What To Forage In Winter

While I’m working on other articles and planning for the next season, I want to give you a list of things to look out for this winter.

Some of the items on the list are only available early winter but depending on where in the Midwest you are, many of these can be found all winter-long!

Rosehips

Rosehips are the fruit of the rose flower plant. They are extremely nutritious and high in vitamins and minerals (especially vitamin C).

While not necessarily something you want to consume raw (some minor mouth irritation is possible depending on the type) or cooked (discussed in my previous article on rosehips) it is most definitely something you want to take advantage of powdered or fermented!

Rosehips can be available from fall through early winter and sometimes into January depending on species and region.

Conifer needles

Conifers are a group of trees that have needle-like leaves (pines, firs, spruce etc) that grow year-round and have green tender tips that can be used medicinally!

I have limited experience with conifer needles, but they are a great source of nutrition and medicine when everything else is scarce.

In my previous article, I go over a lot of the uses for conifer tips.

Chaga

Chaga is one of my favorite winter forages and will probably be one of the next mushrooms I cover if I can get photos next time.

Chaga grows almost exclusively on birch trees and looks like a large, blackened chunk on the side of the tree. It is hard enough that it could be mistaken for wood.

While it looks much like bark, the telltale sign is to chip away some of the outer black layer and if it’s orange-gold colored on the inside (with a woody texture) then you’ve found chaga!

This is a mushroom that is used for medicinal purposes only with few uses outside of a coffee substitute-like tea which is rich and earthy.

If you find any, you’re going to want a hatchet and a bag to put it in. Make sure not to over-harvest chaga. Most people recommend about 1/3rd to ½ of the chunk is what you should take so that it can grow back again.

Chicory Root

Chicory root is at its peak in late fall through early winter! Pretty much as long as the ground isn’t frozen, chicory root can be harvested still.

You won’t have the tall plants that you’d see in the summer to mark where to dig, but you should be able to see the ground-level base of the plant still.

Chicory has a lot of great benefits and can be used a handful of ways, but the root is best roasted and ground to use in place of coffee (it is often added to gourmet French coffees to make them richer).

Check out this article I wrote on chicory last year for more information.

Sap

Many people don’t know that there are actually a lot of trees you can harvest sap from.

Granted, this is normally something you’d look for in late late winter as spring is approaching, but it is well worth it for the benefits.

Maple sap is the most common for syrups, but birch, walnut, hickory, and sycamore are all viable options. If your goal is syrup specifically, you’ll need a LOT of sap to make it worth it in most other cases, but certain saps (birch) are incredible to drink fresh.

This is a great time of year to be spotting trees for summer foraging as well since you can see a lot more clearly through the woods.

Conifers will have sap available in the late winter as well. Pine in particular is a good one to collect from because the sap can be used as a pitch glue, made into salves, used as a fire starter, and as a soap ingredient.

Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more content about tree saps, I’d like to know if that’s worth it to you guys!

Dock seeds

While I’ve talked about certain dock species before, I haven’t talked much about the great curly dock.

In the early winter you can find large seed stalks (I wish I’d taken photos for you) that are very visible against the barren landscape and snow. Dock seeds are edible and while they’re bitter, they’re a great source of fiber, protein, and vitamins in the cold season.

The Forager Chef has a lot more experience with working with dock seed in the kitchen than I do, so here’s a great article to reference by him: How to Cook with Dock Seed Flour

Juniper

Juniper berries are one of the most interesting culinary ingredients to find in the winter in my opinion. There are a lot of uses for them, they are healthy, and above all they add a very unique flavor to things.

Juniper berries start to be ripe in late summer/early fall and will usually be done sometime mid-winter around me.

Here’s an article I wrote raving about juniper if you’re interested!

Wintergreen

Wintergreen is a plant I desperately want more experience with.

My first time trying it was when I went camping last fall and used it as a toothpaste alternative and honestly the flavor was rather pleasant.

The plant is a very low-growing evergreen with bright red berries that will hang on the plant from early fall to late spring. The flavor is something like you’d expect…a sort of wintergreen gum flavor. The herb is great in desserts, as tinctures, made into toothpaste, as an extract, or as a tea.

As soon as I find more, I’ll write an article about them!

Chickweed

Chickweed is a humble but powerful vegetable!

You will usually find this plant in the spring and then it will disappear for the hottest parts of summer, and you’ll see it again in the fall and early winter. In some places it pops up again so early that you can find it in the late winter as well.

In this article I wrote about chickweed, you can read about the benefits, the growing conditions and everything you’d need to know in order to find some!

Dandelion Root

Dandelion is related closely to chicory, so the root is also best at this time of year! The colder the temperatures the plant is exposed to the better!

The root has similar health benefits and is usually extremely bitter. In the winter those bitters even out a little bit and much like its cousin chicory, roasted dandelion root makes an excellent coffee alternative.

I wrote an article this spring on dandelions right here for more information.

You can harvest the roots as long as the ground is soft enough to harvest some!

Hopefully these can supplement your diets of wild venison and rabbit as you wait for spring to come!

Let me know if this was helpful to you and if you’d like a seasonal guide like this for the spring!

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