A Forager's Show & Tell
Having went on an enlightening forage last summer in Italy with ‘master forager’ Beatrice Calia, aka l’Erbana, we learned so much about the wild plants that are edible around her home in the Bolognese hills in Emilia Romagna. Enthused about all of this knowledge we gained about wild plants we decided to lay it all out for you in this wild plant ‘show and tell’ guide
In here are ideas to step up your cooking game in a healthy, creative and sustainable way, along with teas, home remedies and other tips and tricks for unique solutions to problems in a pinch. Or, at least, it is an interesting way to learn how our ancestors got by with what they had in their ‘backyard’ and neighboring fields and forests.
Whether you’re curious about edible dandelion, spring greens, nasturtium flowers or wild plums, here are plants we literally stumbled upon with Beatrice Calia while walking around her house last summer.
Wild Fruits and Vegetables
Depending on the time of the year, you can find an array of wild fruits and vegetables growing in the wild.
Beatrice is showing here that this black dot on this flower is a sign of a wild carrot that is growing.
Here are some wild raspberries which we found when walking around Beatrice’s home last summer.
Spice Up Your Salads with These Wild Plants
Keep your eye out for these wild plants to enrich your diet with spring greens.
Beatrice here is showing an edible dandelion and why in Italy the leaf is called ‘dente del leone’, or tooth of a lion, due to its shape.
Often confused with dandelion is the sonchus, a common roadside plant which you can eat, like the edible dandelion. There you go, backyard weeds that you can cook with, like nettle which we talked about in our last blog article along with a fresh pasta recipe made with nettles. Why not try the same recipe with sonchus?…
Cook a Whole Meal Around These Wild Plants
Transform your cooking to a forager kitchen with these plants that are used in many dishes.
The plant is farinello in Italian which is named as such because one side feels soft like farina, or flour, is also known as wild spinach because when cooked it tastes like spinach. Instead, in English it is called goosefoot since the shape of the leaf reminded people of a the bird’s foot. Funny how different cultures perceive the same plant differently, huh?
If you are followers of our blog, you should be an expert in this plant by now: nettles! Check out this nettle pasta recipe here.
This is a borragine, or borage plant, whose leaves can be cooked up fast to use as filling for ravioli, or other stuffed pastas, altrimenti appassiscono velocemente, le puoi utilizzare nei ripieni di tortelloni o ravioli e nelle minestre or give flavor to other dishes.
At press time of this article, inspired by our forager food theme, Vero’s own Jacqueline Mitchell foraged and found in a local vineyard in Alba, Italy, some red poppy greens which she will cook to add flavor to a frittata and savory pie.
Add Flavor to Your Dishes with These Wild Food Plants
Give your ordinary go-to dishes some ‘oomph’ using this plants which unique dashes of flavor and color.
Nigella plant’s seeds taste like strawberry - amazing! Beatrice recommends sprinkling them over a salad.
Edible flowers give a dish an exotic flair, like these calandrinia wildflowers.
Here Beatrice came across wild fennel frond which gives a unique licorice like flavor to salads and dishes.
How can a summer garden not have a sunflower? Besides eating sunflower seeds, they say their stalks are great for cooking too.
Here is some red basil, also known as purple basik, growing wild in Beatrice’s garden,
Here is some wild garlic, which is a sign that there are ramps wild close by. We all know many ways to use garlic, and wild ramps are great for giving flavor to a salad, also for making a flavorful pesto.
Here is a wild mint plant growing outside the door of Beatrice’s home. The flowers is a great source of pollen for bees.
There’s no lack of wild thyme in Beatrice’s garden!
Calling Herbal Tea Lovers
Here are some plants, even found in cracks of sidewalks, that can make a soothing herbal tea.
Beatrice is showing us here wild mentuccia, also known as Roman mint, thanks to the Roman tradition of adding mint when cooking artichokes. It is likened to spearmint and is great as a tea. You find it growing wild in many places in Italy.
Here’s tiglio, or linden, used as an herbal tea it can help you to sleep; you can also eat its flowers.
Wild Plants in Spirits
Wild plants are key ingredients in cocktails and many alcoholic spirits, from bitters to amaro to limoncello, you name it! Here are a few we came across when foraging with Beatrice,
Beatrice here is enjoying the smell of the assenzio wild plant in her garden, known as wormwood, or in latin artemisia absinthium. Can you guess what spirit it is an ingredient in?… Absinthe!
The cedro leaf has a citrusy, lemon-like scent and is used to make a liquor in Italy.
Creative Home Remedies
Wild plants were the main source for medicine before the modern era, and can still be used today to treat many ailments.
Beatrice found some Bach flowers which are used as a remedy for when you are feeling the blues.
Here Beatrice is showing us malva, a natural remedy for stomach aches, as she shared in our interview with her.
Household Necessities
Creative solutions were found using plants, usually by women who were traditionally responsible for the day-to-day tasks of chores around the house.
Plantago major is not only a food source, as it is rich in minerals, but was used to sew and make clothing, thanks to the string that is inside the ‘spine’ of the leaf. It also can be used to treat insect bites.
This santa maria plant, Beatrice points out, can be used as a band aid.
The flower of this cardo plant, found along the sidewalk, was used as a lint brush.
Here is the tasso barbasso plant or Great Mullein plant, which we spilled the beans on in our first article about foraging with Beatrice. It is used for many creative purposes, from toilet paper to helping improve a man’s virility,
We Forage For You
From natural wine to organic extra virgin olive oil, we seek out unique and unknown grape varieties, olive oil cultivars from farms tucked away in the corners of the earth to bring authentic, tasty wines and olive oils that are not only delicious but better for you.
Here is just a sampling of what we offer. If you work in the wine and food industry, contact us to find out more about the wild and scares wines and olive oils we offer.
And for the rest of you out there seeking a unique and natural wine and olive oil to enjoy yourself or gift, check out our online store as well as our wine club.