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Comment by Ben Jordan on February 1, 2012 at 9:01

down south is the only place I have seen tree fushia with berries on them, pretty hard to find one that hasnt been thrashed by possums, coprosma ( broadleaf ) berries are edible, either red or orange berries, also another common plant generally thrashed by deer, it would be the most commonly found shrub in the bush and easy to recognise. Scraping off and eating the cambium from under bark on edible trees like Rimu is probably as nutrient rich as berries and much easier to get all year round.

 makomako berries can be eaten and also Kahakatea berries, most tree berries  I wouldnt count on  though as I dont consider climbing trees a viable option for a hanful of berries, as you said earlier grubs, freshy crays and other small critters is the easiest option for getting a feed.

Comment by Jeff Cameron on January 31, 2012 at 23:34

Hi Ben,

 

I remember eating fushia berries when I lived on Stewart Island as a child, long time ago now.

I have not seen many up here in the Waikato even though they are supposed to grow here, possums may be the reason as they will browse them to complete defoliation. Do you know of any other handy edibles?

 

Comment by Ben Jordan on January 31, 2012 at 19:07

there is a fair few edible plants that are fairly common, two that I find more often are the stalks of black punga, skin them and eat the soft white fleshy stalks, raw, boil or dry in the sun which will make it go sweet, i had a feed of NZ tree fushia Berries on sunday, very sweet if left to ripen. unripe they taste like unripen plums.

Comment by Jeff Cameron on January 31, 2012 at 18:23

New Zealand bush is not overloaded with edible plants. There are over 140 ferns of wich the shoots or piko piko can only be eaten from 7 of them.

One handy one I eat is the tips of supple jack. They regrow quite quickly and I'm told they taste like aspagarus but I can't make the taste link. Edible though.

 

Safest things to eat in NZ bush or any bush for that matter are fresh water fish and crays, birds and insects with 6 legs and many grubs.

We probably need a group for this, I have talked to a few old timers about wild NZ foods and haven't come up with much.

If you learn any good ones please pass them on.

Comment by Ben Jordan on January 20, 2012 at 17:02

Ive been in Canterbury for nearly 5 years and havent heard of anything, the best way is to read up and then go and find some plants that you know to be edible through studying the books.