Could Tree Bark Keep You Alive?

While eating a tree may not sound very appetizing, many types of tree bark are actually edible and quite nutritious. If you ever find yourself in a situation in which you’re lost in the woods or experiencing a major disaster without access to food, it could actually save your life.

Tree bark is considered safe as well as healthy as long as you’re using the right part of the bark, and from the right species. This layer of bark is referred to as the cambium layer, found right next to the wood. Many of our ancestors used this edible inner layer for food and medicine, and in many Native American cultures it was used as an important dietary staple.

Trees that have edible inner bark include:

• Most pines
• Slippery elm
• Black birch
• Yellow birch
• Red spruce
• Black spruce
• Balsam fir
• Tamarack

Pine is generally the best choice in the Northern Hemisphere; it was the type of bark used by most of our predecessors. Both the inner bark and nuts of the pine tree can be used as a food source, and its needles can be chopped and steeped in boiling water to make pine needle tea, which contains five times the daily requirement of vitamin C.

Read the rest here:

http://www.thealternativedaily.com/tree-bark-keep-alive/