Tips from B.J.
We should not forget that every single plant available to us in the grossly over-stocked supermarkets once grew as a wild plant. Trimmed, washed and polished to the consumer’s request, any chard, spud or radish is now so far removed from its muddy origins that it may as well be completely artificial.
The long-lost cousins of these genetically mutant plants which fill our shops are still available to us however. All you have to do is look for them amongst the woods, hedgerows and coastline of England, also known as foraging: taking as much as you need from the wild and revelling in the quality of the small handful of rude flavour which you have just uncovered.
Foraging is a simple process; identify, collect, prepare, eat. Many of you will have already foraged at it’s most basic, picking berries from hedgerows or apples and plumbs from August gardens.
However the incentives for foraging are more potent; a snub to domesticity, a challenge to the absolute ease of life and a reconnection with England’s ancient rural heritage. These incentives are vital ingredients for making wild food some of the most delicious you will ever eat.
The best way to start is to buy a foraging book (Food For Free by Richard Mabey, for example), and then get into the countryside and hope you identify something that is edible/won’t cause death by vomiting. The wild food you add to a meal will be superior to any ingredient that you paid for.
Recipes
Wild Garlic: May/June
An easily found plant which when broken open smells unmistakably of peppery raw garlic. I’ve used this as a replacement to basil, adding a strong freshness to a salad by mixing a handful of wild garlic, chopped into ribbons, with sliced fresh tomatoes and dressed with olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper.
Nettle Soup
As with any wild plant, and especially the hardy nettle, make sure the surrounding soil isn’t contaminated; don’t pick nettles from the corner of an abandoned petrol station or public toilet, for example.
1. Fry a whole chopped onion until just brown.
2. Take 4 large handfuls of nettle tops, removing any stalky-woody bits of the nettle and wash them well in water. Add these to the onions with 2 large chopped raw potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes till everything is covered in oniony oil.
3. Add 2 pints of vegetable stock, salt, pepper and some ground nutmeg to taste and cook for 20 minutes, crushing the potatoes with a spoon. Blend the mixture to get a smoother soup.
4. Serve with a swerve of crème fraiche or cream.
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For all his green credentials, B.J. is taking part in a car-crazy charity initiative:
10,000 miles... 18 days...1 Fiat Punto… Check out the Mongol Rally in aid of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation at http://www.gobi-gadabouts.com
