30 Foods Mountain Families Grew, Caught, and Pickled During the Depression That Nobody Eats Anymore

🔗 The Mountain Foraging & Depression Kitchen Guide — full preparation notes for every food in this video, foraging safety details, heirloom bean seed sources, and twenty additional Depression-era foods not covered here: [LINK] Everything in this guide was free to the people who knew about it. Most of it still is. My grandfather grew up in a hollow in Buchanan County, Virginia, the third of nine children, and during the worst years of the Depression his family ate almost entirely from what the land around them produced — the creek, the garden, the woods, the hillside. He died in 1984 and by then most of what he knew how to eat was already becoming strange to the people around him. This video is thirty of the foods that kept his family and families like his alive through those years — grown, caught, foraged, and pickled — and why almost every one of them has been forgotten. Number twelve is something that grows free on every farm in Appalachia and sells for forty dollars a pound in specialty stores. Number nineteen is what my grandfather said saved his family through the winter of 1932. Number one is cornbread — and I'll tell you exactly why it's number one. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction — Buchanan County, the hollow, the Depression 01:10 #30 — Pawpaw 02:25 #29 — Poke Salat 03:45 #28 — Ramps 05:00 #27 — Groundhog 06:15 #26 — Hickory Nuts 07:30 #25 — Lamb's Quarters 08:40 #24 — Persimmon Beer 09:50 #23 — Watercress 11:00 #22 — Squirrel 12:15 #21 — Sourwood Honey 13:30 #20 — Catfish and Redeye Bass 14:45 #19 — Saved Seed Beans (October Bean and others) 16:00 #18 — Pawpaw Vinegar 17:10 #17 — Chicory 18:20 #16 — Sassafras 19:35 #15 — Groundnut (Apios americana) 20:50 #14 — Gooseberries 22:05 #13 — Leather Britches 23:20 #12 — Black Walnuts 24:35 #11 — Hominy and Nixtamalization 25:50 #10 — Spicebush Berries 27:00 #9 — Pinto Beans and Side Meat 28:10 #8 — Wild Strawberries 29:20 #7 — Sochan (Cutleaf Coneflower) 30:30 #6 — Pickled Watermelon Rind 31:15 #5 — Mulberries 31:55 #4 — Pickled Ramps 32:35 #3 — Soup Beans with Cornbread Crumbled In 33:10 #2 — Dried Apple Rings 33:55 #1 — Cornbread 35:00 Final word and CTA Note: Several plants mentioned in this video require specific preparation for safe consumption. Poke salat must be boiled in two full changes of water before eating. Watercress should only be gathered from clean, uncontaminated water sources. Sassafras tea should be consumed in moderation. Always positively identify any foraged plant before consuming it. When in doubt, consult a regional foraging guide or expert. Foods that were free in the Appalachian mountains during the Depression — many still are. Subscribe for new videos every week.