Coastal Cliff Foraging
Deadly, beautiful and showing countless years of history, coastal cliffs are one of my favourite places to take a stroll and see whats sprouting out of the rocks that may be good to eat.
One of the best things about coastal cliff foraging is you normally find things that you wouldn’t on the beaches below, and sometimes can even come across a real find like a big patch of samphire or some wild garlic.
You should note though that this section is specifically about coastal cliff foraging and if you want to find out what’s good to eat lower down check out what you can find Beach Foraging.
Wild Garlic
Leaves between March and June, The bulb at the end of summer.
Though this plant normally grows within woodland it can also often be found on the cliff tops and makes and excellent addition to any meal, with every part of the plant being edible. It’s especially welcome in a bushcraft cooking situation as you can wrap whatever your cooking in its leaves, and the crushed bulb makes an excellent flavoring in any liquid dish.
Rock Samphire
End of April to the start of November
This one is a real treat if you come across a patch, though you’ll probably only find the odd plant here and there. It is safe to eat raw but its salty flavor and gently soft consistency make any dish better.
Blackthorn Sloes
Mid-summer to Mid-Autumn
A plant that seems to do especially well next to the sea and can be found growing along most of the Welsh coast from Pembroke up to about Aberaeron. The taste of these if you eat them as they are is quite unpleasant as they are always very bitter, even the larger ones. They can be used to flavor gin or made into a jam that can be quite nice, but this is one of the plants to eat only if you are “stuck” without food.
Wild Carrot
June to August
This is one of the more uncommon plants you’ll come across and is often not worth eating as you need several of them to make a difference. The head of the plant grows quite large in comparison to its root size, and the flavor is the same as a weak-tasting normal carrot.
This plant is illegal to gather in some areas due to how rare it is, so make sure to check your country’s foraging laws before you start tugging up roots.
Elder trees
Flowers end of May/ start of June Berries end of summer
This isn’t a plant specific to coastal cliffs but it’s included in the list as these trees grow pretty much everywhere. The flowers are edible to eat and make a great flavoring for wine or cake icing and are normally ready around the end of May/ start of June time.
Later on in the year, the berries will be ready to eat towards the end of summer, though make sure not to eat too many at once as the seeds contain something called pectin which can give you an upset stomach if too much is consumed, but at least they aren’t poisonous.
Nettles
Late spring to late autumn/early winter
Again this one isn’t specific to coastal cliffs but also grows just about everywhere. Nettles are high in iron and taste similar to spinach when cooked. Very easy to gather and normally available in huge quantities.
Blackberries
Mid to late Summer
As with the above 2, they are only listed as they grow all over the place. But one advantage to gathering them from cliff tops is typically cliff edges normally contain very few trees, so they get uncontested direct sunlight all day and can often grow a good deal sweeter than those elsewhere.
Depending on where you are in the world there will be many other goodies to gather, such as wild herbs and possibly bird eggs, though apart from being rather dangerous this can also be illegal depending on what you are gathering.