Fennel flower
Summer is the hottest time of the year and has plenty of sunlight, but when
it comes to foraging for wild foods it is the season in between spring and autumn, which means
that the spring greens are past their prime and the fruits and nuts harvested
in autumn are still not ready.
However, summer is a great season for gathering in the herbs that grow wild
and drying them to preserve them for future use and some like St John's Wort
are traditionally harvested at this time.
St John's Wort
St John's Wort (Hypericum
perforatum) is commonly found growing in grassy places, woodland
clearings and edges, roadsides, waste ground and railway banks and is in full
bloom and full potency at midsummer when it can be collected on St John's Day,
June 24. It is easily recognised by its golden yellow flowers starry 5-petaled
flowers with conspicuous stamens and the flowering tops are the part of the
plant that contains most of its active ingredient hypericin.
St John's Wort
St
John's Wort has become widely known and used as Mother Nature's answer to
Prozac and is on sale as a herbal tea or in other forms as a supplement from
health stores and distributors of such products. It is also a remedy for
anxiety and nervous tension, as well as having antiseptic and anti-inflammatory
properties.
Red Clover (Trifolium
pratense) is a plant that may well also be found in places where St
John's Wort grows and especially in fields and meadows but also on railway
banks and waste ground. The Native Americans recognised its medicinal properties after it had been introduced
to the continent and used it against cancerous tumours and skin diseases, as
well as taking it during pregnancy and childbirth and as a general tonic and
herb of purification.
The
flowers are the parts that get used as an infusion and these can be collected
and dried. Red Clover was once used to treat bronchial complaints and is also
thought to be good for balancing blood sugar levels.
Common name: Wild Marjoram - Scientific name: Origanum vulgare
Photo by Leo Michels. Usage: Public Domain
Photo by Leo Michels. Usage: Public Domain
Two
aromatic summer herbs that can be used in cooking as well as for medicinal
purposes are Wild
Thyme (Thymus drucei) and the Marjoram(Origanum vulgare), both of
which favour grassy places on limestone or a chalky soil.
Wild
Thyme is a tiny little plant that you will have to get down on your hands and
knees to gather and it grows in clumps among short grassland and on downs and
heaths. It produces reddish-purple flower heads and is easier to find and pick
when in bloom, which occurs between June and August.
The
flavour and fragrant aroma of Wild Thyme is much milder than the garden variety
but it is just as useful for flavouring savoury dishes. Richard Mabey awards it
with an A category in his classic book 
Food for Free.
Food for Free.
Marjoram
is a much bigger plant and when in flower it is easy to spot clumps of it,
especially as it usually has bees and other insects in attendance eagerly
gathering the nectar from its pinkish purple flowers. This is a very aromatic
and spicy herb that is excellent for adding flavour to food.
In
Mediterranean cookery Marjoram has been much valued and made use of, although
in the UK it has often been neglected for some reason, even though one of its
local names is Joy of the Mountain. It is also known as Oregano.
Marjoram
is prepared by collecting some flowering sprigs of the herb, hanging them to
dry and then stripping the leaves and flowers from the stalks. Crushed up in
this dry form it can be stored in airtight jars for future use.
Marjoram
taken as an infusion is good for anxiety, insomnia, colds and chest complaints,
indigestion and tension headaches. It has antiseptic properties too.
Another
common summer herb is Fennel (Foeniculum
vulgare) and although it grows inland on waste ground and
cultivated in gardens it really thrives on cliffs and other places by the sea.
It can reach as much as 5 ft in height and is easy to recognise with its
graceful appearance, feathery leaves and umbels of mustard-yellow flowers,
which appear from June to October.
If you
crush any part of the Fennel plant you will notice a strong smell of aniseed
and its flavour is similar too. The seeds are collected later on in the autumn
and are wonderful for adding to curries, stir-fries and other dishes as well as
making Fennel herb tea but the leaves and stalks are gathered in early summer
and hung up to dry.
Finely
chopped Fennel leaves are good in salads, with parsnips, and even in apple
pie and the herb is good with oily fish as well. The whole plant is edible and
it really is one of the most useful wild herbs that can easily be found.
In
fact, Fennel is such a versatile plant that Pliny listed it as being a remedy
for no less than 22 complaints and it was one of the Anglo-Saxon herbalists'
nine most sacred herbs. Fennel tea is good for the digestion and it can be used
as a gargle for a sore throat and a mouthwash.
Fennel Tea
250ml/
½ pint/ 1 cup of boiling water 1 teaspoonful of Fennel seed ½ thin slice of fresh orange or some grated rind
Fennel seed ½ thin slice of fresh orange or some grated rind
Crush
the Fennel seeds slightly and place in a teapot and pour the boiling water over
them. Cover and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.
Add the
orange slice or rind for extra flavour, and then strain before serving.
Olives with Wild Marjoram
1 lb of
pricked olives in a jar 1 cup of olive oil 1 teaspoon of Thyme 1 teaspoon of
crushed peppercorns 3 teaspoons of chopped Wild Marjoram
Add the
herbs and spices and olive oil to the olives in the jar, close it, shake well
and store in a refrigerator for at least 2 days.
Serve
the olives with red wine and cheese.
Common Mallow
The Common
Mallow (Malva sylvestris) is often
found growing in the same locations as Fennel and is another very useful herb
that flowers from June through until October. Typically encountered on
roadsides, on banks and on waste ground the Common Mallow stands out with its
showy pink five-petalled flowers that are produced on stems that can be as much
as 3 ft in height.
The
leaves, flowers and seeds are all edible as well as having medicinal
properties. The plant contains a lot of mucilage, which taken internally as an
infusion reduces inflammation and is a treatment for coughs sore throats and
bronchitis.
Young
leaves and shoots of the Common Mallow contain vitamins A, B1, B2 and C and can
be eaten raw in salads or cooked as greens. Unripe fruits can also be added to
salads and the seeds are known as "cheeses," due to their shape
rather than the mildly nutty flavour.
The
Romans cultivated the Common Mallow as a culinary and medicinal herb and by the
16th century it had gained a reputation as a cure-all. In sufficient quantity
it has a laxative action and so can help purge the body of toxins and disease.
Meadowsweet
One
more easily found and wonderful summer herb is the Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria),
which grows in damp places such as river and streamsides and by ponds, and
flowers from June until October with frothy creamy-white flower heads.
Meadowsweet has inspired poets Ben Jonson and John Clare, and the latter
included it in his poem To Summer.
The
flowers and leaves when dried smell of newly mown hay and can be added to
pot-pourri or used to make a herbal tea. It can be used to flavour soups and
stews but has medicinal properties too and is traditionally taken as an
infusion for heartburn and gastric ulcers.
Lime Tree
Besides
all the herbs described above that can be looked for in the countryside, there
is another, which grows much closer to home and is definitely worth knowing
about and that is the Lime
Tree (Tilia x europaea), which
can be found in many parks, gardens and along city streets. In June and July
the delightful honeyed fragrance of this common tree perfumes the air and when
they are in bloom is the time to harvest its flowers.
Made
into a herbal tea, known as "Tilleul" in France where it has proved a
very popular beverage, Lime-blossom besides tasting good is good for anxiety
and insomnia because it has mild tranquillising properties as well as for treating high blood pressure. Dry the
entire flower head along with its winged bract and make the tea without milk.
In
early summer, before the Lime leaves get too old and tough, they can be eaten
in sandwiches but make sure to wash them first and collect them from out of the
way of roads and traffic fumes.
Summer
is an ideal time for enjoying the countryside and rambling due to the longer
hours of daylight and the warm and sunny weather. The fragrance and the many
uses of the herbs found growing at this time of year are surely another of the
many pleasures of the season.
Footnote:
This article was originally published in Permaculture Magazine,
number 48, summer 2006.
Copyright © 2010 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.
