24th April 2025
Nicholas Balfe is Chef Director and owner of the award-winning HOLM restaurant and rooms in Somerset. Here he shares his foraging tips for making the most of nature’s bounty.
I have a wood-handled Opinel folding knife that I always take with me and I’ll pull on some sturdy waterproof boots – Blundstone is a ubiquitous brand in Somerset, but I’m more of a Red Wing guy. I also take a good-sized tote bag to carry my haul.
In theory yes, but there isn’t much growing from November to February. Spring is a really lovely time – and a favourite of mine – to go out and look, followed by the late summer/ early autumn when the hedgerows are fit to burst with natural produce.
The Forager’s Calendar by John Wright is a very good and a great place to start.
Wild garlic is hugely abundant in Somerset, I’m not sure why... It’s much harder to find elsewhere, so I’m always very grateful to have access to so much and it’s brilliant for pesto, oils, soups, ferments and pickles. In London, it would cost us around £15 per kg from our wholesalers!
Elderflower makes beautiful vinegars, syrups and cocktails. Sloe berries are perfect for gin, tinctures, tonics and infusions, and if you salt them they have a similarity to olives.
Alexanders are a wild vegetable and a favourite of mine. Every part can be eaten, from the root to the flowers and I especially like using them for pickling, and the leaves are perfect for making purées. Rock samphire, apparently a protected plant, grows like the clappers along the South Coast and is wonderful blanched and flavoured with sharp lemon to go with fish. I also pick the sea beet that flourishes in Dorset’s West Bay and sauté it like spinach – delicious.
Hemlock! With its fern-like leaves, it looks a bit like Sweet Cicely, which is delicious and sprouts up along river banks and hedges all around the country. But no matter what the plant, if you are even slightly unsure, don’t take the risk.
I love sprouting sea kale; it makes a tasty crudité for an anchovy dip. At the beginning of its season in February, the buds are a beautiful shade of purple and so tender.
Yes, as a rule of thumb, never take more than a third of what is there. That way, there will always be some left for the next person who comes along, or the animals who rely on it as a source of food.
