7 wild herbs you can forage in the UK

Wild greens and herbs have been part of our diet since the dawn of time, and it was only at the beginning of the 20th century, when food and farming became heavily industrialised, that their popularity dropped off. In the 2010s, however, they saw a resurgence, with high-end chefs like Rene Redzepi in Copenhagen, Michel Bras in Laguiole, France, and Dan Barber in New York incorporating hyperlocal, foraged ingredients into their menus. You don’t need to be a chef to take advantage of the many edible treasures in Britain’s fields, hedgerows, woodlands and gardens, however — just a sense of adventure and, unless you have the requisite know-how, a guide.

A few tips: avoid anywhere near polluted water or heavy traffic, or popular with dogs. If you have doubts about identifying something — especially plants in the wild carrot family, which can vary from delicious to deadly poisonous — choose a safer option, such as nettles or dandelions. Here are Britain’s herby highlights.

1. Yarrow

A native herb with fine, feathery leaves and a froth of tiny white flowers in summer, yarrow grows in meadows and hedgerows. James Wood, who runs Totally Wild foraging courses across the UK, adds the young leaves to potato salad, and after flowers appear he uses the leaves in stuffings and stews, replacing thyme or rosemary. At The Small Holding restaurant in Kent — which holds a Green Michelin star — you might find sprigs of yarrow dotted on top of ricotta and tomatoes. Not suitable for people with aspirin allergy.

2. Chickweed

Many people think of chickweed as an annoying invader, but its dainty leaves are delicious, with a flavour like spinach crossed with sweetcorn — so if it rampages through your garden, eat it up. There’s a long tradition of doing so, with burnt chickweed seeds found at Neolithic sites. However, it has a nasty lookalike, petty spurge, but it’s easy to tell them apart: chickweed has a single line of hairs on each stem. Even more obvious, if you pull the stem until it snaps, you’ll see a thin strand or core inside it, while spurge has milky sap.

3. Alexanders

Also known as horse parsley, Alexanders arrived with the Romans, and it bullies our native bluebells, so harvesting it is no bad thing, especially in places like Norfolk, where it’s abundant. Although the whole plant is edible, with a concentrated celery flavour, the seeds are the most exciting part, says James: “They’re quite similar to sichuan pepper — it’s like having masses of wild peppercorns growing unnoticed on our doorsteps.”

4. Sweet cicely

Originally found on European mountainsides, sweet cicely can be used in place of fennel. Jekka McVicar, a herb expert and founder of Jekka’s, a herb farm in Bristol, likes to cook it with rhubarb, as the herb’s sweetness cuts the amount of sugar needed. Sweet cicely could be confused with poisonous hemlock, but the former’s aniseed scent sets it apart.

5. Ground ivy

Not be confused with actual ivy, ground ivy is a native, low-growing wild herb related to mint and dead nettles, with purple, funnel-shaped flowers and small, slightly hairy leaves, which are very fragrant when crushed or chopped. It’s invasive and one of the UK’s most common weeds, so light foraging can be helpful to the ecosystem. Use the leaves where you might use mint, especially in tzatziki or to garnish a gin and tonic.

6. Sweet woodruff

Once you identify sweet woodruff’s star-shaped whorl of narrow oval leaves and tiny four-petalled white flowers, you’ll spot it everywhere. Jekka uses the almond-scented leaves in salads, but you can dry them for a more intensely vanilla-like flavour and infuse them into drinks. They must be dried fast and thoroughly, though, and kept in an airtight container, or they can develop a dangerous toxin.

7. Meadowsweet

Found in damp lowlands all over the UK, meadowsweet has a long history of medicinal use, and some people find the leaves smell medicinal, too. One of the most sacred herbs of the ancient druids, its name comes from mead, which the flowers were used to flavour. Using them in place of elderflower in elderflower ‘champagne’ brings out notes of hay, almond and vanilla. This is another herb not suitable for those with an aspirin allergy, though.

Where to go foraging in the UK

Fat Hen: The Wild Cookery School, Cornwall
Take a foraging ‘stomp’ along a coastal path before heading to The Gurnard’s Head pub near Penzance for lunch and a lesson in turning the likes of alexanders and three-cornered leek into kimchi.

Healing Weeds, Bristol
Run by trainee herbalist Maria Fernandez Garcia, Healing Weeds offers foraging walks in Bristol’s country parks and farms (finds include yarrow, meadowsweet or chickweed) as well as workshops on using flowers and herbs as remedies.

The Sharpham Trust, Devon
Wilderness psychotherapist Brigit-Anna McNeil hosts hosts wild herb foraging days in spring, summer and autumn, focused on their use as food and medicine. Expect to gather the likes of mugwort, wood avens and dandelions.