EDIBLE WEEDS  nourish your wild wisdom
Follow us
  • Home
  • about
  • recipes
  • blog
  • free stuff
  • activities
  • praise
  • My book
    • wildly nourished
    • free preview
    • book reviews
    • spread the word
    • media page
  • shop
  • contact

Green salad with wild edibles from our backyard

22/5/2013

4 Comments

 
Foto
I love to go out in the backyard and see what wild edibles I can get for lunch.The salad pictured above is one I recently made. Let's dissect it and see what wild greens are in there:
Foto
Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)
Folk names: Common sorrel, garden sorrel, spinach dock, narrow-leaved dock
Dutch: zuring /zurkel - French: Oseille - German: Wiesen-Sauerampfer Großer Sauerampfer

For a little lemon twist, you'll need sorrel. Excellent thirst quencher with a fresh flavour. It loves to grow in moist soil and can often be found near water streams.

Very first wild green I ate as a young child. Fell in love instantly.  The leaves have grown rather tall by now, so I take a few leaves, roll them up together and chop them that way.

Foto
Red raspberry (Rubus idaeus )
Folk names: European raspberry, red raspberry
Dutch: Framboos - French: Framboisier - German: Himbeere

This will be one of the last times to harvest leaves from raspberry, blackberry or strawberry plants, as the plants are coming into flower and the leaves are becoming increasingly tough. Last chance to enjoy their green sweetness, next time you'll harvest it'll be the glorious berries.

Raspberry leaves are very high in vitamin C and magnesium. Every year, I pick quite a huge amount of red raspberry leaves that I dry to use for my herbal infusions. Not only delicious, but also an excellent uterine tonic. Drinking it brings back sweet twin pregnancy memories :)

Foto
Common daisy (Bellis perennis)
Folk names: Lawn daisy, English daisy
Dutch: Madeliefje  - French: Pâquerette  - German: Gänseblümchen

Don't just eat the flowers, but try the leaves as well. They are rich in vitamin C and A, and a good source of iron.

Common daisy leaves have a rather neutral taste, more like store bought lettuce. Which makes them extremely versatile, but above all a good salad green.

Foto
Common scurvy-grass (Cochlearia officinalis)
Folk names: Scurvy grass, Scurvygrass, Spoonwort
Dutch: Echt lepelblad - French: Cochléaire officinale - German: Echte Löffelkraut

It has leaves that look like a spoon and has historically been used to prevent scurvy, because of the high vitamin C content.

Scurvy-grass has a rather sharp taste, much like water cress or horseradish (of which you can eat the leaves as well), so I only add it in small amounts. But for a salad with a little kick, toss it in and enjoy. The vitamin C will also help your body to absorb the iron that it provides. Nature's so smart.

Foto
Buck's horn plantain (Plantago coronopus)
Folk names: Minutina, Erba stella
Dutch: Hertshoornweegbree - French: Plantain corne de cerf, Pied de corbeau,  Plantain corne de bœuf - German: Krähenfuß-Wegerich, Hirschhorn-Wegerich, Schlitz-Wegerich, Schlitzblatt-Wegerich, Kapuzinerbart, Mönchsbart, Ziegenbart

Of all plantain species, this green has the most crispy texture, even when the plant matures. In Italy this variety is often found in vegetable gardens and markets. It's very likely that some other plantain species grow in your garden, so feel free to use them as long as the leaves are still young and tender.

Buck's horn plantain loves to grow in sandy dunes, but a pavement will work as well. Or my garden :)


Foto
Salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor)
Folk names: Salad burnet, Garden burnet, Small burnet, Burnet
Dutch: Kleine pimpernel - French: (Petite) pimprenelle - German: Kleine Wiesenknopf

Think nuts, with the freshness of cucumber. Okay, that may stretch the limits of your imagination a little. But that's exactly what salad burnet has to offer.

Growing in the wild, but it deserves a place in every herb garden as well. You can even keep harvesting in winter, but young leaves have the best flavour. At this stage, before flowering, the plant is still very tender and you can eat the whole leaves. When using older leaves, discard the tough stems. Always pick the outer leaves to encourage new growth.

Foto
Cat's ear (Hypochaeris radicata)
Folk names: Flatweed, False dandelion
Dutch: Gewoon biggenkruid - French: Hypochaeris radicata - German: Gewöhnliche Ferkelkraut

This dandelion lookalike is edible as well. You can use the leaves and flowers. Dandelion's peak moment for flowering is already over, but cat's ear's moment of glory is yet to come, so I harvested the hairy leaves. Slightly bitter, but not as much as dandelion.
For an excellent overview of dandelion and cat's ear and how you can identify the two and tell them apart, click here. But the two are interchangeable in salads.

I combined these greens with some chopped spring onions, one sliced red bell pepper and one grated carrot. Then I tossed in some daisy ans dandelion flowers.  It tasted great.

Maybe you only recognize a few of these plants, or only one or two of the mentioned species are growing in your yard. Here's the good news: salads are not exact science. Don't make that stop you from trying the ones you know. But tell me, which ones of these are growing in your garden?
4 Comments
best bar to watch sports link
1/7/2013 09:24:43 pm

I am really enjoying reading your well written articles. It looks like you spend a lot of effort and time on your blog. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new article

Reply
Leaf link
2/7/2013 04:36:57 pm

Thanks!

Reply
web designing services link
1/11/2013 05:23:46 pm

Really appreciate you sharing this post.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.

Reply
Crazybulk link
18/6/2016 01:23:20 am

This blog was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something that helped me. Appreciate it!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Follow Me on Pin</div>



</div>

<div><div id=Wild Plant Forager
    Top Food Blogs

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    January 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Foraging
    Foraging With Kids
    Plant Language
    Recipes
    Urban Foraging
    Videos

Copyright © www.wildplantforager.com 
Disclaimer: Any identification or usage of plants is your own responsibility.
Make sure to identify properly, use the right plant parts, pick from a safe place and use common sense.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, jacme31, Kent Wang, Dendroica cerulea, Gilgongo, wallygrom, glasseyes view, foxypar4, Sarah Cairncross, Khairil Zhafri, perpetualplum, Silversyrpher, Deanster1983, dichohecho, Rebecca-Lee, blumenbiene, Andrew Stawarz, Eran Finkle, K.Hurley, jenny downing, nociveglia, My Daily Sublime, Scarygami, blumenbiene, lilyrhoads, Albertas Agejevas, Jeroen Kransen, Dendroica cerulea, ~Brenda-Starr~, andrew_j_w, Shandchem, weisserstier, Wendell Smith, martinroell, Lennix3, treehouse1977, Steve Slater (Wildlife Encounters), anemoneprojectors (through the backlog), Jasmine&Roses, schaefer_rudolf, Peter aka anemoneprojectors - camera busted!, markpeate, Nuuuuuuuuuuul, Nuuuuuuuuuuul, Håkan Dahlström, John Tann, C_Baltrusch, jenny downing, Stéfan, Madzik, anemoneprojectors (through the backlog), markpeate, graibeard, Daniel Milford Flathagen, Morgaine, D.Eickhoff