What to forage in December

Discover over thirty wild food plants you can forage and harvest in December.

Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available.


Alexanders – Smyrnium olusatrum
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Leaf stalk: Raw, cooked.

Black mustard – Brassica nigra
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Burdock – Arctium spp.
Root: Raw, cooked.

Chickweed – Stellaria media
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Cleavers – Galium aparine
Leaf and tips: Cooked.

Cow parsley – Anthriscus sylvestris
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Crab apple – Malus sylvestris
Fruit: Cooked.

Dandelion – Taraxacum officinale
Root: Raw, cooked.
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Douglas fir – Pseudotsuga menziesii
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Garlic mustard – Alliaria petiolata
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Root: Raw, cooked.

Hedge bedstraw – Galium mollugo
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Horseradish – Armoracia rusticana
Root: Raw, cooked.

Lady’s smock – Cardamine pratensis
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Mallow – Malva spp.
Leaf: Cooked.

Navelwort – Umbilicus rupestris
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Nipplewort – Lapsana communis
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Oxeye daisy – Leucanthemum vulgare
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Plantain – Plantago spp.
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Rock samphire – Crithmum maritimum
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Seed: Raw, cooked.

Rosehip – Rosa canina
Fruit: Raw, cooked.

Salad burnet – Sanguisorba minor
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Saxifrage – Saxifraga spp.
Leaf: Cooked.

Scurvygrass – Cochlearia spp.
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Sea aster – Tripolium pannonicum
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Sea beet – Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Sea buckthorn – Hippophae rhamnoides
Fruit: Cooked and raw.

Sea purslane – Atriplex portulacoides
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Silverweed – Potentilla anserina
Root: Cooked.

Sorrel – Rumex acetosa
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Sowthistle – Sonchus spp.
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Stinging nettle – Urtica dioica
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Seed: Raw, cooked.

Stonecrop – Sedum album
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Wood sorrel – Oxalis acetosella
Leaf: Raw, cooked.

Yarrow – Achillea millefolium
Leaf: Raw, cooked.