8 herbs to forage for
Next time you’re tramping or walking in the countryside, gather these delicious herbs, seeds and weeds, says Jane Wrigglesworth.
And recipes for what you find.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a garden – there are plenty of places you can forage for herbs and wild greens, which are often tastier than their shop-bought counterparts. They may taste a little bitter, but as it turns out that’s a good thing. It is these bitter compounds that hold most of the plant’s healthgiving phytonutrients. Ironically, many of our modern-day vegetables have been bred to remove the bitterness, and it is these that we prefer to grow.
We could always forage for the good stuff. Foraging has become fashionable, no longer an outlandish eccentricity linked to self-sufficiency. It is fun, and once you start, it’s hard to stop. Every walk, every drive down a country lane or tramp alongside a river, marsh or bush is a chance to bring home a bounty of wild foods.
In autumn, as well as leaves from various plants, you could harvest seeds (including those from curly dock); berries such as coprosma, hawthorn and juniper; rosehips and roots (try burdock and chicory). In winter you might look for thyme, watercress, chickweed, miner’s lettuce, and violet leaves and flowers. In spring, you could seek out wild mustard greens, p¯uh¯a, onion weed, fennel and sea-beets.
Really, it’s a matter of getting out and keeping your eyes peeled for places to forage. A couple of years ago I went for a walk in a local bush with a friend. As we headed back to the car, we took an outside loop (out of the bush), and right there on the edge of the bush was a thicket of wild blackberries. Other times, when I’ve been out and about, not specifically for foraging, I’ve spied chicory growing on a roadside, flagged by its distinctive blue flowers, and mustard greens, recognised by its yellow blooms. Dandelion and mustard greens punctuated with plantain ( Plantago lanceolata) flowerbuds, which are incredibly tasty (somewhat nutty in flavour), make a divine forager’s salad for the wild at heart.
I’ve also utilised dandelion roots from my lawn to make coffee, though I’m not sure that I would recommend that – not because it tasted bad (the flavour did, in fact, resemble coffee), but because it took about 12 roots to make just one cup. And we all know just how hard it is to dig up dandelion roots.
So put on your walking shoes, and go for a walk in a nearby meadow, alongside a bank or a stream, or atop a weedy hill to score a basketful of wild foods.
1 Plantain A relative of spinach, both broadleaf ( Plantago major) and narrow leaf ( Plantago lanceolata) plantains are rich in vitamins and minerals.
Leaves can be wilted like spinach and the young shoots of broadleaf plantain can be stir-fried in a little butter or olive oil to yield an asparagus-like flavour. What I love best are the flowerbuds of narrow plantain eaten fresh in salads.
2 Garlic mustard Also known as Jack-by-the-hedge, Alliaria petiolata is a biennial plant with mild garlic-tasting leaves. All parts of the plant including the leaves, flowers, seeds, stems and roots are edible, with each component bearing a different flavour.
As a biennial, the seeds and flowers are harvested in the plant’s second year, and the roots can be used like horseradish. This plant is typically found in shady locations.
For a simple dip, finely chop a handful of leaves and mix with a little mayonnaise and two drops of hot chilli sauce. Or use the leaves in place of basil to make a unique pesto. For a fiery salad, mix together garlic mustard, dandelion leaves, wild rocket and sorrel, and add a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
3 Cuckoo cress Also known as the cuckoo flower and lady smock, Cardamine pratensis is a rhizomatous perennial of the mustard family. It grows along the banks of ponds and streams as well as in wet grasslands. It can be found in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Manawatu and Horowhenua in the North Island, and in Westland and Southland in the South Island. The plant produces pink-petalled blooms and shows up in early spring, apparently at the same time as the cuckoo bird.
The leaves have a peppery taste and make great additions to salads or as a replacement for watercress in sandwiches. 4Bittercress
Of the same family as cuckoo cress, Cardamine hirsuta is also commonly known as hairy
Foraging has become fashionable, no longer an outlandish eccentricity linked to self-sufficiency.
bittercress and flick seed (because it flicks its seeds into the air). It grows all over New Zealand all year round. You may even have seen it in your backyard or in cracks in pavements as it is fairly common and easily found.
Have a nibble because it’s delicious – great for salads, sandwiches, salsas and pesto.
5 Coprosma berries The berries of taupata ( Coprosma repens) and karam¯u ( Coprosma robusta) are edible. Taupata produces red-orange berries from January to March; karam¯u has bright orange berries from January to July.
There are other coprosmas with edible berries, but these two are fairly common throughout the country.
Taupata has extremely glossy leaves, which accounts for its common name, mirror plant. Karam¯u leaves are similar, but less glossy.
You can use the berries to make jams, jellies or sauces. You can also eat them fresh. 6 Sea beet Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima is the wild ancestor of the cultivated silverbeet, sugar beet and beetroot. It looks somewhat like spinach but its leaves are firmer and much more glossy. You’ll find it beside many beaches throughout the country. Use it as you would silverbeet. 7Chickweed
Commonly found in the home garden, Stellaria media also grows wild just about everywhere else. It appears in winter and spring, and quickly takes over bare soil. I once cleared a patch in my garden, only for it to be taken over by chickweed before I got around to planting it up. No matter. I ate the leaves in salads before clearing away the remnants.
The leaves are very tasty (one of my favourite “weeds” to eat) and they are full of vitamins and minerals. Chickweed is often made into a spring tonic for the goodness it provides. Medicinally, it is good topically for itchy skin conditions, so I often infuse the leaves in oil for making a salve. You can identify the plant by its small white flowers. The flowers have five deeply lobed petals, which gives it the appearance of
10 petals. 8Miner’s lettuce More common in the South Island and cooler regions of the North Island, miner’s lettuce ( Claytonia perfoliata) is a cool weather annual that appears from winter through spring in moist, shady spots. It has circular leaves that envelope the stalk and flowers so it appears that the flowers are growing out of the centre of each leaf.
This is a very nutritious green that can be used in salads or stir-fries.
Don’t pick or eat anything you cannot identify 100 per cent. Invest in a bush, forest or field guide (or a weed guide).