Milkweed pods marinated in cider vinegar? Curry soup with cattail hearts? Wild salmon with white spruce sauce? Brie with wild rose petal jelly? Who knew that many of the things that grow along Canadian trails, ditches and back roads are not only edible, but in demand?

A red-winged blackbird perches on a cattail. The cattail hearts are harvested in late spring and are similar to hearts of palm. (Toby Talbot/AP)In fact, back fields and forests from coast to coast are a natural grocery store for those who have a keen culinary eye and a sense of adventure.

It's not just back-to-the-earth types who are showing a penchant for wild things. Foodies, including some of the country's top chefs, are singing the praises of our indigenous delights - and more and more products are showing up at markets and on store shelves to meet the demand.

One company at the forefront of this trend is Forbes Wild Foods. The company, which is based just outside the western Ontario village of Creemore, supplies several Toronto chefs (including the well-known Susur Lee) with everything from wildflower honey to wild strawberries. Products are also sold at stores throughout Canada - there are a dozen in Toronto alone - as well as at farmers markets in Toronto and online at www.wildfoods.ca.

The company has about 100 products on its list, and recently it began distributing to the U.S. Owner Jonathan Forbes, who started the company a decade ago, says demand for his products has recently taken a significant upturn.

"There's been a huge change in the past couple of years," he says.

According to Forbes, the interest in wild foods coincides with the growing demand for organic products.

Blueberries are a favourite among lovers of wild food. (CP)"People are becoming more and more health conscious," says Forbes. "There's a lot more acceptance in the belief that food and health are connected, and that if you eat well, your body is better equipped to deal with whatever comes its way."

He adds that the rising demand for local food has also spurred interest in wild foods, as has an increased cynicism towards the commercial food industry on the whole.

"In the last few years I've seen people become more distrustful of where some food comes from and the processing of it. People are wondering, 'Is there a gene from a certain kind of fish in this?,'" he says, referring to the debate over bioengineered crops.

Uncommon foods from common sources

This wild rice and barley salad is high in fibre. (Larry Crowe/AP)Even though wild food is in demand, Forbes says there is still a disconnect between the land and the people who inhabit it. He says many people still don't realize the bounty that exists in our own natural habitat.

One of the biggest sellers at Forbes Wild Foods is birch syrup, for example. Forbes explains that it's used to flavour a wide variety of foods, including scallops, salmon and roasted veggies. It's also delicious drizzled over pancakes, he adds.

Dried mushrooms, mainly from the Ottawa area, Western Quebec and Vancouver Island, are another big seller, as well as a variety of jellies made with everything from chokecherries to elderberries. Nuts are also popular.

"There are six or seven types of nut trees in Ontario alone," says Forbes, adding that these include everything from beechnuts to black walnuts to acorns.

Forbes argues that the wild food that grows in abundance in remote areas throughout Canada could be harvested as a source of income by people in rural communities with high unemployment. His company hires a network of independent harvesters throughout the country to pick food that is in season. Among his harvesters are indigenous peoples, including First Nations groups in Tofino, on Vancouver Island, who harvest a variety of west coast berries, and an Ojibwa co-op in northwestern Ontario that supplies Forbes with wild rice.

Foraging

Chef Jack Czarnecki hunts for truffles and mushrooms in the forest near Dayton, Ore. (Don Ryan/AP)Samuel Thayer, Wisconsin-based author of The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants, says that although the popularity of wild food may be on the rise, wild food foraging is still for the most part a fringe activity.

Thayer, who offers weekend workshops on foraging, says most people are clueless about what grows in the wild. "There is so much good food out there it's mind-boggling," he says.

The Kukagami Lodge near Sudbury, Ont., offers weekend workshops on edible plants. The lodge, which is only accessible by boat, is popular with city dwellers wanting a respite from their busy lives, says owner Viki Mather.

During the foraging weekend, participants learn how to identify a variety of plants and mushrooms, as well as partake in numerous feasts prepared with the wild foods, such as wild leeks and wild mushrooms.

"They are surprised at how good it tastes," Mather says.

According to Thayer, wild food is far more nutritious than cultivated food, but that's not the primary reason he's crazy about it: To him, the enjoyment is in the eating.

Wild food makes up a significant portion of Thayer's own diet. In fact, since the beginning of May he and his wife have eaten wild foods exclusively. Just before the interview for this story, Thayer enjoyed a breakfast of homemade dandelion root coffee, along with acorn pudding, topped with maple syrup that he tapped himself, and black walnuts.

"People don't realize how monotonous their diet really is," he says.

"When people finally recognize the value of all of these foods, it might actually create a lot of employment in remote communities," Forbes adds.

"We need to create those supply lines and the best way of doing that is people saying, 'Yes, I want to eat what grows here,'" he says.

The author is a Canadian freelance writer.