Spring in Florida means many things: warm waters, baseball season, spring break trips and… foraging! Yep, Central Florida is home to hundreds of edible herbs, shrubs and berries that can be eaten raw, turned into salads, cooked for jams (or pies!) or added to spring recipes. Here at Creek Ranch we use local and seasonal ingredients whenever possible, and this is about as local as it gets, so we’re putting on our adventure boots and getting ready to go search in our own backyard.

Below is a list of ten edible plants that grow wild throughout the area, and some interesting ways you can enjoy them. Do be careful when out foraging on your own, though, as there are just as many inedible plants out there to keep an eye on. Many plants can have toxic effects, so we highly recommend that you rely on an experienced botanist or naturalist to help you identify plants before pursuing this on your own. We’ve also included some popular and easy ways to prepare these Florida plants, but take caution when utilizing them in other ways; when prepared incorrectly, some of these edible plants can actually become poisonous.

1. Dandelion: With deep saw-toothed leaves and yellow flowers on a single stem, these are not just weeds!

How to use it: In salads, cooked as a vegetable or made into a tea, wine, or soda. The flowers can also be dipped in batter and fried for a snack.

2.  Sea Grapes: Dark red or purple grapes that grow on small trees or large shrubs. The leaves are thick and heart-shaped and flowers grow in clusters.

How to use it: Make grape jelly! Wash the fruit and remove the stems and leaves. Pour 4 cups through a cloth jelly bag; put the juice in a saucepan, add 4 cups sugar and stir continually. Bring to a boil to 228°F. Pour into sterilized jelly jars and seal.

3. Red Mulberry: Dark purple oblong clusters of fruit 1-2” long that grow on trees up to 40’ tall.

How to use it: Eat them fresh! But for the more ambitious amongst you, here’s a recipe for mulberry pie from “Living off the Land and Wild Edibles” but Marian Van Atta: One baked 9” pie crust, 4 c. stemmed mulberries, ¼ c. cornstarch, ¾ c. sugar, ½ c. water, 2 T. lemon or lime juice. Add sugar to mulberries in a saucepan. Mix cornstarch with water. Add to berries. Add juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and juice becomes clear. Pour into pie shell and bake.

4. Yucca: Cylinder shaped fruit about 5” long with purple skin that grow on tall shrubs about 25” feet tall with dark green dagger-like leaves. Yucca plant flowers are white and waxy, a bit like tulips.

How to use it: As chips. The fruit itself is edible, but can be bitter. Remove the bitter center and the flowers can be used in salads, or wrap the fruit in foil and bake for 30 minutes, then serve with butter, salt and pepper.

5. Dewberry: Just like blackberries, these brambly berries are black and grow in clusters. The stems have thorns and they grow along the ground. Harvest time is mid to late summer.

How to use it: Fresh; in jam; in pies. Or, use the leaves in tea. Steep a handful of fresh dewberry leaves in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes, strain into cups and add honey.

6. Sunchoke (A.K.A. Jerusalem Artichokes): These tubers have daisy-like yellow flowers and tall shrubs (up to 8 feet tall!)

How to use it: Originally a food of trade for Native Americans, sunchokes can used as a potato substitute, eaten raw, pickled, or incorporated into salads.

7. Cranberry Hibiscus: A colorful plant with deep purple colored, maple-like leaves, the hibiscus produces beautiful red flowers.  

How to use it: Steep the flowers to make a hot tea, or let it cool, blend it with ice, sugar, lemon and lime, to make a hibiscus lemonade.

8. Elderberry: These small black berries grow on large shrubs with white flowers. Elderberries provide high levels of potassium and beta carotene, as well as vitamin C.

How to use it: Elderberries and Elderflowers are both edible, but best when cooked or dried. The flowers can be battered and fried, made into wine or tea, while the berries are perfect for jam or added to baked goods.

9. India Lettuce: Tall lettuce that grows upward on a stalk in part shade, India Lettuce is high in anti-oxidants and vitamin C.

How to use it: Raw, steamed, or added to soups or salads.

10. Arrowroot: Another tuber that grows in the shade, they grow to be about the size of a narrow sweet potato.

How to use it: While the powder is a natural thickening agent for cooking, you can also just cook this root vegetable like a sweet potato, or in a soup. It can also be candied!