Guide to foraging British summer berries

By u/AstroNards

Yesterday on my way to work, I spotted some ripe blackberries! Very early. If you love picking berries like I do, check out my guide for the edible ones and when to find them.

What is the law on foraging?

I’ll list brief points on the law, but please read it all for yourself!

• Pick the 4 Fs; fruit, foliage, fungi, and flowers
• Only take enough for you, for personal consumption
• Only pick on public land
• Check the local bylaws before picking
• Do not uproot or damage wild plants
• If you require a knife, make sure it is within the law

https://www.woodlands.co.uk, Ben Lee, Gardener’s World

How to identify blackberries

Blackberries grow on the bramble plant. A very thorny plant and my worst enemy! I tolerate it as much as I can just for the blackberries.

• Leaves vary, could be palmate or oval
• Common blackberry has lots of dark purple clusters to form one berry
• Stems are covered in painful, sharp thorns. I have also noticed that the leaves tend to have thorns on them too

Wildfooduk, Fotofreak75, green.kingcounty.gov

How to identify hawthorn berries

Hawthorn is one of the first trees to flower at the beginning of the season. They are said to smell like almonds or marzipan, and taste like slightly overripe apples.

• Deeply lobed leaves
• Oval orange to deep red berries, with a star on the bottom
• Berries grow in clusters
• Long sharp thorns on branches

Wildplantculture, The Baltimore Sun, Alvaro Docio for British Local Food

How to identify wild strawberries

They look just like ‘normal’ strawberries, just much smaller. Their taste can differ between being sweet and tart, or even tasteless.

• Often found in mixed woodland or hedgerows
• Stems have little hairs
• Soft red fruit with seeds on the outside

Wildfooduk

How to identify wild gooseberries

Gooseberries tend to taste sweet (flesh) and tart (skin). It can be difficult to know which plants are wild as many were cultivated in the UK.

• Rounded leaves with 3-5 lobes
• Woody stem with sharp thorns
• Fruit can be green, red, yellow, or purple, with little hairs

Wildfooduk

How to identify wild raspberries

The raspberries look just like the ones you find in the shops. Don’t get them confused with blackberries; they do look similar!

• Compound leaves with 5-7 serrated leaflets
• Fruit is ripe when it pulls away from the core easily
• Stems have small soft red thorns
• Leaves can be used to make tea

Wildfooduk

How to identify bilberries

Bilberries look very similar to blueberries and have a deeper, richer flavour. 

• Most commonly found in acid rich woodland
• Leaves are small and oval with serrated edges
• Leaves can have small red patches
• Berries a dark blue with a ‘cog’ on the bottom

Wildfooduk

How to identify redcurrants

A red member of the gooseberry family and tastes sweet and slightly sharp when ripe.

• Palmate leaves with 3-5 toothed lobes
• Berries look like they grow on strings. Ripen when they are a deep red
• Looks similar to the Guelder Rose but the berries grow in bunches not strings of redcurrant berries
• Found commonly in dense open woodland, hedgerows, river and stream banks and waste ground

Wildfooduk

How to identify cherries

There are a few different species of cherry trees in the UK, most people refer to the wild cherry. The taste can be sweet when ripe - usually best in recipes with honey or sugar.

• Elongated pointed leaves with a serrated edge
• Bark appears to have horizontal ‘scars’
• Often used to line pavements

Wildfooduk

How to identify pheasant berries

The flower bracts over the berries, gives the plant a very alien-like look! To add to their whimsical appearance, they taste like toffee.

• Dark green leaves with wavy edges
• Fruit is dark brown, purple, or black.
• You find them in gardens or in the wild (when they have self-seeded)
• The berries burst when ripe

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know how your foraging goes.

 

----> Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, Nate.