Edible Wild Plants Foraging in UK & Ireland

By Lomasi Ahusaka

Are you tired of eating only industrial foods but don't trust collecting plants in nature?

 

Learn how to recognize them easily to live in harmony with the environment without risking intoxication!

If you would like to embark on this healthy and ethical lifestyle choice, I advise you to learn only from those who can provide you with scientific and exact information.

Until a few years ago, I lived between home, work, and the supermarket shelves filling my house with packaged foods that were slowly ruining my health.

My life changed dramatically when a trusted and experienced friend asked me to accompany him to pick some wild herbs he was looking for (which I thought I could only find in the supermarket, to be honest).

During our research, he showed a passion that pushed me to learn about this new world by delving deeper with teachings from expert foragers to the point where I could find everything I needed directly from the producer: nature!

With this guide, I want to pass on all the passion and experience I have accumulated over the years so that you, too, will become an expert researcher of edible plants safely and quickly.

Here is a taste of what you will find in this guide:

• Becoming a Forager – Discover the most ethical way to wildcraft your food! You'll learn to use the right tools to search and harvest wild plants in the right season and place. All while respecting nature.

• Edible Plants Encyclopedia – You'll recognize all edible wild plants thanks to their identikits with pictures, descriptions, and tips on using and preserving them (both as food and other preparations).

• Poisonous Plants? No thanks - Don't jeopardize your or your family's health! Thanks to the protocol for recognizing toxic plants and the universal test for edibility, you won't take any chances.

• Plant Use and Preservation - Some wild plants can be consumed as raw food, but why stop there? You'll discover a plethora of preparations you can make: from teas to tinctures and salves (with tips on how to preserve them).

And so much more!

If you want to break free from prepackaged foods by embracing a lifestyle in harmony with nature, then it's time to find all the information you need in the most comprehensive guide to edible plants.

Click "Buy Now" and learn all the secrets of these plants!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lomasi Ahusaka
• Release date: Jan 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224755660

Book preview

Edible Wild Plants Foraging in UK & Ireland

Learn How to Identify Safely and Harvest Nature's Green Gifts

Copyright © 2024 by Lomasi Ahusaka

COPYRIGHT & DISCLAIMER

All rights are reserved by law. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the authors' written permission. It is expressly forbidden to transmit this book to others, neither in paper or electronic format, neither for money nor free of charge. What is reported in this book is the result of years of studies and accumulated experience. The achievement of the same results is not guaranteed. The reader assumes full responsibility for their choices; the book is exclusively for an educational purpose. All photos in this book are from Freepik and Wikimedia Commons. Credits are available at the following link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15FqxK24l_nxRL17-jp6aBEfeKoDDD68O/view?usp=sharing

BONUS

Scan the QR code below to be directed to a web page where you can access 9 incredible bonuses. After providing your email address, you will receive 4 online courses and 5 mobile apps compatible with both Android and iPhone.

Your participation and feedback are greatly appreciated!

LINK: https://BookHip.com/FFVCXHS

A qr code on a white background Description automatically generated

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 THE QUINTESSENCE OF FORAGING

1.1 A Brief History of the British Forager

1.2 The Edibility of Wild Plants

1.3 Why Wild Plants?

1.4 Plant or Flower or Weed?

1.5 Conclusion

2 THE EQUIPMENT OF THE CONTEMPORARY FORAGER

2.1 The Proper Identification of Edible Foliage

2.2 Fantastic Wild Plants and Where to Find Them

2.3 A Season for Harvest

2.4 The Conservation of Fruitfulness

2.5 The Forager’s Toolkit

2.6 The Responsibility of the Forager

2.7 Conclusion

3 FROM FORAGER TO THE TABLE

3.1 The Nutrient-Dense Wild Plant

3.2 The Transport and Storage of Foraged Greenery

3.3 Culinary Preparation of the Foraged Edible Greens

3.4 Food Preservation Techniques for the Foraged Wild Plant

3.5 Conclusion

4 KNOW THE LAWS IN ORDER TO FORAGE

4.1 The Theft Act

4.2 The Countryside Right of Way (CROW) Act

4.3 The 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act

4.4 Knives

4.5 Summary

5 A COMPENDIUM OF EDIBLE WILD PLANTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM FROM A TO Z

5.1 Bilberry

5.2 Black Mustard

5.3 Blackberry

5.4 Blackthorn

5.5 Brooklime

5.6 Broom

5.7 Bulrush

5.8 Cherry Plum

5.9 Chickweed

5.10 Mallow

5.11 Poppy

5.12 Sorrel

5.13 Corn Salad

5.14 Crab Apple

5.15 Cranberry

5.16 Crow Garlic

5.17 Dandelion

5.18 Dog Rose

5.19 Elder

5.20 Fat Hen

5.21 Fennel

5.22 Field Rose

5.23 Garlic Mustard

5.24 Gooseberry

5.25 Ground Elder

5.26 Hairy Bittercress

5.27 Hawthorn

5.28 Hazel

5.29 Hogweed

5.30 Hop

5.31 Horseradish

5.32 Juniper

5.33 Meadowsweet

5.34 Pignut

5.35 Raspberry

5.36 Redcurrant

5.37 Rowan

5.38 Sea Buckthorn

5.39 Silver Birch

5.40 Silverweed

5.41 Spear-Leaved Orache

5.42 Spearmint

5.43 Stinging Nettle

5.44 Sweet Chestnut

5.45 Sweet Cicely

5.46 Three-Cornered Leek

5.47 Wall Rocket

5.48 Watercress

5.49 Watermint

5.50 Wild Angelica

5.51 Wild Cherry

5.52 Wild Garlic

5.53 Wild Marjoram

5.54 Wild Parsnip

5.55 Wild Plum

5.56 Wild Strawberry

5.57 Wintercress

5.58 Winter Laver

5.59 Wood Sorrel

5.60 Yarrow

5.61 Conclusion

6 BONUS

7 APPENDIX

7.1 Foraging Checklist

7.2 Glossary of Terms

INTRODUCTION

There is a certain level of primeval satisfaction when you are able to successfully forage for berries, herbs, and other edible plants in the woods. You may have purchased this book with the intent to learn more about how to properly forage in the woods and fields around you for the sustainable produce that nature has provided. While there is certainly a vast amount of greenery from which you could make your choices, not all plants are edible and if you are unguided as to how to properly tell apart edible from inedible plants, you may find yourself in a pickle. Some plants are truly edible, while others have parts that are edible while the other parts may be toxic to consume. This book serves to be a guide by which you will be able to safely forage for sustainable and ecologically friendly produce and live off the land successfully. You would be able to save on grocery bills since you would be able to source your produce from nature itself.

1  THE QUINTESSENCE OF FORAGING

1.1  A Brief History of the British Forager

One of the more common memories one can associate with the word forage is that of a walk or a hike in the woods next to one’s house or a nearby meadow. From there, one would be able to observe the bounty of nature with the amount of edible herbage, greenery, and roots that one may employ the simplest of culinary techniques to render them more to their respective tastes. If one does not wish to subject the foraged greenery to any further culinary techniques, one can simply wash them thoroughly and enjoy the foraged greenery in their purest state, dressed in the simplest of kitchen essentials, and consumed with the satisfaction of one who set out to gather what they wished to eat for that day. With all the processed and refined materials that go into manufactured food these days, and the plethora of diseases that result from the consumption of all of these processed food items, when one forages, one feels a communion with nature, and the knowledge that the food that they harvest from the ground, or from the shrubs and trees are all natural, and the best that nature has to offer. It is a communion that harkens back to the early occupants of the British Isles, approximately 10,000 to 4,000 BC, known as the Mesolithic Period. The natural geography and climate of the British Isles is conducive to the growth of numerous edible herbage and greeneries that provided the food for the hunter-gatherers that first settled the British Isles. While there was plenty of wild game to satiate their need for meat, the abundance of greeneries provides ample supplementation to their omnivorous diet. Leaves, roots, fruits, and other edible parts of wild plants became one of the mainstays of the diet of the early settlers of Britain in the Mesolithic Period. This became the norm until the dawn of the Neolithic Period where the occupants of the British Isles learned to cultivate more favourable crops and lessened the amount of foraging one needed to do then, though one would still need to forage for certain leaves, roots, and berries if they so choose to. Some of the wild plants then, for the time prior to the cultivation of what we know to be crops, were in turn cultivated in the way most plants were wont to propagate to ensure their survival. When the Mesolithic Age and the Neolithic Age settlers utilized the wild plants, it was theorized that those plants of the type that they often forage and consume in larger quantities would be better off being found closer to where they stayed. The Neolithic age saw the transition from the nomadic lifestyle of the hunter-gatherers to the agrarian oriented population that saw the benefits in the cultivation of the plants that they so often consumed. Subsequently, the wild plants that were consumed were later cultivated into the more domesticated versions that one sees at their local grocer. This is not to say however, that the significance of the wild plant was diminished in any way.

The Elizabethan era saw an expansion in the lore of the collective knowledge of the population as to which plants were edible, and which plants required certain processes to be implemented to be rendered edible. The ability to identify which wild plants can be considered edible was a necessary skill for cottagers to have. That aside, the identification of edible plants became crucial as not only was the wilderness a readily available source of food for the average person, but it was also a pharmacy that provided medicines from nature itself. From this knowledge and those that came after this era, the contemporary person is now better able to identify the wild plants that would be beneficial to the human diet.

Despite the rise in the amount of cultivation that was done, the significance of the wild plants had not diminished. Modern agricultural methods had enabled the cultivation of crops that had high yield and endurance, and hence the focus has shifted to these types of crops, which, in turn, permitted the wild plants to flourish unchecked in the woods and forests from which they originated. Where edifices once stood, nature itself reclaimed and the plants that grew in places where humans once inhabited retained the edibility that the early settlers of the British Isles sought.

While the natural geography of the British Isles proved to be conducive to the growth and survival of the native plants, the same cannot be said for the applicability of the land to cultivated crops. Some areas such as the Garden of Kent and the Vale of Evesham have large areas that can be devoted to agriculture on a larger scale. In areas wherein there are little to no tracts of arable land suitable for the cultivation of crops, the contemporary person would find solace in the number of wild plants that thrive in abundance around their homes, a readily economical alternative to supplement what the person has at their home.

1.2  The Edibility of Wild Plants

People have different ideas on what makes a plant edible and what makes a plant wild. Collectively, Edible Wild Plants are plants that have not undergone any type of modification such as Genetic Modification, nor have they been specially crossbred with other species to ensure that the plant produced carries the most desirable characteristics of both species. These plants are also composed of one or more parts that are fit for human consumption once these parts have been gathered at a certain stage of their development and if they have been properly prepared and cooked.

What does the latter part mean? Just because one can eat the product of one plant does not necessarily mean that the rest of the plant is edible. A person may be able to enjoy the tomato for instance, but under no circumstances can one eat the flowers of the tomato, nor its relatives such as the eggplant and the potato whose flowers are equally as toxic as the tomato. Plants have parts that are certainly edible, be it the roots, stems, leaves, berries, or flowers. There are also plants whose structures are too woody to eat, plants whose other parts are used as medicine rather than food, and parts that are simply too unpalatable for the human taste. It becomes necessary to identify not only the wild plants that are edible, but the specific parts of the wild plant that are edible. A good rule of thumb is, if in doubt, throw it out. It would be better to spend a few dollars on a grocery bill rather than spend thousands on a hospital bill, more so in this economy.

Earlier, it was mentioned that not only does one have to gather the right parts of the plant for food, but also gather them at the right stage of development. As with the other parts of the plant, some parts of the plant, once they have matured, become toxic or unpalatable, hence it is necessary to equip oneself with the knowledge of not only knowing what to gather, but when to gather it. An example is the common Milkweed, which can produce pods with immature seeds that are edible while still at that stage and are suitable for culinary usage.   Once these same pods reach maturity however, they become poisonous, and this poison cannot be removed from the plant no matter which culinary preparation it is used in. Throughout this book then, it would be necessary to note the part of the plant that is edible, and at which stage is this plant safe to eat.

Lastly, it would be necessary to determine the proper way to prepare a plant for consumption. There are parts of a plant that are edible only after they have been processed or prepared in a certain way to reduce their unpalatable qualities. For instance, some people find the texture of okra to be off-putting due to the slimy texture that it exudes but appreciate it once it has been cooked into a stew, or if it has been fried to reduce the sliminess associated with it. This is just one way to properly process a food. Some edible wild plants need more stringent forms of preparation such as the removal of seeds from the fruit of a