Foraging Wild Food -UK

Blackberries and Rowan Berries

Foraging plants is legal in the UK but we can't just go out and collect firewood- it's important to ask the landowner's permission for wood; anything foraged cannot be sold either. Not all Pagan's eat wild food, in fact when I look back to various Pagan groups I've been part of and people I've known, I can't remember any other foragers. I think it's something found more among countryside people. I started to learn about wild food mainly to supplement my diet. There are different plants that are really good for us- and free- if some effort is put in. Rosehips contain vitamin C, yet boiling them into a syrup or jam can potentially destroy the nutrients. They also contain a lot of hairs so preparation needs to include a filter to remove these so they don't get stuck in anyone's throat. It wouldn't be a soothing winter syrup if that happened. The rosehip seeds also contain cyanide- but in similar quantities to apple seed, which isn't actually very much. I read somewhere that, decades ago, apple trees were no longer planted in the grounds of asylums and prisons in order to prevent inmates from overdosing on the seeds, yet this is now said to be hard to do and a large quantity of seed would be required in order to cause harm.

Acorns are also edible- but contain bitter tannins which need to be soaked out before use. Oak leaves can be added to a bland wine to incorporate tannins for better flavour and a wine can be made from oak leaves as well.

I'd say I'm a 'beginner to intermediate' when it comes to foraging. I make wines and preserves from what I find, or just a fruit sponge cake. Sometimes I'll preserve blackberries in rum, other times (more often) I just pop everything into the freezer after washing it. For those who are put off by the bugs and wyrms found in some of these fruits and flowers- they can also be used in art and decoration, either by drying, or threading into strings/necklaces. Blackberries make a wonderful 'instant' ink or purple-tinged 'watercolour' paint. Pagans who follow a path of Witchcraft or who use natural items as part of an alter, are aware that some plants and barks can produce dyes and inks for fabric, or that certain seeds and nuts have ceremonial value.

Left; Rowan berries from the Rowan tree also known as Mountain Ash. These can be made into a jam, which is what I'm doing this week with these ones. I collected just over a pint of these and bought a bag of jam sugar to help the process. There are apple trees growing by the side of the roads here, as if someone had thrown apple cores out of their car window twenty years ago and now we have this discreet orchard to enjoy. Even better if a bird dropped the seed. 

Never strip a tree or plant of it's produce, always leave some for the wildlife and for possible seeds to grow. I took my rowan hoard from three or four trees and only what I could easily reach.

Berries like this are nice if strung onto thread using a sewing needle, juniper berries (from the herb and spice section of your supermarket) are also easily threaded and both make nice decorations. The brighter ones would be great added to a Yuletide wreath or table decoration to give a bit of cheer through the winter months. Our ancestors did not have multicolour fairy lights or bright tinsel and so on, natural decorations would have been important and they have a limited availability. Sometimes it can be a case of 'blink and you'll miss it.' Gather a respectful amount when you can, wash as soon as possible and then either get it prepared or add to fridge/freezer for later. Many fruits benefit from being frozen as they break down once defrosted which makes for easier cooking. Remember there can be a lot of natural sugars in fruits.

Left; dandelion flowerheads being steeped in hot water and left overnight. Some people remove all of the green parts, viewing them as too bitter. I don't mind. 

The dandelion is my favourite 'weed'. I am currently growing a pink flowered version from seed. The victorians would dig up lawns to plant rows of dandelions. The whole plant is edible but it is a diuretic, meaning it will make you pee if you consume enough, especially as a tea. Dandelion is surprisingly nutritious.

I made 'Dandelion honey' from the above concoction, which is vegan and has no honey in it - it's actually a syrup that tastes like honey. I used dark sugar in the hopes that my syrup would be a bit darker.


It worked and had a lovely gold glitter to it, which I'm guessing was the pollen from the dandelion flowers. There was a slight taste from the dark sugar but overall it tasted of honey, which is what the flower wine is like.

dandelion honey

Homebrewing is easy but has it's complexities and although many Pagans are fond of mead (it can be a bit of a cliche), brewing is not something exclusive to Pagans so I will not give guidelines on here. I will add a couple of photos of the blackberry and dandelion wine I started...

Top image, previously frozen blackberries from the year before and a good amount of dandelion petals from my garden. I made a point of removing the green parts. Bottom image; the brew during the early fermenting stage, I add chopped lemons instead of vitamin C tablets because the yeast needs this as part of the process, along with sugar and warmth. The liquid is strained off and placed into an airlocked jar over around a year. I brew slowly from scratch, no ready made kits or chemicals. The kit can be bought cheaply and wine or beer bottles reused to store the alcohol when it's ready, all being well.

selfie from a recent foraging walk during a storm

One of the things I never forage are mushrooms and fungi. There are far too many kinds and so many are poisonous. On the left here are some fungi I saw earlier in the year, I've no idea what these are called or if they are edible or not. There are animals and other creatures in these woods that may eat them or live in them. Not being a huge fan of mushrooms in food, it's likely I'll never learn a great deal about them. Feel free to comment if you know what these are!

A great deal of wild foods can be added to food with little preparation. Certain leaves and flowers can be added raw to salads, others can be chopped and added to steamed vegetables or stir frys. Some could be included with a smoothie in the way we might add a herb or spice. This could be done for flavour, for colour or for nutrition. Always make sure you know what you are eating and handling. Avoid plants that could be contaminated by pesticides, disease, road pollution and too many bugs.


A great source of information is the eatweeds website.

Here's another interesting wild food site in the UK, worth looking at for it's photos and descriptions of plants.


Blog images taken by myself on Nokia mobile, Volk B 2019