Dutch: Daslook - French: Ail des ours - German: Bärlauch
Pictured above is one of my favorite wild edibles: bear's garlic, also known as ramsons. It's a wild garlic species (Allium ursinum) of which you can eat the leaves, stems, flowers and bulbs. But let's take a closer look at that picture. On this particular spot (but mind you, this is a quite common situation, as both plants are typical spring plants that love to grow in shady areas like forest soil) a culinary delight shares its space with the very toxic lilly of the valley (even if you put it in a vase, drinking the water can be lethally poisonous, that's how toxic it is). It's even worse: the leaves have a similar look and are hard to tell apart if you don't know what you're dealing with.
Now here's my point: I don't believe in fear as a good ally for foraging. I believe in trust. Trust that grows and develops by getting to know plants really well, and checking and double checking. Trust that increases through practice and using the right identification keys. This is why I encourage people to start small, one plant at a time. Take one plant that you've known since childhood (for many people these will be easy to identify plants like stinging nettle, dandelion, common daisy or elderberry) and that grows near you.
If you think you know this plant well, you can always get to know it better. Trust me.
And when you really know it like a good friend that you'll recognize from far distance, then get more intimate and put it in your mouth.
Pictured above is one of my favorite wild edibles: bear's garlic, also known as ramsons. It's a wild garlic species (Allium ursinum) of which you can eat the leaves, stems, flowers and bulbs. But let's take a closer look at that picture. On this particular spot (but mind you, this is a quite common situation, as both plants are typical spring plants that love to grow in shady areas like forest soil) a culinary delight shares its space with the very toxic lilly of the valley (even if you put it in a vase, drinking the water can be lethally poisonous, that's how toxic it is). It's even worse: the leaves have a similar look and are hard to tell apart if you don't know what you're dealing with.
Now here's my point: I don't believe in fear as a good ally for foraging. I believe in trust. Trust that grows and develops by getting to know plants really well, and checking and double checking. Trust that increases through practice and using the right identification keys. This is why I encourage people to start small, one plant at a time. Take one plant that you've known since childhood (for many people these will be easy to identify plants like stinging nettle, dandelion, common daisy or elderberry) and that grows near you.
If you think you know this plant well, you can always get to know it better. Trust me.
And when you really know it like a good friend that you'll recognize from far distance, then get more intimate and put it in your mouth.
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