Foraging in July – Guide to wild food & Recipes

July is the beginning of school holidays and as a young girl it was always the time we spend in the countryside with my great-grandmother, who taught us how to forage, what to look for and how to use everything we gathered during the day.

I remember endless days of learning mushroom names, collecting herbs and then drying them for winter. The whole length of our farmhouse attic was covered with papers and drying plants and herbs. The smell was amazing and turning over the herbs to make sure they dry properly. I would also hide there to read books!

Depending on where you are in the world and the local weather, your July foraging finds can easily overlap with June and August.

Yarrow

I use yarrow mainly for making tea in the winter, but it can be also eaten fresh and added to salads or infuse oils. Yarrow has white or slightly pink flowers, which are in full bloom in June, July or August. You can find yarrow in any meadow and you should be able to recognise it by it’s distinctive leaves which look a little bit like a double sided comb or a ladder.

The plant has healing properties and can be used to calm down a fever, common cold, hay fever, diarrhoea, loss of appetite or to help with digestive problems. You can also try to chew the fresh leaves to relieve a mild toothache.

wild strawberries

There is no need to introduce these little beauties! If you can recognise a normal, garden or supermarket strawberry you can recognise these wild strawberries.

The only thing is that wild strawberries are much smaller (think your little fingernail size!).

But what they don’t have in size, they make up in flavour. If you ever bought a supermarket strawberries and they tasted like a water, you’ll be absolutely amazed at the intensity of wild strawberries flavour.

You’ll find wild strawberries in the meadows, sides of fields, beginning of any forest or grassy banks of countryside roads.

Chanterelle Mushrooms

These are one of the easier mushrooms to identify as there are no other types of mushrooms that look similar and could be confused with chanterelle mushrooms. Even our great-grandmother was happy for us to pick them, when we were only about six years old. We used to called them ‘foxes’ probably because of the golden rusty colour.

You’ll find chanterelle mushrooms in the undergrowth in mixed trees forests. They are easily spotted as there is usually a cluster of them growing together. They are quite small and most are no more than an inch tall.

Make sure that you use a sharp pocket knife to cut these above the ground and leave the roots in the soil. This ensures that the mushrooms will carry on growing. Cook them, dry them or pickle them on the same day.

wood sorrel

This is one of my favourite plants to munch on when I’m walking through a woodland. Grows in established parts of (usually) coniferous forests and you’ll usually find wood sorrel around any tree or growing over an old wood tree trunk.

There is usually a carpet of these around the base of the trees. Most of the year you’ll only see the leaves, but in July you’ll be greeted with little white flowers. All parts are edible, but be careful excessive amount of sorrel are poisonous.

The taste is very refreshing, it’s like a juicy lemony taste with a tangy aftertaste.

Other plans and herbs in season in July include:

Silverweed, Rose Petals, Wild or Forest Strawberries, Gooseberry, Blueberries, Bilberries, St.John’s Wort Flowers, Yarrow, Gorse, Meadowsweet, Wood Sorrel, Mallow, Chickweed, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Blackberry Leaves

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