Here you’ll find a list of our favourite Marsh Samphire Recipes.
Please use these as a guide – however, you can use Marsh Samphire in almost any recipe – you can plonk it on top!
The Key to Enjoying Marsh Samphire is to pick off the succulent tops and discard any of the fibrous bases. Sometimes you’ll have samphire that hasn’t been sorted properly and you’ll think, this is a stringy mess.
Stem: Salads, steamed, boiled, fried, raw, stews, pickled, candied, frozen, caramelized, pesto.
If you’ve picked older specimens or pulled them with the root then you’ll have a woody section in the lower sections of the plant, you can cut this away and use just the tips which have a nice crunch but won’t be horrible and stringy.
This plant holds a vast abundance of micro and macro minerals.
The main hazards are in harvesting rather than eating Samphire.
The areas in which samphire is found are muddy areas where it is easy to get stuck in the mud. It is best to wear footwear with a large surface area of sole to distribute your weight evenly and reduce the depth you sink into sometimes very deep mud
Reaching the creaks where samphire is likely to be found involves traversing areas of saltmarsh often covered with sea purslane which grows over and hides the narrower creaks which riddle the marshes. It is therefore important to keep your eyes on the ground to identify these creaks as otherwise you can take a sudden drop and risk injury.
As the best specimens are found below the high tide mark it is important to be aware of the tidal cycles and be sure to start harvesting as the tide goes out to allow plenty of time before the tide comes back in, or you could end up swimming back!
Samphire is thought to have digestive, diuretic and detoxification properties. It is rich in antioxidants which could explain why it may have anti cancer effects on the gastrointestinal tract.
This salty vegetable is loaded with a variety of nutrients. Samphire is rich in vitamins A, C, B2, and D as well as having high levels of Iodine, iron, calcium, magnesium, silica, zinc and manganese. Additionally, samphire is rich in fibre and amino acids. The iodine content in samphire is particularly helpful for individuals with an underactive thyroid.
Happy Foraging
