Wild Berry Foraging
Roots and Nuts
Wild Foods
Foraging for wild foods is something most people wouldn’t even consider doing, but every year countless tons of berries, nuts and edible leaves drop to the floor and go to waste. There’s so many edible plants out there just waiting to be picked, but always make sure you’re 100% sure what it is before even touching it.
Here’s a list of some of the most common and easy to identify edible leaves and flowers, for everything else choose one of the sections either side.
Mushroom Foraging
Coastal Foraging
Daisy’s
Season – All Year Round
Other Names – Bruisewort
Scientific name – Bellis Perenis
Plant Family – Asteraceae
Edible parts – Leaves and flowers
Habitat:
Grass covered areas that have direct sunlight, most often found on lawns and meadows. This is one of the easiest wild flowers to find in across most of Europe.
Identification:
The Flower is easily recognisable and produces clean white petals around a sun-yellow center. The leaves are normally quite small and spoon shaped with a gentle serration round the edges. The leaves are dark green in colour and also have tiny hairs on them.
Warnings:
Unless you are 100% sure that you are capable of recognising the leaves, only pick the plant when the flower is present to avoid confusion, as many other wild plants have a similar leaf shape.
Gathering and cooking:
Very easy to pick as they are so small, but daisy’s don’t have a very nice taste and aren’t really good for eating. Normally the best thing to do with any flowers is to put them on a salad, but this is one of the worse tasting ones out there and would only ruin it. This is one of those wild foods to keep in mind for a survival situation.
Cow Parsley
Season – March to November
Other Names – Chervil
Scientific name – Anthriscus sylvestris
Plant Family – Apiaceae
Edible parts – Leaves
Habitat:
This plant prefers long and partially sheltered grass. The best places to look are around the edges of woodland and hedgerows. The plant is very common throughout Europe and grows pretty much anywhere there’s the right kind of grass.
Identification:
Between April and June the the plant will form small white flowers that usually have 5 petals. The flowers grow in bunches and normally number between 5 and 10 bunches per plant. The stems are very straight and glossy, and always have a notch running down them.
Warnings:
To the untrained eye this plant looks very similar to Hemlock, and water hemlock is one of the most poisonous wild flowers in the UK. If you’re going to pick this plant make sure you’re certain it isn’t one of its poisonous look-alikes, and learn how to recognise Hemlock before even thinking about picking some Cow Parsley.
Gathering and Cooking:
The plant is very weak and the stems can be easily pinched through. The only edible part of the plant are the leaves which apparently taste like weak parsley with a slight grassy flavour. Considering how common it is there’s no wonder nobody picks it, but if your going to them it should be considered as a herb for flavouring instead of an eating it directly.
Lambs Quarters
Season – April to October
Other Names – Fat Hen, Melde, Goose-foot, Manure weed.
Scientific name – Chenopodium album
Plant Family – Amaranthaceae
Edible parts – Leaves
Habitat:
This is a very fast growing weed so it can most often be found anywhere the ground has been recently disturbed, such as waste ground and round the edges of ploughed land. Very common around the hedgerows of farmland.
Identification:
Triangular leaves that have a slightly silky feel to them, normally green on top with a slight blue tint. The underside of the leaf sometimes has a hint red along the veins of the leaf. Between June and October the plant will flower and produce very small white flowers with a touch of green colour to them. They form from the leaf base and develop in clusters.
Warnings:
The plant is similar in appearance to several others, but all of its look-alikes are not poisonous, and after you’ve seen one piece of Lambs quarters up close, they become very easy to recognise again.
Gathering and Cooking:
Gathering is very straight forward and the leaves can be easily pinched off, something that should be done when the plant is young to ensure the best tasting leaves. Even though one of the nicknames for this plant is manure weed, its taste is similar to cabbage and should be added to dishes as if it were so, though it does cook a little faster.
Wild Chamomile
Season – May to October
Other Names – Pineapple weed, may weed
Scientific name – Matricaria discoidea
Plant Family – Asteraceae
Edible parts – Flower and Leaves
Habitat:
Hard compacted soil such as country paths and anywhere people would frequently walk on the same earth. This plant if quite common but normally only found in the right type of ground.
Identification:
It looks very similar to the non-wild version, sharing the same feathery leaves, though the easiest way to identify it is by the scent of the flower, which will smell strongly like pineapple.
Warnings:
The only possible confusion for this plant is the non-wild version, but that’s also edible so you’re quite safe, just remember to check for the pineapple smell
Gathering and Cooking:
No tools required as the plant is quite small and the stems are very weak. The flowers can be easily twisted off and eaten on sweets salads. The leaves are also edible but aren’t the best tasting out there, though they can add a nice tang to any raw dish.
Water Mint
Season – April to October
Other Names – Non
Scientific name – Mentha aquatica
Plant Family – Lamiaceae
Edible parts – Leaves
Habitat:
In or very close to water, as the name suggests this variety of the mint plant requires constant contact with either a body of water or any area of ground that’s permanently moist. It also requires the water to be reasonably clean, so streams and rivers will give you a better chance than static waters.
Identification:
A square stem that varied between green and purple, and depending on the age of the plant will be either very smooth of covered in tiny hairs. The flowers range between pink and lilac and form in clusters on the stem where the leaves join.
The two things to look out for when trying to identify this plant are its location, because if its not in or close to water, then it isn’t water mint. The second thing is the smell which you can check by crushing up a leaf in your fingers and smelling it, there should be a very strong mint smell that difficult to confuse with anything else.
Warnings:
There’s no other plant out there that looks like this one and smells of mint. If your aren’t sure about the flowers or the stem then you can always rely on the smell.
Gathering and Cooking:
Very easy to gather, just bring a pair of wellys and maybe some gloves. Make sure to give the leaves a good wash when you get them home, and then use them exactly the same way you’d use regular mint leaves.
Primrose
Season – March to June
Other Names – English primrose, common primrose
Scientific name – Primula vulgaris
Plant Family – Primulaceae
Edible parts – Flowers and leaves
Habitat:
Any grass covered areas in partial shade. Next to hedges and the shady grass covered areas within woodland.
Identification:
The stem change from green to red as the plant ages, and the leaves are a rounded spear shape that should be dark green in colour and have a wrinkly appearance.
The flower comes out between February and June and is the best way to identify. A five petalled flower with a darker yellow in the center that fades out to a lighter shade towards the edges of the petals.
Warnings:
Its quite difficult to confuse this with anything poisonous, as the combination of the wrinkly leaves and easy to identify flower make this a safe choice for wild food.
Gathering and Cooking:
No tool required for gathering as the leaves and flowers can be easily pinched off. The flowers taste quite sweet and work well on flowers or on cakes. The leaves work well both raw and cooked, and should be treated either as a raw salad leaf, or spinach if cooked.
Yarrow
Season – March to November
Other Names – Staunchweed, Woundwort, milfoil
Scientific name – Achillea millefolium
Plant Family – Asteraceae
Edible parts – Leaves
Habitat:
Anywhere grass covers the ground, a very common plant that grows everywhere from farmers fields to waste ground.
Identification:
Between June and September the plant will form clusters of white flowers with a hint of pink to them. The best way to identify this plant is from its long feathery leaves.
Warnings:
The leaves can look slightly like pineapple weed and chamomile but both of these are edible.
Gathering and Cooking:
No tools required for gathering, but as for cooking it has a very weak taste and doesn’t produce the best flavour.
Wintercress
Season – December to June
Other Names – Non
Scientific name – Barbarea vulgaris
Plant Family – Brassicaceae
Edible parts – Flowers and leaves
Habitat:
Thick grassy areas were the plant can receive a good amount of sunlight, such as hedgerows and round the edges of woodland.
Identification:
Shiny dark green leaves that are deeply lobed. The flowers are small and yellow and grow in little clusters towards the top half of the plant.
Warnings:
The only thing this one looks like are other types of cress, with it looking similar to mustard at a glance. Fortunately there’s nothing poisonous in the wild that looks quite like this one.
Gathering and Cooking:
Since the flowers and leaves can be quite small it may take a while to gather enough, but when you have it should be used as you would with any type of cress. The hot and peppery taste makes it a good addition to both salads and as a flavouring.
Silver Birch
Season – First 2 weeks in March
Other Names – European white birch, Asian white birch, warty birch.
Scientific name – Betula pendula
Plant Family – Betulaceae
Edible parts – Sap
Habitat:
A common plant that can most likely be found in mixed woodland.
Identification:
When young the bark will look quite smooth and be light silver in colour, as the tree gets older the bark can become much darker in colour and produces thick deep ridges. Between April and May small catkins form which look a bit like fat green caterpillars.
Warnings:
The bark is very distinctive and difficult to confuse with other trees. There isn’t anything else that looks close to this one so its quite a safe choice. In the event that you do mistake another tree for a silver birch it wont really matter, as the sap wont drain from it like it would from a birch.
Gathering and Cooking:
The trees year runs from March to March, and during the first two weeks it produces a large amount of sap. To gather it you will need to drill a couple of inches into the trunk and insert a piece of tubing of some kind of sap catcher. The sap will slowly run down the tube or whatever you’ve used and drip in a container underneath, something you should leave for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.
As for the sap its almost completely water, but it does contain a slightly higher level of sugar than most other saps you’ll find in nature. There aren’t really any recipes out there for it as its basically just really weak sugar water.
Borage
Season – March to September
Other Names – Starflower
Scientific name – Borago officinalis
Plant Family – Boraginaceae
Edible parts – Flower and leaves
Habitat:
Can grow in almost any type of ground but much more common in hedgerows and along road sides than in the wild.
Identification:
The flower pods and stems are quite hairy making them hard to confuse with other similar looking plants. The best way to identify is by the flowers, which have five triangle shaped petals normally blue in colour.
Warnings:
The plant can look similar to foxglove, but the seed pods and flower are completely different. If your not sure about this one just wait until the flower shows itself as its very hard to confuse it with anything poisonous.
Gathering and Cooking:
Bring some gloves but no other tools are necessary. The leaves should be picked while young as the older ones tend to get a bit tough. It has a light refreshing taste quite like cucumber, and so work well on salads. The flowers can also be added to drinks to give them that extra little summery burst of freshness.
Garlic Mustard
Season – All Year
Other Names – Poor mans mustard, Garlic Mustard, Penny Hedge, Jack by the Hedge, Hedge Garlic
Scientific name – Alliara petiolata
Plant Family – Brassicaceae
Edible parts – Roots, Leaves, Seeds, Flower
Habitat:
Anywhere grass covered that’s partially shaded, such as hedges and woodland.
Identification:
When the plant is in its first year, the leaves are quite broad and heart shaped, on the second year they thin out and become more serrated, slightly like a fat nettle leaf. The flowers are white and have four petals each, growing in a clump at the top of the stem.
Warnings:
There’s no poisonous plants out there that look similar to this one, especially when the flowers are out, the only thing you may confuse it with are stinging nettles which are safe to eat though not so safe to gather.
Gathering and cooking:
The leaves and flowers are easy to pinch off so no tools required, but if you’re going after the leaves they are best when the plants in its first year. As for cooking the taste is of very weak garlic with a hint of mustard. This one is an acquired taste so make sure you like it before chucking a handful into a stew.
Asparagus
Season – March to June
Other Names – Sparrow Grass
Scientific name – Asparagus officinalis
Plant Family – Asparagaceae
Edible parts – The young stems
Habitat:
Wild asparagus is the escaped version of the cultivated kind, and has developed into several new species out in the wild. It grows best near the coast, as it likes soil with a higher than normal salt content.
Identification:
In Autumn the berries will be red when ripe and are quite toxic. The leaves look soft and feathery but are quite firm to the touch, but since the only part of the plant you can eat is the stem, its hard to confuse Asparagus with anything else.
Warnings:
Not that you would anyway but don’t eat the berries, as for confusing it with anything dangerous as long as you’ve seen asparagus before you’ll be find identifying it.
Gathering and cooking:
Bring a knife to cut the stem off cleanly, as snapping it or pulling it out the ground can damage the plant. Also Asparagus grows very quickly, so if you cut if off one weekend then check back the next as you may have another harvest-able piece. As for cooking just treat it like normal shop asparagus, the wild versions are practically the same and shouldn’t be treated differently (it hurts their feelings).
Wild Mustard
Season – March to August
Other Names – Field Mustard, Charlock Mustard
Scientific name – Sinapis arvensis
Plant Family – Brassicaceae
Edible parts – Flowers, Leaves and seeds
Habitat:
Open grassy areas where there’s plenty of sun. The plant likes uninterrupted sunlight and so wont normally be found within woodland. It appears most often round the edges of cultivated fields and under hedges on the sun facing side.
Identification:
The flowers will have four petals and grow in small clusters at the ends of the flower stems. The leaves change drastically as the plant ages but are normally lobed and have slightly serrated edges and are covered in tiny hairs. The number one way to identify this plant is by the smell, which should smell strongly of mustard. Take a leaf and crush it up in your hand if it doesn’t smell right, then leave it alone.
Warnings:
There’s a few other plants that you can confuse this one with, especially with how much the leaves on the wild Mustard plant can change, but these are mostly in the same plant family and aren’t poisonous. Just make sure the crushed leaves smell of mustard as other look alikes wont share this characteristic.
Gathering and Cooking:
The leaves have a gentle and slightly sweet mustard taste, great for putting on salads and mixing into raw dishes. The flowers taste fainter than the leaves and should be used in the same way to brighten up any dish.
As for the seeds they can be gathered and dried, then all you need to do is grind them up and mix them with some water to make your own mustard paste.
Penny Wort
Season – March to October
Other Names – Navelwort
Scientific name – Umbilicus rupestris
Plant Family – Crassulaceae
Edible parts – Leaves
Habitat:
Damp rocky areas including stone walls. This plant doesn’t like too much sunlight and requires a decent amount of water, so large rocks within woodland is a good place to look. This plant is fairly common and often grows within stone walls in gardens.
Identification:
The leaves can be quite shiny and start off almost completely round and grow into rose shape when older. They form a flattened trumpet shape when mature and have a hole in the center, and should be a medium green colour. During May the plant will flower and produces a pretty flower stem with yellow to red flowers.
Warnings:
Since this plant can only be found growing out of rock and the leaves are quite distinctive, its a fairly safe choice.
Gathering and Cooking:
The leaves can be easily pinched off and collected quickly since it tends to grow in patches. They are best when young as they tend to become more bitter when older. As for a use they can be used anywhere you’d use a leaf vegetable like spinach as they give a slightly bitter pea like taste. The taste can vary depending on how old the plant is so make sure you taste one from the patch you’re gathering first.
Sow Thistle
Season – All Year Round
Other Names – Hares Lettuce, Common Sow thistle
Scientific name – Sonchus
Plant Family – Asteraceae
Edible parts – Leaves
Habitat:
Just about anywhere there’s grass. This plant grows rapidly and spreads easily, which has made it one of the most common flowers in the UK.
Identification:
This one looks almost identical to a Dandelion which is in the same plant family. The seeds form a puffy white cluster of feathers that look the same as a dandelions. The only difference with this one is that the many yellow flowers can grow from a single stem, unlike the Dandelion which can grow only one. When broken the stems should produce a thick milky white sap.
Warnings:
The only thing Sow Thistle looks are Dandelions which are also edible.
Gathering and Cooking:
The leaves taste just like lettuce, and so should be used as such.
Three-cornered Leek
Season – February to October
Other Names – Snowbell’s, Onion grass
Scientific name – Allium triquetrum
Plant Family – Amaryllidaceae
Edible parts – Flowers and Leaves
Habitat:
Any type of well drained ground that’s partially shaded, such as next to hedges and round the edges of woodland and fields.
Identification:
Between April and June the plant will produce a small cluster of white flowers that have five petals, each with their own green line running along the center. The leaves of the plant look like slightly thicker grass and form in a gentle v-shape.
Warnings:
There’s a few plants that look similar to the flowers of the Snowbell, but the main thing to look for is the smell. Crush up a leaf in your fingers and if it doesn’t smell like a mix of onion and garlic, then its not the plant you’re after.
Gathering and Cooking:
The leaves are easy enough to pinch off and can be used raw in a salad or cooked into any dish the same way you’d use garlic or onions, though the taste is much weaker.
Lambs Cress
Season – All Year Round
Other Names – Hairy Bittercress, Spring cress, Flick weed, Shot weed
Scientific name – Cardamine hirsuta
Plant Family – Brassicaceae
Edible parts – Leaves
Habitat:
A very common plant that can be found almost anywhere. It can grow in the middle of the thickest woodlands or in cracks in garden walls. The plant doesn’t need much light and since its a weed can survive in the smallest amount of soil.
Identification:
The leaves are quite unique and grow in opposite pairs along the stems, with a single larger leaf at the end. The flowers will be very small and delicate and have four petals each.
Warnings:
This one look similar to some of the other plants in its family, but non of them are poisonous. The best way is to taste a small piece of one of the leaves, as it should taste like cress but a bit more peppery.
Gathering and Cooking:
If you cook the leaves they just turn into mush and lose their flavour, so the only way to eat this one is raw which leaves you with yet another leaf that’s great on salads.
Lady’s Smock
Season – All Year Round
Other Names – Cuckoo flower
Scientific name – Cardamine pratensis
Plant Family – Brassicaceae
Edible parts – Leaves and Flowers
Habitat:
This one grows best in places that are a little damper than most and also likes a good amount of sunlight. The best places to check are by the banks of rivers and canals, or any large body of water. They can also grow in ditches but can also appear round the edges of fields and roadsides.
Identification:
The flower is the best way to tell this plant apart as its very distinctive. Four petalled flowers of a very light pink grow in a cross shape in small groups at the top of the stem. If the flower isn’t present then look for a series of small thin seed pods pointing upwards.
Warnings:
The only thing that looks close to this are other members of its plant family, but non of them are poisonous.
Gathering and Cooking:
The flowers have very weak flavour but can look nice on top of a cake or salad. The leaves have a wonderful flavour and taste like strong mustard, great for flavouring anything from meats to soups.
Meadowsweet
Season – March to October
Other Names – Mead Wort
Scientific name – Filipendula ulmaria
Plant Family – Rosales
Edible parts – Leaves, blossoms, seeds and buds
Habitat:
This plant likes a good amount of water and so can be found close to any body of water or in particularly damp meadows.
Identification:
The leaves on the end of the stems will have with three or five points and be serrated. A dark green on top with a lighter white tinted side underneath. The seed pods are curly and start to form at the end of summer, bu the best way to tell this plant is by the flowers. Starting in early summer large fluffy looking clumps of flowers form at the tops of the stems and have a very sweet smell.
Warnings:
Due to its smell and where it grows this is a pretty safe bet.
Gathering and Cooking:
Even though it smell really nice, the taste is quite medicinal and doesn’t really work with anything. Make sure you try a little bit before bothering to gather any real amount as you may find it hard to use it in anything.
Himalayan Balsam
Season – March to November
Other Names – Policemans Helmet, Copper tops, Popping weed
Scientific name – Impatiens glandulifera
Plant Family – Balsaminaceae
Edible parts – Seeds
Habitat:
Balsam grows best around the edges of bodies of water, though it can be found in hedges and round the outside of woodland.
Identification:
Pretty large purple flowers grow at the tops of the stems during the summer. The main and leaf stems should be a pale colour with a red tint to them, and are always hollow. The seed pods are long and thin with a stretched diamond shape to them, and when ripe can explode.
Warnings:
You really cant confuse this one with anything, especially when the seed pods are ripe and bursting.
Gathering and Cooking:
The leaves are edible but aren’t very nice and taste quite bitter, but this plant is all about the seeds. At the end of summer the seed pods will be ready to pop and simply touching one will see it burst open and fling seeds all over the place. If you want to gather a large amount of seeds then bring a bag with you and try and trap the seeds as they pop.
Just put your bag gently over some seed pods without touching the plant, and when its in place shake the stem and any ripe seed pods will burst open into the bag. Alternatively you can cup your hands around a pod and squeeze it. The seeds will be wither white or black, with the white ones being much softer and the black one providing more of a grainy taste, both of quite are very pleasant.