Edible Trees in the Rocky Mountains
Throughout human history people have relied on plants as a source of food, clothing, medicine and shelter. It just seems that in this day and age people have abandoned the old ways and have begun to rely on McDonald’s and Burger King to provide them with food. However, they haven’t realized that the earth is a colorful buffet. If more people knew that the everyday plants we see can make a meal than maybe we could eliminate some of the homelessness and malnutrition that exists in the world today.
The Rocky Mountains happen to house some of the most edible trees in the United States of America. Native people have used and survived off of these edible plants for centuries; so what makes us think that we too cannot live off of them? We would be surprised if we did our research. Learning about the different edible plants in the world today just may be a lifesaver. Don’t get too excited not all plants that we may encounter can be considered edible, however, there are many plants in the Rockies that are. We have to consider the fact that many of the foods that we eat have caused our diets to be much higher in sugar and salt than that of our ancestors. If you do try a wild food for the first time then it is best to eat a small amount because you do not want to cause your digestive system to become upset. You want to make sure that the food is not too harsh on your system before preparing a feast.
Don’t be surprised to know that trees make an excellent food source. Families of the pine, birch, and willow trees found in the Rockies can actually be eaten. For anyone who has ever been to the Rockies or lives near them have seen the large abundance of trees that are scattered or clustered throughout the region. Who would have known that humans could actually eat parts of these trees? Here is a list of trees that make an excellent source of food if needed.
Firs
Native people would grind the cone fragments from sub alpine fir trees into a powder and mix it with animal marrow or back fat. This mixture would be cooled until it became a hardened substance and then it would be served at social events as a delicacy. Believe it or not, this substance helps to aid digestion. Another edible meal would be the inner bark of a balsam fir. This would be dried and ground into a nutritious meal and was sometimes mixed with flour in order to extend the food supply.
Description of Fir
This tree is a fragrant conifer with whorled branches and thin, smooth young bark, with stuffed resin blisters. The leaves flattened evergreen needles, spirally arranged but often twisted upwards or into 1 plane. There are male and female cones on the same tree. Seed cones cylindrical, laboriously upright, flaking scales with seeds and leaving a slender central cord, appearing in May to July and maturing in one season.
Spruces
Spruce beer was very popular among the early northern travelers. This root beer flavored drink was important for preventing scurvy, a disease that is the result of insufficient lack of vitamin C. The inner bark of these trees were dried and then ground into a nutritious meal for extending flour during times of food supply shortages. The best time to collect the bark is during the springtime. The tender young shoots of this tree can be emergency food once it is striped of its needles.
Description of Spruces
These trees are coniferous evergreen trees with thin and scaly bark. The leaves are pointed and have 4-sided needles. Both male and female cones grow on the same tree. Female seed cones are thin with flexible scales, hanging, produced in May to July and they open in fall.
Description of a Black Spruce
This species is a northern tree of central BC and Alberta Alaska. Its young twigs have small, rusty hairs and its seed cones stay on the tree for several years.
Description of a White Spruce
This tree has hairless young twigs, and the scales of its cones have smooth, broadly rounded edges. This tree grows on foothills, montanes and sub alpine slopes from Alaska to northern Montana.
Description of an Engelmann Spruce
This tree usually has minutely hair young twigs, and the scales of its long female cones have jagged upper edges. The Engelmann Spruce grows on cool, moist montane and sub alpine slopes from BC and Alberta to New Mexico.
Description of a Colorado Blue Spruce
This tree has hairless young twigs and the female cones have jagged upper edges. This type of tree grows along drainage-ways from Idaho and Wyoming to New Mexico.
Douglas Fir
This tree can be used as several different types of foods. The soft inner bark has been used as a survival food and the small seeds were also eaten during times of need. Twigs and needles that are young can be used as a replacement for tea or coffee. This mixture can be sweetened with sugar. On hot, sunny days when photosynthesis and root pressure are high and transpiration is slow, white crystals of sugar begin to appear at the needle tips over the branches. However, this delicacy is rare and people would eat it as a sweet treat and sometimes used to sweeten other foods.
Description of a Douglas Fir
The Douglas fir tree is a coniferous, evergreen tree with spreading drooping branches. Many mature trees have open crowns. The buds are pointed, shiny and reddish-brown. The young bark is thin and smooth and resin-blistered. The leaves are flat and the needles are spirally arranged and often twisted into 2 rows. Both male and female cones grow on the same tree. This tree grows on foothills, montane, and sub alpine slops from BC and Alberta to New Mexico.
Western Red Cedar
The inner bark of this tree can be collected during the spring and can be eaten fresh or dried for later use.
Description of a Red Cedar
This tree is tall and coniferous with a straight and gray trunk. The leaves are small and overlapping. The leaves also have opposite scales forming, flat yellowish-green, fan-like sprays. Both male and female cones grow on the same tree. This tree grows in rich, moist to wet foothill and montane sites in BV, Alberta, Idaho and Montana.
Hemlocks
Natives would scrape the sweet inner bark of this tree’s trunk and bake or steam it in earth ovens. It would then be pressed into cakes and eaten with cranberries or fish oil. Sometimes people would dry it for future uses. Some tribes would dry the bark whipped with snow and fish grease and eat during the winter. If an emergency occurs the inner bark (cambium) of this tree can be eaten raw, however, it is hard to digest. The fresh needles are able to make an excellent evergreen tea and the small branch tips can be cooked with meat.
Description of a Hemlock
This tree is a very graceful and coniferous evergreen with feathery, down-swept branches and flexible, nodding crown-tips. The needles are small, long, unequal, borne on small stubs. Both the male and female cones grow on the same tree. Seed cones have small brownish scales that are hanging. These are usually produced in May to June and they open in autumn and shed intact.
Larches
Some tribes carved the cavities in western larch trunks out in order to collect the trees sweet sap. This sap was evaporated and turned into molasses and in more present times the sap has been mixed with sugar in order to make syrup. The sweet inner bark has been eaten in the springtime and the sweet collection of dried sap has been chewed like gum year-round. Galatan, a natural sugar is one of the contents in larch sap. The flavor is like bitter honey. When this gum was dried, it was also used as a baking powder. The young and tender larch shoots can be cooked as a vegetable and the cambium can be ground and mixed with flour in order to use during food shortages.
Warning!!! The resin and sawdust from a Larch tree can cause skin reactions to some people. Do not drink the tea or eat the needles in abundance. Some tribes have warned that eating too much of the sweet inner bark of this tree would ‘clean you out.’
Description of a Larch
This is a very slender, coniferous tree with short, well-spaced leave branches. The needles are long and are in tufts on stubby twigs. They are bright yellow in the autumn and they shed during the winter. The male and female cones both grow on the same tree. Seed cones have slim, 3-pointed bracts projecting beyond thin, woody scales, red when young, and they are produced in May to July, and mature by autumn.
Two-Needled Pines
The inner bark of this tree is sweet when the sap is dripping in the spring. The bark is very hard to digest raw so it is recommended that it be boiled before eaten. If you eat too much of the bark, then you can have an upset stomach. The seeds of this tree are very high in protein and fat. The green cones of two-needle pinon are roasted in order to release the big, thin-shelled seeds. The seeds are then mashed and eaten. The pine needles of this tree can be used to make tea. The tea tastes best with sugar, honey, molasses or maple syrup and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and orange peel.
Description of Two-Needled Pines
This coniferous tree has long evergreen needles in bunches of two. The seed cones are thick-scaled, oval and they mature in approximately two years, however, they do remain closed on branches for many years.
Ponderosa Pine
The cambium of this tree is said to taste like sheep fat. Native people would collect it on cool and cloudy days when the sap was dripping. The bark was removed from only one side of the tree in order to avoid killing the tree, and then the edible bark was then scraped from the tough outer layer. The inner bark was eaten immediately, however, there were times when it was saved in a bag in order to keep it moistened and then eaten a few days later. The oil-rich seeds of this tree are edible also. There were times when the seeds were shaken from the cones and ground into meal in order to make bread. The young, unopened male cones can be boiled and used as an emergency food. If the young needles are chopped then they can be used as a tea. Be careful, because some people say that the tea can be potentially toxic.
Warning!!! If large amounts of this pine tea are drunken then it can be very toxic and can irritate the kidneys. If pregnant cows eat the needles of this tree they may abort their calves in 2 days to 2 weeks. Pregnant women should not drink this tea!!! (This goes for most pine needle trees)
Description of a Ponderosa Pine
This tree is a coniferous evergreen with long needles usually in bunches of 3. The bark is orange-brown to a cinnamon color with puzzle like plates outlined by deep, black fissures. Seed cones are oval and are thick with spine-tipped scales. They usually mature in 2 years. This type of tree grows on dry sites in foothills and montane zones from southern BC to New Mexico.
White Birch
The sap of these trees can be used as a beverage since it produces so much sap during the springtime. The sap can be boiled to make syrup, although it contains only half as much sugar as maple sap. This syrup or sap mixed with sugar or honey was fermented in order to make vinegar. The sweet inner bark was added to soups and stews or ground into a powder in order to make bread. The young leaves and catkins were often used to flavor salads, meat dishes and cooked veggies.
Description of a White Birch
This is a small and deciduous tree with smooth, white to yellowish bark that is able to peel off in papery sheets. The flowers of this tree are small and grow in thick slender clusters. Both male and female catkins grow on the same tree. Pollen from the male catkins on this tree is long and loosely hanging. Seed catkins are long, straight and have shedding winged nutlets and 3-lobed scales during April and May. This tree grows on dry to moist sites in foothills to sub alpines from Colorado to Alaska.
Balsam Poplar
The sweet inner bark of this tree was very delightful to many tribes during the spring. The sap was very delicious during this time of year. The tribes would either use a deer or an elk rib in order to scrape off the inner bark from the thick outer layer of bark.
Description of a Balsam Poplar
This deciduous tree has deeply crumpled mature bark with large resinous, fragrant buds. The leaves are long, round and dark green. The flowers are tiny hanging in bunches with long male and female catkins on separate trees. These appear in April to May and they produce oval capsules that release feathery masses of very small seeds with white hairs on the tips. This tree grows on moist to wet sites, usually in foothills to sub alpine areas from Alaska to Colorado.
Trembling Aspen
Northern tribe children would eat off of the inner bark as a sweet treat. It was scraped off in long strips and then eaten raw. The bitter leaf buds and young catkins are very rich in vitamin C.
Description of a Trembling Aspen
This is a slender deciduous tree. The trembling aspen has smooth, greenish-white bark, decorated with blackened spots and lines. The buds of this tree are small, however, they are not resinous. The leaves are long with skinny and flattened stalks; this causes them to tremble during breezy weather. The flowers that grow on this tree are tiny and they hang in long clusters. The male and female catkins grow on separate trees during March to May. During the appearance of the catkins cone-shaped capsules are produced which releases may tiny seeds with soft white hairs. This type of aspen grows in dry to moist areas in foothills to sub alpine zones from Alaska to New Mexico.
I hope that God Willing this will be very beneficial to you. I suggest that if you are going on a mountain or skiing trip in the Rocky Mountains that you please consider printing this page out so that you will have a little knowledge of the food that is out there just in case you find yourself in a terrible situation. I do not take responsibility for any sicknesses or damages that you may encounter. I also recommend that you study and learn more about the edible plants that are present on the earth before eating them.
