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Common Name and also Known as Latin Name Type of Plant or Part Used Uses Month Found Blackberry/Bramble Rubus fruticosus Berries, Leaves Fresh berries can be eaten raw or made into pies or jams on their own or with apples. They can be boiled in vinegar, sugar and spice to make blackberry ketchup. Used to flavour beer, to make wine Leaves - Infusion Late July to October Cep, Penny Bun Boletus edulis Fungus -Mushroom As normal mushrooms, can be dried, good in soups, stews. Good for drying. Dried and powdered for flavouring August- November Chamomile Chamaemelum nobile Flower Dried or Fresh infusion Late May - Chestnut Castanea sativa Nut Roasted as a snack or in risotto, stuffing for chicken or turkey September-October Chickweed Stellaria media Leafy plant -all of plant In salads and soups All year round Leaf Fritters or as spinach - Note some studies have shown comfrey may act as a liver toxin May-October (although I have seen leaves in February) Crab Apple Malus sylvestris Fruit Pickles, Pies Taraxacum officinale Roots, Leaves, Flowers Roots dried and roasted to make coffee substitute, Leaves infusion, salads, or blanched and eaten as green vegetable. Flowers cooked in honey or sugar solution to make cough syrup February-November Flower best April May and root November- Leaves š March Elderberry Sambucus canadensis Berries Mainly same as blackberry but must be cooked and leaves cannot be cooked. Aug-Oct Elderflower Sambucus canadensis Flowers/blossom Dipped in batter and fried to make fritters, infusion, Late May-July Fennel Foeniculum vulgare Flowers-Leaves, Seeds, Root/Bulb Leaves & Seeds Infusion, Bulb vegetable July October Hawthorn Crataegus nogynamo Young leaves Berries In salads, good with beetroot or blanched as a green vegetable. Berries cooked only - jelly with crab apples Leaves - April May Berries Autumn Hazelnut (or Cob nut) Corylus Avellana Nut Eaten raw Aug-Nov Jack by the hedge, Wild garlic, hedge garlic Alliaria petiolata Leaf Garlic like flavouring or Used in salads February-April Jews Ear Auricula judae Mushroom/Fungus Slimy taste best cooked in soup or pate Oct-Nov Mint Mentha arvensis Leaves Infusion or flavouring March-Nov Morrels Morchella esculenta Mushroom/Fungus See ceps March-May Nettle Urtica dioica Leaves - Must be boiled to loose sting. Use young plants or tips Cook and use as spinach/infusion March-Nov Rosehips Fruit Must be deseeded and can be made into jams, jelly, cordial, Infusion, wine, syrup Aug-Nov Sloes Prunus spinosa Fruit Dropped into gin to make slow gin, best after a frost Varies -After first frost Walnut Juglans regia Nut - Unripe green or ripe Pickled if green or shelled and eaten raw or cooked Green-July Oct Nov Wild Cherry Prunus avium Fruit To make cherry brandy or use as you would cherries April-May Article By Dave Hamilton
Symphytum officinale
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It is unfortunate that the natural resource of wild food remains untapped for most, the rise of the ready meal and the supermarket has meant we are fooled into thinking we have no time to prepare or gather food.
The common misnomer seems to be that wild foods are a luxury only indulged by the eccentric middle classes or the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's of this world.
Rather than a food which has always been free many wild foods such as mushrooms and elderflowers are now in this exclusive or fad foods bracket only by the upper elite of our society. They are repackaged and sold for extortionate amounts of money as wild mushroom soup or elderflower cordial.
The preparation of these wild foods are usually extremely basic and often you don't have to venture far to find edible plants in as many are growing right on your doorstep.
I use to live in
To get some idea of the amount of different wild foods available within a fairly typical modern city such as Oxford take a look at this quick guide to some of the different wild foods I have found within the city limits.