Thursday, October 29, 2015

Nature Experienceship - Wild Edibles with Dr. Tom Smith


Did you know that you can grab a snack while walking through campus?  I’m not talking about from the snack machines.  Would you believe that BYU campus is full of edible plants?!

Who would have known that there are so many edible plants that we encounter every day? Last Saturday, Dr. Tom Smith opened our eyes to all of the wild edibles in the world around us! Getting up bright and early (at 8:00am) is never easy or desirable, but tasting some of Dr. Smith’s culinary creations (that he made using only wild plants) made it completely worth it. We sampled everything from elderberry syrup to cookies made out of homemade acorn flour! Everything was delicious!

We then set out on a walk around BYU’s campus to search for more wild edibles to collect. It was a cool crisp autumn morning; perfect for an educational stroll! The students in the group (myself included) were amazed to discover how many edible plants they regularly passed while walking to class everyday! Dr. Smith taught us how to make nutritious herbal teas out of pine needles, which flowers would spice up any party salad, and even which trees made the best drink flavorings! We were also given personal bags to collect all of the plants that we wanted! To wrap up the event, we all brought what we had collected back to the JFSB to prepare it. Of all the wild edibles we ate, my favorite had to be the acorn muffins that we cooked at the end! Mmmmmmmm!

Thank you so much, Dr. Smith!

Keep an eye out for our next Nature Experienceship!
You won’t want to miss it!

Cori, museum educator