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Welcome to the Celtnet guide to wild foods. As this recipe site has grown it has become obvious that to allow people to replicate some of the more ancient recipes on this site (especially from the Ancient, Roman and Medieval periods it is necessary to list modern alternatives but also to produce a guide so that the curious can find the original (often wild) ingredients for themselves. These pages are an attempt at bringing all these potentially useful and often forgotten wild foods together into one place. To use this guide simply click on the first letter of your term above or below. Alternativey why not just browse through the terms. You may well find something that surprises you! This page covers wild foods beginning with the letter 'H' and includes both common and scientific names. |
Below, you will find an example wild food entry produced randomly from our database:
Wild Food Entry For: PignutThis is the description page for Pignut (Conopodium majus) and includes a description as well as an image, if available and a selection of recipes from this site that relates to the wild foodstuff: Pignut.  The Pignut, Conopodium majus, (also known as earthnut and earth chestnut) is a slender perennial of the Umbelliferae (carrot) family. It has an erect, slightly-ridged stem that grows from between 25cm up to 74cm (though on average it will be about 40cm high). It has pinnate leaves (two or three paired leaflets and a terminal leaflet all derived from a common stem) which are generally more delicate than the leaves of other members of this family. In common with other members of this family the plant bears a large number of small flowers bourne on unbels (umbrella-like structures of stalks). It is fairly common in grass verges, open woodland, sandy heaths and rough grassland and tends to prefer slightly acid soils, though it is common through most of the British Isles. The plant (when grown from seed) develops a brown tuber at its root, which is edible and tastes something like a nutty parsnip. In the past the pignut used to be grubbed up by pigs and people alike, and my mother recalles grubbing it up to eat as a child, though the practice now seems to have died out. The pignut itself is aroud the size and shape of a shelled hazelnut (see image, above) but it cannot be pulled up as the stem will snap. Rather, one has to use a knife or a finger to follow the root underground to discover the tuber. The pignut itself has a thin skin that can easily be scraped away to reveal the white flesh inside. This can be eaten raw or can be boiled in the same manner as parsnips. Like most wild flowers you shouldn't really go around grubbing-up pignuts. Rather you should collect the seed and plant them in your own garden. Take note that if you're not certain of what a pignut looks like it can resemble toxic plants such fools' parsley Aethusa cynapium and hemlock Conium maculatum. However, these days you can can source seeds for this plant from a wildflower nursery such as Nickys Nursery Ltd. If you grow these yourself you will be certain that what you have is the pignut (though no other plant generates tubers like pignuts). Recipes Utilizing Pignut Buttered Pignuts |
You can also use the search box below to find the wild food of your choice. You can use the common name or the scientific name or any text you choose:
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If you're looking for a particular recipe, or a recipe using a particular ingredient or set of ingredients, why not try my recipe search facility. You can even use a combination of period and ingredient such as 'Elizabethan Lamb' or 'medieval eggs'.
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