Not everything that isn’t toxic is tasty (or worth the preparation). If you’re a newbie to foraging, Tamara advises her top six most overrated wild foods to save you finding out the hard way.
The phrase “just because it’s edible, doesn’t mean you should eat it” is something you’ll hear me bang on about in many of my foraging articles on Adventure Brits. And for good reason – because it’s true!
You see, when you first get into foraging, the excitement is almost too much to bear. You morph into this hawk-eyed foraging machine that spots a penny brown bolete camouflaged amongst a carpet of leaf litter, or rose hips matted into a dense hedgerow. You binge-study every foraging guide you can get your hands on, bookmarking all your cool wild food discoveries with colour-coded sticky labels. You even find yourself buying a dehydrator, and eyeing up old pasta jars in the recycling bin for wild food preservation.
At least, this is how I was at first.
It’s especially when you’re in these early periods of foraging that you experiment with some staple foraged species, often found in most good beginner foraging books. But there are actually some wild foods you’ll find in these guides, that despite all the proper preparation and even harvesting in their utmost prime, are somewhat overrated, and/or not even worth the hassle.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still hundreds of amazing wild foods that are unbelievably tasty that you’ll never find for sale in a supermarket or even a boutique greengrocer.
But there are many wild foods that won’t kill you, but aren’t great eating either.
So, want to know what to not bother with? Here are six totally overrated wild foods (in my books at least) that I would pass on foraging on your next trip to the woods.
My Top Overrated Wild Foods:
1. Acorns
While acorns, the nuts of oak trees, have been a staple and vital food source in various traditional diets, such as for Native North Americans, they are often considered labour-intensive to prepare and somewhat disappointing for such effort.
Acorns contain tannins, which impart a bitter and astringent flavour. A process of leaching is required to make them palatable, where the tannins are removed through soaking or boiling. This can be time-consuming and may need to be repeated several times to adequately remove the bitterness. If you’ve ever cured olives, then you’ll know what kind of lengthy process you’re letting yourself in for!
Even after processing, some people find the taste of acorns somewhat bland or slightly bitter if the leaching process has not been perfected, compared to other nuts.
After leaching and drying, acorns can also be used for making flour. However, it doesn’t behave exactly like conventional wheat flours and can be challenging to bake or cook with due to differences in protein and fat content. The texture of acorn flour is also a bit dense and difficult to bind which may be frustrating for those unfamiliar with gluten free flours.
My verdict? Leave ‘em for the squirrels! Overall, due to the effort vs taste reward, acorns are a totally overrated foraged food unless you’ve got ample time on your hands and want to say you’ve tried.
2. Beechnuts
I have so many fond childhood memories at my grandparents’ house, and one of them for some reason is sitting under a beech tree on a sunny day cracking into the deliciously moreish and very slightly tannin-y beechnuts.
They’re similar in size and taste to pine-nuts, and high in natural fats and protein.
Apparently they can cause gastric upset if a lot are consumed but I certainly wasn’t aware of that at the time! So it’s best to cook them to reduce the toxicity of the saponin glycoside chemical they contain.
Despite the fact I love the flavour, there are a few reasons why I think this particular wild food is overrated.
The first is again effort. Beechnuts have a velcro-like husk which pops open when ripe to reveal two inner pods which are sort of concave triangles. Open these pods and you will find two small nuts. It’s a lot of fiddly work for such a tiny nut (that then needs to be baked or fried before use). Unless you have an army of little fingers, (it’s actually a great foraging activity for kids!) then you might well be peeling all day.
Secondly, beech scale disease. This disease quite simply causes beech trees to produce blanks. So you may forage a whole sack of nuts only to realise there’s nothing in them. Pretty disappointing!
It’s also very common that a little insect has beaten you to eating the tasty nut, identifiable by a tiny little hole on the inner pod.
3. Dandelions
The abundance and easy identification of the iconic dandelion makes them a popular choice for beginner foraging. However many people, including myself, find them inherently bitter.
While young spring leaves can sometimes be milder, as they mature and especially during flowering, the leaves develop a robust bitter profile that can be overpowering in dishes.
Balancing their bitterness requires thoughtful preparation and pairing with other ingredients that can mellow and complement their strong flavour – something I personally have never been able to do!
So although you see bright yellow dandelion flowers absolutely everywhere, especially in urban areas, I reckon there are plenty of other tasty ‘weeds’ out there to add to your salad instead. I do however quite like the flowers in a blend with others like camomile for herbal tea, to bulk it out a bit.
Dandelions can also be exposed to pollutants, pesticides, weed killer or pet traffic, which poses challenges in ensuring safe and clean harvesting.
4. Sea Buckthorn Berries
Sea Buckthorn berries are a bright orange berry found on shrubs native to sand dunes along the east coast of England, but they can also found in other areas of the country.
They’re renowned for their tart, sour flavour. While they contain a bounty of nutrients, including Vitamin C, their potent acidity can be off-putting to some and often necessitates a tonne of sugar to be used for anything.
The berries are often found amidst thorny branches, making the collection process a pretty meticulous and prickly endeavour, so the yield may not seem worth it to many.
Even once harvested, the small and seedy nature of Sea Buckthorn berries means that processing them (such as deseeding or pressing them for juice) can be time-consuming and somewhat laborious.
Interestingly, Sea Buckthorn oil, derived from the berries, is often hailed more in the skincare world than the culinary one. The oil is lauded for its potential skin benefits, sometimes overshadowing the berries’ nutritional and culinary potential.
5. Sloes
I’m sure this may upset some people, but sloes in my books are an overrated wild food.
Sloes, which grow on the Blackthorn Bush, are an established British hedgerow hero. Although their purple-blue plump flesh looks deliciously sweet and juicy, in reality they’re tannin-y and sour as hell raw, leaving your mouth with a distinct puckering effect.
Sloe gin is of course the most popular way to use these berries. Or, making a similar alcoholic infusion where plenty of sugar is involved to offset their natural astringency and draw out the berry flavour.
If you don’t drink alcohol, then really their only use is for making jellies or preserves or perhaps blending with other more naturally sweet berries for making things like cordials.
Their small size, combined with a hard, sizeable pit relative to the fruit’s overall size, means that processing sloes to extract the maximal amount of juice or flesh can also potentially yield relatively little product.
I’m sure there’ll be some people who’ll disagree with me here, but I always prefer other hedgerow berries like good old blackberries (or if you’re lucky, a wild cherry).
6. Chickweed
Easily identified with its small, star-like white flowers and opposing pairs of leaves along its stem, chickweed carpets many gardens, pathways, and wild patches, much to the pain of gardeners trying to upkeep a weed free plot.
Often cited as a nutritious wild green containing vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron, chickweed is certainly edible but it doesn’t really bring much to the table in terms of flavour. Some foragers might find it not worth the trouble due to its somewhat bland and watery taste.
When it comes to texture, chickweed can also be somewhat limp and watery too, especially when compared to the crispness of lettuce or the slight crunch of kale.
For those seeking not just nutrition but also a unique flavour to add to their dishes, chickweed might not be my first pick. I’d recommend the mild peppery flavour of Ground Ivy (otherwise know as Creeping Charlie) or for something milder, young plantain leaves.
Palettes are of course all different and while I find these foraged foods overrated, others may find them totally worthwhile. Our tastes are all different and unique after all!
If you’re a keen forager, what are your thoughts on this list of overrated wild foods – do you agree with me?
Note: This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not a comprehensive foraging or bushcraft guide. Foraging requires accurate knowledge to safely identify edible species. Misidentification can lead to harmful or fatal consequences. Always consult a professional or reliable guide before consuming wild foods, and adhere to foraging best practices.