Wild in the Kitchen: a blog by forager Will Newitt

This is one of a series of bi-monthly blogs by Dorset-based forager, Will Newitt, owner of Down to Earth Bushcraft.

Spring is bursting from the earth and for the wild foodie this means one thing - fresh, succulent greens.

One of my favourites is the very common ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria). Gardeners everywhere spend vast amounts of time trying to eradicate this resilient 'weed' so they're often happily surprised to hear it's a very tasty vegetable, indeed it was probably introduced into this country by the Romans for its edible delights and somewhere along the way fell into culinary obscurity.

When it comes to flavour, think parsley with the boxing gloves off. Right now it's young and tender and makes a wonderful salad green but, as it gets older, it becomes tougher. It'll still work well in cooked dishes but, when the flowers come out towards the end of May, the taste goes from fresh and zingy to rather bitter.

Triple winner of the 'Best restaurant in the world’ award, Noma in Copenhagen, regularly features ground elder on its Scandinavian Forage menu. While Gary Goldie, awarded 2011 Scottish chef of the year (mainly for his innovative use of foraged food and local produce), serves it alongside fried Lagganbuie duck egg.

As many a gardener will testify, it's a stubborn plant and can be semi-cultivated simply by cutting back and waiting for the fresh growth to spring up again. In addition to gardens you can also find ground elder along woodland edges, under hedgerows and in old churchyards; one of its colloquial names is 'Bishop’s weed'.

Will is a wild food obsessive. He is based in Dorset, where he runs a fledgling bushcraft business, specialising in introducing people to the edible pleasures of woodland and hedgerow.

More info can be found at www.downtoearthbushcraft.com