside for any length of time you will see the squirrels are busy about their business and there's no reason we can't follow their example.
Now is the time when nuts are ripe for gathering. They have grown all summer and they are filled out and ready to fall from the trees. Here in the southeast we have several different kinds to start gathering. Every area should also have some of these and others that don't grow here but are native to your area.
The nuts that I will gather have been used for food sources for generations and were important food sources for the pilgrims and native Americans. The most obvious are the acorns from the oak trees. All acorns are edible but the best ones come from white oaks. Acorns can have a bitter taste because they are high in tannin. They need to be soaked in several rinses of water to make them better for use. After they are soaked and rinsed, they can then be dried (roasting in the oven is best) and stored. Then they can be chopped or ground depending on what you're going to do with them.
Another wild nut is the hickory nut and also the pecan. The pecan and the hickory nut are in the same family. Many people plant pecan trees for the nuts. If you don't have pecan trees then the hickory nuts are a welcome substitute. They are more difficult to get out of the shell and they have a greener taste but they are free and abundant. Roasting them also improves their taste and when they are baked in a dish they are every bit as tasty. Hickory nuts need to be inspected for cracks and tiny worm holes and if none are visible then they store quite well in their shells just as the pecans do. Any with cracks should be shelled and dried before storing. Ones with holes have worms and should be discarded.
We also have chinquapins that grow in our area and are native to the US. They are a food source for the animals and can be for us as well. They are similar to chestnuts but they're smaller and grow in a more brushy shrub rather then a tall tree. The outer husk looks almost identical to the chestnut husk.
A more uncommon nut you can harvest is the pine nut. We don't grow the type of pine here that grows the large nuts but all pine nuts ARE edible. The work involved may be high for the amount you get out of regular pines but when you're hungry you take food where you can find it. Just gather the cones. The bigger cones tend to have bigger nuts/seeds. Wear gloves and starting from the bottom of the cones begin pulling off the layers of husks. Each husk holds two seeds with a paper wing that you can pull off leaving the tiny seed on the end. The seeds can be eaten as they are or dried and ground into a flour.
There are also fruits which are just ripening this time of year. The american persimmon can be easily harvested by spreading a sheet underneath the tree and shaking the tree. They are high in tannin and won't be ready until after the first frost. They look rather shriveled and bad when they are ripe but that's when they taste the best. They have several large seeds per fruit and can be difficult to work with but washing and running them through a food mill will remove the skin and seeds. They can then be made into a nice jam. They can also be preserved whole with the seeds inside by canning them in honey or a sugar syrup. Just eat them and spit the seed out if you do it that way or run them through a food mill to use them for baking.
Two great sources of vitamin C are also very common and ready for harvesting this time of year. One is rose hips and may be in your own yard. If you don't have any rose hips then maybe a friend or business will let you harvest theirs. Make sure they have not been sprayed with toxic chemicals. They can be harvested and dried for later use or made into rose hip jellies and syrups. The other plant with useful berries is the sumac that grows wild. You don't want the poison sumac which has different berries and not as common. You want the sumac with the upright cone shaped red berries. You can cut the whole berry cluster and remove them from the stem when you return home. The berries have a coating on them which when removed through soaking makes sumac ade which is similar to lemonade and high in c vitamins. Some people with allergies to poison ivy and poison sumac may still have a slight reaction to any kind if sumac so tread carefully at first until you are sure you won't react. Most people don't.
Many of the wild greens like dandelion, plaintain, chicory and curly dock are still producing and putting out some nice young winter greens. Those can be harvested this time of year as well and eaten fresh or canned for later.
Finally the most obvious fruits available this time of year are the apples, crab apples and quinces. They are great whether they are wild or cultivated and are perfect for canning into all kinds of goodies which can be eaten now or later. Those crabapples and quinces aren't good for fresh eating but they make some of best preserves I've ever had.
Don't think just because the leaves are falling that its time to put the jars and canners away. Don't unplug the dehydrator either because the harvest is out there if you think outside of the grocery store and look to nature for your food. The best way in my opinion to provide for your family is to do it at the least cost and highest quality. How much better can you get then fresh, home canned and free?
Southern Wood Elf