Edible Wild

A useful piece about Turkey Tail fungi (also please note this is an American article and certain aspects of the information may differ depending on where in the globe you're located so do your own research too).

False Turkey Tail Fungi: Identification and Lookalikes How do you know false turkey tail from the true medicinal turkey tail? This guide explains it all so you can forage confidently. False turkey tail identification and lookalikes

Taking a spore print isn't just fun, it's a fundamental skill that helps with identification too so it's worth learning how to do it. My thanks to Paul Stamets for the share.

Trametes Versicolor: The Colorful Turkey Tail Mushroom What's colorful, common, and reminds you of the backside of a flightless fowl? Why it's Trametes versicolor, also known as Coriolus versicolor, the turkey tail mushroom! (Okay, okay, I've seen turkeys fly too, but not very well.

'Tis the season, so here's a handy guide. 😆

Twilight salad
Buy a nice bunch of arugala or watercress. Or, better yet, harvest your own. Chop into 1½-inch lengths.
Collect 30-40 large first-year garlic mustard leaves and tear them into thirds or quarters.
Collect 25-30 hedge mustard leaves and tear them in half.
Collect ¼ cup creeping Jenny tops and mince.
Toss all greens together.
Garnish lavishly with Queen of the Night blossoms, periwinkle flowers, and purple pansies.
Serve – at twilight, of course – with tamari, herbal vinegars*, extra virgin olive oil, and gomasio.
* Garlic mustard root vinegar and garlic pigtail vinegar are especially good choices
🌱

Now gone to seed here in my garden (I'll be harvesting the seeds), but I love Garlic Mustard too.

Healing wise article 1 | Personal Mentorship I love Garlic Mustard Alliaria officinalis Alliaria petiolata One of the most obvious w**ds around me is garlic mustard. Growing in dense stands, it pleases the eye and the tongue. A truer bitter spring tonic is not to be found. I eat as much garlic mustard as I can all year long. Here's how. I harv...

;)

Smooth Sow Thistle - Sonchus oleraceus

Not a 'true' thistle, it is a member of the Asteraceae family which is one of the largest angiosperm (flowering plant) families and the largest and most diverse group within the kingdom Plantae. Angiosperms represent approximately 80 percent of all the known green plants now living. Wild (and useful) relatives in this group include Burdock, Dandelion, Ox-eye Daisy, Salsify and Yarrow to name but a few. A statuesque biennial plant which in full growth may reach up to about 100cm, Sonchus oleraceus has smoother and broader leaves which lack the soft prickles found on Sonchus asper (or prickly sow-thistle), but the two plants are otherwise very similar in looks and habit. Edible but with bitter overtones due to the milky 'sap' which oozes out of cuts and breaks to flesh or leaves. I particularly like to add the young leaves to wild spring salads.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonchus_oleraceus

https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Sonchus+oleraceus

Hairy Bittercress - Cardamine hirsuta

Another member of the Brassicaceae family that has a distinctive rosette of leaves and the cruciform/cross shaped arrangement of flower petals typical to brassicas. Like a much smaller version of Lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis) but with tiny white flowers, it is low growing (around 10/15cm although it can throw out taller shoots in the right conditions). The plant produces prolific amounts of seed that explode from the needle-shaped pods when they are fully ripe. Far too tasty to be considered a mere w**d, all parts (save the roots) may be eaten and have pleasingly zingy watercress flavours. Chop into cream cheese, add to salads or sandwiches but don't waste the abundance by tossing it onto the compost heap!

He he. Totally :D

An Animated Guide to Never Getting Lost Learn to navigate with the moon, stars, trees, and more.

:D

The season for nettle! Nearly all parts of the spring nettle plant are edible including the young shoot (less than 18 inches), the leaf and tender stem, the flowers, and the seed (in small amounts). The leaf has a deep green “meaty” flavor and can be used in a variety of culinary dishes including soups, stews, omelets, frittatas, quiches, and casseroles. Once the stem grows taller than 18 inches it can be used in tonics and beverages such as tea. Nettle is rich in calcium, magnesium, and iron.

A favorite recipe of ours?

NETTLE SOUP:

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion chopped
½ cup uncooked rice (wild rice is great but any rice will do)
Several large handfuls stinging nettle tops
3-4 cloves chopped garlic
8 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Mixed vegetables, or corn or whatever veggie you like that day
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Potatoes and/or leeks can also be added

Directions: Carefully pick nettles – gloves are recommended. Take only the top 4-6 inches of new unblemished spring plants that are less than 18 inches tall. Remove the leaves. You may need to rinse and pat them dry.
Start cooking your rice. In a separate large soup pan melt the butter, add the onion and garlic and simmer until translucent. Add the broth and onion and garlic mixture and nettles leaves in the soup pan and bring to a full boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes. At this point we use an immersion blender and blend until smooth.
Add the vegetables, rice and salt and pepper (and any other herbs you like) and simmer a few more minutes.

Enjoy this recipe (and so many more on the blog)!

https://theherbalacademy.com/12-nettle-recipes-to-add-to-your-cookbook/

I bet you didn't know this! ;)

😆

Some close ups of Lady's Smock - Cardamine pratensis. It is a flowering perennial herb in the family Brassicaceae. It's worth noting the four petals in a cruciform/cross shaped arrangement which is common to the family (for example, check out the flowers of Garlic Mustard - Alliaria petiolata). I love this beautiful little spring plant that delights in a damp ditch to grow in and around. She may be beautiful but she packs a punch with some surprisingly strong horseradish like flavours in her delicate looking flesh, leaves and flowers. Great for making a wild wasabi-style paste, you can also add the flowers to dishes as a garnish where their pretty looks will conceal a surprise flavour kick. As with Garlic Mustard, it too is an important plant for the Orange tipped butterfly so please harvest with care.

Some close ups of Ground Ivy - Glechoma hederacea. One ancient name is Ale-hoof, referring both to the shape of the leaf and its' use in brewing (many bitter wild herbs were used for household brewing before hops were permitted in the late 15th century). A member of the mint family Lamiaceae. In common with its' relatives it has a hollow, and distinctly square stem with a pleasant and quite pungent aromatic aroma (it reminds me a little of sage). Useful in small quantities as a flavoring as it can be quite strong, I like to mince some leaves finely and add them to oatcakes and they also makes a pleasantly refreshing tea/tisane. The flowers are edible too and look lovely sprinkled into a wild spring salad.

A few close ups of Garlic Mustard - Alliaria petiolata. Also known as Jack by the hedge or sauce alone. A biennial member of the family Brassicaceae from which our cabbages, mustards and radishes arise. Smells and tastes distinctly garlicky but with mustard overtones which can get quite pungent and maybe even rather harsh as the plant ages (I always do a nibble test as I pick). All parts are edible but the fresh young leaves and shoots are the best. These make great wild hors d'oeuvres when combined with some parma ham and cream cheese. It's also a food plant for the Orange tipped butterfly larvae so please harvest gently.

Tiny, indigenous, important. Who knows what we once knew, who knows what we might have forgotten? Wild plants are not 'w**ds'. ;)

Indigenous Four Corners Potato Makes a Comeback A rediscovered tiny potato may hold secrets that could help science develop plants better suited to a changing climate.

Don't want dandelions on your patch? By all means dig them up, but don't waste that potential! :)

When and How to Work with Dandelion Root https://www.youtube.com/watch?utm_campaign=meetedgar&utm_medium=social&utm_source=meetedgar.com&v=pGJ4DBM8CCY
root **dsaremedicine

American friends in particular may find this interesting.

Gaze on Ghostly Portraits of North America’s Wild Edibles From familiar flowers to unusual salad greens.

Another plant for the urban forager to experiment with, flowering currant - Ribes sanguineum.

Flowering currant champagne underway, pimped with a bit of last season’s sea buckthorn juice & magnolia syrup.
This will steep for 5 days before filtering into pop bottles and leaving to ferment. Care required to avoid explosions! (No self respecting chaotic forager hasn’t had flower champagne dripping from the oceiling! 😂)
You can use any of the myriad of aromatic spring flowers to make ‘champagne’ - you don’t need to wait for the classic elderflowers.
There are detailed guides to making floral champagnes, meads, cordials, shrubs and more on my wild food guide - link in bio, or here: https://gallowaywildfoods.com/elderflower-champagne-recipe/
Or join Booze For Free legend and I on our Drunken Botany Safari in Glasgow in May to get the full lowdown (link also in bio).