Eating wild onions?

[Carmen]

Anyone do this? We have tons of them, they literally cover the 4 acres of clear yard we have. I love onions, and I pulled up a few and ate them..they were good. Strong, but that's how I like them. I thought about pulling up a bunch and using them where I usually use onions. Anyone do this?

[Cat]

As long as you're sure they've had no nasty chemicals applied near or on them, go ahead!

 

See if you can find Euell Gibbons' book "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" somewhere, or try the library. He was the *king* of finding and using "wild foods".

 

 

 

[cowgirl8]

are these the ones that grow in bunches and never get any bigger than chives? I've always been told they were poisonous so i've never tried them. The year i grew some chives and they look just like these wild onions and was tempted to try some in the place of chives, yet, i remember being told they were poisonous so didnt. I love how they smell while i mow, would love it if i could eat them too...

[gramma lois]

We have wild leeks up here...look like onions and taste like garlic/onion (leeks). I harvested them every year for canning pickles etc., and stored/dried them for a variety of dishes. Sounds lovely that you have so many of them right at hand - Yum. We would have to go out into the woods to find ours.

[Carmen]

Cowgirl I think those are them..they're pretty small but I don't really know how big they'll grow...but they do grow in bunches. Well I ate a few last night and didn't die:)

[Cat]

cowgirl8, I've never heard of any wild onion/garlic plant that is poisonous. The *flowers* can be, I think.

 

 

[GirlNextDoor]

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/100-199/nb184.htm

 

 

Forest Preserve District of Cook County (Illinois)

 

 

Nature Bulletin No. 184 March 21, 1981

Forest Preserve District of Cook County

George W. Dunne, President

Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

 

****:WILD ONIONS

 

In 1673-74, when Father Marquette and his party journeyed from what

is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, and returned by way of what is now

Chicago. It is recorded that one of their chief foods was the "wild

onion": probably the Wild Leek and the Meadow Garlic in the woods

of Wisconsin, and the Nodding Onion so abundant in the wet prairies

around Chicago.

 

Two of the first plants to push through the ground in spring, along

with the skunk cabbage, are the wild leek and the wild garlic. A

woodsman will eat handfuls of their tender leaves, which is all right if

he stays in the woods away from people. Believe it or not, leeks,

garlics and onions are "outlaw" members of the lily family. Their

flavor and odor are due to an oil-like vegetable compound of sulfur

which is volatile and dissipated by heat, making them more palatable

when cooked -- particularly if boiled In 3 different waters.

 

The wild leek, which grows in rich moist woodland soils, has a cluster

of bulbs on a short underground stem, and 2 or 3 broad flat tongue-like

leaves which wilt and disappear before the plant blooms in June or

July. The flower stalk, 4 to 5 inches tall, is topped by an umbel (like

the ribs of an umbrella) of a number of white flowers. Cows will eat all

the wild leek they can find, but it taints their milk and butter. The

plant was a favorite food of the early hunters and fur trappers. pioneers

had "leek parties" featured by leek soup.

 

Wild garlic, or meadow garlic, is common in moist meadows and

moist open woodlands. It has only one small bulb, much sweeter and

more palatable than those of the wild leek, and very narrow flat leaves.

It blooms in May or June, and some or all of the pinkish flowers, at the

top of a stem from 8 to 4 inches tall, are usually replaced by bulblets

that are excellent for pickles. The underground bulb, if gathered in

early spring or late autumn, makes mighty good creamed soup. The

young leaves are good in salads, greens, or for seasoning.

 

Field garlic or Crow garlic, introduced into our eastern states from

Europe, has spread as far west as Missouri. Preferring fields, pastures

and lawns, and difficult to get rid of. It has a very offensive odor and is

one of our most evil weeds. From its very small hard bulb, rise many

slender hollow leaves and a flower stalk bearing a dense umbel of

small greenish or purplish flowers which are replaced by bulblets

about the shape and size of a grain of wheat. If eaten by cows, their

milk is worthless. Wheat containing the bulblets is unfit for flour until

they are removed.

 

The nodding onion has an oblong bulb from which grow very slender

flat leaves and a 12 to 24-inch flower stalk curving downward at the

top, with a dangling umbel of rose-colored or white bell-shaped

flowers.

 

It grows on banks, hillsides and prairies in many parts of the United

States, and formerly was so abundant in Illinois prairies that the

landscape was tinged with pink when it bloomed in midsummer. The

bulb is good to eat if parboiled, and excellent when pickled. Bulb and

leaves can be used for soup flavoring, and the leaves can be cooked

like asparagus or used as greens. An old home remedy for coughs and

colds was onion syrup; and a remedy for earache was a little bulb of

wild garlic cooked and placed, piping hot, in your ear.

 

Caution: Some plants with bulbs and leaves resembling onions, but

lacking the familiar odor, are among the deadliest poisonous plants

including the Death Camass and Fly Poison or Stagger Grass -- both

responsible for the deaths of many grazing animals.

 

Some people boil wild onions in three waters and then throw them all

away, including the onions.

 

 

 

 

[cowgirl8]

Some people boil wild onions in three waters and then throw them all

away, including the onions.

 

 

 

 

 

huh? this last sentence confunsed me...lol

[Mother]

Here's another bit of info about wild onions. Good web site.

 

http://www.wildfoodforagers.org/wgonion1.htm

 

In the past wild onions, of which there are vast numbers of species, were called ramps. They still are in some parts of the country. Usually they are refering to wild leek. Ramsons are wild garlic, same family.

 

The one thing to be sure of is to positively ID ALL wild plants you plan to eat BEFORE you eat them. Some wild onions have wider leaves than our domestic ones but the one main thing to remember is that it has to SMELL like an onion. As was mentioned above, some species look like onions but lack the charactoristic onion smell and can be among the deadliest plants there are.

 

We have wild Nodding onions here. (allium cernuum) They originally came from our arboretum and were positively identified so I know they are safe for sure. They are delicious. Onion flowers are not poisonous. There are cases of cows being sickened from eating a lot of wild onions though other livestock does better on them. Goats seem to eat them with no problem at all but if you are milking them their milk will taste pretty bad. I know, ours got into them and the milk tasted awful for three days. At least they were HEALTHY as the onions carry a lot of health benefits.

 

[GirlNextDoor]

Mother, I bet that milk would make some interesting cheese that could be used in sauces, rice dishes, etc.

[bluegrassmom]

I've used them before. Like someone else said, a bit strong but we had no problems with getting sick or anything like that.