Top tips for beginner foragers

What are the most important things to know as a beginner forager?

Never forget the key rule - it doesn't go in your mouth unless you're 100% certain of a correct ID and you definitely know it's edible. It’s not enough to think you’re right, you have to know! You need to have a zero-risk tolerance approach to this. As a beginner, you don’t know what you don’t know….by that I mean that you might know what a certain plant looks like, but do you know all the things that look like it that aren’t edible? When you start foraging, it’s so important to first become familiar with the deadly and toxic plants in the UK so that you can avoid them. 

It's really important to use your senses to help with plant identification, the feel or smell of a leaf can be very distinctive and confirm a visual ID. However, as above, never use taste to identify plants, that's a dangerous game to be playing! You alone are responsible for what you eat, so take your time and be patient, you might need to observe a plant through a few seasons before you're ready to pick it. 

For reference, the two most deadly plants in the UK (hemlock and hemlock water dropwort) are in the Carrot family, which includes things like cow parsley, angelica, wild carrot and wild parsnip. As a beginner, definitely AVOID any plant in the carrot family, that looks like cow parsley (which looks very similar to deadly hemlock), or has flat parsley or celery or coriander-looking leaves. 

When introducing new foods into your diet, do so gradually and in small amounts. Don’t overdo it, be moderate and use common sense. Some people will react to certain things that others won’t, and your body might react unexpectedly. Ask me about the incident with 3 cornered leek….! You won't know what it was you reacted to if you've tried lots of new things all at once. 

Take personal responsibility for your learning, and take it slow, foraging is a continual process of learning and exploration. Use reliable reference sources, and cross reference too, there's a lot of misinformation out there!

Processing foraged food can be very time-consuming! It’s one thing to gather a big basket of wild greens but it’s a total waste if you let them rot in the fridge. When you’re foraging, only take what you need & will actually use.

Even experienced foragers make mistakes! It’s really good practice to spread out your pickings once you get home and have a good sift through to make sure that everything in your basket is edible and that no poisonous nasties have snuck in. This is especially important with something like wild garlic, which generally has several toxic plants growing in among it. 

I am not a qualified medical herbalist so am not qualified to answer any medical questions. If you're trying to conceive, are pregnant or breast-feeding, or have health issues such as low or high blood pressure, kidney stones, are on blood thinners, heart or any other type of medication etc, be aware that some wild plants are contraindicated in varying circumstances and you should talk to a qualified medical practitioner or herbalist before trying home remedies. 

What plants should I forage as a beginner?

The best wild plants to start with are those with which you're already familiar and which don't have poisonous lookalikes. Focus on a few such as dandelion, cleavers, nettles etc which are common, familiar and abundant. Get to know them really well; sit with them, watch them through the seasons, pull them apart and look at them through a magnifying lens, try out different recipes etc.  Let these plants help you to notice nature and to rekindle a connection to the natural world which so many of us have lost. 

Pick only to 'thin abundance'. If there isn't much of a plant around, just leave it be! Even better, help it to spread its seed and grow the plant population.

‘Does it always look like that?’ is a question I get asked a lot, and I recall wanting that certainty when I was learning too, but you need to know that there’s no ‘always’ or ‘never’ in nature. Plants look different at different stages of growth and in different environments, if they’re under stress or in sun or shade for example and this will become apparent once you start observing familiar plants through the year. 

Most plants are best foraged on a warm dry day after the dew has dried up, especially flowers. Dandelion for example becomes more bitter as the day goes on so is best picked in the morning. Some leaves are really only edible when they're very young, and certainly before the plant flowers. You will learn these nuances as you become more experienced. As a beginner, focus on the above ground parts of plants and leave thinking about foraging roots for when you're more experienced. 

Ask yourself if it's the right time of year to be picking the particular plant. For example, picking nettles in early spring is great as it's before they've flowered (do not harvest nettle leaves after the plant has flowered), but in May you need to check under the leaves for Cuckoo spit, which is caterpillar eggs, and those plants need to be left alone. 

Don't pick a plant if you don't know what it is, it might be rare and some plants shouldn't be handled without gloves. 

It’s important to forage sustainably & responsibly but what does that mean in practice? 

I think a lot of it’s common sense if you care about the environment and don’t want to be a human hoover, but think about it with respect to the habitat you’re in and the plant you’re foraging. Take care not to damage habitats or trample plants underfoot, pick a little here and there to avoid overstressing one location, diversify what and where you're foraging. Don’t kill plants by uprooting or taking too much from one plant. Responsible foraging isn’t the same for every plant, see next point. Think about & take action on how you can give back to nature.....help plant populations by spreading their seeds and mowing your garden less, getting involved in community planting projects, planting window boxes, supporting plant and fungi charity Plantlife etc.

Only pick where there is abundance of a particular plant and leave plenty behind. The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI)’s code states that picking 1 in 20 is about the right proportion, but it does depend on a species-by-species view and some plants survive picking much better than others so you'll need to learn this as you go along. We are unlikely to damage the populations of nettles, plantain, dandelions etc by using their aerial parts for our personal consumption. Things like elderflower are better known and more widely picked, so we need to collectively be more restrained with those plants.

Understanding the legality of foraging ie what & where you can forage  

• Where you have legal permission to be on the land, you have a common law right to collect the four Fs for personal consumption, as long as they are growing wild (ie not orchards), which are fruit, fungi, foliage and flowers. 

• It is illegal to uproot any plant or sell commercially without the landowner's permission.

• Be aware of local bylaws which purport to remove the common law right (whether or not they actually do is debatable but it's probably not a conversation you want to have with an angry ranger on a nice afternoon out foraging!). Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) have their own rules & restrictions, and some rare plants are protected species. The Woodland Trust has published guidance about foraging on its land. 

• Land made accessible by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW) doesn't confer the right to collect wild food unless it existed before the land was registered under the act. Yes I know, this is starting to get a bit complicated…

Know the land where you're foraging. Is it contaminated in any way, by chemicals, or was it previously a mine or a landfill site? Avoid areas of heavy dog walking, at least pick above dog height, and try and avoid picking next to busy roads or around farmland which might have been heavily sprayed. Beware of picking anything in and around streams where the water might contain liver fluke from cattle & sheep, note this can be a particular issue with raw watercress. 

Foraging book recommendations

It's important to have good reference books, and to use several different books when you are learning to ID plants. Here are some of my favourite foraging books:

• The First Time Forager by Andy Hamilton, it's portable, clear and well laid out. 

• The Forager's Calendar and River Cottage Handbook No7 Hedgerow by John Wright

• The Forager Handbook by Miles Irving. Miles has been a commercial forager for many years and this is a great and comprehensive reference book to keep at home.

• Wild Food - A Complete Guide for Foragers by Roger Phillips, one of the early writers about wild food. 

• Food for Free - Richard Mabey - written in 1972, this is a great reference book.

• The Eatweeds Cookbook by Robin Harford

• Free Food by Mo Wilde, a fantastic detailed book by one of the most experienced foragers in UK

• Hedgerow Medicine by Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal

• The Wildflower Key by Francis Rose

If you'd like some guidance as you build your confidence, why don't you join me on one of my foraging walks, or call me on 07780 608016 to discuss a private session.