In Spring something wild starts happening in the kitchen. People start talking about nettle soup and looking into hedgerows and verges in a determined manner. It’s the time of the forager and all manner of sharp and peppery leaves are finding their way into Transition salad bowls everywhere. Old favourites like dandelions, cleavers and alexander flowers are mixed with new try-outs like violet leaves and rue.At Sustainable Bungay’s Happy Mondays at the Community Kitchen (sit down supper for 50 people), bittercress leaves went into the cous cous, sea beet, sea purslane, chickweed and mallow leaves made a salty seashore salad, picked and shared with fellow Transitioner cooks and growers from London.
Being adventurous and resourceful are the hallmarks of the Cookbook. Our ancestors ate a huge variety of wild plants and one of the best ways to get back in synch with living systems is to eat as locally and directly as possible – and with these spring flower and leaf salads you are doing do just that. At our Low Carbon meeting we discussed how to proceed with the project over the last of the winter roots, Norwich Field Bean hummus and Erik’s new garden leaves, including zingy sorrel and land cress. Happy picking! Charlotte Du Cann
Low Carbon Cookbook are meeting on 8 May. For further info contact Charlotte on theseakaleproject@hotmail.co.uk
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