May is a mental month for foraging. All the greens are out, and many are flowering. Tree leaves burst forth. Animals are feeding, mating and chasing like crazy.
I’ve written up an article on Nettles for Backwoods Home and one on Edible Tree Leaves (plus recipes) for Bushcraft Magazine.
When tree leaves are young, you can use them for dolmas, salads, side veg, and ferment them. You can even tempura them! You do need to know which are safe.
I used Field Maple, Hawthorn, Beech, Hazel, and Linden (or ‘Lime’, but nothing to do with the tangy tropical fruit!)
The Linden Dolmades below were so fun to make, and my son loved them. i marinaded the Linden leaves in cider vinegar and water for several days first to make sure they were nice and soft. I stuffed them with beef mince, basmati rice and fresh fennel, oregano and mint from the garden.
I also wrote about some tree leaves that should never be tasted. Most of us know that Yew is toxic. It contains taxin, which is a lethal poison when consumed without processing (and a commercial lab). However, it’s used to make Taxol, an important medicine!
WARNING: Did you know that Sycamore and Red Maple leaves contain hypoglycin-A, which can cause death in livestock and sickness in humans? However, Field Maple and Norway Maple don’t contain this so are safe to use.
The tastiest leaf? Beech. Such tender, tangy young leaves. Great for salads and mixing with yoghurt. (Yes…we REALLY like almonds.)
It’s now time to make Elderflower recipes, including Elderflower cordial and fritters. Remember, steep it for 48 hours for best results (or come on my foraging courses and you will get to taste mine).
May was the last Wild Kimchi & Lacto-Fermentation course of the season, and a lovely one it was too. Here are some pics from the last few Kimchi courses. I learnt about Mo Wilde. You can join her in a wild food diet for 3 months from your home!
I went for a recce in Astral Park, which has a surprising array of edible wild due to disturbed patches of earth creating opportunities for germinating seeds.
As I’m running 2 foraging courses here in June, it was time to call the council to check whether they have used any chemicals in the ponds, which are chock-full of delicious invasive Reedmace. Happily, they don’t, so all systems go for that. Below are some edibles I found.
Wild Carrot, left. Black Mustard, right.
I hope that’s inspired you all to get out there and forage. My next Spring Foraging with Tapas is this Saturday at Tiddenfoot Lake. You get 3 seasonal wild-crafted Tapas and a wild tea/cold drink included! Last call for tickets is Friday 15th May.
After that I have a Spring Forage with Tapas running at Berkhamsted Castle on the 23rd. Plus many more! Link to my Eventbrite page is below.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/hedgewitch-adventures-36975508353
xx Hedgewitch Kat xx