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 is the description page for Common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) 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: Common Comfrey.

Common Comfrey, Symphytum officinale (also known as Comphrey) is a perennial herb of the Boraginaceae (borage) family. The plant has a black, turnip-like root and large, hairy broad leaves that bears small bell-shaped white, cream, purple or pink flowers. It is a native of Europe and preferrs damp, grassy places and is common throughout Britain, especially on riverbanks and the sides of ditches. Comfrey is increasingly being used as a source of fertilizer in organic gardening. The plant derives its name from the Latin confervre 'to grow together' and was used by medieval herbalists as a bone-setter, in that the root when mashed could be placed around a broken limb and quite quickly the mash would set as hard as heartwood.

The leaves of comfrey are used in cooking. They can be boiled like spinach and when seasoned well make a good accompaniment to most meats. In contrast with other wild plants it's not important to just pick the young leaves, as the older leaves of his plant (as long as they are still fresh) contain more flavour. It's also possible to pick the young leaf spears (generally in March) and when chopped they have a flavour reminischen of cucumber and work wonderfully in any salad.

It should be noted that though I list comfrey in this directory and I provide comfrey recipes, confrey should only be eated carefully and in small quantities. This is because confrey contains hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and the use of comfrey can, because of these PAs, lead to veno-occlusive disease (VOD). VOD can in turn lead to liver failure, and comfrey, taken in extreme amounts, has been implicated in at least one death.

Schwaarzwurz
Comfrey Pasta
Comfrey Fritters
Comfrey Aloo
Wild Greens Fritters
Comfrey Soup
Comfrey and Peanuts
Goosegrass Soup
Ground Elder with Cheese Soufflé
Comfrey and Cheese Tuiles
Potatoes Seasoned with Wild Greens