Category Archives: Foraging

Garlic mustard, Jack in the hedge (Alliaria petiolata)


Photo courtesy of Elodie and Herman, in De Baarsjes, Amsterdam. 25th April 2012.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is easy to find in many cities and is also very easy to eat!

It is often easy to spot them at the base of large tree trunks and along the edges of woodland and hedges. They also thrive within woodland. It flowers at the end of April into May. Whilst flowering, it is very easy to identify, not only by the distinctive smell of garlic when the leaves are bruised but also by the tiny white flowers at the top of the plant. Garlic mustard is a favorite amongst foragers and can grow up to 120 cm in the right location.

This plant is a biennial and can provide year round nutritious greens, for salads or the cooking pot. All parts are edible. Even the roots can be eaten, they should be harvested just before flowering, but of course removing the whole plant will limit the foraging potential the following year as the plant will be unable to spread by seed. Far better is to pick a leaf or two at intervals, throughout the growing season and leaving the plant to flower and set seed unhindered.

Garlic mustard isn’t known as a medicinal herb, more a culinary one. It is a member of the mustard family, Brassicaceae, so I like to think of it as a tasty replacement for sprouts.

I see lots of Garlic mustard growing around Amsterdam. You are very likely to find it along the edges of canals, hedges and overgrown areas, such as railway embankments. Mid to late spring is probably the best time to identify it.

Eating Garlic mustard is straightforward. It can be eaten raw, if very clean or cooked. It has a garlicky spinachy taste so works well with many ingredients. In like to chop up a leaf or two and mix them in with other spring greens, which I steam.

365 Frankendael day 5

Orchard hedge – Park Frankendael

Lots of photos and less chat today, I’ve had a long walk and am itching to make Italian Beech twigs…
Here’s one of several Beech hedges in the park.  If you didn’t read my post about tree foraging Linda Runyon, then please take a look, for some eye opening ideas.

Coltsfoot, still blooming:

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfare)
White dead nettle, in bloom is the time to harvest, but it is an annual
HIGHLY POISONOUS Dog’s mercury, which is in bloom (tiny white flowers) and is prevalent throughout several areas of the park:
Sweet cicely is in bloom so can be identified more easily with a field guide
Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum)

Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), easily confused with Cleavers (Galium aparine). Cleavers are far more succulent than Sweet woodruff, and can grow very tall, using other plants and structures for support as shown yesterday.  The two plants have quite different uses.

Indian strawberry
A stunning mound of Ground elder (Aegopodium podograria)
The flowers of Garlic mustard are now maturing and are easy to spot
Geranium and cowslip

Geraniums are really bulking up.  The cowslips shown here amongst the Geraniums, should never be harvested from the wild as they have such a hard time surviving when their source of seeds is removed.  Wild garlic is also in the photo.

Linda Runyon – Eat The Trees!

Linda Runyon is a wise woman who literally “lived off the trees” some years ago, during a particularly harsh winter, whilst homesteading in the US Adirondack Mountains. She taught herself how to harvest from trees and how to preserve and use their plenty. It was a matter of survival at the time so you really learned how to make the most of the trees around her.  She has published several books, DVDs and plant ID cards over the years, helping countless people to live in harmony with the land. Her latest offering is an extraordinary book, full of tips and ideas for foraging from trees. The link above gives lots more info about her life and books and how to buy them directly.  Mine was ordered via Amazon. I hope that I am also happily surrounded by herbs, when I reach her age.

Many of her methods are applicable to urban spaces, though she discourages foraging from trees located less than 200m from a road. She also lays out how to harvest inner bark from parts of useful trees, this is unlikely to be possible or desirable in an urban setting. Removing bark from living trees will kill them. That said, when winter gales return to Amsterdam, I’ll be happy to find a few small fallen branches to experiment with.

Inspired by this book, tomorrow I’m planning to try willow basket and edible wreath weaving with fresh withies. For dinner, I’ll try to cook up some beech leaves and twigs, Italian style. I also learned how much willow is equivalent to 2 aspirin tablets – its about 6 – 8 inches of tendril or 10-15 catkins.  Overconsumption can cause unpleasant side effects.

The book is a quick read, has a study guide at the back to encourage practical learning and is packed with knowledge that is truly worth preserving.

I will never look at a Christmas tree in the same way again!

Here is a link to Linda’s foraging forum.

365 Frankendael day 4

A quick posting today… The plants are growing so quickly that it’s hard to keep up! Photos today of Stinging Nettle (Urticaria dioica, NL: Brandnetel) with Cleavers (Galium aparine, NL: Kleefkruid), Ribwort (Plantago lanceolata) and a lovely painting of White dead nettle (Lamium album) by fellow Urban Herbie, Elodie den Otter.

In the first photo you may be able to see Cleavers using our prickly friend as a support, to enable its own upward growth. For further information and links about Stinging Nettle, including a video on how to make nettle infusion, see my previous posting. These days it’s quite fashionable to eat nettles – the Italians have been doing it for millennia and nettles really do taste great – so there are hundreds of recipes around. I usually just throw a handful of chopped nettles into regular dishes such as ratatouille, it really beefs them up and to me this spring green tastes like an improved version of spinach. Here’s a link to a few recipes featured by the BBC.


Also today, Ribwort (Plantago lanceolata), which is so handy to remove the burning pain of nettle stings. As a child I was taught about Dock being used in the same way but these days I find Ribwort far more effective.


White Dead Nettle looks similar to the Stinging nettle but is in fact completely unrelated. This plant is just beginning to flower in Amsterdam and is often found growing alongside Stinging Nettle. Unlike Stinging nettle, this plant is best harvested whilst in flower. It has a multitude of traditional uses, ranging from easing sore throats to helping heal burns and eczema. Many thanks for the painting, Elodie!

What a waste!


Finding this discarded bunch of foraged ramsons, made me very sad yesterday. Not only did someone harvest the flowers of this wonderful wild herb but they also didn’t even eat them! I was even sadder to see them still on the ground, this morning. The flowers of wild garlic taste inferior to the leaves and by removing them, careless foragers prevent new seeds being formed so this bulbous plant can spread far and wide.

Please spread the word about how to forage responsibly so that everyone can enjoy herbal beauty and bounty in our cities, for generations to come.

365 Frankendael day 3

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is featured today. I wouldn’t say it is plentiful in the park but I noticed lots of plants, particularly at the base of large tree trunks and along the edges of woodland and hedges. It is just in flower at the moment, so very easy to identify, not only by the distinctive smell of garlic when the leaves are bruised but also by the tiny white flowers at the top of the plant. Garlic mustard is a favorite amongst foragers and can grow up to 120 cm in the right location.

This plant is a biennial and can provide year round nutritious greens, for salads or the cooking pot. All parts are edible. Even the roots can be eaten, they should be harvested just before flowering, but of course removing the whole plant will limit the foraging potential the following year as the plant will be unable to spread by seed.

I see lots of garlic mustard growing around Amsterdam. You are very likely to find it along the edges of canals, hedges and overgrown areas. Now is the best time to identify it.

Other plants, calling out to me today are:
Coltsfoot – starting to open its seed heads which have been turned down towards ground since last week,
Nettle – tops are ripe for harvesting at present, I used plantain to rub away the sings as I forgot my gloves again today!
Mentha x peperita blue balsam – no flowers until later in the year but the spicy, pungent burnt spice aroma of stroked leaves is ummatched.
Celandine – It carpets parts of the woodland area almost year round but it easiest to identify when it burst into flower, to announce the spring. The last few flowers remain now, especially beneath the trees of the Lime avenue. If you don’t know how to recognise this useful woodland herb, learn now as the foliage is so useful at most times of the year.

365 Frankendael day 2


This photo shows the narrow form of Plantain, known as Ribwort, with Ground ivy flower stems growing up through it.

Ribwort (Plantago lanceolata), is a very useful first aid herb. It is part of the plant family to which Psyllium belongs and shares it’s usefulness as a soother of mucous membranes. Amongst other things, it can be used as a simple insert in shoes, to ease tired aching feet and can be rubbed on grazes and insect stings as it releives pain. It was previously recommended as a plant to be added to the seedmix for pastureland, it is a favorite of sheep. Ribwort contains lots of mucilage, easily released by chewing. For more simple uses see Susun Weed link.

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) also known as groundsel or cat’s paw, was an age old remedy for stomach ailments, was used to clarify beer in the absence of hops, is useful for soothing chapped hands, tastes pungent and minty and is great raw or cooked. It is a favorite of birds and can apparently entice a rabbit to eat when is unwell and refuses all other food. Mrs Grieve’s Modern Herbal (from 1931) advises harvesting Groundsel along with Chickweed in the spring and summer, to dry and then feed to rabbits along with their straw in the winter.

The plant is a very successful annual, now renowned as a garden weed. Ground ivy, with its scalloped kidney shaped leaves, creeps across the ground, setting root at regular intervals and throwing up relatively tall flower stems (10 -20cm high) at this time of year. Today, purple ground ivy flowers looked stunning throughout the park. There are striking patches at the entrance closest to the garden centre and dotted throughout the less trampled grassland, notably next to the woodland area beside Frankendael Huis. This plant is definitely a must-try for foragers, provided you can find clean plants.

Lastly today, a photo of Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) which thrives in just a couple of spots in the park. I am always delighted when I see it in flower but at this time of year the plants are growing rapidly and the leaves are loaded with the aromatic oils, so prized by cooks.

Magnolia Petals: Pickles, Honey and more

Magnolia is a tree which I fall in love with again, every year. Everything about it enthralls me. From the graceful angles of the branches, the bark, exotic blooms to the glossy evergreen leaves. A huge magnolia in bloom is a show stopper. One such tree arches quietly over the terrace behind Huize Frankendael, in Amsterdam east. Hundreds of visitors must walk beneath it without giving the tree much thought, until in March or April it explodes into bloom. There is no other tree that I would rather sit beneath and gaze up through than that magnificent magnolia in spring!

FB_IMG_15516484401208236.jpg

Edible and Medicinal Magnolia Petals
The flowers of Magnolia trees are edible and medicinal. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Magnolia flowers are known as Xin yi hua and are associated with the lung and stomach meridians. I enjoy eating them fresh plucked each year and happily report that they taste fragrant and spicy. I can also report that when I eat Magnolia petal, my sinuses become clear, quite like magic.

Imagine a slightly rubbery super sized rose petal which clears the sinuses a little, when you bite into it and you are getting close to the mouth feel and flavour of a magnolia petal. I like them very much and because a little goes a long way with these large petals, I can certainly recommend them to other urban herb lovers. As you may know, via my Apprenticeship and walks, I teach how to harvest interesting herbs in towns and cities, in a safe and ethical way. This entails taking only a little, leaving no trace and really make the most of the harvest. Do contact me if you would like to know more – This is my passion!

Medicinal Bark
Fairly recent research suggests that Magnolia bark extract can help with oral health, stress reduction and several other disorders. In traditional medicine it is reportedly used as an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer agent, in the treatment of Alzheimer disease, depression, diabetes, and menopause. All Magnolia species varieties are considered to possess the same medicinal qualities and there are apparently no known side effects – although we know that someone somewhere, could be allergic to the plant, so please be cautious. Magnolia Bark Extract is widely available for sale and Magnolia bark is an ingredient in many traditional Chinese medicines including Hsiao-cheng-chi-tang, Wuu-Ji-San, Heii-san, Shimpi-to, Hangekouboku-to, Masinin-gan, Sai-boku-to, Syosaiko-to, Irei-to and Goshaku-san.

Japanese traditional medicine also prizes both the bark and flowers of Magnolia. Bark harvesting is not something suggested for the urban forager because it certainly leaves a trace and it is certainly not ethical.

magnolia-westerpark-liberation-day-2013
Magnolias in Westerpark

Stealthy Petal Plucking
When harvesting from perhaps the most beautiful of city trees, one would perhaps look both foolish and anti-social to pluck entire flowers. So I suggest that you don’t. Instead, I recommend that when stumbling upon a prime Magnolia specimen in bloom, and feeling the urge to eat it, you do the following:

1. After checking for unwanted observers, wander nonchalantly up to the tree. Are the blossoms within your reach? If not move on to another.
2. If so, reach up as if to smell the fragrance of a prime bloom, pull it gently to your nose with one hand, whilst deftly plucking a single petal from its base, with the other hand whilst simultaneously inhaling the spicy aroma.
3. Tuck the plucked petal in your pocket as you gently release the bloom with your other hand.
4. Move along to another flower, as if to compare its scent with the previous bloom. Repeat steps 1 to 3 until you have harvested three or four petals.

A magnolia flower can miss one petal without much issue. If two or more petals are plucked from one bloom, evidence of foraging shows and that is not the plan. So one petal from a flower, move to another, one more petal and so on. When you have three or four petals, you are done. That is enough to make something very tasty and useful and you will have increased your stealth foraging skills..

Magnolia flower
Untouched – Delicious

Favourite Trees
I tend to forage a handful of petals each year, from 6 favourite Magnolias which are dotted around east Amsterdam. They are all growing in public spaces so stealth foraging is required. I don’t harvest from them if other people are around because apart from it just looks silly. I also limit myself to plucking a petal from two flowers per tree. I first wrote about my love of Magnolia petals on 2012. Since then urban foraging has increased in popularity so I also am careful to only pluck from Magnolias which seem not to have been visited by other foragers.


Magnolia Petal Recipes
Things that I like to do with a precious handful of magnolia petals. I hope that you have a go and let me know how you get on in the comments.

Magnolia Petal Pickle
They can be pickled, old English style by simply filling a small jar with fresh petals and then completely filling the jar again with rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar with a little salt and sugar to balance the flavours. I don’t add sugar or salt so I guess my version is simply Magnolia petal vinegar – I don’t mind because it tastes good 🙂

Fermented Magnolia Petals
You may like to ferment them using a little salt and water, in the style of Sandor Katz.
I prefer to lay them in my handy small Japanese vegetable press. I then sprinkle with a pinch of salt and apply the gentle but consistent pressure of the Japanese press for about 3 hours. This produces a very light ferment and it draws out some of the water from the petals (which tastes good too). You can leave the pressure for a lot longer if you prefer, winding the contraption every few hours to ensure the petals are in fact under a little pressure and to encourage the process.

Magnolia Petal Honey
When I first tasted a Magnolia petal and felt its clearing effect on my sinuses, I decided to transfer the petals’ properties to honey. This is soooo simple to make. It creates something which my family and friends find delicious and I hope you will too. If the honey turns you off, try Agave syrup. It works very well but in my experience is less spreadable (being rather runny).

magnolia honey
Magnolia petals infusing in honey

How to Make Magnolia Petal Honey (or use Agave syrup)
1. Gather your petals.
2. I rarely wash magnolia petals because I only harvest clean looking ones, which are from way above the ground but unsoiled by birds. You may like to wash yours. If so, then dry them off.
3. Tear the clean, surface dry petals into a sterile small glass jar. I use dishwasher cleaned pesto jars for this sort of thing.
4. Covered completely with runny honey. Use a chop stick or knitting needle to loosen trapped air bubbles. You may need to release the air and top up with honey several times. The jar should be filled to the brim with honey. The air bubbles won’t all leave the honey but prodding with chopsticks, helps them to escape and thus reduces the risk of contamination.
5. When no more air bubbles are escaping and no more honey needs to be added, close the jar tightly with its lid.
6. The constituents of the petals will infuse into the honey over the following days and weeks but the honey will take on a delicious Magnolia aroma and taste within a few hours.
7. Eat in any honey way (smear on bread, add to smoothies, mix with a little vinegar for an elixir, etc) you choose or take a teaspoon now and them to help soothe anxiety, sore throats or respiratory congestion. I don’t bother to strain this honey as I like the petal crunch. You could strain after 6 weeks if you preferred. It seems a waste of those petals though.

Please note that the herbal honey may start to ferment after a while, due to the high water content in the petals. Keep an eye on the jar, if it starts to bubble, the lid must be loosened to avoid pressure building up and the glass jar exploding. Storing it in a cool dark location will help to preserve its shelf life. Eating it all up will also avoid the problem 🙂


I hope that you get a taste for Magnolia petals this year and have a try at infusing them in honey, agave syrup, vinegar, vodka or olive oil. This herb is so beautiful, so giving and so tasty – it would be a pity to miss the fun completely wouldn’t it? I was looking at my favourite Magnolia at twilight this evening. It will open its blooms very soon and I will be waiting and thanking it for every petal.


Do you like it?
Please do add a comment about your magnolia experiences at the foot of the page or fill in the contact form. I would love to hear how you get on with magnolia and what else you are keen to learn about!


Urban Herbology Online Apprenticeship
If you want to learn more about foraging and using herbs in towns and cities, take a look at my Apprenticeship Course. I have helped hundreds of wonderful people learn about Urban Herbology over the years and I would love to help you on your journey!

Japanese knotweed, sweet sour yoghurt.

I so enjoyed harvesting, cooking and eating Japanese knotweed today, for the first time in my life.

I found several patches of the plant locally and harvested using a small knife, in much the same way as you would asparagus, except above the ground. The more mature stems were hollow, younger ones were very like asparagus within. Some had thin stems, some fat. I harvested young shoots, about 6 to 8 inches long, took them home, stripped away the leaves and thoroughly washed the stems before chopping them and boiling for 5 minutes in a little water.

The taste was very rhubarby; tart, sour and in need of some sweet. Once cooled a little, I mashed the soft stewed stems with a little banana, homemade yoghurt, a dab of honey and a good pinch each of ground ginger and cinnamon. When combined to my liking, I served in a small bowl and garnished with torn basil leaves.

The outside of the knotweed was more fibrous than I had expected so next time, I shall either push the stewed stems through a fine sieve or pulverize them with a blender, before mixing with the other ingredients. Stringiness aside, this is a delicious dessert! Maida Silverwood’s book proposes freezing stewed knotweed and I shall certainly have a go at that, when I find more of it. I will also keep an eye on how the cut stems repair at my harvesting spot.


Please be aware of harvesting from clean untreated places (not the location shown above), the rules for rhizome disposal for this plant in your locality. In some countries it is a criminal offense to allow spread of the plant by careless disposal of the roots.

The roots were apparently used in ancient Chinese medicine for menstrual and post partum problems. It is certainly very astringent to taste and thus must have a drying, constricting effect on the body, at least to some extent.

I’ll do some research into the similarities with rhubarb and more historic medicinal uses. It is truly delicious and if you are a rhubarb fan I am quite certain you could also come to love Japanese knotweed.

Japanese knotweed

Japanese knotweed (polygonum cuspidatum) is an extremely invasive non-indigenous plant and gardeners who know it are generally distressed to find it on their patch. However, today I spotted this deliberately positioned specimen, growing happily in the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam. It’s even got an identification plate!

I once saw Japanese knotweed growing into a house which was being auctioned, yes into it, through the walls and under the floor! Needless to say, I didn’t make an offer to buy the place.

Seeing the plant reminded me that it is edible and apparently rather tasty too. According to the late Maida Silverman in her book, A City Herbal, it can be harvested and eaten in the same way as bamboo shoots, at this time of year. New York forager Steve Brill seems to like it, likening it’s taste to rhubarb. He also mentions it’s suitability as a companion plant, due to pesticide qualities. Personally, I don’t find the plant calls me to try it and I worry that by harvesting young shoots, the plant would further proliferate, in an attempt to survive. I hope I’m wrong because there is plenty of this plant growing in Amsterdam and I do love rhubarb crumble! What a great foraging plant this could be.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has tasted this plant. It is said to be quite tender, when cooked and to act as a gentle laxative. I’m also keen to know if harvesting, without pulling up the roots, would increase the plant’s chances of survival.

I wrote to Steve Brill about the harvesting issue. Here’s his reply…

On Apr 18, 2012 1:16 AM, “Steve Brill” wrote:
>
> Hi Lynn,
>
> Thanks for writing. As far as I can tell, it spreads wherever it can whether or not it’s harvested.
>
> Happy Foraging!
>

So knotweed crumble, here I come!