Let foraging wild food be thy medicine. Fergus Drennan shares medicinal plants to forage in November from rose, hawthorn, wild garlic, cockspur thorn, sea buckthorn and alexanders.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” is a frequently encountered quote attributed to Hippocrates and is a good general principle when we consider wild foods, like — nettles, watercress, alexanders, burdock root, rosehips, sea buckthorn berries, and winter chanterelles, all of which I’ve been gathering this week. These plants and fungi are all nutritious in different ways, taken collectively, providing a vast range of vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals. Yet, diversity is key — without it, going from medicinal doses to nutritional portions can turn medicines to poisons if an especially potent herb were to be eaten in sufficient quantities. So, the quote has its shortcomings; medicine ought not always be thy food. Nevertheless, the phrase does usefully emphasise the importance of good quality nutritious foods in the prevention or treatment of disease.

The Hippocratic Corpus undoubtedly acknowledges the relevance of food in health and disease, though “Let food be thy medicine…” is in fact fabricated, a misattributed quote not at all from Hippocrates (1). The worldwide acceptance of this phrase owing to his venerated status, has bestowed it with moral and ethical sanction. Though food and medicine have been highly related since antiquity, Hippocrates did not equate food and medicine as modern interpretations suggest. 

Perhaps the term “functional foods” can come to our rescue here, if for no other reason than that while implying that foods can have additional health benefits beyond their nutritional value, it is also usefully vague. As a forager, the full functionality of wild plants and fungi to promote heath is the broader context that includes their collection

It is the whole process, from the gathering to preparing and, finally, consumption of wild plants and fungi that is key to a full range of positive health outcomes. Consider the benefits of meditation, exercise, spending time with family, friends or children, or daily exposure to sunlight for better sleep, or the grounding and life affirming aspects of time spent in nature. Katy Bowman, author of Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement, takes all these activities to illustrate her concept of life stacking, taking foraging as an example (2). If we think of all these different activities in a linear fashion, as things to tick off an overwhelming sequential to-do list, getting them done can feel quite daunting and stressful. Whereas, if we gather wild berries, dig some roots, or pick some mushrooms, in other words, go foraging, then through this one activity we have all the above activities and their benefits covered. We have gathered our food and medicine, stood quietly in meditation with each rosehip placed in our basket, have exercised, stretched and moved our body, spent time with friends and family (or found solace in the pursuit as a solitary one), and have connected with the natural world as we delighted in the murmuration of birds, witnessed with wrapped and spell-bound attention the spider repairing her broken web, and felt the warm kiss of sun, the coolness of wind, or refreshment of rain on our skin.

Let the gathering, preparing, and correctly proportioned consumption of wild plants and fungi be both thy food and medicine.

With these considerations in mind let’s consider some wild plants and fungi that can be gathered in November, and how to use them as functional foods: wild garlic bulbs, dog rose hips, cockspur thorn berries, hawthorn berries, sea buckthorn berries, and alexanders root.

The first of the four ingredients below I have been using to make a wild version of passata, the tomato sauce that finds so many uses in the kitchen, from pasta sauce to soups, stews, and pizza topping. It is the rosehip component that contributes to the tomato-like flavour. I’ve made and stored about 10 litres, mainly for use in The Wildbiome Project, a project spearheaded by Monica Wilde, author of other Herbal Reality foraging articles, which looks to measure the health impacts of eating a purely wild diet, especially with regards to the impact on gut flora.

Dog rose (Rosa canina)

Dog rose hips are plentiful and abundant, and it is a good idea to gather throughout October and November before the first frosts appear, simply to save getting really cold fingers, but they can be picked well into the New Year provided they are the right shade of red rather than the particular orange colour which indicates they have fermented.

If not making passata (details below) I gather kilos of these and freeze them, then from December onwards, pretty much every day until the spring, take a couple of large handfuls (approx. 200 hips), blend after covering with water, squeeze through super fine nylon, and drink the extract. This way you are left with viable seed with which to replenish the hedgerow. Extract for passata can be made this way too, although for that I prefer to place in a pan, cover with water, simmer for 10 minutes to soften the hips, blend with a stick blender, then when still hot, but not too hot to handle, pass everything apart from the seeds through a sieve. Finally, I’ll squeeze the resulting pulp through a fine nylon cloth to remove seed hairs and improve the texture.

Rosehips are a good source of “antioxidants (vitamin C, polyphenols, carotenoids, tocopherols, and polysaccharides)”(3).

Wild garlic bulbs (Allium ursinum)

When digging roots, do bear in mind that legally you need the land owner’s permission, and that best practice is to do so in a way that doesn’t undermine the viability of a plant colony in a particular area. Given that if you just go for the biggest bulbs you unearth, the smaller ones will be left, and with more space to grow, so sustainable practice will be inherent to this way of gathering. For much of the UK, when dug in November, there will be no shoots arising from the bulb, although in warmer locations, especially those impacted by the gulf stream, shoots may already have appeared, even above ground leaves.

Gather the whole root and bulb, soak in a bowl of water for a short time, and then wash in multiple changes of water, scrubbing with a light brush if necessary, until completely clean. They can be worked with fresh, but I find it easier to dry in a food dehydrator overnight at a low heat and then powder in a food processor.

Wild garlic bulbs are a good source of antibacterial and antioxidant aromatic disulphide compounds (4).

Hawthorn berries (Crataegus monogyna)

For most culinary and medicinal purposes, hawthorn berries are best foraged from late August until early October, especially if you want to extract the pulp to make a raw set jelly. Later the pectin will have broken down, and the berries can also be more prone to insect larvae. Nevertheless, if you are discriminating and selective, you can still find plants that have good firm and bug-free berries of a deep reddish purple in November (even when plants nearby have berries which have darkened, have a somewhat shrivelled appearance, and are very bug infested).

Wash them, mash with a little water and pass the pulp through a sieve leaving behind the seeds.

Hawthorn berries are a good source of polyphenols and flavonoids, pectin oligosaccharides, and prebiotics, as well as amino acids, and vitamin A, B1, B2 and C. The fruit are said to be antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, may improve gastrointestinal function, may help regulate blood pressure, and improve cognitive impairment.

Sea buckthorn berries (Hippophae rhamnoides)

Every couple of years, sometime between the last week of August and the first week of the following January, and in areas with a prolific abundance of berry-laden plants, I gather sea buckthorn berries either whole (from late August to early October) or collect just the juice (mid-October through to January). In the latter case, squeezing the berries on the branch while wearing think gardening glover with an underlying set of latex gloves. The juice is then strained through fine cloth, in situ to remove debris, then transferred to a larger container. For the former, I prune whole branches, deep freeze for a few days in sturdy sack, then bash these about to dislodge the frozen berries. While still frozen any debris can also be sieved out. 

Perfect for sorbet and ice-cream, for drinking daily as raw juice or as whole berries, with wild meats such as venison or duck, but they are also excellent combined with chocolate on top of rich chocolate tortes or mousse. The seeds are also a valuable source of nutrients, and can be ground and incorporated into flour mixes for pastry, biscuits, cakes, and bread.

Sea buckthorn berries are a good source of vitamin C and E, with smaller amounts of B1, B2, B6, and vitamin K. It is high in potassium, calcium, phosphorous and magnesium, as well as smaller quantities of many other minerals. The whole berries are high in amino acids, including eight kinds of essential amino acid, as well as oleic, linoleic and linolenic fatty acids. The whole berries contain a broad range of organic acids as well as flavonoids, phenolic compounds, terpenes, steroids, and various volatile components (5).

Alexanders root (Smyrnium olusatrum)

I went out to dig for burdock roots, but couldn’t find any in the location I was nor in the time I had, yet alexanders roots were in abundance from the plants in their first year (it’s biennial). The flavour is intense, somewhat like a very floral bitter carrot with myrrhish overtones (the species name is an etymological derivative of myrrh).

The root can be a challenge to work with flavour-wise, although is excellent grated fresh into a mixed green leaf salad. They can also be roasted, shallow fried, braised or baked, but I opted to treat them the way I would have prepared the burdock roots had I found any:  packed down tightly in jars, covered with water and fermented with 2% salt by root (and added water) weight. Some of the roots were grated, some sliced. The salt combined with the developing acidity balances the robust flavour well, at least in my opinion, especially when fermented for six months or more. I carefully burp the jar every few days, especially in the first couple of weeks, collecting any overflow on a clean plate and returning to the jar. A small balloon with water, clean stone or small jar is useful to place on top to keep the roots below the liquid and prevent mould from forming. Give it a go and see what you think.

Alexanders roots are a good source of… Well, for a plant used in all its parts for food, possible as a native plant or as a Roman introduction, so dating back many centuries, there is a surprising dearth of reliable information on either the nutrient content or phytochemical composition of the root. No doubt it does contain a unique range of vitamins and minerals, as well as aromatic and bitter principles, and is possibly a good source of inulin, the rest is mystery…