Today I decided to record what I foraged for my family’s supper. As you can see there’s quite a bit around at the moment, and I really don’t need to buy any vegetables as there is more than enough to feed us all.
I harvested all these wonderful green beings while out walking the dog, so in effect “killed two birds with one stone”. OK my daughter will most probably refuse to eat any of it, although she has recently taken a liking to Hogweed shoots and leaves.
Top (left to right)
- Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)
- Dandelion Leaf (Taraxacum officinale)
- Ramsons (Allium ursinum)
- Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)
- Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber)
- Cleavers (Galium aparine)
- Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)
- Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Bottom: (left to right)
- White Dead Nettle (Lamium album)
- Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris)
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Common Nettle (Urtica dioica)
- Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)
- Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
- Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)
- Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria)
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
hey man good page,
i was out earlyer and found myself som young wild garlic shoots, sprin is here,allotment seeded, freash foods back in season.its gnna be a freash start all round.
yippiee
Hey Scott… I’m right with you brother! It just feels great to be alive now the dark months are receding.
Hi what do you do with, Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria) is this edible ? in the uk.
hi scott do you know a good colour book that has good pic in that i can use thanks stephen…
Rink: Ground elder is best used either stir-fried or in a soup or in casseroles, stews etc.
Stephen: I always recommend that you get a good plant identification book, and NOT use the descriptions usually found in the wild food books as they tend to give far too little information to correctly ID a plant. See my post on Edible Wild Plant Identification.
Thx Robin m8 that is great , so much food about now ,I love the spring , the birch sap is on the way up now to .
I use Ground Elder as a spinach substitute-it has a lovely lemony flavour which goes fantastically with any chicken dishes. My family love it and we use it all season. I use the ground elder and nettles as a spring/summer staple. We have a large garden and there is always more than we need all season long! Can the ground elder be frozen?
Where do I look for ramsons? I don’t know of any nearby.
Ramsons usually grow in shaded woods, often near a stream or other kind of water.
Hogweed? Is it edible?
cheers
Thanks for this I didn’t realise cleavers were edible – I have lots of them in my wild garden. Whats a good way to eat them? Is it a snack? Dont the sticky hairs get in the way?
Hey guys, just want to say one thing , thank god the spring is here,i am just coming out of hybernation myself,i am an rhs horticulterist and i am about to run a series of workshops in my local woods Stoke Park in Bristol 250 acres, we have just started a face book page Stoke Park Lockleaze, i will be running green woodworking days ,basket weaving with Hazel and Ivy, and so on, it is incredible what a bit of sun can do to your mind and its great to be able to come to a brilliant web site like yours to get all this incredible knowledge and join in the chat,many thanks will be looking in every day, regards Steve England newlook 388@aol.com
John: Yes Hogweed is edible but you need to know which bits and how to harvest as it might blister you. Also don’t eat Hogweed raw. Foraging Rule #1: NEVER, EVER EAT ANYTHING YOU CANNOT ID 110%!!!!!
Sarah: You need to pick the young cleavers growth that is about 2 or 3 inches tall. That can be used in salads. After that it gets a bit hairy and you need to steam it, then it becomes very wooden and you do not want to eat it. Even young, I still cook it, or if I do eat it raw then I jiuice it with carrot and apples.
Steve: Wanna run a wild food foraging course with me
Hi sorry forgot to mention as i am so full of the joys of spring, i teach survival skills, and stuff, when i trained with the RHS we did all the Botony stuff but never did wild edible foods so i am on an amazing journey with you all.
Hi Rob, i would love to meet with you ,and share what knowledge i have with EVERYBODY POSSIBLE thats what makes the world go round, i believe anyway,what your doing is b****y fantastic
i have an incredible amount of contacts with schools ,youth groups scout groups,Army Cadets, and lots of tree huggers (no offence i am one big time too) and Bristol City Council employ me to run various workshops during the summer, such as woodland walks, wild foods and so on.but remember i am on an upward lesson with edible foods
lots of the plants/weeds you mention cooking…But how many of them are ok to eat raw? I’m a raw foodie and looking for wild sources to supplement my plant based diet.
I’d love you to come and do a course here in Suffolk. I live between two nature reserves and could organize one if you were interested?
Great website and information, thank you
Only a couple I recognize from my part of the world. Nice haul. I don’t see so much of my kids so when we go weed picking they love to give everything a try.
Steve: I’ve just sent you an email.
Jenny: Here are the ones from the list above you can eat raw. DO NOT eat the ones I have omitted!
Dandelion Leaf (Taraxacum officinale)
Ramsons (Allium ursinum)
Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber)
Cleavers (Galium aparine)
Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
White Dead Nettle (Lamium album)
Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Common Nettle (Urtica dioica) – Process in a food processor until it looks like chopped parsley, this destroys the sting.
Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) – Before it flowers.
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)
Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria)
Hey man thanks for the newsletter & great advice as usual, I’m so glad its spring time to hit the woods again
cheers m8
A great new revamped look to the newsletter Robin.
Don’t forget Spring Beauty, there’s been loads of it around here in Jersey for several weeks now.
I shall try and send you what’s available in Portugal when I get there next week, can’t wait.
Peter
Peter: Glad you liked the newsletter
Spring Beauty isn’t around my neck of the woods at the moment. In fact I have only found it in one very small place. Pop over 10 miles and its prolific, but being a bit of a ‘locavore’ I like to try and eat only within a 3 mile radius of where I live. Enjoy Portugal!
This is great I am in the process of setting wild growth with seasonal proteinsGreat to see
Holy smokes! What fabulous information you (all) have here! Would love to transfer what you know over the ocean in the UK to where I live here on the East Coast of US. This is great stuff! Thanks loads.
Robin….thank you for the list of raw edible plants
I teach about raw living foods and have a number of people who are interested in learning more about foraging for wild foods. I would seriously like to co-host a class here in Suffolk with you where we could combine the foraging and then the preparation of raw wild foods into dishes….Would you be interested?
Look forward to hearing from you
Jenny Yemaya
Scotland is not as prolific in wild foods as southern U.K. Perhaps due to the sheep eating mostly everything they can get their teeth on.
I managed to find some wild garlic, some sorrel and nettle tops today.
(sheep can’t get everywhere).
Had dandelion,white dead nettle n sorrel salad – lemon juice, pepper, salt and oil – delicious!
Chuck some feta cheese on for extra depth.
cheers!
Great site, just a couple of comments from my own experience and a warning regarding Hogweed
Ground elder can be used as a spinach substitute , one of my favourites is a ground elder and blue cheese pizza. Later in the season the leaf stem can be used as a celery substitute ( the flavour is pretty similar).
Roger Philips wild food book mentions that cleavers are bitter and in his opinion not worth the bother. I have found that sometimes they are indeed very bitter and sometimes not bitter at all, possibly due to location or possible varietability in cleaver populations ?.
The native Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) is indeed edible and in my opinion very nice but should not be confused with Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) which is toxic and gives nasty blisters when handled.
I live in the east of Scotland and although the season is maybe a bit later there is plenty to be had, but then the few sheep that are around are fenced in. The one plant that is very abundant here is sweet cicely which has a fantastic anis seed taste.
Another one for edible raw is young lime leaves (Tilia europea) and young hawthorn leaves.
Good page. We have dead nettle near by, tomorrow I pick and eat.
Germany by the way.