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Eating like a giraffe: 5 trees with edible spring leaves

13/5/2013

9 Comments

 
Foto
Trees are large organisms, and they can usually handle grazing quite well.  At this time of the year, the buds have just opened and the leaves are still light green, smooth and tender.  But do you need to be a giraffe to eat leaves from trees? Which species are edible for humans?

Let's take a closer look at some of the trees of which you can eat the leaves in early spring. Always identify properly and pick when the leaves are young and soft - they can become quite tough when growing older.

Foto
Beech (Fagus sylvatica), European beech, Common beech
Dutch: Beuk - French: Hêtre commun - German: (Rot)Buche - Spanish: Haya común

These leaves have a very smooth and tender texture. At a very young stage they are so fragile you can even look through them. Hard to imagine these will one day be the autumn leaves that will fall off and lay on the forest ground for a long time - beech is well-known for fact that the leaves decompose very slowly.

Chewing the young leaves, a flavour develops that is somewhere between lemon and sorrel. Very refreshing on a long spring walk, and after tasting one single leaf, you'll probably want to have some more. Definitely suitable as a tasty salad green.

Foto
Linden (Tilia cordata), also known as Lime tree or Basswood
Dutch: Linde - French: Tilleul - German: Linde - Spanish: Tilo

Linden is most familiar to us as linden tea or infusion, which is made with the flowers and bract. The bract? That's the long, pale green part that's attached to the flowers and that helps the seeds to disperse. A lot of people think these are the actual leaves, but they're not. The real leaves of linden are heart-shaped and delicious when eaten young.

The texture is great. It has the same crunch that iceberg lettuce has, but with more nutrition.

What about making a heart-shaped salad for your loved ones? Or for yourself, as a special green treat? You can also dry the leaves and grind them into a flour for all your wild kitchen experiments. 

Foto
Birch (Betula pendula)
Dutch: Ruwe berk - French: Bouleau verruqueux - German: Hänge-Birke - Spanish: Abedul común, Abedul de Europa, Abedul verrugoso, Abedul péndulo

Birch leaves offer a hint of bitterness that will make your whole body fully awake. Don't let the bitterness hold you back from trying it though : it's not overwhelming, and such a boost for your health!

Dry the leaves for a herbal tea (you can combine it with more aromatic herbs from the mint family if you're not the biggest fan of bitter) or eat it in salads, in small amounts, mixed with other greens. It will probably remind you of radicchio.

Foto
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna or Crataegus laevigata)
Dutch: Meidoorn, Haagdoorn - French: Aubépine - German: Weißdorn - Spanish: Espino albar, Espino blanco

Before the flowers or berries appear, the leaves are at their best, with a rich, nutty flavour. You can eat them as they are, in a salad, but I like to chop them and sprinkle them over my dishes as a parsley substitute as well.

In the UK, hawthorn is referred to as the "Bread and Cheese Tree"; as it was very common for people in the countryside to eat the leaves straight from the tree. As common as bread and cheese.

Foto
Spruce (Picea species)
Dutch: Spar - French: Epicéa - German: Fichte - Spanish: Pícea

Yes, needles (even those of cacti) are leaves too! Harvest the highly aromatic young tops of spruce - you'll notice them at the end part of the branches, lighter green than the rest of the tree.

You can turn them into a vitamin C rich herbal infusion or dip them in honey for an extra special treat. When you steep them in apple cider vinegar, the result will be surprisingly close to balsamico vinegar.

9 Comments
Ann
1/9/2015 05:57:56 pm

Great website! Can you think of any other leaves that can be made into like a wrap and eaten? The Linden looks like you could use it. Any others?
Thanks.
Ann
Annscapes
ABN: 87 141 160 357.

Reply
Leaf link
4/6/2016 08:15:10 am

Ann, malva (particularly Malva sylvestris) and sorrel/dock leaves (especially Rumex obtusifolius) are great for that.

Reply
Ryan
3/6/2016 10:28:27 am

Are you sure this is accurate? If read that spruce needles can be used in tea but they contain a toxic chemical in their oil that floats to the top and needs to be removed before consumption. If that's true, I don't think it's wise to post that they're edible..

Reply
Leaf link
4/6/2016 08:13:01 am

Ryan, I have never heard about this. I (as many other people) have eaten the young spruce tops a lot, just like they are (they are soft at this stage), as infusions, in vinegars, oxymels, liquor, and I've never heard of any adverse effects. I've also not found any info on them being toxic whatsoever. Could you tell me where you found this info so I can look into that?

Reply
Vanessa
13/6/2016 11:46:27 am

Spruce is NOT poisonous. I am metis and we have been drinking spruce for thousands of years. Any pine family is not poisonous with ONE exception the Yew in which case the berry can be eaten but any other part of the tree is poisonous

Jeff P. link
21/3/2017 10:52:41 am

Correct @ Vanessa, one small amendment though regarding yew, it's not the whole berry which is edible, the seed inside is also toxic, so needs to be spat out or removed before eating.
I love yew (Taxus bacatta) berries and feel they do wonders for my well being, I highly recommend people eat them.

Reply
Ekaterina
9/7/2017 07:46:25 pm

What wanders to your health do they do? I know that not all birds can eat the berries, some birds have only adapted to eating them, so I'm wondering if it's really ok to eat them. The needles are used for making chemotherapy treatment. They are so extremely toxic to the human cells!
Please, take care and don't eat too much!

Reply
Michélle link
3/3/2018 02:52:10 am

You forget about the Moringa tree. Believed to be the most nutritious plant known with every part of the tree edible — including its leaves, seeds and fruit.

And the young leaves of the mulberry tree as well.

I was wondering why fruit trees such as apricot and plum (growing in my garden) aren’t edible.

Reply
Wild Plant Forager link
3/3/2018 04:46:40 am

Hi Michélle,
You are quite right about the nutritional value of Moringa - but it doesn't grow anywhere near me here in Europe. I know some people grow it in their greenhouses, but it's definitely not a tree that grows in the wild in Belgium (where I live).
But there are some mulberry trees around (for those who know to find them - mostly in public parks), and the leaves are indeed edible as well, thank you for adding that!

Peach & plum tree leaves (just like the seed in the fruits) have too much cyanide in them: more info here: https://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Prunus+domestica

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