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Common chicory (Cichorium intybus), with a cute nickname ‘blue sailors’, is a versatile plant— its leaves are a nutty and slightly bitter addition to salads, its roots are roasted and grounded as coffee substitute and flavor agent for some beer brands. The root can be eaten like parsnips, and leaves like spinach. It is commonly used in Italian and Indian cuisines. In Ligurian cuisine, wild chicory leaves are an ingredient of preboggion and in Greek cuisine of horta; in the Apulian region, wild chicory leaves are combined with fava bean puree in the traditional local dish fave e cicorie selvatiche.In Albania, the leaves are used as a spinach substitute, mainly served simmered and marinated in olive oil, or as ingredient for fillings of byrek. Inulin, an extract from chicory root, has also been used as a sweetener and source of dietary fiber.
Stem: tough, grooved, hairy. Can grow to 1.5 metres tall.
Leaves: stalked, lanceolate and unlobed
Flower: Usually lavender or light blue, rarely white or pink. Flowers from July until October.Comfrey root is available for sale in the Netherlands (https://www.anniesheilzamekruiden.nl/default/smeerwortel.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwuIWHBhBDEiwACXQYsWS9yte_1jyAZ6XVyJJm5_Dja31zNYMzrmHrrgClGLmMOFKihBTbNBoCEBoQAvD_BwE#145=6), despite the fact that in some countries it is illegal to sell it for human consumption. I have yet to try locating and foraging some myself, but considering its toxicity to the liver, I think it may be better for a beginner forager like me to start with safer plants first.
Comfrey root is available for sale in the Netherlands, despite the fact that in some countries it is illegal to sell it for human consumption. I have yet to try locating and foraging some myself, but considering its toxicity to the liver, I think it may be better for a beginner forager like me to start with safer plants first.
Willows must be one of my favorite trees, just watching them billow in the wind by the waters is calming. They remind me of one of my favorite poems:
“Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.”– “Who Has Seen the Wind?”, Christina Rossetti
There are a lot of them by Amsterdam’s canals! They grow very easily from cuttings as well, I remember building the willow arch with my community garden crew by simply sticking the large brunches and tying them together, and already in the following year the arch was flourishing. All parts of it are edible too, though not particularly palatable due to being very bitter. Nevertheless, willow bark can be used like aspirin to relieve different pains.
I also love the smell of elderflowers in bloom in late spring. Last time my friend flavored his kombucha with some of its florets and it was phenomenal!
Adding onto Esther’s contribution, burdock and milk thistle are rather common in Flevopark and Anna’s Tuin in Amsterdam Oost, and we also love to eat their roots sauteed in sweet soy sauce or boiled as tea in Korea.
Dandelions, daisies, common yarrow (which has licorice like flavor) and tansies are also common in this neighborhood, and while the first three are completely edible and great in salads, as I research I find that tansy oil is deadly. They look like simpler versions of chamomile to me on the first glance, but one should be wary of them!I’ve just finished reading the Leaves module and wanted to describe stinging nettle using the new words. Stinging nettle has Aristate shape, symmetric with a pointing end, dentate edges and veins that grow dichotomously with secondary vein networks
I eat brassicas rather often, from the cabbage and broccoli from the market, to rapeflowers and wild mustards in the park. The latter taste especially great when used as garnish on creamy pastas, because the mustardy, peppery flavor cuts down the greasiness. I would love to try more types of foraged brassicas such as the cresses, garlic mustard and shepherd’s purse.
I love baking with rose water or adding them to tea and other drinks. Many treats from the Arabic world use rose water, such as the creamy and fragrant sahlab. It is also nice to simply add some rose petals to salt or sugar, to infuse them with a very subtle aroma.
1. I remember drinking grated Chinese radish (daikon) mixed with honey when I had cold as a child, in Korea tucking tissue rolled and dipped in grated radish water into one’s nostril is also believed to help with stuffed nose.
2. Cloves, licorice, ginseng, turmeric, milkvetch are often seen in Chinese herbal stores.
3. The Doctrine of Signatures consider plants and plant parts that resemble certain organs to be beneficial for those organs.
This is such a cute idea! I love it. Let’s see- there are many lovable plants out there, but I will go for the most common of all in my region— stinging nettles. While they can be painful to touch, they are nourishing and medicinal, and I would love to discover more potential of this plant that I see everywhere nowadays.
Hello 🙂 I think this is a good question to ask oneself. I would say that I am fortunate enough to live next to quite a bit of green areas, that to harvest the amount that I would eat for a day would not be taking away too much from my neighborhood. That said, I do not want to harvest a lot at once and see them wilt or spoil, so I would like to learn more about how well different herbs keep and how to process them so that they keep longer.
Hello! I am Hyunsuh, psychology student living in Amsterdam and a keen learner who just got introduced to the world of foraging!
I have started to realize that where I live, Amsterdam Oost, is a neighborhood quite abundant with edible plants— in Flevopark there are ramsons, stinging nettles, dead nettles, wild mustards, cleavers and creeping Charlie, next to the jogging track of Amstel river are chestnut trees, crabapple trees and blackberry bushes. There are two community gardens as well, taken good care of by our neighborhood community including us students. Ever since being inspired to forage from a friend who is also interested in this habit and herb crafting, I find myself seeing my neighborhood in a different light. A plant is no longer a negligible ‘weed’ to me once I learn its name. It is delightful to learn how much is available in one’s vicinity, and I am excited to learn more!
