How to Identify Rock Samphire

Common Names

Samphire, Stone Samphire, Rock Samphire, Sea Fennel

Botanical Name

Crithmum maritimum

Could be confused with

None, however, it is in the Umbelifer family so be sure to double-check identification

Range and Distribution

Coastal areas of Europe, from the Mediterranean to the UK

Habitat

Rocky Cliffs and Rocky edges.

Physical Characteristics of Rock Samphire

Rock Samphire is a fleshy perennial growing to 30cm tall and wide.

Leaves

The leaves grow off the short stalks and are pinnately branches with succulent lobes. They look a little like sprawling antlers.

Flowers

The flowers are typically 2mm, yellow to green and grow in standard umbels from 4-6cm. They’re quite substantial in weight for their size.

Where the set of flowers connect to the stem, there is a set of leaves, that are a thinly spear head shaped, coming out all around the stem.

Seeds

Everywhere there was a bud of flowers you will find a pod of seeds growing. Rugby ball shaped

Edible Use

Rock Samphire has a truly bold flavour and a little goes a long way with this one. The flavour has been described, in it’s most crude, as somewhere between carrot tops and petrol, however I prefer to describe it as somewhere between carrots, parsnips and fennel. 

If you want to eat a good volume of this, as a main or side dish, then boil it in 3 to 4 changes of water and add butter and lemon juice.

Or, in my opinion, it’s best to think of this plant as a strong flavouring herb, similar to dill & fennel. I love using it in potato salad or coleslaw or dicing it finely and stirring through oil to make a vinaigrette, it works really well as an accompaniment to fish – specifically mackerel.

Leaves: steamed, boiled, pickled, salted

Flower: raw for strong flavour

Seeds: best pickled or salted

Herbal

Diuretic, helping to aid digestion, said to help aid weight loss if eaten raw (possibly because the flavours are so pungent it may make you stop eating)

Tips and Observations
Be careful when picking this plant and make sure to keep an eye on your surroundings, it’s fairly easy to pick away before you realise there’s a 100ft drop right next to you.

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However, one of my favourite places to find edible wild foods is by foraging at the coast.

Britain is surrounded by water, we have a coast in every direction and with that comes a massive abundance of coastal edible plants and Seaweeds.

In my opinion foraging at the coast is a little easier than inland foraging as you already have a key identification feature by simply being by the coast.

Only certain plants can handle the harsh environments that get thrown in their direction, from saltwater spray to harsh winds and even being fully submerged in the salty seawater, these plants have adapted perfectly to grow where they are.

A couple of plants to keep your eyes peeled for:

On the salt marshes and around estuaries:

Marsh Samphire

A Salty Succulent growing specifically on mud flats around the estuaries, it provides you with a truly amazing salty crunch.

Sea Purslane

An prolific hedge looking bush that often surrounds salt marshes, the leaves from which provide an incredible salty crunch.

Sea Spray

Sea spray grows amongst the marsh samphire and gives us a more fragrant salty flavour that in my opinion is more flavoursome than marsh samphire.

Sea Coriander

This plant looks almost identical to grass, however it tastes like coriander, something people walk over all of the time but with a little more of a look could provide amazing flavours.

What else to find when Foraging at the Coast

Alexanders

This coastal plant provides us with different flavours through the year, young shoots in the spring give us a strong celery flavour and the mature seeds provide us with a pepper substitute.

Rock Samphire

Not at all related to the marsh samphire, this plant hangs on the rocks around our coasts and has a strong carrot top flavour, we like it best wilted with butter.

Sea Buckthorn

Sea buckthorn berries are a vibrant orange colour and give us a tart acidic flavour which I think is best suited to making sorbets.

Sea Beet

Sea Beet is one of those ingredients that you’ll slap yourself for having walked past all of this time, presuming it to be ‘just another weed’. It’s the big brother of sugar beet, chard and many other great ingredients we grow commercially. The easiest way to think of it is as a wild coastal spinach, it can be used in anyway you would use spinach

We’ve not even gotten to the Seaweeds Yet…..

And of course, you have the seaweeds; from the outstanding pepper dulse (also known as truffle of the sea) to the versatile Kelp (which can be cut and use like pasta) there’s a whole other world to get excited about – but we will come back to those at another time.

You can find our Seaweeds foraging Guides right here

Happy Foraging

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