The Daily Telegraph

Ways to serve up your garden nasties

A new generation of chefs are using garden weeds in delicious dishes, says Joe Shute

-

Scourge of mortgage valuations, destroyer of garden walls and – stewed with orange juice and brown sugar – surprising­ly delicious in a crumble. Japanese knotweed has undergone a bit of a rebranding in recent days: from pestilent invader feared across the land to the must-have ingredient with which to woo dinner guests.

During this week’s Hay Literary festival, Alys Fowler, gardening expert and former presenter on Gardeners’ World, spoke in praise of “delicious” Japanese knotweed, urging those who discover it in their gardens to “eat it into submission”, rather than reach for the industrial-strength weed killer.

Such is the scale of the biodiversi­ty crisis facing the nation, argues Fowler, that as a society we can no longer afford to simply douse with herbicides plants that do not adhere to our horticultu­ral vision.

Rather, she says, we must embrace all the weeds in our garden. And encourage their growth to gobble them up. Her call-to-arms is one echoed by many British chefs, among them Richard Bainbridge who runs Benedicts Restaurant in Norwich. The 36-year-old foraging specialist spent yesterday lunchtime searching a car park close to his city centre restaurant to see if this year’s Japanese knotweed had started to emerge. Another favourite edible pest, he says, is common chickweed, which he adds to recipes when the stalks are young. “People with allotments and gardens absolutely hate it because it just grows everywhere,” Bainbridge says. “But I think it is lovely. Like a light version of watercress.” According to Bainbridge, the current appetite for foraging previously unfashiona­ble plants is long overdue, and the result of people re-establishi­ng a closer relationsh­ip with nature after decades of disconnect.

“We have lost our identity when it comes to locality and the supermarke­ts are a really good identifier of that,” he explains. “We all became these bizarre robots that didn’t identify with anything unless it was packaged in a sterile environmen­t. Moving forward, we’ve all realised that is tosh now. People want to know provenance, where things have come from.”

Simon Rogan, whose restaurant L’enclume in Cumbria has been awarded two Michelin stars since opening in 2002, relies similarly on foraging overlooked common plants to use in his recipes. At present, the wild garlic is in flower around his garden, while he says he is also a fan of hairy bittercres­s, nettles and dock.

As well as exploring wild borders, Rogan also encourages gardeners to look closely at their lawns as many contain small clumps of sorrel, a delicious zesty accompanim­ent to fish.

“We used to be such simple creatures that ate what was available,” he says. “The only way is picking nice food stuff from the wild that has not been touched by human hands or eating from organic farms. That is something we feel passionate about – being seasonal-led, not trying to force it, and connected to where we are.”

Rogan is also a fan of Japanese knotweed and uses it in crumbles and chutney. But he admits when it comes to the pursuit of other wild ingredient­s, some have allowed curiosity to overrule their taste buds. “Now on our menu we don’t go too crazy using foraged ingredient­s because, let’s be honest, a lot of it tastes rubbish,” he says. “I definitely think it can go too far. I’ve gone to places where they use things that sound great, but taste absolutely horrific.”

Rather than the exotic, increasing­ly the trend inspiring a new generation of chefs and food writers is the everyday; accessible stuff we walk past on the way to the bus stop each morning. Tiffany Francis, author of Food You Can Forage, is an advocate of roasted dandelion roots and uses the leaves in salads and flower heads to make pink dandelion wine. Goosegrass – aka sticky weed – is eaten raw or sweated in a pan. The stickiness, she says, is the result of the plant’s tiny hooks. “When you eat them, you don’t really notice.”

For Francis, like many foraging exponents, it is vital to remind ourselves we are a part of the natural ecosystem. “Whenever we try and control our environmen­t, all that happens is it fights back,” she says. “There is a bit more of a natural renaissanc­e taking place – even if it is happening slowly.

“We are starting to remember we are part of the landscape and not separate from it.”

There are, of course, perils to foraging one’s own. Wild mushrooms are a particular menace, with numerous cases of poisonings over the years, including some fatal ones.

Dorset-based forager John Rensten honed his talents on the streets of London and wrote The Edible City. When it comes to taking fruit or blossom from trees, Rensten says his rule is to “aim higher than an Irish wolfhound can cock its leg”.

But despite the risks, he insists there are a myriad benefits of reconnecti­ng with the food that grows around us. Our modern diet in general accommodat­es only around 20 to 30 different fruits, vegetables and grains, he says, while prehistori­c man would eat 200 to 300. Campanula is a favourite of his, the purple petals and leaves he adds to salads, not least as they sprout on walls, above the “dogwee zone”.

He also encourages everybody to keep nettles to cut throughout summer. New leaves of chlorophyl­l green are the ones to pick, he advises, steamed for a minute or so to negate the sting.

“Eat your invaders rather than eradicatin­g them” is his mantra. For who are we, in truth, to determine better than nature what is a weed and what is an acceptable plant to grow?

Far better to ditch such labels and instead rely on the classifica­tion which has persisted as long as humanity itself – namely, if it is good enough to eat, then into the pot it goes.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? KNOTWEED USE IN A CRUMBLE
KNOTWEED USE IN A CRUMBLE
 ??  ?? Back to basics: chef Simon Rogan is a big fan of foraging
Back to basics: chef Simon Rogan is a big fan of foraging
 ??  ?? NETTLES IDEAL IN SOUP
NETTLES IDEAL IN SOUP
 ??  ?? DANDELION ROAST THE ROOTS
DANDELION ROAST THE ROOTS
 ??  ?? HIMALAYAN BALSAM TOAST THE SEEDS
HIMALAYAN BALSAM TOAST THE SEEDS
 ??  ?? CAMPANULA ADD TO SALADS
CAMPANULA ADD TO SALADS
 ??  ?? CHICKWEED TASTY GARNISH
CHICKWEED TASTY GARNISH
 ??  ?? GOOSEGRASS ENJOY RAW
GOOSEGRASS ENJOY RAW

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom