Wild Food Guide — 'Z'

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 'Z' and includes both common and scientific names.

Example Entry

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

Wild Food Entry For: Chickweed

This is the description page for Chickweed (Stellaria media) 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: Chickweed.

Chickweed Stellaria media is a very common and pervasive weed and a member of the Caryophyllaceae (carnation) family. It is extremely variable in its appearance, but generally it has a very slender tap root and greatly branching leafy stems, which lie along the ground. The lower leaves vary in size from 3 to 20 mm in length, they are oval in shape and have long stalks; the upper leaves tend to be larger (up to 25 mm in length) and lack stalks.

For the forager, this is an important plant as it is a rich source of copper. The greens themselves can be used as a vegetable which can be boiled or lightly fried. They can also be dried as a herb for addition to salads. In the spring the plant has a pleasant, pea-like flavur and can be used raw in salads; however it tends to become more bitter as the season advances. Plaese note that the common (edible) chickweed in light green in colour and should not be confused with its dark-green relative, hairy mouse-ear chickweed which is poisonous. If you are unsure, do not pick it.

During the Middle Ages chickweed used to be collected and was sold in markets as a vegetable.

Recipes Utilizing Chickweed

Lamb Stew
Winter Salad
Chickweed Salad
Chickweed Soup
Spring Salad with Wild Mushroom Potato Cakes
Goosegrass and Chickweed Kedgeree
Chickweed Rice with Salad
Winter Salad
Chickweed Salad
Chickweed and Wild Greens Salad

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'.