Edinburgh Forage & Eat
First Green
Betula pendula (Birch, White Birch)
Beautiful, recognisable birches have long played an important role as food, drink, and medicine for us.
Porphyra sp (Lavers, Nori, Slake)
Porphyra grows on rocks in shallow water, and when the tide is low, covers the rocks like shiny sheets of black plastic.
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Auricularia auricula-judae (Wood Ear Mushroom, Jelly Ear)
These fun, unmistakable, and versatile fungi are at their best in early spring
Fallopia japonica (Japanese Knotweed, Giant Knotweed)
Look for the beautiful pink spears, poking out in troops along the rivers and in urban waste sites.
Osmundea pinnatifida (Pepper Dulse)
In spite of its diminutive size, pepper dulse packs a tremendous flavour punch- spicy with a garlicky, truffle-y pungency.
Allium ursinum (Wild Garlic, Bear Garlic, Ramsons)
If I could choose only one single wild plant to forage, it would have to be our native wild garlic, Allium ursinum, ransoms or bear garlic.
Ribes sanguineum (Flowering Currant)
A native to Western North America, this lovely shrub is popular in Edinburgh gardens and is occasionally feral in our woods.
Cardamine hirsuta (Hairy Bittercress, Spring Cress)
This tasty little weed might be growing just by your own back door (it does by mine); give it a nibble and see if you don’t fall in love with this delicate, peppery wild herb.
Allium paradoxum (Few Flowered Leek, Wild Garlic)
This time of year, the banks of our waterways are lushly swathed in edible carpets of wild garlic.