State foraging calendar
Alabama Foraging Calendar
Alabama's foraging spans from the Southern Appalachian foothills in the northeast, with their wild mushrooms and ramp hollows, to the Gulf Coast marshes and subtropical forests in the south, where the growing season effectively never stops. The state's warm and humid climate favors a long chanterelle and chicken of the woods season through the summer months, with muscadine grapes, mayhaws, and persimmons rounding out the foraging calendar in the warm months. The longleaf pine flatwoods that once dominated central and southern Alabama, now significantly reduced, support huckleberries, gallberry, and native blueberries in their understory. Alabama's Black Belt prairie remnants harbor native food plants rarely found elsewhere in the region.
6 bioregions across Alabama
Loading map…
Tap a region to see what's in season
Bioregions of Alabama
Foraging seasons shift sharply between Alabama's ecoregions. Pick the one nearest you for a 12-month calendar of what is in season.
Piedmont
180 speciesEast-central Alabama's rolling piedmont hills, with muscadine grapes, pawpaws, persimmons, and autumn mushrooms in the mature hardwood stands.
View calendar →Central Appalachians
179 speciesNortheastern Alabama's Ridge and Valley country at the tail of the Appalachians, with ramps, pawpaws, black walnuts, and a long fall mushroom season in the hardwood forest.
View calendar →Southeastern Plains
175 speciesAlabama's central and coastal plain with huckleberries and blueberries in the longleaf pine flatwoods, muscadine grapes along forest edges, and a long warm-season chanterelle fruiting window.
View calendar →Interior Low Plateaus
168 speciesNorthern Alabama's limestone plateau and Tennessee Valley karst, with excellent ramp habitat, pawpaws, spicebush berries, black walnuts, and rich autumn mushrooms.
View calendar →Southern Appalachians
138 speciesNortheast Alabama's Appalachian foothills with spring morels, summer chanterelles, chicken of the woods, and a fall mushroom season in the mixed hardwood forest of the Cumberland Plateau.
View calendar →Southern Coastal Plain
125 speciesSouth Alabama's Gulf Coast lowlands and Baldwin County subtropical forests with saw palmetto berries, sea purslane, and a year-round foraging window in the warmest part of the state.
View calendar →Always confirm any wild edible with multiple sources and an experienced local guide before eating it. Many edible species have toxic look-alikes.