The young growth of Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) are just beginning to emerge, and now is the time to don your wellies and hunt out this delicious Spring time green.
The shoots are a little young at the moment, but are still worth going out and foraging for.
Ideally you need to be finding the reddish young shoots, although this recipe was made with predominantly green ones, and still tastes fabulous.
Ingredients
- 2 x large bunches of Alexanders
- fresh lime juice
- butter
Serves: 2 people
Step 1
Find a nice patch of young Alexanders.
Step 2
Wash and trim the stems to roughly even lengths.
Step 3
Steam the stems for about 5-10 minutes.
Step 4
Serve with lashings of butter and a squeeze of lime juice. The lime juice really compliments this scrummy wild vegetable dish.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, I think I’ve found Alexanders growing near me, I live in the south west close to the sea. Is there anything that resembles it that I shouldn’t eat, just in case I’ve got it wrong?
Julie, in my early days I used to confuse its early growth with ground elder (an edible plant). What can appear a look-alike to one person might not be to another. It depends on how good you are at observation.
The problem for foragers is that a lot of the plants we consume need to be eaten before they flower, which makes identification oftentimes difficult.
My advice would be to wait until it flowers and you can then properly ID it for next year using a good botanical identification book, and I don’t mean a photo book, but something like Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland or The Wild Flower Key, then work slowly through the books taking your time using the ID key.
NOTE: Alexanders can be confused with Hemlock when in its early growth stages. Hemlock is DEADLY… so make sure you get the right one.
What does the frsh plant smell like? Lemons? grass? anything else?
This is already growing back on nov 5th in sussex,not much stem mind yet.
I too have found Alexander, I worry it is something else.
I am prety sure it is Alexander, but more tips on being certain would be nice.