Humans cannot gain sustenance by eating the many of the various grasses or most types of leaves. We do not seem to have the stomach for it (sorry, unintentional pun). Are there ways to prepare these indigestible plant materials so that they can be ingested and then some nutrition be gained? Boiling? Pounding into a paste? Just interested in case of hard times ahead.
I am far from being an expert on human nutrition, but from what i know, most plants contain cellulose as their from of carbohydrate storage. Humans do not have the necessary digestive tools to extract sufficiant energy from this source. Other animals, say cows and horses and sheep, do. To take a bunch of grass and make it usable for humans - and here’s where i am making this up - you;d have to expose the cellulose in the leaves to enzymes or other chemicals that break the cellulose down into more simple sugras that are usable by the body. Boiling or crushing will not do this, it is a chemical reaction facilitated by the digestive system.
put them in a juicer.
or process them through a cow, and drink it’s milk.
Actually, I believe cows and other herbivores have bacteria in their stomachs which break down the cellulose.
I think we do already. Flour is indigestable in it’s raw form - itn’t it?
I don’t think so. If you mean whole flour then you have the digestible carbohydrates and the fiber which is not digested.
Ok then I have a way to turn grass into something that humans can eat - but it requires a cow.
Actually, a bacterium is a digestive tool. But I agree with the point. I have to find out more about this instead of just guessing.
Some tall grasses have seeds which are collected by tribals (I read this somewhere I don’t remember). I think the method used to collect these seeds/grain was to beat the top part of the grass with a plate and collect the ensuing grains in a cloth. But its not a very productive method and sorry no cites.