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Food from the wild – nature’s own larder
Common chickweed – Stellaria media Chickweed is something that many people curse in their gardens. It is an annual and is easy to remove but, if left alone, it spreads easily, producing many seeds that are quick to germinate. The stem can form roots, and this also helps the plant to spread and form large mats of foliage. Common chickweed can be recognised by the fine hairs on only one side of the stalk. Chickweed appears early in the spring, remaining green until the snow arrives. It contains all the vital amino acids, making it an excellent source of protein. Chickweed is mainly used as a salad, but also in soups and it is an excellent substitute for spinach. The best way to pick it is to cut off the uppermost, younger parts of the plant.
Chickweed salad (2 portions) 1 large bunch chickweed 3 tablespoons French dressing 3 teaspoons sweet cicely, chopped 2 juicy apples, diced Rinse the chickweed and mix with the apple. Mix the sweet cicely and French dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss. Ready to serve! Chickweed soup (6 portions) 1½ litres chicken stock 6 spring onions, finely sliced 1 large potato, peeled and diced 2 bunches chickweed, chopped (save a few sprigs for garnish) salt freshly ground pepper 300 ml cream Bring the stock to the boil in a large pan. Reduce the heat and add the onion, potato and chickweed. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Whizz everything except the cream in the blender. Return to the pan and add the cream. Heat through. Garnish with a few sprigs of chickweed.
Stinging nettle – Urtica dioica Most people probably have a special relationship with nettles on account of their stinging hairs. Pick nettles early in the spring, but use gloves to avoid being stung. The plant contains a number of important mineral substances such as iron. New plants grow up quickly where nettles have been picked, so young nettles can be enjoyed all summer. But they are nevertheless best in the spring. Stinging nettles can be mistaken for white deadnettles. They, however, do not sting, and there is no problem if they are mistaken for each other as the white dead-nettle is edible too. It has white flowers that have a sweet taste and which attract bees, so it is sometimes called the bee nettle. The most common use for the stinging nettle is for soup, but the plant can also be dried, powdered and used in bread, or used as a green vegetable in other dishes such as pies and soufflÊs.
Nettle soup (4 portions) 2 litres fresh nettles butter 2 tbsp flour 1 litre water 2 vegetable stock cubes salt and white pepper 1 large onion, chopped 1 clove of garlic, chopped 2 potatoes 150 ml single cream Rinse the nettles in several changes of water and cut the leaves away from the stalks. Place the leaves in boiling, salted water. Boil for 5 minutes and discard the water. Fry the onion and garlic in the butter. Boil the water in a pan with the stock cubes. Add the nettles, onion and potato. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the potato is cooked. Whizz in a blender and season as required. Add the cream and serve hot, together with newly baked bread.
Garlic mustard – Alliaria petiolata The leaves of garlic mustard should be picked and used before the plant blooms. If a leaf is rubbed between the fingers, it can be recognised by its characteristic oniony smell. Justice is best done to the taste if used fresh in, for instance, a tomato salad, with salted fish and smoked or salted meat. If it is to be used in hot dishes such as flavouring in a soup, it should be added at as late a stage as possible so that the special oniony taste does not disappear.
Dip 300 ml crème fraiche, sour cream or Turkish yoghurt 100 ml finely chopped garlic mustard ½ tsp salt white pepper Try adding other herbs such as basil, chilli or paprika. Mix crème fraiche with the garlic mustard. Add other herbs as desired, and season to taste. Serve with sticks of carrot, cucumber and peppers, crisps or cheese-grilled nachos.
Common sorrel – Rumex acetosa Sorrel can be recognised by its sharp taste and by the arrow-shaped leaves that have two small lobes at the base. The plant should be eaten in moderation as it contains oxalic acid, which can damage the kidneys in large doses. Sorrel can be used in many dishes and is particularly good with different types of fish. It can also be used to flavour sauces and in salads and sandwiches.
Sorrel and currant pie Pastry 125 g butter 300 ml flour 100 ml sugar 1 tbsp water Filling 20 fresh sorrel leaves 400 ml redcurrants or blackcurrants 200 ml sugar Mix the ingredients for the pastry and use it to line a pie dish. Bake for about 10 minutes at 225o. Add the filling. Put back in the oven for another 20 minutes. Serve warm, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Sauces for salmon Sauce 1 Bring cream to the boil, whisk in fish stock and add knobs of cold butter. Add roughly chopped, blanched sorrel leaves. Season with salt, pepper and a touch of saffron.
Sauce 2 100 ml single cream 100 ml crème fraiche sorrel leaves according to taste salt, pepper, lemon Mix all the ingredients in a blender.
Sweet cicely – Myrrhis odorata At first sight, sweet cicely looks like a particularly coarse, bushy wild chervil, but the strong scent of aniseed or liquorice and the light green, hairy leaves give it away. Sweet cicely is a species that was introduced for cultivation and has then become wild. It has grown in Sweden since the 17th century at least. Don’t mistake it for the extremely poisonous hemlock, which you can see in Fredriksdal’s garden of beneficial plants, in plot 4B. It does not smell of liquorice and it has red markings on the stalk, unlike sweet cicely. Hemlock is well known as an ingredient in the poisonous draught that killed Socrates. Sweet cicely can also be used to make a delicious green snapps with a pleasant liquorice flavour. Put the plant into unflavoured snaps (32%) and allow to stand in daylight for about one week.
Sweet cicely soup (4 portions) 2 litres sweet cicely leaves 20 leaves of wild garlic or 1 large onion, chopped 1 tbsp butter 2 tbsp flour 1.25 litres stock salt and pepper 100 ml whipping cream Blanch the sweet cicely leaves. Save the water. Whizz the leaves in a blender. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the wild garlic or onion to the butter and soften. Add the sweet cicely and the stock. Simmer for a few minutes. Thicken with the flour mixed in a little water. Season and add the cream.
Ground elder - Aegopodium podagraria Ground elder is a plant that is both loved and loathed. It is an invasive weed but also a delicious edible plant. It likes well nourished soil and, since it spreads with rootsuckers, it is difficult to eliminate. The large size of the clumps make it easy to get at and to pick. The young leaves can replace spinach in many dishes. In the Middle Ages, up until the 1700s, it was popular to cultivate ground elder and, apart from being a food, it was used medicinally since it was thought to cure a particular type of gout called podagra or “port wine toe�.
Ground elder pie (4 portions) Pastry 300 ml flour 125 g butter 4 tbsp water Filling 2 litres ground elder leaves 1 large onion vegetable stock Egg batter 3 eggs 300 ml milk 200-300 ml grated cheese black pepper Mix the ingredients for the pastry and use it to line a pie dish. Bake at 250° for 10 minutes until the pastry is biscuit-coloured. Chop the onion and fry until soft. Blanch the ground elder for 10 minutes. Discard the water and chop the leaves finely. Mix with the onion and add the stock. Put the mixture in the pastry case. Whisk the eggs and milk together. Add the cheese and season with black pepper. Pour onto the filling and bake for 30 minutes.
Water mint – Mentha aquatica Water mint grows in wet meadows, along streams and on lake shores. It is easily recognisable from the smell of mint that is released if you rub the leaves between your fingers. Look at the square-shaped stalk and opposite leaves in pairs. The plant is mainly used as a flavouring but also as an ingredient in many dishes. Herbal tea Try making a delicious tea with a few stalks of fresh mint. Put them into boiling water, remove the pan from the heat and allow to infuse for 5 minutes. The tea is good for digestion and soothing if you have a cold.
Water mint muffins (12) 2 tbsp dried water mint leaves, or 4 tbsp fresh leaves 50g butter 125 ml milk 2 eggs 200 ml sugar 300 ml flour 1½ tsp baking powder 2 tsp vanilla sugar Heat the oven to 175°. Put muffin cases onto a baking sheet. Melt the butter and pour in the milk. The mixture should be tepid. Whisk the eggs and sugar until fluffy and add the mint. If fresh mint is used, this can be liquidised into the egg mixture. Add the milk and butter mixture. Mix the flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar and add to the mixture. Spoon into the muffin cases. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes.
Fat hen – Chenopodium album Fat hen is an annual weed that is common in gardens and fields. The colour of the leaf varies from light green to dark grey-green, but the leaves always have a whitish undercoating. The flowers mature quickly and form small seeds that can be used as flour. There are many different types of chenopodium. All are edible and have been used as food for at least 2,000 years. Fat hen has been found in the stomach of 2,000year old human remains. The leaves can be used as spinach but, historically, the plant has been used mainly as a flour substitute, with bread being baked from milled seeds. Fat hen has a high nutritional value. It has a high level of carbohydrates and protein and also contains iron, calcium and vitamin C.
Fat hen in peppers (4 portions) 4 large peppers 2 litres fresh leaves of fat hen 200 ml brown rice 100 ml thinly sliced leek 1 clove of garlic black pepper herbs 100 ml grated cheese Cook the rice. Halve the peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds. Fry the leek and garlic. Blanch the fat hen. Mix the onion with the rice and add the fat hen. Season to taste. Fill the peppers with the mixture. Sprinkle the cheese on top and cook at 250° for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Wild garlic – Allium ursinum Wild garlic grows in deciduous woodlands in the southern part of Sweden. The flowers have six petals and resemble white stars. The leaves of wild garlic resemble those of lily-of-the-valley, but they are not likely to be mistaken for each other. Wild garlic can be recognised by its strong smell and taste of onion and garlic. Even if wild garlic is relatively uncommon, it can be found in very large clumps where conditions are right. When dried or cooked, it loses much of its taste and should therefore be as fresh as possible when used. It is delicious in tomato salad.
Wild garlic pesto 1 bunch wild garlic 25 g pine nuts salt freshly milled black pepper 100 ml olive oil boiling water 50 g Parmesan cheese
Wild garlic soup (4 portions) 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock 200 ml cream 40 wild garlic leaves some spinach leaves salt and pepper 150 g bacon, diced 6 tbsp whipped cream juice of half a lemon a little salt Bring the stock to the boil with the cream. Add the spinach and wild garlic leaves and whizz in the blender. Season with salt and pepper. Fry the bacon and season the whipped cream with salt and lemon. Pour the soup into bowls and add a little whipped cream. Sprinkle the diced bacon on top.
Put the wild garlic leaves in the blender together with the pine nuts and salt and pepper to taste. Add the olive oil. Blend until smooth. If necessary, add a little boiling water to get the right consistency. Add 50 g grated Parmesan cheese.
Large bittercress – Cardamine amara Large bittercress is a pretty plant that grows in damp ground such as marshes or along streams. The leaves have a pronounced taste of cress that is well suited to salads, especially tomatoes, but they are also excellent in sandwiches.
Bittercress sandwich large bunch of fresh large bittercress leaves a large slice of bread 1-2 large slices smoked salmon lettuce leaves mayonnaise lumpfish roe Butter the bread and add the ingredients according to taste.
Flowers in our food To make dishes visually appetising, we could use flowers a lot more than we do in our cooking. It is mainly salads and gateaux that can be made even more tempting by garnishing them with edible flowers. Ten wild plants are growing in the border, and their flowers are all ideal for decoration; bitter vetch, sweet violet, red clover, alkanet, roses, viper’s bugloss, woodruff, chicory, white dead-nettle, yellow archangel.
Copy: Karin Hjelmér Hans Lindqwist Illustrations: Tryggve Edevik Design & layout: Caroline Flindt
Fredriksdal museum and gardens Gisela Trapps väg 1, 254 37 Helsingborg • Info phone: +46 (42) 10 45 00 • www.fredriksdal.se