'TASTE OF THE WILD' EDIBLE PLANT DIARY

by Rosie Castle and Ulrike Paradine

APRIL 2002

SALADS WILD AND CULTIVATED

Since February we have been enjoying the leaves and flowers of lesser celandine Ranunculus ficaria in salads (NOT to be confused with the greater celandine Chelidonium majus, which is poisonous!)  In fact it seems astonishing to us that the lesser celandine is not better known as a first-rate salad plant!  The leaves are tender, with a mild, pleasant flavour and make all the difference to an otherwise boring supermarket lettuce - use them as a substitute if you want.  They are rich in vitamin C and the choice of cultivated forms for leaf colour and flower is bewildering.  The popular R.f. ‘Brazen Hussy’ with its rich, dark red leaves looks dramatic but one of our favourites for large, succulent pale leaves is R. f. ‘Chedglow’. Lesser celandines grown in pots will very often start producing leaves in October/November which means that leaves can be picked over winter. Avoid picking leaves or flowers from plants that are past their best or going to seed.

The golden rule with most wild greens is to pick only the youngest, tenderest leaves in late winter or spring, when the plant is growing fast. Later in the season many leaves become unacceptably tough or bitter.  March is probably the best time for dandelion leaves (Taraxacum officinale).  Just a few young leaves in sandwiches or salads are nice.  Other plants that we have appreciated in salads recently are:     

      BITTER/PEPPERY

-         Autumn hawkbit (Leontodon autumnalis) – this is similar to dandelion but with delicately lobed leaves.  We prefer dandelion for taste.

-         Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta): the young leaves of this classic nuisance have a superb peppery flavour and are often available over winter

-         Nipplewort (Lapsana communis) – the young leaves have a bitter taste, try the purple-speckled cultivar L. c. ‘Inky’ for variety (see our Plant List).

SWEETISH

-         Chickweed (Stellaria media) – this annual often overwinters and the young shoots taste rather like baby corn-cob

-         Primulas (Primula spp.) – the flowers are pretty in salads

GARLICKY

-     Garlic mustard or Jack-by the-hedge (Alliaria petiolata) - can be picked from September to April, but April iis the time to try the young flowering shoots of this hedgebank biennial - they have a garlic flavour with an intriguingly sweet 'finish'.  Delicious! 

-         Ramsons or Bears garlic (Allium ursinum) – the leaves and flowers give a milder garlicky flavour than you’d think after a walk in the woods!

DELICATE OR BLAND

-         Beech (Fagus sylvatica) – the silky bright green young leaves are edible in salads (but not super tasty in our opinion)

-         Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) – the youngest, smallest leaves are good, with a slightly nutty flavour 

-         Greater plantain (Plantago major) – the tiny first leaves in spring are tender and good in salads or sandwiches 

-    Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris) - the young leaves of this mat-forming plant are tender in spring, if not with any special taste

SHARP AND SOUR

-         Sorrel (Rumex acetosa ssp. acetosa) - the leaves have a sharp, tangy flavour.  For added colour in a salad our cultivar 'Saucy' has lovely shrimp-tinted variegated foliage; French sorrel R. scutatus is good and very decorative in the silvery pale-leaved form ‘Silver Shield’

-         Wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) – a woodlander with bright lime green leaves in spring that taste as refreshing as they look.   

ANISEED

-         Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) – the leaves are delicate, like cow parsley and have an aniseed flavour.  The young seeds (while still green) are a good aniseed nibble later in spring

-     Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) – another feathery aniseed leaf.  Try the bronze-leaved form too.

INDIVIDUAL OR INDEFINABLE!

-         Perennial wall-rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) – this wild, possibly native rocket was found by Ulrike growing at Hythe Harbour.  It packs in all the taste of the cultivated annual rockets and is a new addiction!   I hope to have seed available later

-         Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) – the delicate leaves have an interesting flavour and striking colour in the purple-foliage cultivar ‘Ravenswing’

-     Red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) – the flowering shoots of this annual veg-plot weed make a useful and colourful addition to salads, especially  in late winter/early spring

Other GARDEN PLANTS GOOD IN SALADS at this time of year are:

-         Violets and violas as in Viola riviniana Purpurea group (the purple leaved viola that used to be known as Viola labradorica); Viola ‘Roscastle Black’ (my namesake viola) also has mild-tasting dark green leaves and very dark purple flowers; it is gaining popularity for its long and profuse flowering.  Viola flowers - whether purple, mauve or white - look very attractive in a green salad with primrose flowers.  

-         Spotted deadnettle (Lamium maculatum) – Ulrike’s favourite for beauty and taste is the plant found and named by Jill Butcher: L. m. ‘Brightstone Pearl’.  The leaves are plain green (i.e. with no silver stripe) and the flowers are a pretty soft pink.  The flowering shoots have a nice flavour like raw mushrooms! DON’T bother with the yellow-variegated cultivar ‘Golden Anniversary’: it tastes as foul as it looks (sorry to be rude)!

In addition Ulrike is currently cutting pea shoots, lamb's lettuce and dandelion-leaved chicory (the new young leaves) in her edible garden in Hythe.

Leaves of wild plants described in the literature as edible but NOT RECOMMENDED by us are:

-         Ladies smock, cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) – spit it out!

-         Wall pepper (Sedum acre) – spit it out, but faster!

WILD EDIBLES FOR COOKING

Gourmet willowherb 

Michael Jordan (in A Guide to Wild Plants (Millington, 1976) reports that the leaves of Rosebay willowherb (Chamerion (syn. Epilobium) angustifolium) are not worth cooking and recommends instead concentrating ‘on collecting young shoots in late spring.  If these are gently baked in butter, like asparagus, they are really excellent!’ This has to be tried!

Nettle Soup

March and April are good months to make nettle soup from the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).  Gather a colanderful of young nettle tops  wearing a rubber glove on one hand and cutting them with scissors in the other.  Wash them well and boil them in a little water (taking care that they do not boil dry) for about 10 minutes.  Don’t be put off by the strange smell as they are cooking.  Drain them very well, pressing out the liquor.  Make a white sauce by gently cooking a rounded tablespoon of flour in  a melted large knob of butter for a couple of minutes then slowly adding a pint of milk and simmering for a further minute. Pour this hot sauce, the drained nettles and (for extra flavour) a little chopped, sauteed onion into a food processor bowl and blend until smooth. Season to taste and reheat gently.  Serve.  The resulting soup has a rich, velvety texture and very appetizing fresh green colour.  Even my eleven-year old daughter liked it.  (We have yet to try this using any of the ornamental stinging nettles with spring variegated/coloured leaves).

Deep-fried dandelion flowers

Ulrike recently experimented with deep-frying dandelion flowers in a light tempura batter and reports that they were superb. The only thing to remember is that the flowers close up in dull conditions - gather and cook them in the daytime, preferably when the sun is out! 

IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING PLANT EDIBILITY: 

1. ONLY gather wild plant material from safe sources, e.g. not subject to pollution from car fumes, chemical spillage or weedkiller and wash well before use.

2.  Plants stated here as edible but obtained from nurseries MAY have been treated with pesticides or fungicides, rendering them unsuitable for consumption, at least during the current season.  Please check with the nursery concerned.  ALL edible plants supplied by alternatives are safe to eat as described.  

If you have any favourite wild edibles/recipes please tell us!