Over the past couple of years I’ve heard, on and off, different tales about fern edibility. Some saying they’re all highly carcinogenic and others saying they’re delightful and highly sought after species for restaurants. I wanted to spend a little time researching this and thought I’d write my findings up…
Category: Plant identification
Water Pepper / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Edible Water Pepper is a plant of the Knotweed or Polygonaceae family, that was previously cultivated as a pepper alternative. It doesn’t strike you as anything special to look at as it’s just growing in the water, but when you grab…
Field Bindweed / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Toxic Field bindweed is a persistent and troublesome perennial weed, much hated by gardeners. Its is a toxic plant in the Morning Glory family, it’s generally 20–100 cm tall and it trails or climbs up other plants. Common Names…
Red Campion / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Edible Red Campion is a common, native wildflower. It is a biennial or short-lived perennial plant that produces beautiful, bright pink flowers, which bloom in spring and early summer. Common Names Robin hood, Robin-run-in-the-hedge, Adder’s flower Botanical Name Silene…
Elm / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Edible There are many species of Elm such as the English Elm (Ulmus procera), Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra) and Field Elm (Ulmus minor). All were sadly affected by the fungal Dutch elm disease which came to the UK in the…
Henbane / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Toxic Henbane Is a poisonous plant in the nightshade family (Solanaceae) it is native to temperate Europe, and naturalised in Great Britain and Ireland. It’s a shrubby biennial that grows up to 1m tall. The whole plant is very hairy, very sticky…
Cowberry / Summer / Autumn / Edible Cowberry is a brilliant little edible fruit that isn’t heavily harvested in the UK, however in the nordic countries this one is commercially harvested from the wild and can be found in lots of products and menus, it’s lovely in Jam, fresh or…
Forsythia / Spring / Summer / Edible / Toxic Forsythia is a beautiful plant that produces a beautiful vibrant yellow flower which is the only part I would advise for eating, it adds a vibrant pop of colour to salads and on top of dishes that you want to…
Monkshood / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Toxic Monkshood is an absolute delight to see through spring and it’s worth learning from a foraging perspective, not to enjoy in dinner but to be completely careful not to pick it for food when out foraging for other plants and species.…
Harebell / Spring / Summer / Edible Harbell produces one of my absolute favourite flowers, I like candying them and popping them ontop of cakes I make, although the leaves are also edible I don’t tend to eat them that often, possibly because I’m soo drawn to the flowers I…