Hydrogen cyanide (aka hydrocyanic acid) has a faint bitter-almond scent – although not everyone can smell it, due to a recessive gene. It is released in plants by compounds called… Read More
Chemicals in plants – cyanide
Variety, the superspice of life
Variety, we are told in the popular expression, is the spice of life. However, we are missing something today and I’d like to rewrite that old saying. I would argue… Read More
Cooking with Comfrey
Today I’ve been eating a comfrey ratatouille. This was partly inspired by Ivan Van Rooyen’s comment on my post ‘Is comfrey edible?” He said “My family and I have been… Read More
Seaweed Lasagne Recipe
Whether you want to go gluten-free or just to add a fantastic source of iodine, vitamins and minerals to your diet, seaweed pasta is a great alternative to durum wheat… Read More
How to cook Sea Spaghetti
Thongweed (Himanthalia elongata) is called sea spaghetti because it really does turn out like pasta! It can be eaten on its own or mixed with spaghetti, cooked and added to… Read More
Forest trips help asthma and allergies
Asthma and atopic dermatitis are common allergic diseases, and their prevalence has increased in urban children. Recently, it is becoming understood that forest environment has favourable health effects in patients… Read More
Escape from the City to the Sea
To discover the peace and tranquility of Lambay and let the wildness of nature restore your body and mind, get away from the… Read More
Sweet, Sweet Cicely
In April and May the ditches, damp hedgerows and water meadows are full of sweet cicely. Myrrhis odorata is a gorgeous member of the Apiaceae family – definitely one of my… Read More
Hogweed Pakora
Hogweed shoots are my favourite vegetable in the Spring. They can be steamed but they truly come into their own when fried. I often just fry them in butter until… Read More
Tapping Birch, Walnut and Maple Trees
There are at least 20 species of tree that can be tapped for their edible sap. And in many cases, once the sap has been reduced, a syrup can be… Read More
Potted Winkles
Here are some recipes for your steamed winkles including my favourite, Potted Winkles. As a guide to quantities, one large mug will contain about 95 winkles, which will weigh about… Read More
How to Cook Winkles
You can identify winkles by their colour – they’re dark grey (black when wet) with a white edged opening, and their shape and size – small and rounded. You might… Read More
How to Make Laverbread
Laverbread is not a bread. It is a thick paste made from laver seaweed that was traditionally spread on bread or toast. It has a very savoury, umami taste and, in… Read More
Laver Cakes Recipe
This is a delicious breakfast snack. A twist on an old Scottish breakfast classic and a great way of making sure that you get your daily dose of the vital… Read More
How to Harvest Seaweed
I’m often asked when the best time to harvest seaweed is. It certainly isn’t in the summer. Sadly many people’s view of seaweed has been coloured by their childhood trips to… Read More
Our Plant Relatives
“Transformed seawater runs through the veins of my hand as well as the leaf’s veins – one carrying chlorophyll, the other carrying blood. The change of a single ion, from… Read More
The Sweet Smell of Danger
All scents, perfumes and fragrances contain aroma chemicals. This is what makes them smell nice. Some are natural, some are manufactured as nature-identical and some are created in the lab.… Read More
Do Plants Talk? It’s Called Biosemiosis
Can plants talk? This century we’re learning that bacteria can talk and count – it’s called quorum sensing – and they know when there are enough of them to mount… Read More
Wild Hen of the Woods
Passing an old oak tree today looking in the grass for pink purslane, the old giant whispered to me as I walked past. As she did the thought entered my… Read More
Lament for the Loss of Wild Foods
Wild Fact of the Day: Once humankind used 7000 species of plant and 1069 species of fungi as foods. A single community averaged 120 wild species in their daily diet… Read More
Hairy bittercress
Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta). It’s the essential seasonal ingredient for winter soups, pestos, salads & garnishes providing a fresh, and tasty source of vitamins and minerals right through the winter. … Read More
Making a wild fungi broth
The season of soups is starting as the first frosty mornings herald the transition of autumn to winter. Samhain is around the corner. Today I made a cauliflower fungus broth… Read More
List of Japanese mushroom names
I’ve always been intrigued by the poetry of Japanese names for mushrooms. beyond the top five edibles I couldn’t find a detailed list in English. Here is my list of… Read More
Thoughts on the Autumn Equinox
The Autumn Equinox marks the first day of autumn. It is end of summer, when the day and the night have become equal lengths and, for the moment, nature is… Read More
New Forest fungi picking ban by the Forestry Commission
Aside from the lurid media “Aliens Ate My Fungi” headlines, the alleged criminal gangs sweeping the forests, the unsubstantiated evils of fungi picking on conservation, the misreported fungi poisoning statistics… Read More
Why foraging? A trend or an ancient connection to nature…
Foraging reconnects people with nature in a really positive way. Once you can identify plants, appreciate their culinary and medicinal values, recognise them as old friends and discover the wondrous… Read More
The Future of Food and Technology
I was asked for my thoughts on the future of food and technology. It may have been a spam email but I answered it anyway: “The future of food through… Read More
How to make Diodgriafel
…or how to make wine with wild yeast In Wales, recorded in 1802, poor people would “make a drink called Diodgriafel by infusing [rowan] berries in water”. In 1798, John Evans writes that… Read More
Green Sweet Cicely Seed Sweets
How to make sweet cicely seed brittle, a form of boiled sweet, and mukhwas, a foraged wild take on Indian sugar coated fennel seeds. Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) is found… Read More
Spruce Pine Honey
I love the fresh growth on pines, spruce and larch and make fresh, citrussy-pine needle teas from the young needles. I also adore this spruce ‘honey’ (a pouring pine syrup),… Read More