Foraging Foods Safely
The first thing that comes to mind is… what is foraging?
Foraging is the act of searching. The ants we see are foragers… Out searching high and low for food and water. The foragers are only a small part of their colony. However, we are not ants.
We as humans are programmed to forage all over for all different types of food, but we have to ask ourselves, how do we forage nutritious plants and foods safely?
Woodland and Trust do a great foraging guide on what foods to look out for each month.
With May in particular they do a guide to wild herbs & other edible plants. Through this blog they list things such as:
- A variety of herbs and edible plants to enjoy.
- Safe to have.
- Pictures to help identify.
- Places in the UK that they can be found.
One that I took great note of was the red clover (trifolium pratense). The red clover is good until September to be picked and can be found in open and sunny habitats, and can be used as a garnish on a salad to sweeten it up, and also in a nice tea to help detox!
It can be used medicinally as a remedy to help menopause, asthma, whooping cough, and more. Other benefits include hair and skin benefits, weight loss for some, and bone health. You can find all health benefits and uses through Healthline.
We also have to remind ourselves that we use a lot of resources from wildlife in our recipes.
In May in particular, we can find:
- Wild Garlic
- Chickweed
- Garden Sorrel
- Hawthorn
- Red Clover
- Horsetail
- Daisy Bellis
- And so many more!!!
You can find a full list through Country File. In this article you can find where to find these plants and also what things you can make with each one… Very helpful!
And I absolutely adore the poster made by Liz Cook;
A recipe in particular that you can find half or more of the ingredients from trees and fields around you is the Spring Green and Coconut Dal from Wholesome World. This recipe includes a lot of greens that you can forage yourself! Just be sure that you are foraging safely!
Just remember that although there are many things to be foraged, be sure to refer to experts to check to see if it is safe to consume to prevent sickness.
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