Eat Weeds: A field guide to foraging: how to identify, harvest, eat and use wild plants

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If you’re not ready to forage, that’s fine! Now you are aware of edible weeds!You can find many edible weeds at farmers’ markets and ethnicmarkets. Hi, I'm Robin Harford, bestselling author of Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland.

Caution: Only eat this plant after you’ve removed its spikes. Additionally, it can cause nausea and diarrhea in some people. 4. Cleavers (Galium aparine)NOTE: As with many vegetables, not all parts of edible weeds can be eaten. Do your research. (See safety tipsbelow.) Other sources imply that ‘dog’ is a corruption of ‘dagger’ referring to the plant’s jagged-edged leaves.

Cooking the plant, even briefly, destroys the stinging hairs and makes nettle safe to eat. Today, nettle is also a popular herbal tea. Nutritional ProfileEllstrand, Norman C., et al. " Crops gone wild: Evolution of weeds and invasives from domestic ancestors." Evolutionary Applications. 2010.

I even went so far as to be nomadic for over a year. During this time, I followed the seasons and plants around the highways and byways of these isles. Britain’s native wild roses have been open to discussion by botanists for years, because of the wide variations between different species and hybrids. Kikuchi, Masao, et al. Glycosides from Whole Plants of Glechoma Hederacea L. Journal of Natural Medicines, vol. 62, no. 4, 2008, pp. 479–480. doi:10.1007/s11418-008-0264-x Marcie Mayer: If there’s a lot of moisture in the air. So I have a specific table, which is 50 square metres of space, that I dry. It’s above ground, so there’s no problem with rodents, and that helps me to dry them in the sun, without having any problems with infestation or rodent.

Other things to do in your garden

My book is considered an invaluable addition to any forager, herbalist, gardener, horticulturist or naturalist’s library. And provides plant lovers with a much-needed resource for understanding nature’s most useful wild plants. Put 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in a cast iron skillet (ours is 22cm/9in diameter). Add a couple of handfuls of sliced mushrooms (about 80g), fry until beginning to brown, then add a couple of handfuls of chopped ground elder leaves (20 to 30g). Stir until the leaves have wilted. My book covers forty-eight plants and includes multiple colour photographs for easy plant identification. How to eat: You can eat the cooked root or stem as you would any veggie, either baked or boiled. You can also eat young leaves raw. Flowers can be roasted when they are young, and you can also roast the seeds.

You might spot purslane in your favorite seed catalogs, but it can also be a weed. It grows almost anywhere because it can tolerate poor soil conditions. That said, it’s delicious. I put purslane seeds in my balcony containers and have been surprised (and annoyed) at how well it has thrived.

Tastes like: This plant has a salty flavor, and it’s often used as a substitute for spinach leaves. Thayer, S. (2010) Nature’s garden: a guide to identifying, harvesting, and preparing edible wild plants. Birchwood: Forager’s Harvest. Robin Harford: I’ve got a questions from Marie. She says, “Can Irish and English oak acorns be used in the same way?” So, in effect, basically, to generalise that question, can all oak acorns be used in the same way?