Paleo Foraging
Wild edibles, Paleo tech, & herbalism backed by science & Indigenous history. Author of “Native Food Plants of Texas.”
I research uses of plants, animals, and minerals based on Indigenous ethnology, history, and archaeology. I started teaching foraging 12 years ago and have been foraging regularly for most of my life. My research will soon be a book available to the public. You can preview my research findings at paleoforaging.com. I have a professional and academic background in ethnobiology, botany, entomology, and ecology, including various research and teaching positions at both UT Austin and UC Berkeley.
10 easy wild treats.
These are my 10 honorable mentions for the best wild foods edible straight off of the plant in Texas.
See the full video on YouTube.
See my top 120 wild plants for food in Texas, all based on Indigenous knowledge, in my book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL
5 easiest wild treats.
These are my top 5 picks for the best wild foods edible straight off of the plant in Texas.
See the full video on YouTube.
See my top 120 wild plants for food in Texas, all based on Indigenous knowledge, in my book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL
2 rocks = 1 knife.
Check out my recent Stone-Age bow build on YouTube if you haven’t (176k views so far).
Top foraging tool.
Foraging walk registration is also on my website.
And you can get my book here: https://www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL/ref=mp_s_a_1_1
09/03/2026
https://youtu.be/JYwp-qZb2lk if you want to see a preview of one of my foraging walks, check this out! And subscribe to Cory Ames on YouTube - this is a collab video of ours!
I Found the Best Wild Fruit in Texas!
My book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL
Foraging walks: paleoforaging.com/booking
Note that the Indigenous peoples mentioned are still living cultures and when I use past tense it is to describe practices in a historical context.
REFERENCES
- Bourke. 1895. Folk-foods of the Rio Grande Valley of northern Mexico.
- Carlson and Jones. 1939. Some notes on uses of plants by the Comanche Indians.
- Celiz and Hoffmann (transl.). 1935. Diary of the Alarcon expedition into Texas, 1718-1719.
- Dering. 1999. Earth-oven plant processing in Archaic Period economies: an example from a semi-arid savannah in south-central North America.
- Ebeling. 1986. Handbook of Indian Foods and Fibers of Arid America.
- Gatschet. 1891. The Karankawa Indians: the coast people of Texas.
- GBIF Secretariat.
- Hatcher. 1927. Description of the Tejas or Asinai Indians, 1671-1722, IV.
- Kavanagh (ed.). 2008. Comanche ethnography.
- Kew Botanic Gardens. Plants of the World Online.
- Kress, Solís, and Hatcher. 1931. Diary of a visit of inspection of the Texas Missions made by Fray Gaspar José de Solís in the year 1767-68.
- La Vere. 2006. Life among the Texas Indians: the WPA narratives.
- Munson. 1981. Contributions to Osage and Lakota ethnobotany.
- Ohlendorf, Bigelow, and Standifer (ed. & trans). 1980. Journey to Mexico during the years 1826 to 1834 by Jean Louis Berlandier. Vol. 2.
- Palmer. 1871. Food products of the North American Indians.
- Swanton. 2001. Source material for the social and ceremonial life of the Choctaw Indians.
- Tous and Foik (ed.). 1930. The Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition of 1709.
Handmade stone mortar.
My book on Indigenous uses of plants in Texas for food: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL
Foraging walk registration is at paleoforaging.com/booking
Wild Texas Teas: gumweed
This video is for educational or entertainment purposes. To be safe, DO NOT try anything I say or do. Foragers should be 100% certain of the ID of anything consumed.
My book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL
Foraging walk registration: paleoforaging.com/booking
REFERENCES
- Bean, John Lowell and Katherine Siva Saubel. 1972. Temalpakh (from the earth): Cahuilla Indian knowledge and usage of plants.
- Bernier, Gabriel Ruben. 2004. Ethnobotany of the Northern Cheyenne: medicinal plants.
- Chesnut, V. K. 1902. Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California.
- GBIF Secretariat (range maps)
- Gilmore, Melvin Randolph. 1977. Uses of plants by the Indians of the Missouri River region.
- Hart, Jeffrey A. 1979. The ethnobotany of the Flathead Indians of western Montana.
- McClintock, Walter. 1909. Materia medica of the Blackfeet.
Texas persimmon.
You can get my book on Indigenous uses of plants in Texas for food here: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL
Foraging walk registration is at paleoforaging.com/booking
Stone tools for bowmaking.
Learn about plant uses on a foraging walk with me: register at paleoforaging.com/booking
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