How to Eat Leaves for Survival

If you are planning to hike in the wilderness or otherwise be off the grid for any length of time, it's wise to be aware of edible plants in the event that you should get lost and be without a food supply. Although you should never attempt to purposefully survive off of only leaves for any extended period of time, leaves can be a source of emergency nutrition.

Things You'll Need

• Field guide to plants in your area

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Instructions

• 1

  Familiarize yourself with the Universal Edibility Test before embarking on your trip. The Universal Edibility Test is a set of steps you can follow to evaluate whether an unknown plant is safe to eat by first holding the leaves near your mouth, placing them in your mouth, swallowing a small amount, and waiting for a reaction after each step. It's best to choose a plant that is widely available in the area before beginning the test, as you will need to fast for eight hours before beginning the test and again after testing a small amount of the plant.

• 2

  Scan the area in which you are lost to find leaves you think might be edible. Avoid leaves that have milky sap, three-leafed growth patterns, spines or other fuzzy growth on the leaves, or a strongly bitter smell. Examples of common edible plants that you probably already know how to identify are clovers, daisies, and dandelion leaves.

• 3

  Attempt to identify the leaf you're contemplating eating in a field guide. The remote chance that you could become lost and need to eat plants for survival is a good reason to always bring a field guide on an extended trek out into an area without cell phone coverage or easy communication.

• 4

  Examine the leaf for fungus or molds. Some fungi found on wild plants are toxic, so it's best to avoid all leaves with visible signs of decay.

• 5

  Roast or boil the leaves, if at all possible. This will make them more digestible and will reduce potentially irritable compounds such as oxalates.

• 6

  Watch for edible nuts and berries, and don't forget to consider roots. As with leaves, always look up nuts, berries and roots in a field guide to identify them with certainty before consuming them. Follow the rules of the Universal Edibility Test before eating any part of an unknown plant.