When we’re Foraging in February the weather tends to still be cold and there’s still the risk of snow and frost but on the odd days when the sun does shine it gives me hope that spring is just around the corner.

So what can you forage in February? Here are our top five picks for the month.

What to look for when Foraging in February

You can click on the species below to be taken to our full identification guides;

Scarlet elf cups

A lovely late winter mushroom that’s easy to ID, something we often find when foraging in February their only lookalike is the Ruby Elf cup that’s also edible. They get their common name as they were supposedly used by elfs as drinking vessels and I like to follow this tradition by filling them with birch sap. They hold their bright red colour throughout cooking so are great for brightening up dishes. Look for them growing on damp, decaying hardwoods, if you find a good patch they can appear in their hundreds. 

Chickweed

A plant that’s available most of the year but perhaps at its best in late winter/early spring.  It can be eaten raw or cooked and has a mild lettuce type flavour. Most people will have chickweed growing in their gardens so rather than composting it, use it for its cleansing and healing properties and it’s also packed full of vitamins and minerals. The key feature to look for is the ‘mohican’ of fine hairs running down the stems which distinguishes it from any lookalikes.

Nettles

Again a plant that’s available most of the year but at its best now. The leaves are packed full of iron and Vitamin A and D use them as a spinach alternative or to make a tea which is an amazing winter tonic.

Wild garlic

The first shoots of wild garlic normally appear in February, it’s a plant that seems to get more and more popular each year. The strong scent is a key feature, you can normally smell it before seeing it. Look for it in ancient woodlands, river banks and hedgerows, but remember to leave the bulbs in the ground and only take what you need.

Lesser Celandine

A plant that’s not really used much now but one that would have been vitally important to our ancestors as the cooked roots  were an important source of carbohydrates. These knobby tubers are said to resemble piles, and according to the doctrine of signatures this resemblance suggests that it could be used to cure piles. It is often known as Pilewort. The flowers which emerge towards the end of the month are seen as one of the harbingers of spring.

Recipe of the month – One to Cook when Foraging in February

Nettle and Wild Garlic Beef Wellington

This recipe is possibly one of my all-time favourite recipes. Most recipes call for beef sirloin but if you have a decent local butcher you can usually get away with using a standard beef joint (much cheaper)

Ingredients:

• Beef Joint – 500g
• 500g pre-made puff pastry
• 250g chestnut mushrooms – finely chopped
• 2 onions – finely chopped and diced
• 250 wild mushrooms – I used a mixture of elf cups and velvet shanks (if you don’t have wild just double up on chestnut mushroom
• 100g nettle – finely chopped
• 100g wild garlic – finely chopped
• a knob of butter

Method:

Heat up a pan on the stove until it’s smoking hot

Brown the beef on each side in the super-hot pan – about 1 minute each side

Place on an oven tray and bake in the oven for 25 minutes gas mark 7 or 180C

Remove from the oven and leave to chill on the side

Whilst the meat is cooling…..

Melt a knob of butter in the same pan you used to brown the meat (reusing the juices)

Fry off the mushrooms and onion until fully browned, about 10 minutes

Add the finely diced nettles and cook for a further 5 minutes

Remove from the heat and place in a wide bottom bowl to cool

Let that cool and….

Blend the wild garlic to a smooth paste

Bringing it all together….

Layout the puff pastry on the non-stick paper

Place the cooled beef on top of the puff pastry in the center

Spread the wild garlic paste over the top of the beef as layer 1

Next spread the cooled mushroom and nettle over the top of the garlic paste (try to cover the sides as well)

Fold the puff pastry over the top of the beef and fold in the sides so that the beef is fully covered

Bake the whole lot in the oven for 45 minutes at gas mark 8 or 180C

Remove the wellington and let the meat rest for about 20 minutes, cut open and enjoy with roast potatoes and some red wine gravy.

For a meat free twist you can use a whole beetroot cut in half and roasted as a substitute for beef

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Lesser Celandine is one of those plants you’ll see almost everywhere in spring, carpeting woodland floors with vibrant flowers.

Scientific name

Ranunculus ficaria or Ficaria verna

Family

Ranunculacea (Buttercup)

Habitat

Habitat: Hedge banks, roadsides, river and stream banks and other areas that are seasonally flooded; deciduous woodlands, meadows and shady waste ground. They often grow where there is not a great deal of other vegetation.

Distribution:

UP to 750m. Native found pretty much throughout the British Isles except, in much of Lewis, parts of the Grampian Mountains and much of the North West Highlands in Scotland and Mayo some areas of central southern Ireland.

Physical Characteristics for Lesser Celandine

A perennial herb up to 20cm with stems creeping and rooting, then ascending.

Leaves

The leaves are long-stalked, cordate, fleshy, blunt, hairless, glossy green, 1-4cm long and wide, in rosettes. The leaves are patterned with markings darker or lighter than the main leaf colour.

Flowers

Flowers are 2-3cm across, solitary and long-stalked, comprised of 3 oval sepals and 7-12 narrow oval petals which are 1 – 1.5cm long and glossy yellow

Uses

A late winter and spring hot wild salad or green vegetable – before it flowers.

Leaves look attractive in hot salads and add a mild flavour. In stir fry recipes the stems retain their succulent texture when cooked.

The plant’s roots swell up to form bulbs or tubers, which are reputedly delicious and can be eaten as a starchy vegetable. Lesser celandine has been used as a potherb in central Europe and the young parts of the plant have been added to salads.

The Lesser Celandine ( Ranunculus Ficaria) is also known as the Pile-wort, a name given to it in reference to the small tubers on the roots, which, following the doctrine of plant signatures, indicated that the plant was a remedial agent for haemorrhoids.

Known Hazards

Leaves contain protoanemonin, but in minute quantities. Levels are said to increase as the plant comes into flower. Even so, the are most commonly advised to be eaten in moderation and cooked. Protoanemonin is destroyed by heat so all parts of the plant should be cooked before eating.

As a member of the buttercup family, lesser celandine may cause contact dermatitis in humans and animals.

The plant sap may also cause nausea and vomiting if taken internally; the plant’s safety during pregnancy or when breastfeeding is not established and therefore best avoided.

Many buttercup-family members are poisonous, including Britain’s most poisonous plant: Monk’s Hood, Aconitum napellus contains aconitine, a drug of ancient usage that slows the heart and relieves pain but can also kill. Stinking Hellebore, Helleborus foetidus and Green Hellebore, Helleborus veridis, are also highly toxic. None of these three look similar to Lesser Celandine.

Potential lookalikes

There are several species of buttercup with glossy, yellow petals but most have broader petals. Lesser celandine has narrower petals than other yellow buttercups but care should be taken as individual flowers can develop different growth forms.

The leaves of other buttercups are more lobed and divided than Lesser Celandine see, for example, the Creeping Buttercup, Meadow Buttercup and Bulbous buttercup

Ecology

As one of the first flowers to appear after winter, they provide an important nectar source for queen bumblebees and other pollinators emerging from hibernation, and other early insects.

References

http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=59

From Weedwise

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Identification Guide for Lesser Celandine

A very common, woodland plant, one of the first plants to flower in spring.

Common Names

Lesser Celandine, Spring Messenger, Pilewort.

Botanical Name      

Ficaria verna

Scientific Classification

Kingdom – Plantae

Order – Ranunculales

Family – Ranunculaceae

Physical Characteristics for Lesser Celandine

Leaves

The leaves are heart shaped, glossy and deep green. Very often with white or pale spots or blotches. The leaves are on long stalks and are up to 3-5 in diameter.

Flowers

The flowers are bright yellow, star shaped and have between 8-12 petals.

Roots

The roots are pale brown and are quite close to the surface. They are knobbly and fibrous. The common name pile wort comes from the appearance of the roots which are said to look like piles or haemorrhoids.

Habitat

Most often it’s found in damp woodlands hedgerows and disturbed ground.

Known Hazards

As a member of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) it contains a compound known as protoanemonin. Contact with damaged or crushed leaves can cause itching, rashes or blistering on the skin. This compound is destroyed by heat or drying.

Could be Confused with…

It’s quite distinctive and flowers in early spring some when are not many lookalikes around.

Edible Uses

The roots can be dug up and roasted or boiled for around 15 minutes until tender they have a lovely nutty taste

The leaves when young can be gently wilted but they can be slightly bitter. Once the plant flowers the leaves are not really worthwhile.

Notes on Herbal Uses

It’s been traditionally used to treat haemorrhoids.

An ointment of the roots is said to cure corns and warts.

The leaves are high in Vitamin C and were apparently used by Christopher Columbus to prevent scurvy.

Extra notes from the Foragers

The plant appears a lot in literature, William Wordsworth wrote three poems about it and it also appears in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

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