Post by Admin on Jun 3, 2016 8:52:28 GMT
A beginner’s guide to spring foraging
There are many pleasures to be gained from eating from the wild and with spring in full swing, it's an ideal time to go foraging and add a new dimension to your
I love to eat from the wild and I've done it from my earliest years. The flavours, textures and nutrients are elemental and vital; they bring a new dimension to your cooking. I cherish the intimate connection I get with the environment, and the ebb and flow of the seasons and weather. It's fun to search for your own food.
If you take responsibly, your bounty is sustainable and free. Please only harvest what you are confident you can positively identify: if in doubt, leave it out. Use a good guide to help you such as Alys Fowler's The Thrifty Forager, or the Collins Gem version of Richard Mabey's Food For Free. Only pick what you can comfortably use without waste or harm to the plant – leave some for others. Wash your bounty and check for bugs lurking in flowers.
Spring is ideal to collect wild food if you've never foraged before. The lush growth of summer hasn't begun and there are a few easily identified plants about to get you started.
Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica)
These have jagged, heart-shaped leaves with stinging hairs on the leaves and stems and grow to about 1.5m tall. You'll find them in disturbed and waste ground, woodland, pasture and on hedge banks. They're incredibly nutritious and tasty.
Pick the top four to six leaves of young nettles up to about June. They get harsh and gritty after this and when they flower. Use gloves unless you're trying to prove something.
To cook, wilt them in a little boiling water, drain and squeeze well and chop. Or sauté in olive oil or butter for three to six minutes. Use them in a similar way to spinach in curries and stews. They also are great in risotto, baked omelettes, gnocchi and pies and on pizza.
Goosegrass/cleavers (Galium aparine)
These stick to your clothes like Velcro because of the hook-like hairs on the leaves, stems and round, pellet-like seeds. They’re straggling plants with six to eight narrow, pointed leaves set at intervals up a square stem. They like gardens, hedges, woods and roadsides.
It's essential to only take the young stems, which are tasty and not stringy. Look for stems that are 10cm long or less with leaves 1-2cm long.
They are great steamed and buttered as a side veg. Add them to soups or sauté quickly with garlic and butter and add to spaghetti, scrambled eggs or omelettes.
Primrose (Primula vulgaris)
This striking spring flower is widespread in the UK and self-seeds easily in gardens. The flowers are 2-3cm across and have five petals; the oval leaves taper to the stalk. Use the flowers and leaves as pretty garnish for salads. Use the flowers raw and fry the leaves in olive oil until just crisp but still green.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
You can find these nearly everywhere grassy and in waste places. They exude a milky sap from all parts when cut, so wear gloves when you pick to avoid stained hands. The leaves grow from the base of the plant in a rosette and the flower comes out on a hollow stalk.
The leaves are quite bitter, like chicory. Very young spring leaves are less bitter. Use them like salad leaves or spinach (soak older leaves in water for a few hours). You can make great fritters with the flower buds: coat them in a light batter and fry. Or use the petals in leaf or potato salads or with pasta.
Elder (Sumbucus nigra)
Look forward to these in early summer, when the flowers appear in generous white umbels. The elder is widespread in woods, hedgerows and waste places in towns and cities. It's a shrub with a long stems that have cracked greeny-grey bark and dark grey pores on them. The leaves are made up of three to nine leaflets in opposites along a stem. Only use the flowers or berries: the rest is poisonous.
Use the beautifully scented flowers to make sparkling wine, cordial, vinegar or fritters. The flowers also are magical with strawberries to make strawberry jam.
Take two to four big handfuls of well-washed nettles. Drain and squeeze dry, chop roughly, pat dry in a tea towel.
Heat your oven to as hot as it will go, shelf in the middle.
Put your nettles in a bowl, season well with salt and pepper, and add some chilli flakes and two or three finely chopped cloves of garlic. Moisten with extra virgin olive oil and mix well.
Cover your pizza base with 1-2cm cubes of brie, stilton or other cheese. Pile the nettle mix on top.
Pop into your hot oven for 10-15 minutes until the dough is brown and crisp on the edges, the greens have wilted and the cheese has melted and started to brown.
There are many pleasures to be gained from eating from the wild and with spring in full swing, it's an ideal time to go foraging and add a new dimension to your
I love to eat from the wild and I've done it from my earliest years. The flavours, textures and nutrients are elemental and vital; they bring a new dimension to your cooking. I cherish the intimate connection I get with the environment, and the ebb and flow of the seasons and weather. It's fun to search for your own food.
If you take responsibly, your bounty is sustainable and free. Please only harvest what you are confident you can positively identify: if in doubt, leave it out. Use a good guide to help you such as Alys Fowler's The Thrifty Forager, or the Collins Gem version of Richard Mabey's Food For Free. Only pick what you can comfortably use without waste or harm to the plant – leave some for others. Wash your bounty and check for bugs lurking in flowers.
Spring is ideal to collect wild food if you've never foraged before. The lush growth of summer hasn't begun and there are a few easily identified plants about to get you started.
Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica)
These have jagged, heart-shaped leaves with stinging hairs on the leaves and stems and grow to about 1.5m tall. You'll find them in disturbed and waste ground, woodland, pasture and on hedge banks. They're incredibly nutritious and tasty.
Pick the top four to six leaves of young nettles up to about June. They get harsh and gritty after this and when they flower. Use gloves unless you're trying to prove something.
To cook, wilt them in a little boiling water, drain and squeeze well and chop. Or sauté in olive oil or butter for three to six minutes. Use them in a similar way to spinach in curries and stews. They also are great in risotto, baked omelettes, gnocchi and pies and on pizza.
Goosegrass/cleavers (Galium aparine)
These stick to your clothes like Velcro because of the hook-like hairs on the leaves, stems and round, pellet-like seeds. They’re straggling plants with six to eight narrow, pointed leaves set at intervals up a square stem. They like gardens, hedges, woods and roadsides.
It's essential to only take the young stems, which are tasty and not stringy. Look for stems that are 10cm long or less with leaves 1-2cm long.
They are great steamed and buttered as a side veg. Add them to soups or sauté quickly with garlic and butter and add to spaghetti, scrambled eggs or omelettes.
Primrose (Primula vulgaris)
This striking spring flower is widespread in the UK and self-seeds easily in gardens. The flowers are 2-3cm across and have five petals; the oval leaves taper to the stalk. Use the flowers and leaves as pretty garnish for salads. Use the flowers raw and fry the leaves in olive oil until just crisp but still green.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
You can find these nearly everywhere grassy and in waste places. They exude a milky sap from all parts when cut, so wear gloves when you pick to avoid stained hands. The leaves grow from the base of the plant in a rosette and the flower comes out on a hollow stalk.
The leaves are quite bitter, like chicory. Very young spring leaves are less bitter. Use them like salad leaves or spinach (soak older leaves in water for a few hours). You can make great fritters with the flower buds: coat them in a light batter and fry. Or use the petals in leaf or potato salads or with pasta.
Elder (Sumbucus nigra)
Look forward to these in early summer, when the flowers appear in generous white umbels. The elder is widespread in woods, hedgerows and waste places in towns and cities. It's a shrub with a long stems that have cracked greeny-grey bark and dark grey pores on them. The leaves are made up of three to nine leaflets in opposites along a stem. Only use the flowers or berries: the rest is poisonous.
Use the beautifully scented flowers to make sparkling wine, cordial, vinegar or fritters. The flowers also are magical with strawberries to make strawberry jam.
Take two to four big handfuls of well-washed nettles. Drain and squeeze dry, chop roughly, pat dry in a tea towel.
Heat your oven to as hot as it will go, shelf in the middle.
Put your nettles in a bowl, season well with salt and pepper, and add some chilli flakes and two or three finely chopped cloves of garlic. Moisten with extra virgin olive oil and mix well.
Cover your pizza base with 1-2cm cubes of brie, stilton or other cheese. Pile the nettle mix on top.
Pop into your hot oven for 10-15 minutes until the dough is brown and crisp on the edges, the greens have wilted and the cheese has melted and started to brown.