Wild Food Guide — 'M'

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 'M' and includes both common and scientific names.

Mâche	Macrolepiota procera	Maitake
Mallow (Common)	Malus spp	Malus sylvestris
Malus sylvestris domestica	Malva sylvestris	Marafuto kombu
Marasmius oreades	Marguerite	Marjoram (Wild)
Marsh Mallow	Marshpepper	Marsh Pepper Smartweed
Marsh Samphire	Master of the Woods	Matteuccia struthiopteris
Maudlinwort	May	May Queen
Maythorn	Mazzard	Meadow Mushroom
Meadow Waxcap	Meeriche	Mentha aquatica
Mentha arvensis	Merkel	Mexican Bamboo
Midsummer Daisy	Milk Thistle	Miller, The
Mint (Corn)	Mint (Water)	Mint (Wild)
Molly Moocher	Monk's Pepper	Monk's Rhubarb
Moon Penny	Morel	Morchella esculenta
Mountain Rhubarb	Muggons	Mugwort
Mulberry	Murlins	Mustard (Black)
Mustard (Field)	Myrrhis odorata	Myrtle (Bog)
Myrtle blueberry

Example Entry

Below, you will find an example wild food entry produced randomly from our database:

Wild Food Entry For: Black Mustard

This is the description page for Black Mustard (Brassica nigra) 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: Black Mustard.

Black Mustard, Brassica nigra, is an annual weed, a member of the Brassicaceae (mustard/cabbage) family that's cultivated for its seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. The plant is believed be native to the Mediterranean but has been cultivated for millennia and naturalized to the whole of Europe. The plant itself is spindly in appearance and grows from 60 to 2.5m tall with stalked leaves that are lobed and bristly. Between June and August it bears open racemes of small yellow flowers, each with four petals.

The seed pods develop after fertilization and are pressed against the stem. It is the seeds of the plant that are collected and the spice is made from the ground seeds of the plant, with the seed coats removed. The seeds themselves are tiny, about 1mm in diameter and are very flavourful, if hard to collect. These seeds are commonly used in Indian cuisine where they are thrown into hot oil or ghee after which they pop, releasing a characteristic 'nutty' flavor. A cooking oli can also be pressed from the seeds. In Britain the seeds used to be used as a garnish for cheese dishes and were a key ingredient in lemon and mustard seed chutney.

Recipes Utilizing Black Mustard

Lemon and Black Mustard Seed Chutney
Burdock Pickles
Iron Age Pork and Beans

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:

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'.