Food For Free

Have you ever thought when you stand in front of the fruit and vegetable counter in your local supermarket that every single one of these foods was once a wild plant!  What we buy and eat today is the result of generations of plant breeding experiments.  Almost every garden vegetable still has a wild ancestor flourishing.  Wild cabbages and celery still grow along our coast.  Wild parsnips grow on waste ground everywhere.  It is now time to turn and find these wild ancestors which are available for free.  Wild foods require no attention they are not subjected to forced growing or contaminated with chemicals.  Many plants passed into the food chain system started off centuries ago as a byproduct for their medicinal use.  Blackcurrants, for instance were used for throat ailments but it was realised, that they were pleasant to eat as well.  With the prospect of a global recession looming we have to reap the hedgerow harvest.  The summertime is the main time of the year to pick berries, mushrooms and herbs etc to store for the long winter months.  Freezing is the best method of keeping fruits and vegetables.  Below are several recipes using readily found, free food.

Every household wastes too much food, in the U.K this amounts to over 6.7 million tonnes per year.  This is an expensive drain on any household.  If we went out and picked it as required we wouldn't have this problem.  Why not try growing your own plants at home or in your garden.  If you don't have a garden the use window boxes or plant tubs.