Sea Aster

Scientific name

Tripolium pannonicum.

Family

Compositae.

Botanical Description

The plant yields blue-purple, daisy-like flowers with bright yellow stamens among a sea of long, slender green leaves. 

Status

Native to Britain, Europe, North Africa, and Asia. See: Maps.

Habitat

Sea cliffs, saltmarsh, salt water, coastal mud flats.

Parts Used for Food

Shoots, leaves, stems.

Harvest Time

Harvest from late Spring through Summer.

Food Uses

In pre-industrial Sweden sea asters were one of many wild species gathered for stews and soups. However, these plants were also considered fodder for livestock and may only have been gathered for human consumption during times of famine.1 Today the plant is among one of the wild plants sold by a small southern-Swedish foraging enterprise to the restaurant NOMA in Copenhagen.

The salty, fleshy leaves could be made into a pickle or chopped and added to salads, soups and stews by more adventurous cooks.

Sea Aster Recipes

Nutritional Profile

One study suggests the leaves have a particularly high protein content.

Herbal Medicine Uses

English herbalist John Gerard (1545–1612) recommended sea aster as a wound herb,but there are no records to indicate how useful the plant was to coastal communities in this regard. Gerard also prescribed sea aster for dropsy and as an antidote to poisoning.

Other Uses

The flower is particularly attractive to rabbits, who obviously came to their senses about sea aster long before we did!

Safety Note

Shaibur and team (2008) studied arsenic levels in sea aster, which was found to be largely concentrated in the roots and not of significant concern to the plant’s overall toxicity.

The lack of data on contraindications, side effects and toxicity of a plant is not absolute proof of its safety.

Always exercise caution when using a new wild edible, particularly during pregnancy or when breastfeeding.

References

Svanberg, I. (2012) The use of wild plants as food in pre-industrial Sweden. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae. [Online] 81317–327.

Luczaj, L. et al. (2012) Wild Food Plant Use in 21st Century Europe: The Disappearance of Old Traditions and the Search for New Cuisines Involving Wild Edibles. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae. [Online] 81 (4), 359–370.

Luczaj, L & Pieroni, A. (2016) Nutritional Ethnobotany in Europe: From Emergency Foods to Healthy Folk Cuisines and Contemporary Foraging Trends, in María de Cortes Sánchez-Mata & Javier Tardío (eds.) Mediterranean Wild Edible Plants. [Online]. New York, NY: Springer New York. pp. 33–56.

Khot, S. & Joshi, A. (2004) Edible Succulent Halophytes as Good Source of Proteins for Restoration of Salt-Affected Soils.

Grigson, G. (1996) The Englishman’s Flora. Oxford: Helicon.

Eland, S. C. & Lucas, G. (2013) Plant Biographies.

Shaibur, M. R. et al. (2008) Critical Toxicity Level of Arsenic and Elemental Composition of Arsenic-Induced Chlorosis in Hydroponic Sorghum. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution. [Online] 191 (1–4), 279–292.

Grain-Free Sea Aster Tabbouleh

It’s hot. 1976 hot. Scorched grass. Withered plants.

It’s times like this that the farmer gets twitchy. Images of dust-bowls and draught go through their mind.

For the forager it’s different. We aren’t farmers. We don’t need to live in fear of scarcity. Of food running out.

As foragers, we do what hunter-gatherer communities have always done.

We move.

We move down to the coast because in Summer that’s where all the lushness is. Inland it’s harder. Of course, you CAN forage inland during the Summer.

But why struggle. Life can be hard enough. So as foragers we take the easy option. We go to the beach.

Who doesn’t want to go to the beach during the summer anyway? Especially with a summer like we are having at the moment.

And down along the estuaries, where the rivers meet the sea lies the queen of summer greens…

Sea aster (Tripolium pannonicum syn. Aster tripolium)

Delicious. So delicious in fact that you might even find it being sold in your local supermarket. Mind, it will set you back £25 a kilo or so.

Better to take time out, and go forage it yourself.

Remember: You don’t reconnect to the Land in a supermarket. And you don’t reconnect staring at social media.

Ingredients

  • 1 small cauliflower
  • 200g sea aster leaves and succulent stems
  • 1 red onion (minced)
  • 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes (halved or chopped)
  • Juice of one lemon
  • ½ cup of olive oil
  • cracked black pepper

Instructions

  1. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and put in a food processor. Blitz until the size of rice grains. Tip into a salad bowl.
  2. Roughly chop the sea aster, pop in the food processor and blitz until it looks like chopped parsley. Add to the salad bowl.
  3. Finely chop up the red onions, add to salad bowl along with the chopped cherry tomatoes. Mix everything together.
  4. Mix together the lemon juice and olive oil. Pour over the ingredients in the salad bowl and give it a give stir until mixed in well.

Serves 4 people as a side dish.

More Sea Aster Recipes

Braised Sea Aster With Asparagus

I often refer to Sea Aster (Aster tripolium) as “Queen of Saltmarshes & Estuaries”.

She is one of the most delicious wild greens out there. OK that’s Robin’s opinion, but whenever I serve her up the reaction is usually one of delight.

Her flavour is one that must be experienced and she can often be found growing alongside Marsh Samphire aka Glasswort (Salicornia europaea).

So grab your wellies, and head to your nearest estuary or salt-marsh for a gourmet wild delight!

Sea Aster Recipe: Ingredients

  • 100g sea aster
  • 16 asparagus spears
  • 4 medium vine tomatoes (quartered)
  • oil
  • salt

Sea Aster Recipe: Suggested Instructions

  1. Lay tin foil in a baking tray and arrange the vegetables in the middle.
  2. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with a little oil, then fold the foil up, securing it at both ends and along the top. So it cooks like a Cornish pasty.
  3. Bake in a 180ºC fan oven for 30 minutes or until done.

Serves: 2 as a side dish

Sea Aster Pate

Young sea aster (Aster tripolium) leaves are just coming up down at the estuary where I forage. I have a love affair with this plant. The leaves make for a delicious wild vegetable, and can be used in a multitude of ways as my previous sea aster recipes show.

As I am teaching a lot and out foraging most days, I wanted to create a quick and gorgeous lunchtime snack. Personally I think this sea aster pate recipe turned out rather good, and all my friends who sampled it thought that it had worked too!

Sea Aster Recipe: Ingredients

  • 200g smoked mackerel (remove any bones)
  • 150g sea aster
  • 100g cream cheese
  • 1 lemon (juiced)
  • olive oil
  • salt and cracked black pepper

Sea Aster Recipe: Suggested Instructions

  1. Put the smoked mackerel, sea aster, cream cheese and a drizzle of olive oil into a a food processor, and pulse until the consistency that you like, either smooth or chunky.
  2. Then add the lemon juice and briefly pulse, then smear onto toast, crackers or just finger it out of the bowl!

Serves: 4

Sea Aster & Monkfish

Sea aster (Aster trillium) is an extraordinary estuary wild vegetable. Waitrose last year tried selling it in their stores but it no longer appears on their website.

Hardly surprising, because when I asked the staff in my local shop how to use it. I was of course testing them, the reply on countless times was, “Err, I’m not sure Sir. Try steaming it”.

Little did they know that this plant can be used in many ways, and goes exceptionally well with fish. So try this Sea aster recipe as it had my friends purring with delight.

Ingredients

  • 150g sea aster (chopped)
  • 500g monkfish (diced)
  • 1 carrot (chopped)
  • 1 onion (diced)
  • 3 garlic (chopped)
  • 3 sticks of celery (chopped)
  • 30g wild fennel fronds
  • ½ tsp marigold swiss vegetable bouillon powder
  • 300ml passata
  • 200ml water
  • Black pepper

Suggested Instructions

  1. Fry onion and garlic until translucent.
  2. Next add the carrots and celery, and fry for a further 3 minutes, then add the passata, water  and bouillon powder and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. Then add the monkfish, sea aster and wild fennel and simmer a remaining 10 minutes. Serve with rice.

Serves: 2

Sea Aster & Tomato Soup

To me Sea Aster is one of the best estuary greens. This Sea Aster recipe looks more like a gazpacho, however the delicate flavours of the Sea Aster are complimented really well by the sweet, sunny taste of the tomatoes. I fed it to a friend who usually turns her nose up at a lot of what I make from the wild, but this time it hit the spot, and she even came back for seconds! A Sea Aster recipe that rocks.

Sea Aster Soup Recipe Ingredients

  • 8 Sun ripened English tomatoes
  • 4 Large handfuls of Sea Aster
  • ¼ to ½ cup of Kefir or natural yoghurt
  • Olive oil

Sea Aster Soup Recipe Instructions

  1. Chop the tomatoes up along with the Sea Aster
  2. Put in a blender with a good glug of olive oil and blitz until smooth.
  3. Next add the Kefir/yoghurt and blitz again, then serve.
  4. Optional: Decorate with mustard flowers.

Makes: 2 persons

 

Buttered Sea Aster

Sea Aster (Aster tripolium) is one of the most flavoursome wild edible plants if you are into ‘gourmet foraging’. Often overlooked by many, it holds it’s texture very well, has an unusual, but highly more-ish taste, and to date I have yet to find anyone who found it revolting.

I like many of my wild edible plants cooked very simply, and this is about as simple as it gets.

Sea Aster Recipe Ingredients

  • 4 handfuls of Sea Aster leaves
  • Knob of butter
  • 1-2 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 5 tablespoons of kefir or natural yoghurt
  • Cracked black pepper

Sea Aster Recipe Instructions

  1. Melt butter in frying pan, then add the crushed garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
  2. Stir in washed and dried sea aster leaves (either sliced or whole), and fry until they are wilted and look glazed.
  3. Add the kefir or yoghurt and stir for 20 seconds.
  4. Serve immediately.

Makes: 4 side portions

Sea Aster Fish Bake

Sea Aster (Aster tripolium) makes an ideal bedfellow with any line caught white fish. This dish can be made in advance and baked when needed. Serve with a salad or cooked green vegetable.

Sea Aster Recipe Ingredients

  • 500g salad potatoes
  • 8 plum tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
  • Good pinch dried oregano
  • Good pinch thyme
  • Good pinch saffron
  • Small wine glass white wine
  • 500g white fish
  • 120g sea aster

For the topping

  • 100g fresh bread crumbs
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil

Sea Aster Recipe Instructions

  1. If baking straight away, preheat the oven to 210ºC gas mark 7.
  2. Cook the potatoes in their skins for 15 minutes in boiling water, drain and dice by cutting into quarters.
  3. Pierce the skins of the tomatoes, in a bowl pour over boiling water, immerse for a minute and drain. Remove the skins, halve around the middle and squeeze out the excess liquid and seeds, then chop.
  4. Place the prepared tomatoes, oil, garlic, oregano, thyme, saffron and wine in a small saucepan and simmer gently for 5 minutes
  5. Cut the fish into mouth-sized chunks and place in either one large bowl or 4 individual bowls. Add the finely sliced sea aster and diced potatoes and mix.
  6. Pour over the sauce and season with freshly ground pepper. There is no need to add extra salt as the sea aster is naturally salty.
  7. For the topping, finely chop the garlic and add to the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over the top and generously dribble with olive oil
  8. Bake in the prepared oven for about 25 minutes when the dish should be bubbling and golden and crunchy on top. Serve immediately.

Serves 4