If you’re looking to try some simple and basic wild food, you can try Wild Spring Salad with Edible Flowers. I made it with dandelion which is a nutrition powerhouse among greens. You can find dandelion plants in every meadow and even in your back yard if you don’t have a perfect lawn. But it has a little bitter taste, so I mix it with a mache salad, because I like its taste very much. You can use any other green salad you wish or even skip that and just use dandelion if you like the bitter taste.
Wild garlic is a great addition to this salad. It is the most amazing spring wild plant and it has similar health benefits as regular garlic, like reducing blood cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. I have already published a Wild Garlic Pesto recipe, and I wrote about some other uses of this edible wild plant. While wild garlic is really delicious, don’t eat it before you go on a date, job interview or something with close interactions with other people. It is very strong and your breath won’t smell like roses.
I decorated the salad with some edible flowers. There are flowers you probably know, but have no idea that they are edible. Flowers can be such an easy and beautiful decoration for salads and desserts. Just Google edible flower images and you will see for yourself if you are not already familiar with the subject. For the salad, I used cowslips, daisies and sweet violets because they are easy to find and they grow in my backyard.
Make sure you are 100% certain you know the wild plants you pick and eat. Poisonous plants can sometimes be mistaken for edible wild plants. If you are not sure, but you would still like to try something wild, try to find it in a farmers market.
- 9 ounces (about 255 grams) of dandelion
- 4 ounces (about 115 grams) of mache salad or any other green salad
- 2 ounces (about 57 grams) of wild garlic
- A handful of edible flowers
- Balsamic vinegar
- Wash and clean dandelion. Use just the top 4-5 inches from the green leaves and discard the stems.
- Clean and wash mache salad and wash and cut any other green salad, as desired.
- Add washed wild garlic leaves, mix well and decorate with edible flowers.
- Season with balsamic vinegar or any other salad dressing.
I am a massive edible flower fan – and use them almost TOO often in baking. I have to say though that I never have made a salad with edible flowers before.. so this is something I have to test out.
Me too. I am obsessed with edible flowers. They are such a beautiful decoration.
This may just be the prettiest bowl of food I’ve seen! It looks like a mini garden in a bowl, so springy and gorgeous <3
Thank you Natalie! This is the nicest comment I’ve ever gotten 🙂