I got a wild hair to eat skunk cabbage this weekend and actually foraged it, cooked it, and tasted it. Maybe I am crazy, but I really wanted greens.
Since late April, my mom and I have been eating “green soup” at least every other day. We have felt great as a result and intend to eat our green soup for as long as we have greens available. We have cooked the soup by the two-gallon batch and estimate the market value of ingredients to be about $100 per batch. Of course, our ingredients come entirely from our garden and foraging projects. It is the decline of the green season in the garden that inspired my skunk cabbage foraging.
Skunk cabbage is an edible green that grows wild in much of the United States. Here in the Sequoia National Forest it grows right alongside the Giant Sequoia trees. As I toiled over the database for the calcium rich foods website, I noticed the nutrient profile of skunk cabbage and thought, “If it’s in the database and grows nearby, it’s fair game for soup.”
I did a quick Internet search for skunk cabbage as an edible plant:
- It was eaten by native Americans in times of famine.
- It is so high in calcium oxalates that it burns your throat as you eat it. (You may have to boil it many times and discard the boiling water to keep it from burning your throat.)
- It smells like skunk.
I moved from bullish to bearish on the skunk cabbage but I was determined to try it. We REALLY like our soup regimen.
As I left home for my foraging, my mom pleaded: “Don’t bring home too much skunk cabbage! You can always get more!”
As an aside, though skunk cabbage grows alongside Giant Sequoia trees, if you forage for plants in a protected area and you get caught, you will get strung up by your toenails after getting a four-digit fine. It is a far better idea to go to the grocery store and buy spinach than to forage for dinner in a protected area.
As we drove to the skunk cabbage source, I kept reassuring the family: “Oxalates and skunk smells vary so much by location. This stuff could taste like spinach. Come on, guys, we’re about to taste skunk cabbage!!!”
Frederick smelled skunk cabbage in a meadow and reported no smell whatsoever.
“This stuff really may be just like spinach,” I reminded everyone.
I picked a small bag of skunk cabbage, lugged it home, and boiled it for about twenty minutes noting its extremely high fiber content. While our kitchen is usually packed with three generations of eaters, the kitchen was strangely quiet as I poured the water from the skunk cabbage pot. My face was steamed with a strong smell of greens as I poured the boiling-hot water out of the soup pot and through a colander in the kitchen sink. There was another smell I could not quite pinpoint but before thinking about it all too much, I tore off a piece of cabbage and popped it into my mouth.
It turns out that I was right: Oxalates vary by location and this cabbage did not burn my throat.
Or perhaps I didn’t notice the burning oxalates in my throat because, in fact, I suddenly had a mouthful of skunk.
Native Americans had the opportunity to eat this nutritious green and yet they chose to eat it only during famines. Those generations before us named this green “skunk cabbage.” Personally, I have a new reason to pray that we never face famine.
Some of us are slow learners and need more experiential-based educations. If that is you, go forth and eat a green that tastes like skunk. About three glasses of red wine will cover the flavor, but you might want something stronger on hand just in case.
Nutrients in Skunk Cabbage
We have not posted a food profile here on the Traditional Foods site in a while and know you have been waiting for another greens profile. With data provided by the USDA, this green is high in magnesium, calcium, iron, and folate. For all of its folate, incorporate it into your pregnancy diet because I’ll bet it tastes especially choice during that special time.
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Macronutrients
| Component | ||
| Calories | ||
| Protein | ||
| Fat | ||
| Carbohydrate | ||
| Fiber | ||
| Potassium | ||
| Sodium | ||
| Water | ||
| Ash |
|
*The daily value is based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. |
Vitamins
| Vitamin | ||
| Vitamin C | ||
| Thiamin – B1 | ||
| Riboflavin – B2 | ||
| Niacin – B3 | ||
| Pantothenic Acid – B5 | ||
| Vitamin B6 | ||
| Folic Acid | ||
| Food Folate | ||
| Vitamin B12 | ||
| Vitamin A – IU | ||
| Vitamin A – RAE | ||
| Retinol | ||
| Vitamin D – IU | ||
| Vitamin D – mcg |
|
*The daily value is based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. |
Minerals
| Mineral | ||
| Calcium | ||
| Iron | ||
| Magnesium | ||
| Phosphorus | ||
| Zinc | ||
| Copper | ||
| Manganese | ||
| Selenium |
|
*The daily value is based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. |
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greens is very healthy meal my mother prepare pie with greens and that is amazing pie try it once if you did not Amanda.
Great post! Love it!
I remember a cousin of mine eating raw skunk cabbage once and thinking she was going to die.
Wow, I had no idea how much good skunk cabbage could do to our bodies! So many vitamins bundled up together! Awesome! I’m definitely going to try it! Thanks!
Haha, I loved your description of eating it… I once ate a food that was high in oxalates, after attempting to cook it the traditional way to reduce the oxalates… I felt like I was eating shards of glass, and that was after only taking the tiniest little sip!
So funny! I like trying new foods, but I think I’ll pass on this!
I think this will be one experience your kids still speak about long after they have children of their own! I love your adventuresome spirit.
I think I’ll pass on this adventure though!
Have you ever eaten cattail root? When I was young I was fascinated by Native American history and culture. I had read that they pounded the starch away from the fiber of the cattail root after it was boiled and ate it. I had cattails growing behind my house but was never strong enough to unearth one myself and nobody else shared my fascination. I still wonder what it would be like to try it, but now don’t live around any cattails.
No Karen, no cattail.
Great, informative post! Thanks for sharing with us at Healthy 2Day Wednesdays. Hope to see you again soon.
HA! Thanks for saving me time and effort of foraging this. This really sounds like something I would do only a few days later I would probably try to eat it again, then never again. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Haha, that’s a funny story! I’m not in the US so I’ve never had the pleasure of learning what a skunk smells (or tastes) like, but I imagine it wasn’t a very pleasant surprise!
Foraging for greens sounds fun though
I so enjoyed reading your post this morning. I was right there with you in the kitchen. I’ve never heard of skunk cabbage. I love learning new things. Thanks so much for sharing with us on AFW!
Be Well,
–Amber
I have always eaten wild forage. Nettles,”woollen britches” plantain, dandelions, etc. When my kids were still small (back in the 50′s) I introduced skunk cabbage. The directions, change water 8 times. The kids still remember the awful taste of the stuff. I learned since that the Indians baked the root in the coals and ashes, dried it and pounded it into meal. Perhaps they dried the leaves also. That process removed the sting.