There are wild, edible plants and fruits throughout your town or city. You just have to know where to look, when to go foraging, and how to identify them. My parents are avid gardeners and know their plants, trees, and flowers. They are not Botanists; they grow their own produce, visit farmer’s markets, nurseries, and speak to and learn from other gardeners & experts. All this has taught them enough to find delicious edibles from watercress, wild onions, purslane, to mustard greens. They taught me a thing or two so that I may have my own foraging adventures! 🙂

I found these beautiful wild dewberries on one of my hikes. They very much resemble blackberries, both of which belong to the genus Rubus, a large family of flowering plants that belong to the rose family.

Both dewberry and blackberry plants are prevalent along woodland borders and have sharp bristles all along their stems and branches. The simplest way to distinguish between the two varieties is by noting how the branches grow: dewberry plants are trailing while blackberries have an arching cane. The white, 5-petal flowers bloom March through April and start to bear fruit from May to June, depending on weather conditions. The fruit turn from a bright green to a deep purple. You can enjoy them fresh, preserved, baked in muffins, frozen and blended with other berries to make a delicious smoothie, or baked in a pie.

{photo courtesy of WikiMedia}