Edible Wild Plants Eat Your Weeds!

from April 2023 etcetera magazine

Magnesium

THIS ARTICLE WAS REQUESTED BY GAYLE AFTER BEING TOLD ABOUT PURSLANE, THAT LOW SPREADING SUCCULENT PLANT THAT APPEARS DURING THE SUMMER AND THRIVES IN HOT, FREE-DRAINING POSITIONS, AND IS VERY DIFFICULT TO REMOVE.

There are many, many, wild plants that are edible, but some are less tasty and others quite unpleasant, so I am going to focus on some common wild plants (that are often considered as weeds) that are tasty and nutritious.

Of course, when foraging it is really important that you correctly identify the plants so as not to confuse them with inedible or poisonous plants, so make sure that you are very familiar with their characteristics before picking them. Likewise some plants are protected and should not be picked from the wild, so always look things up thoroughly.

Here are some easy-to-find, tasty, and non-endangered forage plants:

PURSLANE

You may consider it a weed but it is actually edible and some people even cultivate it! The scientific name is Portulaca oleracea (the common name of purslane refers to several different wild plants so check it out using the scientific name to avoid confusion). It is used in salads, sandwiches, and stir fries for its light refreshing flavour and beneficial properties as it is rich in vitamin A and C and high in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.

SORREL

Sorrel has to be my number one forage plant. I do actually cultivate it too, but in early spring it is abundant along the roadsides and in fields and woodland edges. It has a superb citrusy flavour and makes excellent soups, sauces, salad, and tempura. It is very satisfying to use up the last of our home-grown onions and potatoes to make the soup with entirely free ingredients. Rich in vitamin B9, vitamin C, iron, magnesium,

Make sure that you are very familiar with their characteristics before picking them

Caroline has been a lecturer in horticulture for 20 years and now runs a nursery and ‘garden craft’ courses in the Haute-Vienne at Le jardin créatif and potassium, it is nutritious as well as tasty. There are 3 or 4 edible species, but the one that you are likely to find growing wild is Rumex acetosa. Pick the youngest leaves for the best flavour and texture. When foraging for sorrel it is really important not to mistake it for arum which grows in the same environments and has similar shaped leaves. Both have sagittate (arrow) shaped leaves, shiny deep green with no hairs, but the sorrel has long, narrow leaves and the arum has a much broader leaf, sometimes with dark spots or blotches on them, and all parts of this plant are poisonous.

Nettles

Nettles are my second favourite. Pick just the tips in early to mid-spring. Again, they are super nutritious, packed with vitamins and antioxidants, not quite as tasty as sorrel, but generally abundant and easy to find and identify. You don’t need to worry about the sting; once it is cooked the sting is denatured. You might want to wear gloves to pick and prepare them (nettle stings don’t bother me so I pick them with my bare hands). I make nettle soup using the same basic recipe as the sorrel soup (link below) but they also make good tempura. They are not really suitable for eating raw though as they will sting!

Wild Onions

There are several species that grow locally, some are really more like large chives, others like small leeks or spring onions. The very narrow leaves are almost grass like when young - I pick these and use them as chives, and later when the base develops they can be used like a spring onion or baby leeks. Easy to identify by the onion smell, the flower heads often contain young bulbs (bulbils) which can be gathered for planting too.

Wild Garlic

Wild garlic can also be found in abundance in the woodlands in spring. This has a broader leaf than the wild onions and a distinctive garlicy smell. The leaves are harvested and used in any recipe that requires garlic (I hate garlic so this is not one of my favourite forage plants!). They have a strong garlic/onion flavour and you can add them to soups, quiche, salads, you can make pesto, garlic oil and garlic butter out of them, and the flowers can be used to dress salads. The botanical name is Allium ursinum, the common French name is ‘l'ail des ours’.

Dandelions

One of many gardeners' most troublesome weeds, dandelions, are often cultivated in France - you can even buy them in the supermarket veg section! They have many uses - the fresh young leaves can be used in salads, pesto, stir fried, the petals can be used to decorate salads, and the whole flowers can be used to make fritters. You can use them in baking (breads and cakes). The roots can be made into tisanes as an alternative to coffee. They are rich in calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and antioxidants, such as vitamin A, vitamin K, and vitamin C. The French common name for dandelion is ‘pissenlit’, referring to the diuretic properties!

All foraged plants should be washed thoroughly before cooking or eating raw. They are a great way to add seasonal flavour and vitamins to your diet. Most can easily be cultivated in your potager or forest garden, but although all of these plants can be picked from the wild as they are not protected you should never dig up wild plants. If you wish to grow some at home then source the seeds or plants from reliable suppliers.

For my soup recipe and further information check out my blog post on our website: www.lejardincreatif.net/ 2020/04/17/ sorrel-soup-and-other -easy-foraging-plants