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Wild Edibles

pbffpbff Posts: 433
in Plants
I found an interesting post on the Woodland Trust website about wild edibles to find this month and how to use them.

http://http//www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2017/03/foraging-in-march/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blogs&utm_content=wildlife

Plants featured:
Stellaria media (Chickweed)
Taraxacum officinale (Dandelion)
Galium aparine (Cleavers)
Ulex europaeus (Gorse)
Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn)
Fallopia japonica (Japanese Knotweed)
Urtica dioica (Nettles)

I often add dandelion leaves to salads and I love to go along the hawthorn hedge picking off the new leaves to eat - they taste of spring, so fresh and green!



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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Chickweed is a great salad leaf ... absolutely delicious in an egg mayo sandwich.
    We like young nettle shoots steamed and combined with mashed potato and some spring onions or chives to make champ, and love steamed ground elder as an ingredient in a mixture green veg (like the Greek mixture of wild herbage called  horta) http://greekvegetarian.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/horta-steamed-greens-with-fresh-lemon.html 

    If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em  >:);)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • pbffpbff Posts: 433
    Sounds really tasty Dove.
    There isn't a lot of chickweed growing locally, but there are plenty of nettles!
    I always love the smell of ground elder and the flowers are lovely too. 
    I have some under the hedge, and just weed out any bits that invade any further into the garden.

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I could probably supply Covent Garden market with chickweed  :/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • pbffpbff Posts: 433
    edited March 2018
    My uncle's garden could probably supply them with Hairy Bittercress - also edible!  :D
    Fortunately, I'm not too plagued with weeds, which I put down to being 'no-dig' and the fact that the beds are so jam-packed with all the plants that I keep buying, the poor old weeds don't even get a look-in!  :D
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  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Presumably you just eat the flowers of gorse... unless you're Eeyore, I suppose...   ;)
    I didn't realise you could eat Japanese knotweed.  I may be able to take my revenge on my neighbour's remaining few plants!
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • pbffpbff Posts: 433
    Yes Liri, just the flowers!  :D
    They apparently have a 'coconut and almond flavour' and can be used raw in salads or steeped in fruit tea, or be infused in ice-cream or wine.
    Sounds good!
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  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    It does indeed... it would look pretty, too.   :)
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I like the website Eat Weeds. Lesser celandine is apparently good to eat before it flowers - which might be about now. Btw, celandine is named from the Latin 'celidonia':  ‘swallow’ as the flowering was associated with the arrival of the first swallows.
  • pbffpbff Posts: 433
    Looks an interesting site @Firefly∆
    Interesting about the origin of the name - you learn something new every day!
     :) 
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  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Ah, I'm a bit obsessed with etymologies.
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