Spring/Summer foraging guide: What plants to look for and where to find them
20 Mar 2023Whether it’s just for fun or a part of a conscious effort to live more sustainably, foraging for edibles in the British countryside can be very rewarding. In the UK we’re very lucky to have a wide range of native plants that are not only delicious, but may even have health benefits too. Some common fruits, berries, and herbs have been used for centuries to cure common ailments like colds, fevers, and digestive issues! If you’d like to explore what can be foraged from the countryside over the spring/summer months, here we’ll take you through just a few of the best as well as where to find them, how to identify them, and what they can be used for too.
Foraging tips and advice
Before we get into it, there are a few important foraging rules to bear in mind. Always take care when foraging as there are plants and fungi found in the wild that can be harmful or even poisonous to humans, even here in the UK. Identify your plants carefully and cross reference them with a guide or online resource (you can look them up on the RHS, for example). You may also want to take an experienced forager with you who knows exactly what to look for and what to avoid. Remember to wash foraged items thoroughly, as most of what is delicious to us is also delicious to an array of insects too. Luckily, most hiding creepy crawlies can be removed from the surface of your foragables simply by running each item under very cold water, but you should keep an eye out for signs of burrowing or eggs too and discard items with these. It's important to practice responsible foraging too, and only take enough for yourself to use. Not only is this fair for other foragers, but it ensures the plant will continue to provide in the future. Keep an eye out for signposts when foraging, too, as it may be discouraged in certain areas for safety or conservation purposes, and never forage on private land unless you have permission. Finally, as with any outdoor adventure, it’s crucial to wear sensible footwear and clothing, especially when you consider how changeable the British weather can be! Even if it’s sunny, pack some warm layers and waterproofs so you aren’t caught short and consider wearing a pair of hiking boots. Even common forage like blackberries have thorns or other defences, so you might also want to take gardening gloves, sanitiser, and perhaps a small first aid kit.
March
Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale Dandelions are very easy to recognise with their distinctive leaves and bright yellow flowers. They’re also found everywhere in the UK, so you won’t struggle to forage these. They’re best picked in early spring when they’re less bitter, and all parts of the plant are highly nutritious, including the root which can be dried and used as a tea. The leaves can be used like any other salad leaf, cooked like spinach, or even made into pesto, while the sweet flowers can add a delicate flavour to desserts. Dandelion is also a famous diuretic — there is a small amount of truth in the old wives’ tale!Nettle
Urtica dioica Like dandelions, nettles are found all over the UK and easy to recognise due to their familiar shape, so they’re great forage for beginners. They’re also surprisingly nutritious with a high concentration of vitamins and minerals. You do need to be careful harvesting them, however — they aren’t called stinging nettles for nothing! Pick them wearing gloves and, once collected, you can cook them to remove the sting and then use them in the same way you would use any leafy green or herb. Uncooked nettle can be used as a rennet for cheese-making, as the acid helps coagulate the milk.Sweet violet
Viola odorata Sweet violets are a spring flower that’s found all over the UK’s woodlands and hedgerows in March. They’re a very pretty purple flower with a strong scent, so they’re easy to spot, and they make great garnishes for salads and desserts. Many edible flowers have a subtle flavour or don’t taste of anything at all, but violets do and they will remind you of the popular sweet. They’ve also been used in medicine to treat things like insomnia and headaches, mostly through aromatherapy, but you can also brew them into a tea to feel the effects. Chickweed Stellaria media Chickweed is a weed and self-sowing, so it’s readily available and you won’t be doing much damage to local biodiversity by removing it from the ecosystem. However, it’s worth foraging because it’s packed with nutrients, so rather than throwing it away, try adding it to your dishes instead. You can recognise chickweed by its almond-shaped leaves and small, white, star-shaped flowers. If you keep chickens, you’ll be pleased to hear that they love chickweed and will happily enjoy it as a treat.April
Cow parsley/chervil
Anthriscus sylvestris Cow parsley is recommended for experienced foragers, not because it’s hard to find but because it’s very similar in appearance to poisonous hemlock. There are a few ways to tell the two apart — for example, cow parsley leaves are lighter in colour, more matte, and less feathery in appearance. However, the easiest way is to give them a sniff. Cow parsley will smell like parsley, whereas hemlock will smell unpleasant. It’s worth the effort though, because all parts of the plant can be used for cooking, and when picked in spring before the plant flowers, the leaves will give a strong parsley flavour to dishes.Wild garlic
Allium ursinum Wild garlic is another easy-to-forage plant that is very commonly found carpeting the UK’s woodland in spring. You may even smell it before you see it, with its slightly warm and green garlicky scent — this can help distinguish it from Lily of the Valley, which looks similar but can be poisonous. Simply pick the healthiest-looking leaves you can find for the best flavour and be sure to leave the bulb intact, so the plant grows back next year. It can be added to any dish that calls for garlic, but the most common wild garlic recipe is pesto — simply grind to paste and add olive oil, lemon, pine nuts, and parmesan. You can also eat the buds, flowers, seeds, and even bulbs of wild garlic.Hawthorn
Crataegus monogyna Hawthorn is a UK native tree that provides many medicinal benefits, including lowering blood pressure and improving heart health. It’s also known as the May Day tree because it flowers in May, but in April, it’s the flower buds and shoots you want to look out for. Historically these used to be a common foraging snack for children and so were referred to as ‘bread and cheese’. These can be simply washed and eaten raw, added to salads, or made into a syrup or jam to enjoy. Hawthorn berries (also known as haws) are another foragable part of the tree that will be ready to pick in autumn.May
Mallow
Malva sylvestris Mallow is a beautiful native flower containing a wealth of vitamins, antioxidants, and fatty acids like omega-3. In medieval times, it was even considered a cure-all! There is better medicine available today, but mallow is still worth foraging and adding to dishes. Mallow flowers in particular have a mild pea taste and will look beautiful presented in a salad, and you can even pickle them to use later. The seeds, leaves, and buds of this plant can also be eaten raw, cooked, or pickled.Oxeye daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare Oxeye daisies are a common native plant, now considered a weed, and are sometimes referred to as dog daisies or field daisies. They look identical to common daisies you’ll find growing in the grass, but much bigger and they grow in a bush. Like most flowers, the head of an oxeye daisy can be added to salads or used as a garnish to add a pop of colour and intrigue. The buds are particularly tasty when pickled like capers and added to pasta sauces or other saucy dishes, and the leaves can be used as you would any other leafy green or herb.Red clover
Trifolium pratense Red clover is likely to be found in any park, field, or grassy area in the UK. The flowers (which are purple, despite the name) are delicious, tasting of a very sweet pea — you can serve them whole, or break off the tiny flowers that make up the head and scatter them throughout your dish. Red clover is also foraged for medicinal use, with red clover extract being used to treat everything from coughs to rashes. When eaten it also has benefits for menopause symptoms, including osteoporosis.Sorrel
Rumex acetosa Sorrel is an edible plant that can be found on the menu in many restaurants, so it’s understandable if you didn’t know it can be very easily foraged. It’s a British native, found in woods, fields, parks, and pretty much anywhere else. Flavour-wise, despite looking like an ordinary leaf it has a delicious citrussy taste and can even replace lemons or limes in many recipes. Due to its acidity, sorrel can also be used to turn milk into buttermilk. Outside of the kitchen, it’s also used as a stain remover and can even polish wood and silver!June
Elderflower
Sambucus nigra Elderflowers grow in late spring/early summer on elder trees. Not all parts of the elder tree are edible (the leaves are actually poisonous), but the flowers definitely are. Elderflower has a very distinctive, sweet taste that’s commonly made into elderflower cordial or used as one of the main flavourings in desserts. Elderflower pairs especially well with tart fruits like apple, lemon, or raspberry, and it can also be used to treat cold and flu symptoms, especially fevers.Honeysuckle
Lonicera periclymenum Honeysuckle grows in woodlands, and you will likely smell honeysuckle before you see it — its sweet honey scent is instantly recognisable and reminiscent of warm summer evenings. This is the reason why honeysuckle is best foraged later in the day, because this is when it releases more of its scent to attract moths. So, if you want a sweeter harvest, it’s better to wait until it starts to get dark to pick it. Honeysuckle’s leaves and trumpet-shaped flowers are both edible but leave the berries alone as these are poisonous.Wild rose
Rosa canina Wild roses, also known as dog roses (hence their Latin name), don’t look exactly like the roses we grow in our gardens but they’re still very beautiful in their own right. It’s normally the fruits (known as rosehips) that are foraged in autumn, but the flowers that bloom in June are worth collecting too. They can be candied, brewed into a tea, made into a syrup, or simply tossed into a salad. If you’re a fan of Turkish delight, you’ll be pleased to hear that you can make this using wild roses just as you can with other varieties of rose.July
Bilberry
Vaccinium myrtillus Bilberries, which are essentially wild blueberries, are packed with vitamins and antioxidants — not to mention delicious flavour! They can be snacked on raw, blended into smoothies, or cooked into pies just like blueberries can, though they often have a deeper richer flavour than their cousins from the supermarket. It’s traditional to pick bilberries in the last week of July when they’re at their ripest, sweetest, and juiciest, and it won’t take long to gather a good amount of them up once you find a bilberry patch.Chanterelle
Cantharellus cibarius Chanterelle is a very popular mushroom to forage because of its rich, surprisingly sweet flavour and meaty texture. It can be identified by its golden yellow outer colour and white flesh, which distinguishes it from other similar-looking mushrooms. You can enjoy them any way you like to eat mushrooms usually, whether that’s stirred into a creamy risotto, as a pizza topping, or simply on toast. Chanterelles are great source of fibre, and while other plants may lack in things like iron and vitamin D, these fungi are a great source of them.Meadowsweet
Filipendula ulmaria Sweet-smelling meadowsweet is often used to give a subtle almond flavour to syrups, jams, and desserts, as well as mead (which is how it got its name). It’s also very common and may be found anywhere where the soil is damp, so you can easily head to your local riverbank or marsh to see if you can spot it. The leaves and flowers can be used to add sweetness when cooking, whereas the bitter root is a good substitute for tea. You can then use the leaves or flowers to sweeten the tea.Wild strawberry
Fragaria vesca Wild strawberries look a lot like the ones we buy in shops and grow in our gardens, just a bit smaller and more irregular. However, they’re actually a completely different species! That aside, you can eat and enjoy these little fruits the same way you’d enjoy a regular strawberry, for example with cream or made into a jam. They’re very sweet despite their size and have a lot of vitamin C in them too, just be sure to pick them when they’re bright red and not white or green. Their leaves can be used as a laxative or diuretic when brewed into a tea.Yarrow
Achillea millefolium Yarrow is a familiar looking plant that can be found everywhere in the UK — you may even have some hiding in your hedgerows! Though you’ve likely walked past it many times, you may not know that yarrow is perfectly edible. You can prepare it in a similar way to asparagus as a side dish, or add it to sauces and soups, and it has a peppery taste. Historically, yarrow was used as an astringent to stop bleeding, or to encourage cuts and grazes to heal. Some people might find it mildly irritating though, particularly if you have sensitive skin.August
Bramble/Blackberry
Rubus fruticosus Brambles (blackberries) are the quintessential foraging food. Most of us will have gone brambling or blackberry picking as kids, and although you may have more luck finding ripe berries later in the year, brambles can be ready to pick as early as August. As well as juicy berries, you can also pick the leaves of the blackberry bush which contain tannin and are used to treat upset stomach. If you have any pet stick insects, bramble leaves are one of their favourite foods.Crab apple
Malus sylvestris Crab apples can be cultivated but they also grow in the wild. Smaller than orchard apples and much more tart, crab apples taste best when cooked so they’re ideal for pies, crumbles, and apple sauce for pork. Crab apples also preserve really well, so you can gather a lot of them up in August, process them, and seal them in a can or jar to use throughout winter. They’re a fantastic source of vitamin C, which can help your body fight off cold and flu, as well as antioxidants and fibre. That said, you can eat them raw, but they might give you a bit of a sore stomach!Elderberry
Sambucus nigra Elderflowers that didn’t get picked in June will become elderberries by August. These tiny, juicy, purply black berries aren’t very pleasant raw (and you might get a sore stomach if you eat too many raw elderberries) but once cooked they become delicious and very nutritious. Elderberry syrup is hailed as a cold and flu medicine because it is packed with vitamin C and antioxidants, and you can very easily make your own at home with foraged berries. Just boil them down with sugar and lemon juice, and store the syrup in the fridge.Hazelnut
Corylus avellana In August, the nuts of the hazel tree are green and immature. This makes them much softer than hazelnuts picked in autumn but still very tasty in their own right, and they can be snacked on then and there. Hazel trees can be identified by their very round, often heart-shaped leaves, and in spring they grow yellow catkins — a long trailing flower cluster. You can be used these to identify hazel earlier in the year, so you know where to come back and collect young hazelnuts in the summer.
When foraging, you’ll want to ensure you wear long sleeves and trousers to protect your skin from thorns, nettles, and biting insects. Sensible footwear such as boots, wellies, or hiking boots can be a huge help when you stray from the footpath to hunt for foragable plants, too. At Humes Outfitters, we can provide you with all the clothing and footwear you need to head out into the country or your local park. We have men’s and women’s clothing as well as shoes and boots for men and women too, so be sure to take a look.
