Hedgerow Ramblings // Wild Garlic

Wild garlic, or Ramsons, can be seen around woodland areas, growing in abundance amongst the bluebells, at this time of year. If you brush past it, you get a distinct aroma of garlic. The leaves and flowers are edible - but take care if the plants haven't yet flowered, as you may confuse the wide, flat leaves for those of the poisonous Lily of the Valley. The flowers are distinct, however, with tiny white petals in a loose pompom and if you pick a leaf and crush it slightly, you will know by the smell that it is garlic. 

Wild garlic is of the allium family - closely related to chives - and can be used in similar ways. The flowers add flavour to salads or sprinkled over pasta dishes. You could whizz the leaves up with some oil into a pesto and coat meat, fish or use as a stir-in sauce. Blanched and chopped, the leaves would also make a lovely accompaniment to meat or fish, or in a risotto. Make sure you wash them thoroughly before use and be respectful when foraging. Only take what you need - leave plenty for others - or better still, grow some of your own in your garden.

Hedgerow harvest

The hedgerow is absolutely teeming with delights at this time of year - a real treat for the wild-food forager.

The wild blackberries, or brambles are prolific here. I have already collected a bowlful which are now in my freezer, ready to add to autumnal crumbles. Remember to wash blackberries thoroughly and soak in a mixture of salt-water and lemon juice, which will draw out any 'wild things' you've brought home with them.

Elder trees are now teeming with umbrellas of dark berries. You may remember my post earlier this year about the healing properties of the elderflower. The berry is equally useful as an immuno-stimulant, rich in antioxidants and vitamin c, very much like blackcurrants. It also acts as a diuretic and anti-inflammatory, making it useful for urinary tract infections. Take care, however, as the raw berries contain toxins which break down with heat - so make sure you cook them before eating. Come back to visit, for an elderberry and apple jam recipe, next time.

The dark blue sloes of the blackthorn are now beginning to appear. These make a fantastic treat infused in gin. However, they are best left until after the first frost so we will have more on sloe picking later in the year.

Rose hips from the wild rose or dog rose are another rich source of vitamin c and make a nourishing tea.

At this time of year you can also find haws from the hawthorn in the hedgerow, windfalls of sharp crab apples for making jellies and jams, and some of you may also be lucky enough to discover wild raspberries growing as well. 

Although the hedgerow can provide us with a cornucopia of nourishing autumnal fruits, please remember that we are not the only ones who will be making use of them. Birds, insects and small animals consider the hedgerow their only food source, so while it is a fun activity for us to go berry picking, please don't take more than you need.

Happy foraging!

Friend or foe?

Whenever I see cow-parsley it makes me smile: this plant's delicate flowers, reminiscent of lace, seem at odds with its ugly-sounding name.

Wild chervil, as it is also known, can be found all over the British Isles, along hedgerows and roadside verges.  At this time of year, thousands of tiny white umbrellas can be seen down our country lanes.

These flowers look so fragile and harmless - and the plant is in fact edible. If indeed it is cow parsley you are picking.

The family of plants of which cow parsley is a part - known as umbellifers - also contains a less friendly and far more harmful species: poison hemlock.

Poison hemlock can be deadly to both humans and livestock if ingested and looking at these images, I wouldn't like to try to tell the difference. I couldn't even say with certainty if my photographs are cow parsley and not hemlock. 

Advice for telling the two apart suggests crushing some of the leaves - the hemlock will smell musty, like the smell associated with mice. The hemlock is also likely to be a taller plant than the parsley and there are likely to be purplish blotches on its smooth stem. 

As with any wild plant, unless you are absolutely certain, it is best to be avoided.