Our spring issue is out now. Regular contributor and gardening expert Hans Wieland writes on the revival of foraging in Ireland and the life-changing freedom this can bring. Dive on in to learn more…
Foraging
Hans Wieland wrote an enlightening article for our Winter 2017/18 issue on how to find little-known food ingredients in hedgerows and forests. Whether it’s hawthorn flour muffins or elderflower lemonade, you are bound to learn about something completely new in his article. We are sharing it here in its entirety. Perhaps it may inspire you to take a closer look at the everyday trees around you!
Culinary connections 5: Foraging for food from forests and hedgerows
By Hans Wieland and dedicated to the late Dick Warner
One of my all-time favourite memories is of walking along one of the hedgerows at The Organic Centre in September 2004 with the late Dick Warner, eating Hawthorn berries. Dick was then our ‘Environmentalist in Residence’ during the third Green Festival North West. With around twenty-five children from the local National School in tow, he was in his element, explaining the importance of our native hedges, pointing out the various species of trees and plants, telling the children stories about the wildlife that benefits from hedgerows and – probably most exiting for his young audience – encouraging them to nibble leaves, taste fruits; the odd wild raspberry or strawberry besides the many blackberries.
There is more to trees than fruit
Most of us know of, and greatly appreciate, the many wild and cultivated fruit, nuts and berries which come from trees. However, there are more edibles from trees than just fruit and few are aware of the incredible variety of other edible parts; bark, leaves, twigs, seeds, pollen, roots, new growth, flowers and of course sap.
If you are new to ‘eating trees’, here are a few guidelines:
Firstly, get to know your tree. Secondly, harvest in season i.e. young leaves and flowers in the spring, nuts and berries in the autumn. Thirdly, harvest only what you need.
Probably the easiest way to start eating trees, is to make them into salads; the young, tender leaves of beech, birch, hawthorn, and linden can be tossed into a salad, though some are better tasting than others. We make a stunning hawthorn beetroot salad at home.
Five trees to begin your journey with along the hedgerows and into the woods
The Hawthorn trees which Dick Warner so loved are found throughout the Irish countryside. I remember vividly the conversation Gaby and myself had in the end with the trees, so we could feel at ease cutting down a few in order to make way for our extension to the cottage. It wasn’t just that fairies live in hawthorn trees, it was the variety of food they can provide. Gaby makes a tincture from the flowering tops in spring, which is good for blood circulation. The young leaves can be eaten in salads. They are known as ‘bread and butter’ and were traditionally eaten by children on their way to school. Berries in the autumn make a great tea, can be eaten raw as a source of Vitamin C or even turned into hawthorn flour muffins – which is not that simple, I can assure you.
The Spruce, which got a bad name because of its sole use in many forestries, provides wonderful tips with a strong taste of pine and citrus, as does the Fir tree. An easy way to distinguish the two; needles from the Spruce sting whereas the ones from the Fir don’t! Tips are easy to gather as the trees are growing their new needles for the year. Those small, young, soft bits at the end of branches are fully edible and tender enough to just eat them on the spot. They are easily spotted with a lighter colour than the older, mature needles.
The Elder is another iconic tree in the Irish countryside. The immune enhancing properties of elderberries are renowned in Europe and the tree is a common feature around farmhouses. Herbal remedies can be derived from all parts of the plant: stem, flower, root and seed. We collect the flowers in spring for making Elderflower lemonade and, come October, spend hours in the evening around the kitchen table to clear the berries from the stems for making Elderberry rob – the ultimate Vitamin C remedy for the Winter month against coughs and colds.
The Birch, easily spotted because of the white bark, is one of the first trees in spring to produce new leaves and thereby marks the ‘new beginning’. In my native Germany it’s the tree for people in love and widely used for all sorts of shenanigans on the first of May. We harvest the sap from the tree in March with a special Birch tree tapping kit so as not to harm the tree. Young leaves are great in smoothies. The bark is used in oils helping with eczema and dandruff.
So finally to the Ash tree, the source of hurling sticks and freshly cut firewood. I publicly confess that until recently my connection to this great tree was through the above mentioned; supporting the Kilkenny hurlers and coppicing Ash for firewood. Inspired by a book on the culinary uses of trees, I came upon a recipe for Ash liqueur as an aphrodisiac and life prolonging elixir. Quite simply, ferment one to two handfuls of the pristine young Ash leaves in one litre of good semi-dry white wine for a week, strain and store cool. Drink as an aperitif or mix with sparkling water.
For recipes e-mail: hans@theorganiccentre.ie
theorganiccentre.ie
Wild and Free: The Organic Centre Garden Party
Sunday 13th July, 11-5pm
Free Entrance
Gardening and organic growing can be so much more than just producing food. Wild life, wild patches, hedgerows with wild plants and food and wild flower meadows all add enjoyment, health and natural wealth to our lives and families and help to protect our natural environment.
This year’s event features activities for all the family:
How to create a wildflower meadow and make wildflower seed balls.
- The top 10 edible weeds and the best flowers and shrubs for bees and butterflies.
- How to grow unusual vegetables and find wild mushrooms.
- There will be a masterclass in watering plants indoors and outdoors.
- The Pop-up Hedgerow bar will serve wild fermented drinks and The Grass Roof Café will be serving the most wonderful wild dishes. We will bake pizza in our outdoor clay oven.
- Special guest are “Eagles Flying” and we have local farm animals.
- Music, drumming and tai-chi and displays of local tourism providers will be ongoing throughout the day.
- Raffle and fundraising for The Organic Centre.
By Hans Wieland
10 Wild Foods for the Autumn
“Hunter-gatherers would use as many as 100 plant foods in the course of a year; modern humans generally use less than 20.” ~ M. Irving. So, finding more than 40 edible wild plants at a recent foraging walk at The Organic Centre, with expert Joerg Mueller, wasn’t too bad. I strongly believe that gathering wild food in our own locality creates a rich and long lasting relationship with the land and nature. Whenever I visit my birthplace in Germany, I am still able to find blueberries and chanterelles merely 2km from my mum’s house, and could catch a Brown Trout in the same river bend I used to fish with my late father.
I am not saying we could survive on the 40 plants we found at The Organic Centre, but it would be of great benefit to anybody to be able to find, identify, and eat or cook at least 10 wild foods.
I would suggest you start foraging for plants you know, like Nettles or Dandelions. Familiarising yourself with plants or foods you can identify, and matching their description in a guide book with the specimen you have collected, prepares you to look out for more unfamiliar plants. Even better is walking with a forager. It is also important to harvest wild food in an area that is untreated by chemical fertilizers and not contaminated by farm or wild animals.
Here are my top 10 foraged foods for the autumn month:
1. Blackberries
Going blackberrying or brambling was an Irish social activity I was introduced to in our first autumn in Ireland in 1985. It gradually lost its appeal over the years, and the excuse was “the maggots”. I recommend we all revive the wild-picking habit of this fantastic food, because it’s so good and can be found almost everywhere.
2. Elderberries
The elder tree is found throughout the countryside, and lemonade made from Elderflowers is becoming known and popular. The berries in autumn can be used to make an elderberry rob, a cordial of the berries simmered with sugar, which is excellent for colds and coughs. This is a wonderful source of Vitamin C and iron.
3. Rosehips
Use the ripe, bright red berries of the common wild rose (rose rugosa) to make rosehip syrup or puree with honey. Rosehips are a great source of Vitamin C.
4. Nettle seeds
Nettles are just amazing plants. They are a fantastic source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, silicon, boron and zinc. They are also rich in chromium, manganese, iron, copper and chlorophyll. Nettles are a good source of Vitamin B-complex, Vitamin C (ascorbates and bioflavonoids) and Vitamin D. Fresh nettle seeds are more stimulating or motivating. Dried nettle seeds have a more gently restorative action, and are energising without being too stimulating.
5. Dandelion roots
Be adventurous and dig up the roots, dry them, grind them and make a coffee substitute.
6. Hazelnuts
Not everybody can be as unlucky as me, who planted three Hazelnut bushes in a mixed hawthorn/willow hedge around my garden 10 years ago and have barely harvested a nut! Mystery or totally nuts?!
7. Chanterelle and 8. Cep
The only two mushrooms I can identify without a doubt, because my parents collected them all the time. Found in mixed woodland; Chanterelle mainly near beech and birch trees.
9. Crab apple
I can report that planting two crab apple trees in the aforementioned hedge was a resounding success. So much so that, last year, some branches broke off under the heavy weight of the fruit!
10. Sugar Kelp
One of my favourite seaweeds is sugar kelp, because we use it to make crisps. Although the tide has to be far out to be able to harvest it, it is easy to identify by its distinctive, wavy, crinkly appearance.
One of the best books for beginners is the little pocket guide published by Collins: Food for free by Richard Maybe.