Abundance Species

The new mobile app Savage Kitchen, now available for free in the App Store and Google Play Store, invites you to get outside and form relationships with 5 edible invasive plant species. Using GPS mapping technology, the community can locate and drop pins on the map of these edible wild plants. There are detailed educational modules on how to identify these wild foods, which includes video tutorials and quizzes, along with creative recipes so you can confidently prepare them at home. Although the app was created in Hawaiʻi, it is relevant in tropical and subtropical locations around the globe.

Keep your eyes out for these plants in the city, the country, or during your next Sierra Club outing! These are our abundance species and a great way to start learning about foraging, the respectful harvest, and how we can begin land management through stopping further seed dispersal. Download the Savage Kitchen app now.

Strawberry Guava

(Psidium cattleianum var. cattleianum), (Psidium cattleianum var. pyriformis), (Psidium cattleianum var. lucidum)

Strawberry guava fruits can be eaten, and leaves used to flavor foods. Photo by Sunny Savage.

The pineapple- or pear-shaped pyriformis variety of strawberry guava are also edible. They typically have larger leaves and become taller trees than the yellow variety. Photo by Sunny Savage.

Butterfly Ginger 

(Hedychium gardnerianum), (Hedychium coronarium), (Hedychium flavscens)

From left to right, yellow butterfly ginger, kāhili ginger, and white butterfly ginger all have edible flowers. Photo by Sunny Savage.

Roots of all butterfly ginger can be eaten in small amounts, just be careful when transporting to not drop any pieces and throw any unused portions in the trash and not the compost. Photo by Dina Mezheritsky

Spanish Needles

(Bidens pilosa), (Bidens alba)

Spanish needles in the perfect stage for harvesting and eating. Photo by Sunny Savage.

Bidens alba has large white edible petals with yellow center as the photograph shows, while Bidens pilosa has yellow center that sometimes has small white petals. Photo by Sunny Savage.

Wild Amaranth 

We focus on (Amaranthus spinosus) in the Savage Kitchen app, but all wild Amaranthus species in Hawaiʻi are edible.

Wild Amaranth is often found growing in agricultural fields.
Photo by Sunny Savage.

Leaves and roots are edible of all Wild Amaranth found in Hawaiʻi, seeds of all species but the Spiny Amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus) are good to eat. Photo by Sunny Savage.

Java Plum

(Syzygium cumini)

You might notice purple stains on the pavement if you go by when Java Plum’s are fruiting. Photo by Sunny Savage.

The fruits, once dark purple black, can be eaten. Leaves and flowers can be used to flavor foods as well.
Photo by Sunny Savage.