Hairy Bittercress Harissa Paste

HAIRY BITTERCRESS – Cardamine hirsuta offers a hot peppery cress flavour. Traditionally the leaves have been cooked like spinach, but I find they taste a deep rich cress flavour. A Goddess to the forager, a curse to the gardener. How strange to dig up a friendly invasive who grows in …

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Hairy Bittercress, Dandelion & Papaya Salad

A wonderfully sensual dish combining the exquisite sweetness of Papaya with the pepperiness of Hairy Bittercress and the gentle flavour of mild Dandelion greens. I picked up some out of date Papayas the other day. Out of date in the sense, they were still green and I had to ripen …

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Hairy Bittercress & Roasted Beetroot Salad

The combination of Hairy Bittercress’s (Cardamine hirsuta) earthy flavours with the sweet, salt and acidic dressing and the vivid contrast of colours makes a wonderful Autumnal warm salad. Hairy Bittercress Recipe Ingredients 4 beetroot (weighing about 500g) 50g sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds 2 tablespoons maple syrup 2 tablespoons oil (I …

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What to forage in November

Discover over forty wild food plants you can forage and harvest in November. Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available. Alexanders – Smyrnium olusatrumLeaf stalk: Raw, cooked.Root: Cooked. Blackthorn Sloe – Prunus spinosaFruit: Raw, cooked. Beech – …

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What to forage in October

Discover over forty wild food plants you can forage and harvest in October. Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available. Alexanders – Smyrnium olusatrumLeaf: Raw, cooked.Leaf stalk: Raw, cooked. Black Mustard – Brassica nigraLeaf: Raw, cooked. Burdock …

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What to forage in July

Discover over seventy wild food plants you can forage and harvest in July. Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available. Annual seablite – Suaeda maritimaLeaf: Raw, cooked.Stalk: Young, raw, cooked. Ash – Fraxinus excelsiorLeaf: Tea, leaf curd. …

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What to forage in June

Discover over fifty wild food plants you can forage and harvest in June. Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available. Alexanders – Smyrnium olusatrumFlower: Raw Ash – Fraxinus excelsiorLeaf: Tea Black mustard – Brassica nigraFlower: Raw, cooked Burdock – …

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What to forage in May

Discover over sixty wild food plants you can forage and harvest in May. Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available. Alexanders – Smyrnium olusatrumFlower: RawLeaf: Raw, cooked Ash – Fraxinus excelsiorSeedpod: Cooked Black mustard – Brassica nigraLeaf: Raw, cooked …

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What to forage in April

Discover over forty wild food plants you can forage and harvest in April. Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available. Bramble – Rubus fruticosus agg.Shoots: Raw, cooked Brooklime – Veronica beccabungaLeaf: Cooked Charlock – Sinapis arvensisLeaf: Raw, cooked …

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EP22: Foraging the future, sustainability & vital connection

An interview with Miles Irving, author of the Forager Handbook and creator of The Wild Box, on why we must include humans in our conservation models in order to look after wild spaces. Why foraging is sustainable. How foraging can help feed an ever growing population, and how we can …

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Dandelion

Introduction Dandelion grows abundantly in many parks and gardens. This easily recognisable weed was once a cure-all of herbal medicine and is still popular in food and drink. Scientific name Taraxacum officinale agg. Family Asteraceae. Botanical description Bright yellow composite flowers crown an erect stem (up to 1-30 cm) emerging …

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Squid With Garlic Mustard and Rock Samphire Seeds

This dish of squid dusted in flour and Cornish sea salt, makes for a wondrous taste-tingling experience. Combined with wild edibles such as  rock samphire seeds deep fried in hot sesame oil, and other wild greens, it makes for an epicurean memory filled meal. Ingredients 3 handfuls of finely sliced wild greens …

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Wild Garlic & Nettle Pesto

Something to the quality of Land changes when the first shoots of Wild Garlic start sprouting forth. To the novice in the very early stages they can appear indistinguishable from the poisonous Lords and Ladies, also known as Cuckoo-pint…. So gather tenderly, as you would stroke a lover. Stand back, …

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Wild seeds you can sprout

Years ago, circa 1986, I used to teach ‘Biogenic Nutrition’. Don’t ask, it was a crazy diet and I was young and chasing enlightenment. Ah, the folly of youth. Back then I taught people how to ferment seed cheeses and how to sprout seeds in jars in their kitchens, along …

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