Foraging is a fascinating skill that both deepens our relationship to nature and empowers our health. This article shares some interesting plants you can forage here in the UK in December.
Foraging is a wonderful way to connect both with nature, and nourish our health. We also want to spread the word about safe and ethical foraging, so please also read our article “A guide to safe and sustainable foraging” to learn how to practise foraging sustainably.
A useful link with images that can help with identification as well as botanical information is Wild Flower Finder.
Here Robin Harford shares some edible plants you can safely harvest from the wild in December.
Please note: Under Section 13 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, uprooting any wild plant without landowners’ permission is illegal (1).
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Sturtevants quotes Johnson: “This plant is found in every garden as a weed. It forms when boiled, says Johnson, an excellent green vegetable, much resembling spinach in flavour and is very wholesome.”
Withering also noted the tastiness of chickweed as an edible wild vegetable in his A Botanical Arrangement of the Vegetables naturally growing in Great Britain (1776) (2).
In the past, it was known as a “small annual of arable fields” and used as a potherb by farming communities in Europe and Asia. (3)
Henriette’s Practical Herbs notes chickweed’s most vital nutrient is vitamin C. It packs quite a punch at 350mg of vitamin C per 100g of dried herb. Its rich content of vitamins and minerals makes the herb a valuable ingredient, whether stored frozen or dried (4).
Nipplewort (Lapsana communis)
Nipplewort leaves have a mild radish flavour. Traditionally eaten raw in a salad or boiled as a vegetable. However, the plant is often overlooked. Creative cooks find the young mild green leaves very versatile. In December, the leaves are prolific. However, as the plant ages, the leaves become bitter and are best cooked.
In France, particularly Burgundy, the leaves are used as a vegetable (5).
In the territory of Gallicano, Italy, nipplewort is gathered along with many other wild greens for use in a traditional soup called Ministrella (6).
Scurvygrass (Cochlearia spp.)
Sailors of old would store salted Scurvygrass as a way to prevent scurvy. Hence, the plant’s common name. 100 g of fresh leaves contains 63 mg of vitamin C (7).
In cookbooks from the 17th century, there are often recipes for scurvygrass ale. If you look back to the plantsman’s diaries from the 1600s, scurvygrass was grown as a salad item. Scurvy was a disease not just of sailors but also affected country folk.
In 1597, a group of Dutch mariners tried to find a route from Northern Russia to China. In the Captain’s log book, he mentions that many of his crew suffered from scurvy. They had heard in Holland about Cochlearia but had not tried it. The Captain gets his crew to eat lots of the plant from the shoreline. A few days later, he records that the sick had experienced a remarkable recovery. (8)
In the Faroe Islands, the islanders made porridge from scurvygrass and soup. The root was eaten raw or boiled, and the plant was said to give strength and stamina in times of limited food supply (9).
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
In Belarus, the fruits are made into juice and jams (10).
In the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a subspecies, Hippophae rhamnoides subsp. yunnanensis, is used to make wine (11).
In Finland, semi-sweet wine is made that pairs well with fish, crab and crustaceans. I am surprised that no commercial venture in Britain has started considering the proliferation of the plant around our coasts.
The fruits are very high in vitamin C and high levels of sulphur, selenium, zinc and copper (12).
In Transylvania, honey is poured over the whole fruits to preserve them. The mixture eventually turns into a delicious syrup (13).
Stonecrop (Sedum album)
The taste of stonecrop is reminiscent of green pepper. Therefore, it is best to collect the top 5 cm of the shoots otherwise, the plant becomes woody.
The shoots go well with egg dishes like an omelette and make an exciting filling for spring rolls. Try them in tzatziki, along with chopped cucumber and garlic.
In Tuscany, the leaves are eaten as a snack (14). They would also work well as a pickle, similar to how marsh samphire (glasswort) is pickled. They have a similar succulent texture.
Saxifrage (Chrysosplenium spp.)
The plant is best served mixed with other greens and ingredients. Be careful where you harvest, and I recommend that you always cook saxifrage these days, as clean wild water sources are hard to find. In the Vosges, North Eastern France, saxifrage salad is a local dish.
The leaves go well in dumplings, pickled with other vegetables in brine, e.g. sauerkraut, or mixed into mashed herb potatoes.
References
- Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Accessed September 14, 2022. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/section/13
- Withering W. A Botanical Arrangement of All the Vegetables Naturally Growing in Great Britain. Cambridge University Press; 2015.
- Turner NJ, Łuczaj ŁJ, Migliorini P, et al. Edible and Tended Wild Plants, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Agroecology. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences. 2011;30(1-2):198-225. doi:10.1080/07352689.2011.554492
- Kress H. Practical Herbs Vol. 1.; 2018.
- Couplan F. Le Régal Végétal: Reconnaître et Cuisiner les Plantes Comestibles. Nouvelle éd. Sang de la terre; 2017.
- Pieroni A. Gathered Wild Food Plants in the Upper Valley of the Serchio River (garfagnana), Central Italy. Econ Bot. 1999;53(3):327-341. doi:10.1007/BF02866645
- Kiple KF, Ornelas KC, eds. The Cambridge World History of Food. Illustrated edition. Cambridge University Press; 2000.
- Harrison M. Wild Food Mentor. Eatweeds Press; 2010.
- Svanberg I, Egisson S. Edible Wild Plant Use in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae. 2012;81(4). Accessed September 14, 2022. http://agro.icm.edu.pl/agro/element/bwmeta1.element.agro-2e91d08e-6ebe-4178-a3e3-8ea87e9bcc03
- Luczaj L, Köhler P, Pirożnikow E, Graniszewska M, Pieroni A, Gervasi T. Wild Edible Plants of Belarus: From Rostafiński’s Questionnaire of 1883 to the Present. Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine. 2013;9(1):21.
- Ju Y, Zhuo J, Liu B, Long C. Eating from the Wild: Diversity of Wild Edible Plants Used by Tibetans in Shangri-La Region, Yunnan, China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 2013;9(1):28. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-9-28
- Chevallier A. Encyclopedia Of Herbal Medicine: 550 Herbs and Remedies for Common Ailments. 1st edition. DK; 2016.
- Dénes A, Papp N, Babai D, Czúcz B, Molnár Z. Wild Plants Used for Food by Hungarian Ethnic Groups Living in the Carpathian Basin. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae. 2012;81(4):381-396. doi:10.5586/asbp.2012.040
- Wright CA. Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook’s ABC of Vegetables and Their Preparation in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa with More Than 200 Authentic Recipes for the Home Cook. Harvard Common Press; 2001.
