An introduction to several key members of the allium family for foragers – their identification, distribution, mindful harvesting, dangerous look-alikes, nutritional properties and cooking/preservation techniques.
Here is a quick video on how to put together my favourite wild winter snack from half a dozen wild ingredients that grow right next to one another…
By opening our eyes and imaginations to the full extent of our wild larder, its perfectly possible to make any spice-led dish from around the world using fungi, seaweeds and the seeds, leaves, flowers and roots of common wild plants.
If you come across a plant that reminds you of wild garlic, but has narrower leaves and less of a garlic smell, you may have found wild leeks. These aren’t the hulking great Frankenstein leeks you might expect to find in shops and gardens, but something tender and elegant…
There are over 1500 members of the carrot/parsley – or more correctly – apiaceae – family worldwide, and around 100 varieties in the UK. Including well known delights such as fennel, coriander, dill, parsley, and celery, and also some notoriously toxic species like hemlock and hemlock water-dropwort, this family presents some major gastronomic – and catastrophic – opportunities for foragers