Identify, harvest and prepare wild herbs

Collecting wild herbs is in vogue, either on a foray through the field, forest or meadow. Some people see wild plants only as weeds. Connoisseurs use the vital substance-rich wild herbs for healthy cooking. Especially in spring, when the garden is still short of fresh greenery, nature offers a rich variety. In most cases, you don’t have to walk far to collect edible wild herbs and medicinal herbs, just look around a bit. The best places to gather wild herbs are far enough away from roads, fields, and orchards where spraying may be taking place.

Which wild herbs are edible?

• Chickweed (harvest of leaves: March to October)
• Creeping Jenny (harvest of leaves: April to August)
• Daisies (harvest of leaves and flowers: February to September)
• Dandelion (harvest of leaves: February to May, harvest of flowers: April to July)
• Garlic mustard (harvest of leaves: March to May)
• Goutweed (harvest of leaves: March to May)
• Ribwort (harvest of leaves: March to May)
• Sorrel (harvest of leaves: March/April)
• Stinging nettle (harvest of leaves: March to May)
• White deadnettle (harvest of leaves: February to April)
• Wild garlic (harvest of the leaves: March/April)

Determine wild herbs correctly

The most important rule when collecting wild herbs is: Only collect what you really know and can identify! With nettles, dandelions and creeping Jenny, you are usually on the safe side, even with garlic mustard a mix-up is hardly imaginable. Caraway and cow parsley are not so easy to distinguish from poisonous doppelgangers such as fool’s parsley, even by experts. Without botanical knowledge, it is better to leave them alone, especially since cultivated garden chervil and cumin have more delicate aromas. There is also a risk of confusion with wild garlic: the poisonous lily of the valley and meadow saffron have very similar leaves, but do not exude the scent of garlic. Here, too, you are on the safe side if you grow the edible wild herbs in your own garden.

Tips for collecting wild herbs

Whether in nature or in the garden: When harvesting wild herbs, you should prefer young shoots if possible. No problem in spring, but in summer the choice is significantly limited. As soon as wild garlic develops its first flowers, the leaves become tough and the mild garlic aroma becomes quite intrusive. Purslane and pimpinelle, on the other hand, can be cut several times. Here, too, the following applies: not only to protect nature, but also because most wild herbs wilt quickly and lose their flavor and valuable ingredients, you should only ever collect as much as you can use.

Portrait of edible wild herbs

Cowslip

Cowslip can be divided into the common cowslip (Primula veris) with golden-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers and the oxlip (Primula elatior) with somewhat paler calyxes and a lighter fragrance. Young leaves taste piquantly nutty, with an anise-like note. Unfortunately, both heralds of spring have become rare due to over-fertilization and are therefore protected. However, establishment of purchased plants is fairly easy. Ants carry away the seeds and the plants spread rapidly in a place with loamy, moist soil.

Deadnettle

White deadnettle (Lamium album) is the most common species of deadnettle. Children love to suck the honey-sweet nectar from the flowers. The wild plants grow in nutrient-rich soils, often among goutweed and groundsel. Red deadnettles form sprawling clumps, making them a wonderful splash of color in less-used corners of the garden. In spring, pick the whole shoots, later only the tips or young leaves. For harvesting you do not need gloves, the stems and leaves do not burn

Sorrel

Watercress grows in cool springs and clean streams. These are usually under nature conservation, so collecting there is taboo! However, cultivation is also successful in a large tub or well trough, ideally under a dripping tap. And unlike wild harvesting, any risk of confusion with bitter bittercress is eliminated. The round leaves contain abundant healthy mustard oils and lend a horseradish-like pungency to salads, soups and sauces. So dose sparingly! When it comes to vitamin C content, watercress also trumps all other wild herbs.

Stinging nettle

The stinging nettle is considered a natural superfood. The leaves provide valuable vegetable protein, a variety of vitamins and minerals, especially iron, and other plant compounds that strengthen the immune system and inhibit inflammation. The wild herbs defend themselves with numerous stinging hairs, which are mainly located on the underside of the leaves. Therefore, sturdy gloves are part of the basic equipment when harvesting. Before further processing, for example to wild herb salad, lay out the shoots on a board or cloth and gently roll over them several times with a rolling pin. This breaks off the stinging hairs and you can prepare the leaves without painful skin irritations.

Watercress

Watercress grows in cool springs and clean streams. These are usually under nature conservation, so collecting there is taboo! However, cultivation is also successful in a large tub or well trough, ideally under a dripping tap. And unlike wild harvesting, any risk of confusion with bitter bittercress is eliminated. The round leaves contain abundant healthy mustard oils and lend a horseradish-like pungency to salads, soups and sauces. So dose sparingly! When it comes to vitamin C content, watercress also trumps all other wild herbs.

Wild garlic

Even though wild garlic is usually found en masse in nature: picking is allowed, digging is not! Nice neighbors, however, are happy to hand over a few surplus plants or fresh bulbs from their own gardens. Potted wild garlic is also available from mail-order nurseries. Wild garlic quickly takes root under deciduous shrubs. The best time to plant is in March. Two to three plants are sufficient as a basis for your own wild garlic stock. At the planting site, rake in some algal lime and a few shovels of hoop compost beforehand.

Grow wild herbs in the garden

Why put on your hiking boots when you can easily grow wild herbs in your garden bed or on your patio? This works not only for meadow herbs such as sorrel or yarrow, but even for watercress, which otherwise only grows in clear springs and streams. Daisies and creeping Jenny grow without any intervention on your part. All you have to do is give them a patch of lawn or a corner of the garden fence that is hardly used anyway.

What wild herbs are suitable for the garden?

• Cowslip is one of the first early bloomers. Young leaves are enjoyed in salads, and the flowers are used to garnish desserts or make tea.
• Creeping Jenny with white-colored foliage is a rarity. The garden selection does not differ in taste from the wild variety.
• Purslane has a refreshing, slightly salty taste. Young rosettes are eaten raw in salad or herb curd, older ones are steamed in butter.
• Wood sorrel also prefers a shady spot in the garden. The leaflets are more tender than those of meadow clover and lemony-sour – perfect for herb butter or wild herb salads.
• Garlic mustard is widespread and likes to seed itself. Leaves and flowers have a gentle garlic scent.
• Pimpinelle, or lesser meadow-head, grows in the meadow and in any garden soil. The serrated leaflets add a fresh cucumber flavor to yogurt sauces.
• Yarrow can easily be grown on a wild herb leadow.

How to prepare wild herbs?

To give the body new energy after the long winter break, a spring cure with wild herbs has proven itself. But not only wild herb smoothies, but also salads and soups from the aromatic wild plants bring new momentum. A classic is homemade wild garlic oil, which keeps for several months in a dark, cool place. The leaves of the daisy can be picked almost all year round and prepared like lamb’s lettuce. They taste wonderful mixed with potato salad. The edible flowers are a great eye-catcher in the salad.

Wild herb salad

Ingredients

• 150 g lettuce
• 100 g wild herbs (for example goutweed, dandelion)
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 tablespoon multivitamin juice
• salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons of nuts or seeds
• 1 handful of wild herb flowers

Preparation

Wash and clean lettuce and wild herbs and pluck or cut into coarse strips. Mix in a bowl. Mix vinegar, oil, sour cream and multivitamin juice to a dressing, season with salt and pepper and marinate the salad in it. Roast nuts or seeds in a pan. Toss with the flowers over the salad.

Wild herb smoothie

Ingredients

• 150 g wild herbs (for example nettles, goutweed, chickweed)
• 2 bananas
• 1 apple
• juice of ½ lemon
• 100-200 ml water or juice as needed

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until the green smoothie with wild herbs reaches a creamy consistency.

Wild herb soup

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 liter vegetable or meat broth
• 150 g wild herbs
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons crème fraîche

Preparation

Peel and chop the onion. Melt butter in a pot, heat onions in it. Dust with flour and let sweat. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add finely chopped wild herbs and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper and crème fraîche. If desired, you can still puree the wild herb soup.

Wild herb pesto

Ingredients

• 250 g wild herbs (for example nettles, goutweed, wild garlic)
• 30 g nuts
• 30 g parmesan
• 150 ml olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt

Preparation

Wash and clean the wild herbs and chop them very finely with a chopping knife. Roast nuts in a pan and chop. Grate the Parmesan cheese. Mix all ingredients to a pesto. Pour the wild herb pesto into jars and cover with a little oil. It tastes good with pasta or as a spread.