I am by no means an expert on veld-food, but since we have lived here, it has fascinated me whether I’d be able to survive on my land without outside help. The first obvious question, after your water source and shelter, is what one would eat.
Veld plants are not genetically modified, have never been sprayed with poison, and often have high nutritive value.
These are a few of the plants that I am familiar with which grow wild on our land.
WARNING:Please be very certain before eating a wild plant that you don’t know! Natural does NOT necessarily mean safe.
- Fruit of the Karee tree(Rhus Lansia) Although these tiny whitish berries are very hard, the taste of the skin is sweet. My children love nibbling at them when in season – don’t bite down though, you might break a tooth!
- Nightshade berries (Solanum Retroflexum). Although said to be poisonous when green these berries are delicious when black and ripe and they are commercially turned into Msoba jam.
- Wild Medlar fruit (Mispel in Afrikaans: Vangueria Infausta) A very tasty sweet-sour fruit with large pips.
- Morog leaves: It is important to note that the word Morog literally means green leafy veg – therefore many different leaves can be used. The ones we most commonly use are Misbredie (Chenopodium album) a light green leafy weed – I love being able to eat the weeds out of my vegie garden! and b) Amarath, or common pigweed. African Amaranth has a south American cousin you might be more familiar with, called Quinua. The Amaranth plant is high in Vitamin A, zinc, iron and iodine. Both these leafy vegetables can be cooked in the same way as spinach.
Dream Lodge Permaculture 