This time of the year is very very exciting. Everything is coming back to life and the forest floor starts to get covered in myriads of little seedlings about to become plants that are easy to identify and harvest.
It is also a great time in the year because most “grown” plants are also easy to identify as there are few of them an far apart. So following two foraging walks, one in Preston and one in Lancaster, I gathered the below
From the bottom left, clock-wise, we have: Nettles (Urtica dioica), dandelions (Taraxacum oficinalis), primrose (Primula vulgaris), scarlet elf cups, ground elder, gorse (Ulex europaeus) and wild garlic (Allium ursinum). There was also some sorrel but it was very little so I decided to let it grow.
Every spring I like to make this soup to welcome the season. For 2 bowls of the soup you will need:
- 2 handfulls of stinging nettles
- 1 handfull of dandelion leaves
- 4-5 scarlet elf cup mushrooms for decoration
- 1 handfull of ground elder
- 6-7 gorse flowers for decoration
- 1 handfull of wild garlic
- 1 cup oats
- 2 heaping tablespoons of greek yoghurt
- olive oil and salt to taste
Instructions:
Add in a pot 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add nettles, dandelions and ground elder and let simmer for 10′. Process greens with some of the water in a food processor and return to the pot. Add the oats and stir and boil until the mixture thickens. Adjust salt and serve in bowls. Add a heaping tablespoon of greek yoghurt in each bowl and optionally a little bit of vinegar. Add chopped up leaves of wild garlic, gorse flowers and some scarlet elf cups for colour.
Enjoy!
(Fer)mental Greens 