Wild herbs

In my region you can find a lot of different wild edible herbs. We only know a little part of them. Here you can see the one we know and we normally pick during spring time. We normally cook fantastic dishes with them!


1- Allium ursinum

Allium ursinum, known as wild garlicramsons, wild cowleekcowlicbuckramsbroad-leaved garlicwood garlicbear leekEurasian wild garlic or bear’s garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amaryllidaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia, where it grows in moist woodland.[2] It is a wild relative of onion and garlic, all belonging to the same genus, Allium. There are two recognized subspecies: A. ursinum subsp. ursinum and A. ursinum subsp. ucranicum

from Wikipedia page

Pictures taken in Colli Berici, Vicenza, Italy

You can use Alium ursinum in soup preparation or to make a great cream (paté) to spread in the bread. Or you can use this cream in a pasta dish.


2- Juniperus communis

Juniperus communis, the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae. An evergreen conifer, it has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere.

The fruit are berry-like cones, initially green, ripening in 18 months to purple-black with a blue waxy coating; they are spherical, 4–12 millimetres (5321532 in) diameter, and usually have three (occasionally six) fleshy fused scales, each scale with a single seed. The seeds are dispersed when birds eat the cones, digesting the fleshy scales and passing the hard, unwinged seeds in their droppings. The male cones are yellow, 2–3 mm (33218 in) long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen in March–April.

from Wikipedia page.

Photo taken in “Giardino botanico litoraneo Veneto” in Porto Caleri, Rosolina Mare, Rovigo in Po delta park.

You can use Juniperus to add flavors to different preparation. In Italy we use mostly with meat.


3-Asparagus acutifolius

Asparagus acutifolius, common name wild asparagus, is an evergreen perennial plant belonging to the genus Asparagus. The specific epithetacutifolius, meaning “thorny leaves”, is derived from Latinacutus (pointed, acute), and -folius (-leaved), and refers to the characteristic shape of the leaves, a quite common feature in the typical plants of the Mediterranean.[1]

from Wikipedia page

Asparagus acutifolius
Asparagus acutifolius

Pictures taken in Colli Berici, Vicenza, Italy

You can eat wild aspargus after a quick and simple boiled or steam coocking. You can prepare omelette, risotto or pasta sauce.