Back down the braid burn* in the Hermitage (or the Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill to give this part of Edinburgh its full title) in search of free food, my first foraging of the season. At this time of year parts of this area are carpeted (and perfumed) with few flowered leeks (allium paradoxum, a member of the Lily family) sometimes mistaken for wild garlic. You can see it below, right by the water on the left…
Am a bit late actually and find a lot of the plants already in flower, its best to harvest them before this…
…but luckily i still find patches that are a little behind. Next time am bringing gloves, i get stung a lot by nettles while picking the leaves and keep having to stop and find dock leaves to rub on the stings (have not done that since i was a kid!!!)
I bring home half a kilo of the stuff – just the leaves (its pretty pricey in the fancy schmancy organic store near me). I wash them thoroughly and put them in an airtight container in the fridge till i have time to deal with them (they keep really well for a few days).
Next post will feature what i actually did with the stuff…In the mean time here are some gratuitous shots of some of the fauna i came across:
The Peacock Butterfly, it’s here to feed on the nettles, which is where i found it…
There were lots of ladybirds in amongst the few flowered leeks…
* burn = Scots for stream
other foraging posts on this blog
mvp - work in progress 
