The delicious darling buds of spring are slowly waking up. Forager Mo Wilde takes us out into the countryside to explore what medicinal plants to forage in May.
For the forager, May is a month of joyful green abundance. While the season of tapping birch for its refreshing sap has passed, wild garlic and wild leeks are still juicy and have not fully died back. Scented flowers decorate salads, while early fungi morels (Morchella esculenta) and St George’s mushroom (Calocybe gambosa), which started their flush in April, are still with us.
I adore May because of the tree leaves in particular. Although edible hawthorn leaves Crataegus monogyna have been out a while, it is the larger leaves of beech (Fagus sylvatica) and linden (European lime, Tilia spp.) that I am after.
Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
For the first fortnight that beech produces its shiny, new, citrus-fresh leaves, I include them in daily salads. The buds have finally pushed off the unfallen, dried leaves of the previous year that I gathered for teas in winter. There is a particular river gorge nearby where the spring sunlight, shining through the canopy of vibrant, green leaves, transforms me instantly to some magical kingdom of elves. This uplifting spirit of beech, as a flower remedy, is certainly one for our time. It is for those who ‘need to see more good and beauty in all that surrounds them’.
The original Bach repertory recommended them for people who were abrasive, abrupt, abusive, over-confident, critical and acid-tongued – exactly those who would do well to seek goodness in all. Hildegard de Bingen used beech leaves in teas for treating jaundice.
Constitutionally, beech is cool and was used to make poultices for hot swellings. As the leaves mature they become astringent and sadly inedible, but their spirit can be captured by infusing them in alcohol to make a green beech-gin or in vodka with a little white sugar for a beech-leaf noyau.
Limeflower (Tilia x europaea)
Linden is even more generous in the production of edible young leaves. The common lime Tilia x europaea is particularly prolific with pronounced epicormic growth — leaves sprouting from buds under the bark at the tree’s base. These remain tender for months. They have a soft silky mouth-feel and slightly mucilaginous texture — soothing to the digestive and respiratory tracts.
Sometimes the leaves are sweet from the honeydew secreted by aphids. The leaves are quickly joined by blossom which make a calming herbal tea, treating nervous tension and reducing heart palpitations. The flower essence provides inspiration, restores inner peace and brings a sense of wholeness.
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
As with hawthorn, a tea from the flowers and leaves helps to reduce high blood pressure. Harvest flowers as soon as they open in the cool of the morning before the sun evaporates their essential oils. Dry them at a low temperature and store them in jars or kraft bags away from the light. Just a teaspoon of crumbled herb infused in a cup of boiling water is all that is needed.
I am very partial to infusing hawthorn flowers in brandy — purely for medicinal purposes of course, as it supports all matters of the heart. With its almond-marzipan notes a hawthorn vodka infusion, diluted with glycerine, makes a wonderful foraged food essence for flavouring desserts.
Wych elm (Ulmus glabra)
While I don’t eat young oak leaves — the tannin is too strong for me — they are traditionally used to make wine. The spring leaves and autumn leaves making distinctly different flavours as the later they are harvested the more tannin they contain.
The other part of trees that are lovely to forage are the seeds of wych elm (Ulmus glabra) known as samaras. This would apply to elm Ulmus procera too but sadly there are so few left in the country since the Dutch elm disease outbreak in the 1970s. The samaras have a flattened oval wing that surrounds the seed and hang in large bunches. When picked young and green they are delicious fresh. Whilst they can be pickled, like young ash keys, the flavour is not really strong enough to stand up to a harsh vinegar. They are wonderful just raw.
You’ll also notice a mucilaginous note, reminiscent of the popular herbal remedy slippery elm bark (Ulmus rubra). Given the ecological issues around the harvesting of that North American species, bark from wych elm pruning is a sustainable native alternative.
Jack by the hedge (Alliaria petiolata)
May really is the month of freshly, foraged salads as every hedgerow comes into bloom above a bank of succulent greens. Jack by the hedge (Alliaria petiolata) also known as garlic mustard is one of the commonest mustards. Its local names describe it perfectly. It tastes of garlic and mustard and grows beside hedges, on the shady side of walls and woodland margins. The leaves are rounded to horseshoe shaped with a scalloped margin.
The flower stems grow to about 1 metre and are topped with small, white, four petalled flowers. These develop into long, thin seed pods containing about 8 tiny round mustard seeds. The young leaves and shoots make an excellent spicy salad leaf. They can also be cooked as a vegetable. Another way to prepare is to lacto-ferment them like sauerkraut.
When the seeds are ripe later in summer you can used them whole as a spice, or grind them into a mustard powder, mix it to a paste with a little water and eat it as a condiment.
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Chickweed (Stellaria media) grows almost everywhere, especially on cultivated or farm land where the soil has been disturbed, and seems to be present all year round. When wet weather is on the way, you will notice its weather forecasting tendencies as the tiny oval leaves fold tightly shut when cold. It is a small unassuming plant with minute white star-like flowers (hence the common name starwort) and has a fresh, mild, green, almost lettuce-like flavour. Its cool, neutral taste acts as a neutral base for many of the wilder, peppery, bitter tastes that nature has on offer. Using chickweed as a base, add wild garlic, ground ivy, dandelion leaf and garlic mustard and you will have a very well-balanced salad for free.
In herbal medicine, chickweed is predominantly known as a cooling, soothing herb. Chickweed creams or ointments are used to treat skin irritation, such as eczema and rashes, as it has a such a cooling effect on the skin. I find that even people with the most sensitive skins tolerate gentle chickweed well.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Fresh dandelion greens (Taraxacum officinale) are a welcome and vitamin-rich spring vegetable, but inclined to be bitter due to sesquiterpenes found in their milky sap. The young leaves, before the plants flower, are the least bitter, as are dandelions growing in wet, shady areas or in long grass. You can also blanch dandelions by tying up, or placing a flowerpot over, the emerging leaves, which makes them less bitter but less nutritious. In a mixed salad, up to a fifth of lightly chopped dandelion leaves can be added without noticing the bitterness. Instead it adds a piquant note, enhancing the overall taste.
Bitterness is not to be shunned. Bitter flavours stimulate our entire digestive tract preparing it to eat by stimulating the increase of saliva, release of digestive enzymes, stomach acid, gut mucus and bile. In the past, dandelion greens were to the British what rocket was to a Mediterranean diet. It makes the perfect alternative to a rocket salad and, up until the 1930s, pretty much every British cookery book carried recipes of dandelion greens.
To cook them, in the traditional manner, chop a bunch of young leaves into 3 cm pieces, add to boiling water and simmer or steam for five minutes. If you have older leaves that taste really bitter, you may need to drain them, refresh the water and boil them for a further 5 minutes. Then add butter and seasoning as if you were serving spinach. Dandelion leaves are also nice sautéed or wilted in a frying pan with onions or pancetta, or stirred into pasta with ricotta.
Unopened dandelion buds can also be pickled in vinegar or deep fried in batter for a tasty tempura snack. The name dandelion originally came from the French for lion’s tooth dent de lion due to the serrated edges of its leaf. Ironically in France they have a different name – pissenlit – literally wet the bed, paying tribute to dandelion’s diuretic properties, harnessed in detox formulas, skin and liver tonics.
Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
May is a truly bumper month for both food and medicines. There are many less-known plants, as well as some whose notoriety is not always connected with food. Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica), for example, is an introduced species that has got a very bad name for being virtually indestructible. Yet, harvesting the young purple spears in May provides a rhubarb-like vegetable. Just be very careful not to break the law by causing the spread of it in any way. Microwave any parts you don’t use to prevent that happening. The root, chock-full of resveratrol, is used to treat Lyme disease as in vitro studies show it helps to kill Borrelia bacteria (1). Personally, I like sipping an occasional glass of Japanese Knotweed Rosé on a warm summer’s day.
References
- Feng J, Leone J, Schweig S, Zhang Y. Evaluation of Natural and Botanical Medicines for Activity Against Growing and Non-growing Forms of B. burgdorferi. Front Med (Lausanne). 2020;7:6. Published 2020 Feb 21. doi:10.3389/fmed.2020.00006
