A Wild Woman’s Guide to Foraging Delicious Edible Plants This Spring

As the earth slowly awakens from her winter slumber and colorful flowers push their heads through the soil, it’s the optimal time to slow down and appreciate the wild bounty growing all around you.

It’s also the perfect time to begin your journey into wild foraging. If you’ve never foraged for wild plants before, it can be a bit daunting to get started. Many plants  contain some of the best medicine at this time of year. Eating wild food is one of the best things you can do for your health as they are packed with nutrients.

All you really need to star foraging is some paper or canvas bags, or a basket to store your plants, some gloves (optional), and a sense of curiosity. The number one rule with plant identification is if you are not 100% sure of the plant, don’t pick it.

Be mindful when you forage: never pick the first patch of plants you come across and always leave some plants so they can grow the next year as well, never pick more than what you really need and always thank the plants for letting you pick them. Stay away from places you know will be sprayed with toxic fertilizers and wash your plants when you get home before using them. Don’t pick herbs from the side of the road to avoid pollutants.  I have a wonderful app on my phone that helps identify plants I’m unsure of.

Benefits: Nettle is high in Vitamin C, K, Iron and magnesium. Sadly, nettle is viewed as a weed by many people but it is edible and highly nutritious.  Nettle can also help with seasonal allergies that arrive in spring.

Identification: Most people are familiar with stinging nettle from childhood,  but if not, for a wonderful guide on nettle identification, see here.

Foraging tips: If you’re not used to nettle then it’s best to wear thick gloves to avoid being stung. However, some people even enjoy the sensation of being stung by nettle! Take the tops of the nettle heads when harvesting the leaves and harvest nettle before she starts flowering.

5 cups of fresh nettle leaves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
50g of vegan butter
1 liter of veggie stock
handful of wild garlic, roughly chopped
1 large potato, chopped into cubes
1 carrot chopped into cubes
sea salt and black pepper
a dash of Tabasco
vegan cream

Wearing rubber gloves, sort through your nettles and rinse the leaves. Melt the vegan butter in a pan and then add the chopped onion, cook for 5 minutes or until soft.

Then add the chopped carrot, potato, nettles, wild garlic and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 15-20 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and blend with an electric hand blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Benefits:  Sweet  Violet is a fragrant wild flower that begins gracing our woodlands and hedgerows from February onward. You can use the leaves in salads and the flowers a wonderful tonic for flushing the lymph system after the winter months.  The lymph can become sluggish during winter because we tend to eat more and move less.  Sweet Violet contains vitamin C and A and is full of antioxidants.

Identification:  You can often find Sweet Violet growing in woodlands and shady areas, this wonderful flower smells divine. Not to be confused with Common Dog Violet which is almost identical but unscented. As with all foraging, only pick Sweet Violet if there’s an abundant patch growing. This is one that had been over-picked in many countries such as the U.K., France or Hungary, so be mindful when you harvest it. For more identification of Sweet Violet see here.

20g of Sweet Violet flowers
250ml of white balsamic vinegar (or vinegar of choice).

Fill a mason jar about halfway with the flowers and then add the vinegar over the flowers. Place the lid on tightly and then leave in a dark place for 1-2 weeks. If you are using a metal lid, then place some parchment paper between to prevent the metal reacting with the vinegar. Strain the vinegar into a clean jar with a non-reactive lid and store in the fridge for up to a year.

Benefits:  Wild Garlic is my personal favorite, and a great immune booster for the spring months and often grows in abundance in the woodlands from  early March. Wild Garlic is known for its antibacterial, antiviral properties and contains Vitamins A, C, calcium and iron, it’s also very effective at lowering blood pressure.

Identification: You can usually smell the Wild Garlic in the woods before you see them. If you are unsure if it is Wild Garlic or Lily of the Valley (which is poisonous), then carefully take one of the leaves and rub it between your fingers to see if there’s the distinctive garlic scent. If not, then don’t pick it!  Always forage this herb mindfully and make sure you leave some growing in the wild. Harvest wild garlic before it flowers.  For further identification see here.

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