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Shop nowForaging in November and December: edible wild plants
Content manager, botanist and tree lover
Don't let short days and cold, damp weather put you off. Go foraging for a winter treat with these edible wild plants.
You'd expect to find nuts and seeds but look out for fresh, new leaves too. Here’s a short guide to our favourites.
Always take a good field guide with you and please follow our sustainable foraging guidelines, including only picking from plentiful sources and only foraging what you can identify with certainty.
Bullace (Prunus domestica)
Bullace is a wild variety of plum and is similar to damson. In some years the hedgerow can be straining from the weight of bullace fruits.
How to use it
The fruits can be used to make crumbles, jams and preserves, fruit wine and to make fruit liqueurs (similar to sloe gin).
What to look for
Small, oval fruits can vary in colour but are usually blue, purple or black. They tend to taste acidic until ripe. This is a great late season fruit as it ripens up to six weeks later than many others from October to November.
Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)
A common annual herb with rounded leaves that's considered by most gardeners to be a weed. It can grow through the winter, though usually stays in a compact rosette form close to the ground. Its leaves and flowers have a delicious, peppery, tangy flavour.
How to use it
Pick leaves from the middle of the rosette-like plant and wash well to get rid of any dust or grit. It's pepperiness is good in winter salads, especially when mixed with goat's cheese and beetroot. Or add it to soups, salsa and pesto.
What to look for
In winter, you'll often find it growing on bare soil in flower beds and vegetable patches.
Hop (Humulus lupulus)
A creeping, climbing plant in the same family as cannabis.
How to use it
All parts of the plant are edible at certain times of the year. Flowers from female plants (also called seed cones or strobiles) are used mainly as a flavouring and stability agent in beer. They have a bitter, zesty flavour. They can also be used to make teas, tinctures and infusions. Dried flowers can be stuffed inside pillows to induce sleep. Or use the plant to decorate your home.
What to look for
Look for it in hedgerows and clambering up small trees, fences and poles. Its papery green-yellow female flowers (strobiles) are ripe and ready to pick from mid-September and into winter.
Pine (Pinus species)
A good tree for winter foraging since both needles and seeds from various species of pine trees are edible.
How to use it
Collect the needles and the seeds. A tea extracted from pine needles is apparently high in vitamin C, making it a great anti-cold remedy. It also contains vitamin A and beta-carotene. Seeds can be dislodged from open pine cones by shaking them. Seeds can be eaten raw but are usually roasted or toasted.
What to look for
An evergreen coniferous tree but look for young trees as its easier to harvest pine needles. Make absolutely sure that you don’t accidentally harvest the needles from yew.
Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)
A favourite at this time of year, and a Christmas classic. Sweet chestnut trees were introduced to the UK by the Romans.
How to use it
The nuts can be baked, roasted, boiled or microwaved. Remember to score a cross in them to stop them from exploding when they are cooked. Once cooked and peeled they can be eaten as they are or used in desserts and stuffings. You can also candy them, puree them or store them in syrup.
What to look for
You’ll find the best crop at the foot of large established trees. Trees start dropping nuts from October and into late autumn and early winter.
