Articles
Foraging
- ground elder
Karen. July 7 2011
Foraging
- elderflowers & berries
Karen. June 17 2011
Foraging
- wild about food
Karen. June 9 2011
Nettles,
a sting in the tale
Karen. April 21 2011
Yes
Chef! II - Cauliflower tempura
Karen. April 5 2011
Yes
Chef!
Karen. March 11 2011
Further reading ::
Is foraging fruit legal? BBC website >
Picking wild fruit and plants to eat – where do you stand legally? >
Wild flower society - code of conduct >
Legal issues ::
Not sure? Don’t pick it.
Foraging on private land? The landowner’s permission is needed.
It’s illegal to uproot plants or sell foraged food without the landowner’s permission.
It is illegal to pick anything in your local park.
Foraging on a Site of Special Scientific Interest is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
The National Trust has byelaws on their land that forbid foraging.
Steer clear of nature reserves that are managed to protect wildlife.
Foraging a commercially grown crop is theft.
Fruit on overhanging branches belongs to the tree owner.
No more than 1.5kg of mushrooms should be gathered per session, for personal use only.
Respect the environment; take care not to trample rare species.
Look out for bye law notices.
Walden Local Food sells a small amount of foraged food, with permission of the landowner (who is one of our directors).
The flip side ::
Wildlife is under much pressure due to mans activities and population size. Rotting fruit can benefit wildlife such as butterflies, badgers and voles, specially over winter when food is scarce.
Articles
Forgaging - ground elder Karen. July 7 2011
Ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria) strikes fear into the hearts of gardeners far and wide. At this very moment hundreds, nay, thousands of garden owners are contemplating moving house, which seems an easier feat that eradicating this pernicious weed. I bought my house in January, when the soil was covered in snow. When I finally moved in, the bright April skies darkened and the inner turmoil began – yes, a patch of Ground Elder… then another and another. Let battle commence. And it did, until a few weeks ago.
Purported to have been introduced to our fair isle by the ancient Romans as food crop, often I have a thought, after back breaking weeding sessions, I wish they would flipping well drop by with a time-machine and make it history.
Once a common sight on the veg plot, ground elder fell in the crop popularity stakes due to its colonising nature, and was labeled a weed. “Ground Elder tastes not dissimilar to parsley” one foraging book promised. So, I snook out into the garden, under the cover of cloud, picked a leaf (freshly washed by a shower of rain) and popped it in my mouth. It did! It really did taste of parsley. A foe vanquishedAt that eureka moment layers of stress, caused by weed wars, fell from my very being. The weed became a crop – foe became friend – destroy became nurture – no longer did I have to contemplate smothering it with old carpet for five years, Ground Elder was now a free food.
I gathered a few leaves, Tastes like parsley skipped up the garden path to the kitchen, light in my heart and hungry for lunch. Starting simple, I ribboned a couple of carrots with a vegetable peeler; whisked up a honey, vinegar and oil dressing and roughly chopped my newly found friend. Voilà! - one tasty - nutritious side salad.
Recipe for carrot and ground elder salad >
Whether from your garden, a friends or in the wild, pick leaves before the plant flowers – use as a garnish, blitz in a soup, speckle in an omelette or cook up in quiche.
The
low down
on ground elder