Berlin: Bärlauch, or, cooking spring

As I’ve mentioned, spring has felt massively delayed to many Berliners this year. Maybe our expectations have been warped by global warming, but it feels like we’ve been waiting, shivering at near-zero temperatures, on the brink of spring for ages. We’ve watched reports on TV about Germany’s beloved spring crop, white asparagus, whose harvest has been delayed for more than four weeks by the cold rain. Same for my favorites, bright pink rhubarb and Bärlauch, the tender wild garlic greens that Berliners forage in city parks, which both have been nowhere to be seen… until this week!

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Berlin: Foraged juniper advent wreath

A 10-minute DIY project made with juniper branches and berries, trimmed from overgrown public plantings. I simply set four candles on a pie plate and distributed the greenery in an appealing way. Happy holidays, urban plants!

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Elderflower season draws to a close

It’s been a wonderful spring for elderflowers in Berlin, their huge creamy white sprays appearing by the dozen on the simple green trees and shrubs that, until then, nobody had paid any attention to, like this low-growing specimen obscuring some graffiti. They perfumed the air around them, and the food and drinks of anyone who took the time to stop and forage.

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Foraging Resources: Herb encyclopedia, purslane and hops

If you like beautiful books as much as I do, maybe you won’t mind that the Foraging Resource I’m sharing today is in German. And out of print. You see, I’d like to continue introducing edible plant resources that I personally use, even if they are specific to Berlin or in German, since those are the ones I know well. I hope they will inspire you to find your own favorite resources. Also, I’ll also share tips and info from them, giving you a peek into the books and websites, so you can benefit from them right here on this blog. Read on to look inside this book…

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Berlin: Foraging season opens with edible wild plant walk

Can you feel it? The weather’s getting warmer and wetter. Winter’s on its last legs. Urban gardeners and foragers like myself are  itching to go planting and plucking plants all around the town. Since many readers come to this blog precisely for info on edible plants, a topic we’ve neglected this winter, I’m celebrating March and the approaching spring with a series on edible plant resources. Read on for more!

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Perpignan, France: More plants from my travels

You may have noticed a lot of foreign plants appearing on this blog, with the location changing almost daily, during the month of August. That’s because I was on a photography road trip through Germany, France, Spain and Portugal, urban plant-spotting along the way. I sent some photos from my cell phone, but I also shot five rolls of film which I still need to share with you. Here’s a few from Perpignan, on the Spanish border of France, to warm these chilly autumn days.

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Berlin: Hazelnuts, hazelnuts, everywhere!

There are so many Turkish hazelnuts showering down onto Berlin’s streets and sidewalks these days, I just don’t know how I overlooked them before reading Berlin Plants’ informative hazelnut article. Now I see them everywhere!

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Lichtenberg: Walnuts, Pumpkins, Corn and a Recipe

Back from a harvest-time weekend in Brandenburg, here’s the full report! As you may have noticed from the last, photo-only post, I was in the small village of Lichtenberg near Neuruppin, about an hour north of Berlin, visiting relatives whose front lawn is currently being showered with walnuts from their neighbor’s black walnut tree, which hangs over their property. The common understanding of fallen-fruit rights in Germany is that any fruit that falls on your lawn is yours to keep (I’m not a foraging lawyer, so don’t take my word for this). Anyway, we filled this bucket almost to the top and our kind relatives said we were welcome to take them back to Berlin with us, as there will surely be more falling onto the lawn soon.

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Lichtenberg: Fallen fruit, or rather, walnuts

From the neighbor’s tree.

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Berlin: Hazelnuts via New Blog on the Block

Yes, you heard right – there’s a new blog on the urban plant-lined block here in Berlin. It’s written in English by some adventurous urban foragers who have already taught me about several edible plants here, my favorite so far being the Turkish hazelnuts that I found, above. Looking curiously squashed compared to common, round hazelnuts but tasting just as good, these funny little nuts are currently raining down from street trees all over Berlin!

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