What is meant by wild food, though, is any plant that hasn’t had any sort of human interference to increase its growth or production. If you have ever thought about picking your own wild food or getting involved with a more healthy way of eating, this is definitely the way to go about it because there are so many benefits to eating wild food that hasn’t been modified by humans.

Wild Food Means Healthier Eating

With so many convenience foods and quick ready-meals on the market today, there are many areas where it’s simply unheard of to pick edible dandelions or nettle plants even though there’s no cost to doing this. One of the benefits of picking and eating your own types of wild food and edible plants is that they are much healthier in the way of nutrients than their shop bought counterparts. For example, one type of wild food that is certainly edible is called “Fat Hen” and this is a green plant that is comparable to spinach or cabbage. However, Fat Hen contains more protein, Vitamin B, iron, and calcium! Another example is wild garlic that is healthier than cultivated garlic because of the chlorophyll that it contains, not to mention that it makes a great addition to salads and other flavouring!

Wild Food – Beyond Organic

Yet another benefit to choosing the wild food route and staying away from shop bought produce for the most part is that the wild plants, natural fruits, and vegetables that can be grown from your own back yard or that can be picked in fields don’t contain chemicals, pesticides, or herbicides. Anything that is added to plants or food in a farmers’ field in order to make it grow larger or quicker or added so that the crops will stay fresh longer is usually unnatural and has very little nutritional value, if any.

Responsibility and Respect

When it comes to choosing the food that we eat, many times, the supermarket is our first stop. However, eating wild food and picking it naturally from the earth gives us intangible benefits: responsibility and respect. After you have experienced going out to find wild food plants for your meals or tending to the fresh fruits and vegetables in your own backyard then you’ll naturally develop a newfound sense of responsibility for yourself as well as for your body to keep it healthy. In addition, many people say that they also gain more respect for the earth and plants that have been here for thousands of years when they begin to take on a new lifestyle of choosing wild food and plants over chemical treated, shop bought foodstuffs.

As you can see, there are a whole range of benefits to eating wild food. There are also many ways to get started with choosing healthier and natural wild edible plants as well and it only takes dedication and a few good identification books to start.

The cast iron has great heat retention and is a traditional way of preparing fat free foods. Others like the feel of the typical heavy solid one piece construction cast iron offers. Even to the point of that slight iron taste that can enhance the flavor of some foods. Even those with the condition of anemia find cast iron cookware to be a healthier choice because of their iron deficiency.

Now just don’t go out to the store, buy cast iron cookware and start cookies veggies in it. There is a process you will want to go through to make sure the cast iron is seasoned before use. Some benefits of seasoning is it provides a non-stick effect, great for health cooking when bypassing adding the typical oil. You are going to put your cast iron through a process known as black oxide, helping protect it from corrosion.

Seasoning a Cast Iron Skillet

When you buy a cast iron pan it will tend to come unseasoned and seasoning may be a bother for some but many it’s a ritual of sorts, as it requires a skillful hand to create that tough layer of grease.

First clean out your cast iron cookware with dish soap and water, make sure you rinse it thoroughly. Place it on the stove top at a low temperature to dry all remaining water, allow pan to cool. Apply a good layer of vegetable oil or animal fat (lard) for 24 hours. You could heat the pan and then allow things to cool but the effects are similar in nature.

After 24 hours has passed wipe the excessive grease with a paper towel and preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure to line the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil or a cookie sheet on the lowest rack to catch the drippings. Now be prepared once you put the cookware in the oven it’s going to get smokey so it’s best to have proper ventilation.

Once your oven has reached 500 degrees place the pan upside down for an hour, take the pan out and let cool to room temperature. Remember to use oven mitts to remove any hot items from the oven and put the pan on a heat resistant surface to cool. As mentioned above you may see and smell smoke, it’s all part of the seasoning process.

This is one way to season your cast iron cookware, there are other methods that require heating your over to a very high temperate but. Keep in mind that some foods such as eggs may still stick to the bottom without additional oils or grease. This process may have to be repeated several times to achieve that nice layer of grease and re-seasoning at a later date may be required.