I cooked the whole mash from the arrowroot instead of just the starch like I did last time. It was still a bit bitter and could have had a few more rinses in water but was ok. Interestingly I found a "dead" eel down stream of the processing area but when I came back the next day it was gone. Then I saw the same eel further upstream. I think the poison may also stun fish but am not sure of it. If so it could be used as a fishing poison as well.
Any chance you could take your mash and get it nutritional tested? It would be nice to see the Calories expended Vs nutrition gained for the entire process. It would give us some math to work with.
Well, that's an interesting result. I'm always excited to watch your food related vids. I was wondering if you'd ever considered a video on primitive food storage/preservation methods?
In a lot of your projects, especially those with bricks involved, you do a lot of carrying things around. Could a primitive wheelbarrow be of use? Of course, a functional turning wheel is not trivial to make, the wheelbarrow could not have one, and be basically a basket on a frame that can be dragged along the ground.
Yeah, 2h for just a few tubers! Like I'm sure food was super plentiful in the absolute back then, but so hard to actually collect just because nothing was actually concentrated anywhere. It makes hunting seem almost easier in comparison 😅
@@amogusenjoyer hunting is better than foraging in every way, it might take 48 hours of hunting to run a deer down but you bring 100 pounds of nutrient dense food back, but while your men are risking life and limb hunting the women need to feed themselves and the kids while waiting for the hunt to return. and steak is always better with french fries.
agriculture was only developed in extremely harsh climates out of necessity. there was no need for agriculture and domestication in areas of the world filled to the brim with food.
@@trucid2 And some are frauds but he is no fraud and he even once showed himself doing this in speed up in video to prove he is genuine and not using modern technology or extra manpower to help him
He has been one of the first top TH-camr with millions of followers ever. He has even launched a trend of videos on YT and definitely made history in directing techniques for this format. Wish many followed him more in some details.
you are joking right?, he has been trash talking other genuine primitive channels on social media, yes he isn't the only real one, but seeing how other barely speak any english and don't respond most people just believe him when he lies about others.
well, at least a large part of the time in the process comes from waiting for the water+mash solution to settle, so you could harvest a few each day and eat those you harvested a few days ago
This makes me so thankful to the hundreds of generations of ancient peruvians who selectively bred the potato from a bitter, poisonous tuber fit only for desperate times into the delicious butter delivery system it is today.
@@alttabby3633All potatoes are genetically modified, eg through selective breeding. The closest thing to wild potatoes is the sort of plant you see in the video.
@@antonliakhovitch8306Selective breeding is not GM. GM is artificially induced, such as by way of CRISPR, and has less favorable end-goals such as herbicide and pesticide resistance so as to make ample usage safe for crops (but devastating for local ecosystems/potential long term health consequences thanks to the amount of residue we're constantly consuming). Selective breeding/hybridization, processes which can occur in nature by way of basic cross-pollination or selective planting, are not the same as GM (semantics matter to the people who care about these things).
@@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger You say semantics matter, but I think you have a lot of semantics confused. Selective breeding (also known as artificial selection) is an artificial process, done by humans. When it happens in nature, it's called natural selection. Selective breeding is a type of genetic modification. It is *also* used to improve pesticide resistance, among many other things. It seems like you might actually be referring to genetic engineering, another type of genetic modification. Genetic engineering can do everything that selective breeding can, but it's faster and a little bit more powerful. Both selective breeding and genetic engineering are capable of producing abominations that are harmful in one way or another, and both of them can also be completely safe. Genetic engineering itself is not the problem.
@@Your-Least-Favorite-StrangerThe "Selective" in selective breeding is not just there to take up space. What is your idea of naturally occurring? If something is selected by any criteria of ours, it would only be a natural occurrence if you were to use the logic that since humans are "natural"; thus all resulting events must be. (Semantics matter to the people who know what they're talking about). Accurate username
A lot of people may imitate what this man is doing but he will remain as the original survival vlogger. He is the epitome of pure dedication and has been true to his content ever since. I will never get tired of watching his videos. Solid fan here since 2015.
What farming did was allow for cities (high population density sedentary societies) near particularly fertile land. Hunting, herding, foraging were all better alternatives at low population densities, or medium non-sedentary population; and the only possibility in land unsuitable for farming. But sedentary living allowed for investing a lot of time into tools and structures, such as brick buildings and libraries. Thanks to millennia of selective breeding, we've upgraded our domesticated plants and animals and made farming much better than it was during the last ice age. Also thanks to modern knowledge of crop rotation and fertilizers we hardly ever need to let land lie fallow to recover its farmability, and irrigation projects meant poor weather no longer randomly eliminates farming as a viable food source for those years.
Hunter-gatherers actually spend less time and effort on feeding themselves than agricultural societies. Agriculture creates storable surpluses, but it doesn’t make life easier.
@frederickheard2022 what? Of course it makes life easier - for the 99% that aren't farming, they can concentrate on anything else. Why do you think societies have advanced as far as they have?
”After 3 days it doesn’t taste bitter” and ”but I didn’t get sick” - really puts into perspective the amount of work and perseverence ancient humans did. Today we know taccalin is in the tubers. Back then it must’ve been ”We ate it and old Granny died, but I just had a stomachache and threw up a lot. So this time we rinsed it and the stomachache wasn’t so bad. Big brother says his stomach didn’t hurt at all. If we rinse it more, maybe my stomach won’t hurt either”.
The taste would certainly help a lot with judging how dangerous it would be to eat, as bitter tastes are typically associated with poisonous plants. It's just that some poisons, like caffeine, are able to be safely processed by our bodies in the levels that plants can manufacture it.
@@dolsopolar At least if you have the luxury to choose. But starvation often was a real threat, so sometimes trial & error was the only viable option...
Or they had other foods and were just experimenting with the possibility of these tubers as another food source. Not every human invention was created out of sheer desperation you know. That might be how your finest moments occurred but older humans were probably more mundane
We survived just like any other animal. Arduously, doing what was needed to survive with whatever was on hand. But it's the reason we have the technology we do today. With new tech brings more time freed to do other things, slowly but surely improving resource production, securing survival and improving quality of life.
In traditional Polynesian practices, Tacca leontopetaloides (Arrowroot plant in the video) has been used to capture eels. The toxic properties are utilized by placing crushed or processed plant parts into water sources where eels are present. The toxins irritate the eels, causing them to surface or become easier to catch.
6:05 as a trained military medical assistant I just wanna massage his feet and give them a oil scrub, make him rest his feet elevated, and ask if he would care for a refreshment 😂
After your last video I got to thinking, "Man, this channel used to be more diverse and interesting, now it's always about fire and clay. I wish there was more food or farm videos." And there it is
I just pulled a whole bunch of creeping vines out of my yard and realized I have all the material to make my own baskets so here I am weaving baskets in the middle of my house thanks to you. Cheers!
@@ragnkjaDefinitely invasive. They killed all of the grass in my yard and were starting to kill the trees. It's crazy how strong these vines are and how good they are at climbing things.
@@anonony9081Same! Neighbor planted chinese wisteria that overtook the fence and tried eating my oak tree - baskets, tomato trellis, working on a chair or end table now.
@@bofa987 Imagine eventually you do get your food and a guy in shorts just comes from the kitchen and starts making your Polynesian Arrowroot Hashbrown. He doesn't say a word, but his friendly interpreter explains in detail what he's doing. Finally he drops the patty on your plate and leaves. I mean I'd pay for that.
Do you know what I like best about your channel? You don't speak. You just show. I can make my own thoughts about it and just sit and relax. I'm impressed by your skills. Watching your videos is very relaxing to me as a person, who is always surrounded by modern technology. Thanks for your work!
I think, after all his videos, it's become taken for granted just how crazy good he is at making a friction fire. He showed the whole process taking mere seconds for him. Normally? Spinning a stick in your hand like that can take half an hour to make a fire, or even hours in wet conditions. Guy's cracked.
Get him on Survivor, keep him around until the final three (despite his utter silence), and then watch him flex on the entire fire building challenge by scoffing at the provided flint and steel, and using a pair of sticks instead.
Half an hour? Nonsense, for two reasons. First: If a spinde/hearthboard combo actually works, it is a matter of minutes before you have an ember, provided that you have the endurance to spin it. If the combo is not got, then rarely will retrying ad infinitum work. You fix that by finding something that actually gives you an ember instead. Secondly: I can absolutely assure you that nobody has the strength in them to spin a handdrill for thirty minutes straight or more. Even if you did, you typically wear through the board in two or three attemps tops. If you spun a spindle for thirty minutes in a notch you would be drilling earth for twentyfive of those minutes.
At 9:03 we get the perfect representation of human food history, and how we got where we are today. "It could have done with more rinsing cycles in the creek, but I didn't get sick"
He is the human! For some reason this realisation does something to my brain, so i like this channel even more. He looks, moves and makes things in the most human-like ways. I'm not even sure if i've seen anyone else being like that... I mean, we live in a human society, seeing people everyday, but he looks exceptional. He is what the human is in a good way.
I love that You delicately dig around the plant to pluck the part you're going to eat, while leaving the rest of the plant undisturbed so it can regrow.
Three or four hours per day on average. That includes hunting, which is more calorically rewarding, and does not include the prep and cooking time. People get to know the region they live in pretty well and can gather pretty efficiently.
Location location location; knowledge of local edible plants passed down by generations, nomadic movement through the seasons, a lot of drying and caching of ample harvests as well as planting as you go so you can return to promising spots later. The shift to agriculture actually dominated more of our time and energy than hunter gatherer did; when you know what most everything in your area is, you arent picky about food and eat as you go. Foraging is great because you can basically load up while you enjoy nature; nap whenever and wherever you feel is safest, no responsibilities outside life.
All animals spend their entire day foraging for resources. Whether that’s foraging for food of patrolling/securing territory or securing a mate. Us humans wake up, get ready (action to gain or keep social standing which is a resource), make and eat food (resource), travel to work (foraging), work 8-9 hours a day for money which is equivalent to resources, go shopping for food (resources), then cook said food, then possibly socialize (again a social resource), and then sleep. We have not progressed at all in this aspect and likely never will, it just looks different
he has talked in video already, if im not mistaken the only time ive heard his voice was in that youtube rewind where he was the main star EDIT: Fake news here guys im sorry, my ADHD mixed memories up there, thats why i wasn't certain "if im not mistaken"
The whole process is very similar to what some Amazonian tribes used to do before the 'discovery' of the Americas (and still do to this day). They used yucca (cassava) roots, which are poisonous unless prepared in a way that is similar to your arrowroot processing. The main difference is that they used to grind the root more coarsely (the final consistency being similar to grits, with visible grains instead of a smooth powdery starch), and instead of relying solely on time to decant the starch, they used a 'tipiti', which is a woven contraption much like a very large Chinese finger trap, but with loops on the ends. They filled the tipiti's with the wet mash and, by pulling the ends, squeezed the water away. Rinse, repeat (literally). The final product is a coarse-grained starch that cooks very much like your arrowroot hashbrown, just a little bit less translucent and with a crunchy outer layer (from the starch grains that dry out with the heat before they gum-up with the rest of the biju (the name of the cake they make). Tapioca, in short. It's not just little balls that can become a pudding, but many things, like a fine powder starch, much like cornstarch; a coarse meal that is dried up and used to thicken stews or roasted with fats to make farofa, a very typically Brazilian dish.
I'm wondering if cassavas are indeed so similar, can't he just boil it like a cooked cassava? Won't it make the poison evaporate too? The grind process seems to take a lot longer than just cooking it
It always amazes me as to how people thought about doing this all those years ago. Oh look a plant, let's eat its roots!. If it was so bitter, you'd think they'd not touch it again, but someone has thought of a process and a way to make it better. Incredible, love to see more like this!
Only need to figure it out for one kind of food and then try it with everything. Soaking out tannins and other water-soluble toxins is common in many parts of the world (it's done with acorns, for instance). If you're hungry enough to try eating something new and notice that the awful taste leeches into the cleaning water it isn't crazy to see just how much can be washed out.
Just think of how many failed experiments there were in harvesting, preparing, cooking, and eating various things over time. A lot of upset tummies and even deaths all in the name of progress.
Those discoveries are also going to be driven by "well if I dont figure out how to eat this, I will starve". Necessity is the mother of invention here too.
Watching this makes me appreciate the necessity of modern agriculture so much more...The amount of effort it takes to find and prepare 10 tubers is insane.
If you compare it to the original video though, you can see how one side of the building has sinked a bit along with the ground beneath it. I'd give it a few more years until he gets into problems and has to renovate or build a new house. Especially considering that wet seasons can have extremely heavy rainfall there.
@@keith3761 Well I'm no building expert, but I doupt all modern buildings are dug down to bedrock. If I remember correctly (watched the original video a while back) then he just built the hut on the ground (a portion of the walls a bit underground). With the wet seasons, the ground has clearly moved and eventually the hut will get damaged (if it hasn't gotten already). I don't know how proper foundation is built for houses, but I'm pretty sure he's house is lacking one. Maybe there is somebody who works in construction and can provide some insight. Nevertheless I think it is amazing and this channel is one of the best on YT. The man is a living legend.
It's almost midnight where I live, i just had a stressfull day at work, and tomorrow will be the same, but I'll be damned if that makes me ignore a primitive tecnology notification! Than you for the awersome content!
damn, I just sat down to a dinner of chicken fingers i dug out of the freezer and air fried, with baked sweet potato I reheated in the microwave. I put this on and watching you dig tubers out of the ground with a stick while I eat my dinner really made me appreciate how easy I have it.
@@hamjudo ive seen somebody make flour out of common wild grass, it was insane how inefficient it was, like 10kg of plants for like 100g of flour, thank god we figured out selective breeding
Really like the way you used what looks like a roofing tile with cross cuts in it to peel those roots. That would work well on potatoes and other tubers as well as washing clothing.
In Portuguese it's called 'Araruta'. I never knew about this plant. I searched about the processing of it, and they do exactly as you do, but with a cottom sack, cleaning the liquid with the Arrowroot with water. After that they give the residual water to other plants, as it is rich in phosphor and help them bear fruit. Just one thing, i could not find any information about Arrowroot saying that it is poisonous, even without any processing. Thank you very much!
My brother recently planted araruta in his site. The tube is more like carrot-shaped, it grows everywhere after the first harvest. The flour made with it is called polvilho and is used to bake brevidade, an antique bakery sweet, very light and crunchy and dry yet soft
@@reliantncc1864 Plants are living breathing organisms. Zinc is an inert substance. There is a difference. Life may seem abundant here on Earth, but throughout the universe it is vanishingly rare.
Thank you. I am using arrowroot starch in my cuisine, it's a specialty starch used in baked goods precisely because it becomes clear when it cooks (as you demonstrate) which makes for nice glazes. Until today I didn't know where it comes from, now I do. It is in many ways - as you mentioned too - similar to cassava starch/tapioca.
you would think so aye. surely there's some kind of oniony or/and peppery wild herb around. and salty minerals. maybe a bit of animal fat and a hotter pan.
Imagine this was all you had to work with. "Hmm I feel like pancakes." "Time to harvest some roots, peel them, grind them and then put them in water. Over 3 days I will filter out the bitter parts by pouring off the top layer of water and adding more water after. Finally I will have batter to make 2 pancakes. Mmm, yummy, only a little bitter"
I like this view on the whole gatherer lifestyle - it's not just going to a well-tended garden and plucking some carrots from the ground. It's walking through woodland ("open" up for debate ;)) and looking for some wilted leaves, then digging into the ground to get one smallish tuber. And then getting up and starting to look for the next wilted leaves. Thanks for this dose of reality!
@@Gandhi_Physique you'd be surprised how far the "i made this myself" factor can increase ones enjoyment of something kinda bland. And, lots of one flavoring ingredient foods are pretty alright, consider most grains, or something like bread. though unlike the last time he made arrowroot he didn't wash it enough so it was bitter, so this time we didn't even get a nice little head bob
so much respect for the austronesian folks who figured out how to process this plant into food! from what i've read it was most commonly eaten as the starch (shown in the previous video by PT on this plant) mixed into a mash with coconut cream, and steamed in banana leaf to make puddings (if you've ever had hawai'ian haupia this is what it was originally made with!). I can't find much information on Aboriginal use of the plant - most sources say it wasn't used extensively outside of low lying islands and atolls because of the laborious preparation it requires, but i'm sure if it was there it would've been eaten, if only during a bad season when nothing else was available. the berries are also edible, and the starch is used to stiffen fabric and make things like tapa cloth
So much of what people knew about plant foraging and processing is completely lost. Even today in the age of information, barely a trace survives of many plants and their uses, and there are probably many plants whose edibility hasn't been considered at all that were used extensively by people in the past.
Yeah, that's my impression of most wild foods...'edible' does not necessarily mean 'tastes good'. I think I'd have to be pretty hungry to go through all that for a rubbery pancake.
Does in many cases though! think wild berries, wild alliums etc. Out of season though... I often wonder what the hell people ate pre-agriculture where I live since I can't think of much that could sustain people, nothing like arrowroot etc as far as I know.
@@lemagreengreen Hunting probably... dunno where you live but you hunt a single bison and that could feed you for months, that's what people did where I live.
@@bojackhorseman4176 All them good folk needed was some alliums and they were happy with the spicy flavors. But nooo, them posh people had to go and get spices 'cause they were scared of garlic! Thems rich folk are bloody vampires, I tell you!
@squidwardo7074 After methods of food preservation were invented, maybe. Meat does not normally last months. If hunting just for yourself, you'd hunt something much smaller and less wasteful. Of course a tribe could benefit from a large kill.
Its interesting how many people wrote this video made them appreciate agriculture and the modern legumes but this video made me just want to go out and forage. Looks fun also that pulp pancake looked delicious.
Considering the energy and time required to collect and process enough for one meal, it's scarcely surprising that obesity was a sign of wealth and status.
The thing I really love about these videos is they really help introduce the concept of "How the fuck did we think to do that?" when looking at our prehistorical ancestors. We really are an amazing animal, and I wish more developed countries encouraged this kind of education alongside academia. If nothing else, it imparts appreciation for what we have today
I cooked the whole mash from the arrowroot instead of just the starch like I did last time. It was still a bit bitter and could have had a few more rinses in water but was ok. Interestingly I found a "dead" eel down stream of the processing area but when I came back the next day it was gone. Then I saw the same eel further upstream. I think the poison may also stun fish but am not sure of it. If so it could be used as a fishing poison as well.
Hi, how many times did you rinse, bro?
Any chance you could take your mash and get it nutritional tested? It would be nice to see the Calories expended Vs nutrition gained for the entire process. It would give us some math to work with.
Can you grow some ? I remember you had your little garden on the previous land, is it something you are planning to do again ?
Well, that's an interesting result. I'm always excited to watch your food related vids.
I was wondering if you'd ever considered a video on primitive food storage/preservation methods?
In a lot of your projects, especially those with bricks involved, you do a lot of carrying things around. Could a primitive wheelbarrow be of use? Of course, a functional turning wheel is not trivial to make, the wheelbarrow could not have one, and be basically a basket on a frame that can be dragged along the ground.
"The pot is filled with water again to wash away more poison."
Not gonna lie John you're not really selling me on this arrowroot stuff.
Lol I’d be afraid to eat it no matter how many rounds of flushing.
@@nathanielreichert4638 arrowroot powder is used in tons of foods, as a binder similar to potato starch and stuff
@@Aleph-Noll They are totally different plant to what John is using here.
It should pair will with fugu
Such investment for a meal, ngl make sense why people back then have alot of kid, because they can just told one of them to do chores.
That's the most "well, it's food" face I've ever seen.
So true 🤣
“Could have done with one more round of leeching.”
Exactly 😂
Just a friendly reminder to turn on your closed caption subtitles! He uses those to explain what he is doing in lieu of speaking.
The staring blankly into the void while eating a meal that took 4 days to process but will feed you for an evening.....that spoke to me.
really puts in perspective how important agriculture and selective breeding was to just be able to eat enough every day
Yeah, 2h for just a few tubers! Like I'm sure food was super plentiful in the absolute back then, but so hard to actually collect just because nothing was actually concentrated anywhere. It makes hunting seem almost easier in comparison 😅
Part II
th-cam.com/video/aQeaztXRhIM/w-d-xo.html
@@amogusenjoyer hunting is better than foraging in every way, it might take 48 hours of hunting to run a deer down but you bring 100 pounds of nutrient dense food back, but while your men are risking life and limb hunting the women need to feed themselves and the kids while waiting for the hunt to return. and steak is always better with french fries.
Depends where you are. Here where I am in the mountains there are wild cherries, Saskatoon's, raspberries, elk, deer, moose, plenty to eat.
agriculture was only developed in extremely harsh climates out of necessity. there was no need for agriculture and domestication in areas of the world filled to the brim with food.
This guy must be one of the most beloved creators on this platform. No drama or anything alike, just straight up knowledge.
He is. Many copycats, but he's the OG.
Does he fap?
@@trucid2 And some are frauds but he is no fraud and he even once showed himself doing this in speed up in video to prove he is genuine and not using modern technology or extra manpower to help him
He has been one of the first top TH-camr with millions of followers ever. He has even launched a trend of videos on YT and definitely made history in directing techniques for this format. Wish many followed him more in some details.
you are joking right?, he has been trash talking other genuine primitive channels on social media, yes he isn't the only real one, but seeing how other barely speak any english and don't respond most people just believe him when he lies about others.
Don’t forget turn on captions!! He details every aspect of what he is doing. The goat!!
Thanks, I never realized this 🤦♂️
I like to watch without them to try and figure it out myself. subtitles for the future rewatch when im bored.
@@Fummy007 haha me too. I only just realized that he adds captions on the last video lol
now i gotta rewatch every single video i had no idea lol
No🤦🏻♂️
I like it better without words
"Dad, can we have hash-browns for breakfast?"
"Sure, that'll be 3-5 business days."
well, at least a large part of the time in the process comes from waiting for the water+mash solution to settle, so you could harvest a few each day and eat those you harvested a few days ago
“I didn’t get sick” is the highest compliment. 😂
They get sick because of fast food 😉 No one has ever been sick from natural food 🙂
@@Sa300dvideo Raw meat is natural. fairly certain it could make you sick.
@@Sa300dvideotell that to raw cashews
@Sa300dvideo fast food causes a different kind of sick. Natural food (and even fast food on a few occasions) could carry toxins or pathogens in them.
@@robblequoffle8456 We don't have such rubbish in Russia 😄
This makes me so thankful to the hundreds of generations of ancient peruvians who selectively bred the potato from a bitter, poisonous tuber fit only for desperate times into the delicious butter delivery system it is today.
Just make sure they are non GMO potatoes.
@@alttabby3633All potatoes are genetically modified, eg through selective breeding. The closest thing to wild potatoes is the sort of plant you see in the video.
@@antonliakhovitch8306Selective breeding is not GM.
GM is artificially induced, such as by way of CRISPR, and has less favorable end-goals such as herbicide and pesticide resistance so as to make ample usage safe for crops (but devastating for local ecosystems/potential long term health consequences thanks to the amount of residue we're constantly consuming). Selective breeding/hybridization, processes which can occur in nature by way of basic cross-pollination or selective planting, are not the same as GM (semantics matter to the people who care about these things).
@@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger You say semantics matter, but I think you have a lot of semantics confused.
Selective breeding (also known as artificial selection) is an artificial process, done by humans. When it happens in nature, it's called natural selection. Selective breeding is a type of genetic modification. It is *also* used to improve pesticide resistance, among many other things.
It seems like you might actually be referring to genetic engineering, another type of genetic modification. Genetic engineering can do everything that selective breeding can, but it's faster and a little bit more powerful.
Both selective breeding and genetic engineering are capable of producing abominations that are harmful in one way or another, and both of them can also be completely safe. Genetic engineering itself is not the problem.
@@Your-Least-Favorite-StrangerThe "Selective" in selective breeding is not just there to take up space. What is your idea of naturally occurring? If something is selected by any criteria of ours, it would only be a natural occurrence if you were to use the logic that since humans are "natural"; thus all resulting events must be. (Semantics matter to the people who know what they're talking about). Accurate username
A lot of people may imitate what this man is doing but he will remain as the original survival vlogger. He is the epitome of pure dedication and has been true to his content ever since. I will never get tired of watching his videos. Solid fan here since 2015.
I like that you just remove one tuber from each plant because it's sustainable and shows gratitude to the one who provided you with food.
2 hours to collect 10 tubers, and now you know why farming was such a game changer.
And three days of rinsing afterwards, which was not enough as it still tasted bitter.
Not to mention you'd have to travel further and further as you depleted what was nearby until you pick up and move somewhere else.
What farming did was allow for cities (high population density sedentary societies) near particularly fertile land. Hunting, herding, foraging were all better alternatives at low population densities, or medium non-sedentary population; and the only possibility in land unsuitable for farming. But sedentary living allowed for investing a lot of time into tools and structures, such as brick buildings and libraries. Thanks to millennia of selective breeding, we've upgraded our domesticated plants and animals and made farming much better than it was during the last ice age.
Also thanks to modern knowledge of crop rotation and fertilizers we hardly ever need to let land lie fallow to recover its farmability, and irrigation projects meant poor weather no longer randomly eliminates farming as a viable food source for those years.
Hunter-gatherers actually spend less time and effort on feeding themselves than agricultural societies. Agriculture creates storable surpluses, but it doesn’t make life easier.
@frederickheard2022 what? Of course it makes life easier - for the 99% that aren't farming, they can concentrate on anything else. Why do you think societies have advanced as far as they have?
Can't believe he's so close to developing the silicon microprocessor
Hahhaahha😂
He’s already 10 years ahead of moore’s law
Can't wait for the video about using CRISPR to increase the production from iron bacteria
I'm pumped for the particle accelerator
The endgame is melting sand to convert the power of the sun into consciousness.
Remeber this man was one of the first ones that did primitive videos on youtube. All others imitiate after. Legend.
I love how your content is the antithesis of the over-the-top, fast-paced content that is so popular today. We need this now more than ever
"After 3 days it doesn't taste bitter"
Don't know why but this made me lol
Needs salt. 😀
The effort required for the simplest things lol
In Brazil we make this recipe from maniçoba and it needs 7 days to be consumable without poison.
@@Ottee2 and meаt :D
@@DanielPereiraSantista wow nice ! maybe you should inform him directly under his pinned comment, that's good knowledge.
”After 3 days it doesn’t taste bitter” and ”but I didn’t get sick” - really puts into perspective the amount of work and perseverence ancient humans did. Today we know taccalin is in the tubers. Back then it must’ve been ”We ate it and old Granny died, but I just had a stomachache and threw up a lot. So this time we rinsed it and the stomachache wasn’t so bad. Big brother says his stomach didn’t hurt at all. If we rinse it more, maybe my stomach won’t hurt either”.
The taste would certainly help a lot with judging how dangerous it would be to eat, as bitter tastes are typically associated with poisonous plants. It's just that some poisons, like caffeine, are able to be safely processed by our bodies in the levels that plants can manufacture it.
we have sense of taste for a reason lol u don't just eat anything till you get sick to find out.
@@dolsopolar At least if you have the luxury to choose. But starvation often was a real threat, so sometimes trial & error was the only viable option...
Or they had other foods and were just experimenting with the possibility of these tubers as another food source. Not every human invention was created out of sheer desperation you know. That might be how your finest moments occurred but older humans were probably more mundane
😂
8:48 he has the look of "well.... I made it.... may as well eat it I guess..." when you burn your pancakes
It was then that a Domino's ad burst through my TH-cam screen to interrupt. Yes, TH-cam, I would rather eat pizza. 😂
That's a ton of work for a single meal. I genuinely amazed how early humans survived.
We survived just like any other animal. Arduously, doing what was needed to survive with whatever was on hand.
But it's the reason we have the technology we do today. With new tech brings more time freed to do other things, slowly but surely improving resource production, securing survival and improving quality of life.
Hunter-gatherers probably would not went out there for just the tubers, they would gather othere plants as well as cheking/ setting up traps.
@@adb4522 But he is just one man when our ancestor and modern hunter-gatherer was in the group
We are a social animal
Because primitive humans work in a group, so a task like this could get done faster
@@FiltyIncognitodisabling the average American so that one day when they shut off the grid and AI takes over they can decrease the population.
i haven't heard this man speak a single word in 9 years and i'm not sure i want to ruin the mystery
He doesn't smile much either...I would love to see him smile, just a little.
Use captions, he explains what he's doing and sometimes makes jokes
I like to imagine he sounds like runforthecube
"... but I didn't get sick" LOL. I love how nonchalant that line is. You are the ONLY primitive technology master!!!
I keep forgetting he adds subtitles.
I've been watching these for so long not realizing there were subtitles...
"Tubers superficially resemble potatoes" My man's just roasting his colleagues like that 💀
🤦♂️
Straight up frenchfried em.
@@jonpopelka I see what you did there, very clever 😌🤌🏻
+2
Man just roasted so many
In traditional Polynesian practices, Tacca leontopetaloides (Arrowroot plant in the video) has been used to capture eels. The toxic properties are utilized by placing crushed or processed plant parts into water sources where eels are present. The toxins irritate the eels, causing them to surface or become easier to catch.
interesting, it might even work for spear fishing as well.
explained! look at his comment (primitive technology's one)
Double ration!
Great!
interesting, there is a native Australian plant called the soap tree (Alphitonia excelsa) that aboriginals use to knock out/stun fish
6:05 as a trained military medical assistant I just wanna massage his feet and give them a oil scrub, make him rest his feet elevated, and ask if he would care for a refreshment 😂
After your last video I got to thinking, "Man, this channel used to be more diverse and interesting, now it's always about fire and clay. I wish there was more food or farm videos."
And there it is
“Look. Iron prills. Iron slag. Furnace. Iron prills. More slag. Clay. Fire. Mosquitos. Iron slag.”
It was getting annoying, sorry to say 😮
@@Btburkhardt i want to him to advance to the iron age though
Don't get me wrong I appreciate the 50 slightly different kinds of blower forge and kiln as much as the next guy, but I did really miss the variety
I just pulled a whole bunch of creeping vines out of my yard and realized I have all the material to make my own baskets so here I am weaving baskets in the middle of my house thanks to you. Cheers!
Good on you for turning an unwanted (presumably invasive) plant into something nice and useful! 😊
my man!
@@ragnkjaDefinitely invasive. They killed all of the grass in my yard and were starting to kill the trees. It's crazy how strong these vines are and how good they are at climbing things.
@@anonony9081Same!
Neighbor planted chinese wisteria that overtook the fence and tried eating my oak tree - baskets, tomato trellis, working on a chair or end table now.
@@anonony9081to be fair grass is also an invasive species.
(pulls up to drive thru) "Can I get uhhh ... Polynesian Arrowroot Hashbrown"
"Sure dude, come back in 3 days once I've rinsed off the poison."
@@noob19087 "sorry man we gotta go forage for more. check back in a month when we have rinsed enough"
@@bofa987 Imagine eventually you do get your food and a guy in shorts just comes from the kitchen and starts making your Polynesian Arrowroot Hashbrown. He doesn't say a word, but his friendly interpreter explains in detail what he's doing. Finally he drops the patty on your plate and leaves. I mean I'd pay for that.
@@noob19087 that would be great, until you make the mistake of asking for ketchup (2 years of cultivating tomato plants)
@@bofa987 "This year's harvest failed, you're going to have to wait for next season."
I like how this one uses a combination of many disciplines that you’ve touched on: fire making, forced air furnace, foraging, and functional pottery
Don’t forget the water powered hammer.
i feel like you leaving "cooking" out of that list was intentional
@@imDarkensei haha nah I was trying to make a big list and forgot cooking XD
Do you know what I like best about your channel? You don't speak. You just show. I can make my own thoughts about it and just sit and relax. I'm impressed by your skills. Watching your videos is very relaxing to me as a person, who is always surrounded by modern technology. Thanks for your work!
have you turned on subtitles? ;)
Чел просто показывает нам как же хорошо мы живем
I think, after all his videos, it's become taken for granted just how crazy good he is at making a friction fire. He showed the whole process taking mere seconds for him. Normally? Spinning a stick in your hand like that can take half an hour to make a fire, or even hours in wet conditions. Guy's cracked.
i know, it's so cool
Get him on Survivor, keep him around until the final three (despite his utter silence), and then watch him flex on the entire fire building challenge by scoffing at the provided flint and steel, and using a pair of sticks instead.
Half an hour? Nonsense, for two reasons.
First: If a spinde/hearthboard combo actually works, it is a matter of minutes before you have an ember, provided that you have the endurance to spin it. If the combo is not got, then rarely will retrying ad infinitum work. You fix that by finding something that actually gives you an ember instead.
Secondly: I can absolutely assure you that nobody has the strength in them to spin a handdrill for thirty minutes straight or more. Even if you did, you typically wear through the board in two or three attemps tops. If you spun a spindle for thirty minutes in a notch you would be drilling earth for twentyfive of those minutes.
John explained that he does it manually (without tools) to keep himself refined
By now, doesn't he have the "means" to make a char cloth? Feels like that would make for much better tinder
At 9:03 we get the perfect representation of human food history, and how we got where we are today.
"It could have done with more rinsing cycles in the creek, but I didn't get sick"
He is the human!
For some reason this realisation does something to my brain, so i like this channel even more. He looks, moves and makes things in the most human-like ways. I'm not even sure if i've seen anyone else being like that... I mean, we live in a human society, seeing people everyday, but he looks exceptional.
He is what the human is in a good way.
@@KorbAgainyou just discovered formalism! If you enjoyed realizing that, check out the writings of Plato
i love the noise the tubers make when dropped into the pot
Can't wait for the edm remix of tubers hitting a handmade pot in a few months!
it's my new message received alert sound
Finally a video not related to iron smelting, bricks, kilns!🎉
I bet it tastes exactly what it looks like lol
I used to play bass in Polynesian Arrowroot Hashbrown
No way! Your first album is still all killer, no filler
Dude I love ska!
Don't know if it's by design, but the short intro without any captions is super helpful and gives a second to click it on without missing anything.
There is a caption at the very beginning though
I love that You delicately dig around the plant to pluck the part you're going to eat, while leaving the rest of the plant undisturbed so it can regrow.
It's a little known fact that the camera this was filmed on is made of spider webs and beeswax.
Foraging for food back then must have been a truly time consumming task.
Ever thankful for the gifts of civilisation.
Three or four hours per day on average. That includes hunting, which is more calorically rewarding, and does not include the prep and cooking time. People get to know the region they live in pretty well and can gather pretty efficiently.
A product of famines. I consider how many people died before getting it right. 🤢
Location location location; knowledge of local edible plants passed down by generations, nomadic movement through the seasons, a lot of drying and caching of ample harvests as well as planting as you go so you can return to promising spots later.
The shift to agriculture actually dominated more of our time and energy than hunter gatherer did; when you know what most everything in your area is, you arent picky about food and eat as you go. Foraging is great because you can basically load up while you enjoy nature; nap whenever and wherever you feel is safest, no responsibilities outside life.
We ate far more meat unless times got bad.
All animals spend their entire day foraging for resources. Whether that’s foraging for food of patrolling/securing territory or securing a mate. Us humans wake up, get ready (action to gain or keep social standing which is a resource), make and eat food (resource), travel to work (foraging), work 8-9 hours a day for money which is equivalent to resources, go shopping for food (resources), then cook said food, then possibly socialize (again a social resource), and then sleep. We have not progressed at all in this aspect and likely never will, it just looks different
4:04 The closest we've ever been to hearing his voice :p
ROFL
@@Bostonrain420 hawk tuah that thing!
he has talked in video already, if im not mistaken the only time ive heard his voice was in that youtube rewind where he was the main star
EDIT: Fake news here guys im sorry, my ADHD mixed memories up there, thats why i wasn't certain "if im not mistaken"
@@Mardikuz Since nobody on Earth ever watches YT Rewind, it's safe to say that you were the only person who ever knows his voice haha
@@Mardikuz You made me look through YT rewinds... I did not find him talking, only making a YT rewind tablet out of clay, in 2018.
PLEASE do more cooking videos like these! I cant find them much of anywhere on YT. Keep shining mate!
Les Stroud has a show called "Wild Harvest" on his channel.
@@capitancoolo1 oouuuuuu, I'll check that out. Thanks🥰👍🏾!
For outdoor cooking you can look at some popular Matthew Posa videos, makes me hungry every time.
@@vsart6329 I'll check the person out as well. Thanks🥰!
LiZiqi has good cooking with nature content.
so good to have you back bro, keep uploading and doing your thing, we never forgot who was the OG primitive technology.
You make it look effortless, but I truly understand the time and dedication it takes.
The whole process is very similar to what some Amazonian tribes used to do before the 'discovery' of the Americas (and still do to this day). They used yucca (cassava) roots, which are poisonous unless prepared in a way that is similar to your arrowroot processing. The main difference is that they used to grind the root more coarsely (the final consistency being similar to grits, with visible grains instead of a smooth powdery starch), and instead of relying solely on time to decant the starch, they used a 'tipiti', which is a woven contraption much like a very large Chinese finger trap, but with loops on the ends. They filled the tipiti's with the wet mash and, by pulling the ends, squeezed the water away. Rinse, repeat (literally). The final product is a coarse-grained starch that cooks very much like your arrowroot hashbrown, just a little bit less translucent and with a crunchy outer layer (from the starch grains that dry out with the heat before they gum-up with the rest of the biju (the name of the cake they make). Tapioca, in short. It's not just little balls that can become a pudding, but many things, like a fine powder starch, much like cornstarch; a coarse meal that is dried up and used to thicken stews or roasted with fats to make farofa, a very typically Brazilian dish.
I'm wondering if cassavas are indeed so similar, can't he just boil it like a cooked cassava? Won't it make the poison evaporate too?
The grind process seems to take a lot longer than just cooking it
@@jetinho the poison in cassavas is not boiled away, but rather chemically reacted away with the heat when they are cooked.
the look on your face while eating that reflects volumes of despair
It always amazes me as to how people thought about doing this all those years ago. Oh look a plant, let's eat its roots!. If it was so bitter, you'd think they'd not touch it again, but someone has thought of a process and a way to make it better. Incredible, love to see more like this!
Only need to figure it out for one kind of food and then try it with everything. Soaking out tannins and other water-soluble toxins is common in many parts of the world (it's done with acorns, for instance). If you're hungry enough to try eating something new and notice that the awful taste leeches into the cleaning water it isn't crazy to see just how much can be washed out.
Part 2
th-cam.com/video/aQeaztXRhIM/w-d-xo.html
Just think of how many failed experiments there were in harvesting, preparing, cooking, and eating various things over time. A lot of upset tummies and even deaths all in the name of progress.
Those discoveries are also going to be driven by "well if I dont figure out how to eat this, I will starve". Necessity is the mother of invention here too.
Starvation is a great motivator.
Always turn on CCs for this channel's video!
I’m actually kind of envious of your cookware. It’s such a huge accomplishment to be able to make your own quality cookware.
Watching this makes me appreciate the necessity of modern agriculture so much more...The amount of effort it takes to find and prepare 10 tubers is insane.
0:02 That house is holding up well.
If you compare it to the original video though, you can see how one side of the building has sinked a bit along with the ground beneath it. I'd give it a few more years until he gets into problems and has to renovate or build a new house. Especially considering that wet seasons can have extremely heavy rainfall there.
@@madiskruusmann302 does he need to dig down to bedrock or does he need to find a way to build a harder foundation?
@@keith3761 pylons will save the day
@@keith3761 Well I'm no building expert, but I doupt all modern buildings are dug down to bedrock.
If I remember correctly (watched the original video a while back) then he just built the hut on the ground (a portion of the walls a bit underground). With the wet seasons, the ground has clearly moved and eventually the hut will get damaged (if it hasn't gotten already). I don't know how proper foundation is built for houses, but I'm pretty sure he's house is lacking one. Maybe there is somebody who works in construction and can provide some insight.
Nevertheless I think it is amazing and this channel is one of the best on YT. The man is a living legend.
If left undisturbed I can definitely see that house being still recognizable even if a ruin a few centuries from now
Like the way he cleans out the junk when harvesting so that it is easier next year.
Вкусно, вкусно... Не по вкусу вкусно, но по сути вкусно...
It's almost midnight where I live, i just had a stressfull day at work, and tomorrow will be the same, but I'll be damned if that makes me ignore a primitive tecnology notification!
Than you for the awersome content!
damn, I just sat down to a dinner of chicken fingers i dug out of the freezer and air fried, with baked sweet potato I reheated in the microwave. I put this on and watching you dig tubers out of the ground with a stick while I eat my dinner really made me appreciate how easy I have it.
As soon as he ate that hashbrown, I seriously thought he was going to say "Yeah, Nah..."
This channel shows how human civilization has evolved. This person is more skilled than most special forces survival experts.
Mad respect for honoring the pre-consumer way of life.
I love how you put all that effort in for us to learn and sit back and relax!
Thanks! Love seeing the primitive agriculture stuff.
Its awesome to see someone make something from the ground up
also hi mr supermaterial man
Not enough paraffin wax 🤷♂️
3 days to process out the poison is actually insane
It makes me appreciate the thousands of years of farming that gave us crops without so much poison.
@@hamjudo ive seen somebody make flour out of common wild grass, it was insane how inefficient it was, like 10kg of plants for like 100g of flour, thank god we figured out selective breeding
Acorns take days to process in this way as well don't they?
@@lemagreengreenyes basically the same exact method of cold water leeching too. You can speed it up by boiling the water with acorns.
In Brazil we have a food that you need to cook cassava leaves for seven days to get rid of the poison.
Really like the way you used what looks like a roofing tile with cross cuts in it to peel those roots. That would work well on potatoes and other tubers as well as washing clothing.
So much work for a small meal. Just puts into perspective how much easier the life has become for us, and why it's so easy to overeat.
In Portuguese it's called 'Araruta'. I never knew about this plant. I searched about the processing of it, and they do exactly as you do, but with a cottom sack, cleaning the liquid with the Arrowroot with water. After that they give the residual water to other plants, as it is rich in phosphor and help them bear fruit.
Just one thing, i could not find any information about Arrowroot saying that it is poisonous, even without any processing.
Thank you very much!
My brother recently planted araruta in his site. The tube is more like carrot-shaped, it grows everywhere after the first harvest. The flour made with it is called polvilho and is used to bake brevidade, an antique bakery sweet, very light and crunchy and dry yet soft
I appreciate that you only take one tuber from each plant - not only sustainable, but respectful to the plant which gave you a meal.
He wants to harvest them again next year. So instead of killing them he just taxes them. You can think of that as respectful if you like :P
@@andersjjensenTAX EVASION IS A CRIME VERGIL
@@andersjjensen yea liberals are weird, its just an efficient way of harvesting without needing to re sow.
Why would anyone respect a plant? Might as well say you respect zinc.
@@reliantncc1864 Plants are living breathing organisms. Zinc is an inert substance. There is a difference. Life may seem abundant here on Earth, but throughout the universe it is vanishingly rare.
Thank you. I am using arrowroot starch in my cuisine, it's a specialty starch used in baked goods precisely because it becomes clear when it cooks (as you demonstrate) which makes for nice glazes. Until today I didn't know where it comes from, now I do. It is in many ways - as you mentioned too - similar to cassava starch/tapioca.
brother, I've been watching this legend since I was in the third grade of elementary school, now I've finished the third grade of high school..
Arrowroot actually sounds like a supremely not edible plant.
Like some ingredient for poison in Skyrim
"It took us 3 days to make this potato salad. 3 DAYS!"
I guess it's a good thing they hadn't made Polynesian Arrowroot salad.
I was PRAYING you had some kind of spice plant near you, but just going in on the forbidden potato patty, unsalted? What an absolute unit.
Yeah I was wondering that too. Maybe a relative of the cinnamon tree grows around there? But I can’t think of anything else
@@nathanielreichert4638 At least salt could be acquired by evaporating seawater, but I'm not sure if he is anywhere near the sea.
flavouring would change the perception of the relative bitterness
@@UngodlyFreak that’s true. He may have to do some primitive chemistry to make it then :o
you would think so aye. surely there's some kind of oniony or/and peppery wild herb around. and salty minerals. maybe a bit of animal fat and a hotter pan.
Imagine this was all you had to work with. "Hmm I feel like pancakes." "Time to harvest some roots, peel them, grind them and then put them in water. Over 3 days I will filter out the bitter parts by pouring off the top layer of water and adding more water after. Finally I will have batter to make 2 pancakes. Mmm, yummy, only a little bitter"
LoL!
Pedant!
This is the best mukbang ever. Shut the genre down this can't be topped
Had to decant that quite a number of times. That is dedication
I like this view on the whole gatherer lifestyle - it's not just going to a well-tended garden and plucking some carrots from the ground. It's walking through woodland ("open" up for debate ;)) and looking for some wilted leaves, then digging into the ground to get one smallish tuber. And then getting up and starting to look for the next wilted leaves. Thanks for this dose of reality!
His expression said volumes on the taste. LOL
ikr? he tasted it and only went :| Says it all
Shockingly, eating a plant with no seasoning whatsoever doesn't taste amazing. Who would've thought?
@@Gandhi_Physique you'd be surprised how far the "i made this myself" factor can increase ones enjoyment of something kinda bland. And, lots of one flavoring ingredient foods are pretty alright, consider most grains, or something like bread.
though unlike the last time he made arrowroot he didn't wash it enough so it was bitter, so this time we didn't even get a nice little head bob
@@thepizzaguy8477 fair enough lol
so much respect for the austronesian folks who figured out how to process this plant into food! from what i've read it was most commonly eaten as the starch (shown in the previous video by PT on this plant) mixed into a mash with coconut cream, and steamed in banana leaf to make puddings (if you've ever had hawai'ian haupia this is what it was originally made with!). I can't find much information on Aboriginal use of the plant - most sources say it wasn't used extensively outside of low lying islands and atolls because of the laborious preparation it requires, but i'm sure if it was there it would've been eaten, if only during a bad season when nothing else was available. the berries are also edible, and the starch is used to stiffen fabric and make things like tapa cloth
So much of what people knew about plant foraging and processing is completely lost. Even today in the age of information, barely a trace survives of many plants and their uses, and there are probably many plants whose edibility hasn't been considered at all that were used extensively by people in the past.
I can't even make hashbrowns with proper ingredients. And here are John making them on the wilderness
between this, the other potato videos, the bread, and the shrimp, we might a primitive technology cookbook
It’s almost a proper Fourth of July barbecue. 😂
I cooked up an arrow root pancake the other week as an experiment. Got my arrow root starch at the store.
Fascinating. I never really thought about where arrowroot comes from and I’m a retired chef/baker…
Still the best channel on TH-cam
"I stayed well" is the best recommendation.
Yeah, that's my impression of most wild foods...'edible' does not necessarily mean 'tastes good'. I think I'd have to be pretty hungry to go through all that for a rubbery pancake.
Does in many cases though! think wild berries, wild alliums etc. Out of season though... I often wonder what the hell people ate pre-agriculture where I live since I can't think of much that could sustain people, nothing like arrowroot etc as far as I know.
@@lemagreengreen Hunting probably... dunno where you live but you hunt a single bison and that could feed you for months, that's what people did where I live.
That's why the spice trade was so profitable. Made bland food more bearable
@@bojackhorseman4176 All them good folk needed was some alliums and they were happy with the spicy flavors. But nooo, them posh people had to go and get spices 'cause they were scared of garlic! Thems rich folk are bloody vampires, I tell you!
@squidwardo7074 After methods of food preservation were invented, maybe. Meat does not normally last months. If hunting just for yourself, you'd hunt something much smaller and less wasteful. Of course a tribe could benefit from a large kill.
He cooking!!!🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
My guy needs salt, spices, and oil like nobody else today.
You look so pleased with how that turned out
It is an unwritten rule as a man to watch Primitive Technology atleast once a week.
I just read “arrow” on the notification and for the whole video was confused to how a tuber could assist in the process of arrow fabrication
Lmao
Can't make very many arrows when your tummy's rumbling, now can you?
@@Bubben246 yes
Remember to turn on CC for all the descriptions!
somebody put "Polynesian Arrowroot Hashbrown" on your trendy restaurant's menu. i would order that from the name alone.
Other comments suggest arrowroot is actually used in some recipes!
The fishing poison idea is fascinating!
The starchy goodness flows
8:34 better than Gordon Ramsey
that feeling when im bout to go to bed and a Primitive Technology video just dropped
Its interesting how many people wrote this video made them appreciate agriculture and the modern legumes but this video made me just want to go out and forage. Looks fun also that pulp pancake looked delicious.
This guy is a excellent channel and shows what good TH-cam content creators can do
>primitive technology uploads another cooking video
lads, this is FUCKING IT!!!!!!!!!!
Very interesting but something tells me you burned more calories making the stuff than you gained back by eating it.
Considering the energy and time required to collect and process enough for one meal, it's scarcely surprising that obesity was a sign of wealth and status.
to understand your standing in life study history, see the past for what it was. a lot of truths reveal themselves.
@@dimitar4y Irrelevant.
The thing I really love about these videos is they really help introduce the concept of "How the fuck did we think to do that?" when looking at our prehistorical ancestors. We really are an amazing animal, and I wish more developed countries encouraged this kind of education alongside academia. If nothing else, it imparts appreciation for what we have today