Into the Wild — Edible Plants

The nature and our surroundings are filled with edible and nutritious plants and weeds. Foraging for food ourselves can give a sense of nearness to the nature, and offer surprising gastronomic experiences. Food Studio has been out gathering some of what the nature has to offer right now. This is a guide to some of the plants you can find, and our top tips to what to do with it.

Grows on bushes and trees up to 7m high. The flowerheads are often used to make elderberry cordial, dried and brewed as tea or dipped in batter and fried. Elderberries are in season in September and are often used for jelly.

Elderflower syrup for cordial:

20-30 elderflower flowerheads
2 lemons
1 liter of water
650 grams of sugar
2 tablespoon citric acid

Boil water, sugar and citric acid. Pour over the elderflowers and sliced lemons. Refrigerate and leave it for 3 days before filtering. Serve over ice mixed with still or sparkling water.

Wood sorrel can be used as is in salads or as garnish for meat, fish and desserts. When heated, it loses its fresh, green color. The taste is fresh and slightly acidic. It grows in shaded areas in deciduous and spruce forests.

Rhubarb contains oxalic and malic acid, and has a sour taste. It is best harvested in June, when the stems are slimmer and more tender. It is often used for desserts like soup, compote and tarts, or eaten fresh dipped in sugar. The leaves can be used for wrapping in meat when cooking at a low temperature, for example in the oven, on the barbeque or in a cooking pit.

Rhubarb soup:

250 g rhubarb cut in pieces of 1-2 cm
125 g sugar
350 g water
1 vanilla pod

Ca 5 g corn starch (maizena)
25 g cold water

Put the rhubarb, sugar and water in a pan and bring to a boil without stirring it. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Sift the soup into another pan and bring to a boil. Add the corn starch dissolved in cold water and boil for a minute. Cool down and serve ice cold for dessert, try with sliced strawberries and ice cream, or whipped sour cream.

Nettles have a strong association with human habitation and buildings. Human and animal waste may be responsible for elevated levels of phosphate and nitrogen in the soil, providing an ideal environment for stinging nettles.
It tastes best when it is young and the leaves are fresh. To make it produce fresh shoots during summer you can prune the plant, it will then continue to give fresh shoots.

Nettle Pesto:

70 grams of Nettle shoots
3,5 dl olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 dl lemon juice (slightly less than one lemon)
100 g of an aged Norwegian cheese/ Parmesan.

Mix nettle, oil, salt and lemon in a food processor and stir in grated cheese in the end.

Plantago major grows in lawns and fields and along roadsides. It is one of the most abundant and widely distributed medicinal crops in the world. A poultice of the leaves can be applied to wounds, stings, and sores in order to facilitate healing and prevent infection.

Broadleaf plantain is also a highly nutritious wild edible, which is high in calcium and vitamins A, C, and K. The young, tender leaves can be eaten raw, and the older, stringier leaves can be boiled in stews and eaten.

The leaves can be dried and used for tea. Sweet berries that are best eaten fresh, for example served with elderflower cream.

Elderflower cream:

400ml heavy/double cream
50g icing sugar
3 – 4 tbsp elderflower cordial

Place the cream and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat to soft peaks using an electric, or hand whisk. Carefully fold in the elderflower cordial to taste. Serve with freshly picked wild strawberries.