Food from the Wild

Herbs

Marjoram Origanum vulgare

Quite common in dryfields on limy soils in the south of England, marjoram has hairy grey-green leaves and bears small pink flowers from July to September. One of the few herbs of which the taste increases when the plant is dried and one of the best herbs for all savoury dishes.

Mint Mentha

'The smell of Mint does stir up the minde and the taste to a greedy desire of meate'-so said Gerard in the sixteenth century. There are seven kinds of wild mint in Britain, but only four are really suitable for cooking. Of the others, the peppermint is often used as a flavouring for toothpaste and the apple and eau de Cologne mints are dried and put in pot pourris.

Corn mint, water mint, horse mint and, the one most often grown in gardens, spearmint, all prefer damp places and are common. They have pinkish flowers blooming generally between July and October. A few leaves chopped and put in cream cheese or sprinkled on top of a tomato salad improve both. Put with new potatoes and peas, or used as a sauce for lamb, mint has no equal.

Ramson Allium ursinum

Ramson proliferates in woods and shady lanesides. The flowers bloom between April and June. All parts of the plant smell strongly of garlic. The true wild garlic is a different species from ramson and is rare, but ramson, although losing some of its flavour when cooked, makes a good substitute. The chopped stalks can also be used instead of chives.

Salad Burnet Poterium sanguisorba

A cooling cucumber-scented leaf, 'It gives a grace in the drynkynge' declared Gerard, but the young leaves will also add 'grace' to a salad. A limestone-loving plant, it has purple flowers which bloom from June to September, and leaves which Turner, in his Newe Herbal of 1551, likened to 'the wings of Birdes, standing out as the bird setteth her wings out when she intendeth to flye'.

Thyme Thymus drucei

Over forty species of wild thyme have been identified growing in Europe of which three are found in Britain. The only one which is widespread is T. drucei common on dry grassland, heaths, dunes and rocky country throughout Britain. It has clusters of pale pink flowers between May and August. Soups, stews, stuffings and sauces all benefit from a sprig of thyme. In the Highlands of Scotland, it was thought that smelling thyme gave one strength and courage and that eating it prevented bad dreams.

Wood Sorrel Oxalis acetosella

The leaves can be put in salads to take the place of vinegar or lemon dressing. They taste similar, extremely sharp and acid. Wood sorrel's other name is cuckoo's meate from the country belief that the bird cleared its throat by eatings its leaves. A pretty plant, the leaves are clover-shaped and the flowers white. They bloom in April and May.