Spring is here and to celebrate, country lifestyle experts Humes Outfitters have devised a foraging guide to help identify the best natural produce the UK has to offer.

Foraging for ingredients can bring an abundance of benefits from added freshness, flavour and diversity in your cooking to the wellbeing benefits of feeling connected to nature. However, some background knowledge is essential to ensure you’re foraging in a safe and sustainable way.

To help with this, we’ve created a graphic displaying the best items to look for during spring and summer and provided some top tips for the budding forager:

Cow parsley/chervil (Anthriscus sylvestris)

Cow parsley is recommended for experienced foragers, not because it’s hard to find but because it’s very similar in appearance to poisonous hemlock. There are a few ways to tell the two apart — for example, cow parsley leaves are lighter in colour, more matte, and less feathery in appearance. However, the easiest way is to give them a sniff. Cow parsley will smell like parsley, whereas hemlock will smell unpleasant. It’s worth the effort though, because all parts of the plant can be used for cooking, and when picked in spring before the plant flowers, the leaves will give a strong parsley flavour to dishes.

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum)

Wild garlic is another easy-to-forage plant that is very commonly found carpeting the UK’s woodland in spring. You may even smell it before you see it, with its slightly warm and green garlicky scent — this can help distinguish it from Lily of the Valley, which looks similar but can be poisonous. Simply pick the healthiest-looking leaves you can find for the best flavour and be sure to leave the bulb intact, so the plant grows back next year. It can be added to any dish that calls for garlic, but the most common wild garlic recipe is pesto — simply grind to paste and add olive oil, lemon, pine nuts, and parmesan. You can also eat the buds, flowers, seeds, and even bulbs of wild garlic.

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Hawthorn is a UK native tree that provides many medicinal benefits, including lowering blood pressure and improving heart health. It’s also known as the May Day tree because it flowers in May, but in April, it’s the flower buds and shoots you want to look out for. Historically these used to be a common foraging snack for children and so were referred to as ‘bread and cheese’. These can be simply washed and eaten raw, added to salads, or made into a syrup or jam to enjoy. Hawthorn berries (also known as haws) are another foragable part of the tree that will be ready to pick in autumn.

Foraging tips and advice

Always take care when foraging as there are plants and fungi found in the wild that can be harmful or even poisonous to humans, even here in the UK. Identify your plants carefully and cross reference them with a guide or online resource (you can look them up on the RHS, for example).
Remember to wash foraged items thoroughly, as most of what is delicious to us is also delicious to an array of insects too. Luckily, most hiding creepy crawlies can be removed from the surface of your foragables simply by running each item under very cold water, but you should keep an eye out for signs of burrowing or eggs too and discard items with these.
It’s important to practice responsible foraging too, and only take enough for yourself to use. Not only is this fair for other foragers, but it ensures the plant will continue to provide in the future. Keep an eye out for signposts when foraging, too, as it may be discouraged in certain areas for safety or conservation purposes, and never forage on private land unless you have permission.
As with any outdoor adventure, it’s crucial to wear sensible footwear and clothing, especially when you consider how changeable the British weather can be! Even if it’s sunny, pack some warm layers and waterproofs so you aren’t caught short and consider wearing a pair of hiking boots. Even common forage like blackberries have thorns or other defences, so you might also want to take gardening gloves, sanitiser, and perhaps a small first aid kit.

For more information and the full list of the best ingredients to forage from March- August, please visit: https://www.ahume.co.uk/blog/spring-summer-foraging-guide-what-plants-to-look-for-and-where-to-find-them/