I’ve had my eye on the stinging nettles near where I take the dog for a walk for a while now; nettles are one of natures great freebies and I really needed to grab some before it was too late (fresh young leaves are the best, so March / April are the best times). I’ve tried Nettle Soup before, which is fantastic, but never ventured further than that; now I can happily report that Nettle Pesto is delicious too.

Don’t look at me like that. If you saw this seasonal dish in a restaurant marked up as “Escargot” you’d probably be tempted. So why not try them for free at home?

The benefits are surely two fold. One one hand, you get a delicious meal that most French men would applaud. [...]

Mint is one of those herbs that once planted and established, can quickly take over your garden. Just what can you do with all that mint?

Traditionally a Pesto is created with Basil, Garlic, Pine Nuts, Parmesan and Olive Oil. I’ve tried to keep this recipe as close to that original one as I can, however didn’t feel Basil was appropriate – it just wouldn’t work with the Rosemary. Since Rosemary is a very woody herb, it still needed a leafy companion to make this Pesto work.

We were fortunate enough to have a couple of weekends away recently, one to the North Yorkshire Moors, and one to a small town called Moffat in Scotland. Both places shared hills, forests, and field after field of purple Heather.

As always, this abundance of Heather got me thinking – “Can I eat it”? Surely it’s not so infeasible. Heather honey is for sale in supermarkets everywhere, and Wild Game (such as Grouse) enjoy Heather as the main part of their diet.

Mushrooms again? Well, it is that season. This weekend me and my wife went to the local forest, and came back (again) reasonably unsuccessful, this time with 3 medium sized ceps. It’s not enough for much of a dinner, but Mushroom on Toast (fried in garlic butter) just about fits the bill.

Elderberries are everywhere at the moment. Small purple berries, they seem to grow on every roadside hedgerow all across England. It therefore seems fitting to use this free wild food to our advantage – in this case, to create one of the simplest wines possible.

Many people already know that Elderflowers can be used to make [...]