Ground Elder Soup – A Springtime Seasonal Foraged Favourite

Ground elder soup is one of my favourite meals.

As we approach Spring, several species of the carrot family, Apiaceae are among the first greens to appear. These include the leaves of ground elder, Aegopodium podagraria. It’s a good time to look out for this aromatic plant and turn them into a simple yet hearty lunch.

The recipe I like to make, a LOT, is ground elder soup.

If I’m making it at home I prefer to blend the soup before serving; you can also use dehydrated and powdered ground elder, or just finely chop it. It’s all delicious.

Ground Elder Soup Recipe (Serves 4):

• Remove the stalks from 4 large handfuls of well washed ground elder and cook in boiling water for about 5 minutes.
• Drain.
• Sauté a finely chopped onion in a generous knob of butter until softened, add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir well.
• Add 750 ml of vegetable stock, continuously stirring until slightly thickened.
• Add the drained (or powdered) ground elder leaves, 250ml of milk (or cream), seasoning and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add more liquid if needed. Blend if possible.
• Serve and enjoy!

Sounds good doesn’t it? Why not give it a try and maybe serve it with some scrumptious home made garlic bread.

Leave a comment below and tell us how it turned out!

Ground Elder – What Does It Look Like?

Ground elder, Aegopodium podagraria, is a very common and widespread plant that is often found in vibrant green swathes, often in shady, mildly damp locations and is frequently found in gardens or as a garden escapee. This plant is perennial, which means it grows back every year. Hence, people who don’t want it in their gardens, for example, consider it a “perennial weed”. If only they knew how to make this soup! But anyhow, with the plants being established, the leaves are amongst the first to appear in verges in early spring. Leaves are arranged in groups of three.

It has hollow, grooved stems up to 100 cm tall and produces umbels of small white flowers in early summer. The scent upon crushing the leaves is highly aromatic and unforgettable once discovered. It has a long culinary history for good reason but the leaves are best collected before the plant flowers.

Plants, The Law and Conservation

You should know the law with respect to picking wild plants and respect people’s private property.

Please read the BSBI’s Code of Conduct for the Conservation and Enjoyment of Wild Plants for guidance on best practice.

A Little Disclaimer

This article is not a complete treatment of all edible plants that might be available. Nor does it provide a complete treatment of all poisonous plants that may also be present in the habitat where you find the above-mentioned plants. If you want to learn more about plant identification you should invest in some good field guides. The safest way to learn about edible wild plants is for someone who already has the knowledge to show you in person. Any foraging you do on your own is at your own risk.

The most important thing to remember when identifying wild foods is:

IF IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUT!

Post-Script From Paul Kirtley, Chief Instructor, Frontier Bushcraft

The carrot family. Apiaceae, previously known as the Umbelliferae and still often referred to as the umbellifers, contains many species cultivated for food and found in your local food store. Familiar examples include carrots, parsnips, celery, celeriac, fennel, flat leaf parsley, coriander, dill, caraway and cumin.

This family contains many great wild edibles, in addition to ground elder.

There are also some poisonous plants in the carrot family too, some of them seriously so, including hemlock, Conium maculatum, hemlock water-dropwort, Oenanthe crocata, cowbane, Cicuta virosa, fool’s parsley, and Aethusa cynapium, along with rough chervil, Chaerophyllum temulentum, not to mention the skin-blistering giant hogweed, Heracleum mantegazzianum.

The carrot family is definitely a worthwhile plant family to get to know. What makes the Apiaceae tricky, though, is that the edible species often share many similarities with their highly poisonous relatives, notably many white flowers clustered into umbels, pinnately divided leaf structures and tapered, tuberous roots typified by parsnips.

Thankfully ground elder is one of the easier species to identify and certainly differentiate from the poisonous species. Even so, if you’d like to learn more about the carrots, it’s worth knowing what you are getting into.

If you’d like to learn more about how to approach learning members of the family, Apiaceae, then check out the following articles:

Approaching Apiaceae: A Practical Example Of Carrot Capture

Careful With Your Carrots: A Case In Point

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Alison Delaney

Alison has spent many years sharing her enthusiasm for all things nature with both children and adults in her roles as primary school teacher, green schools and environmental awareness co-ordinator, scout leader, guide with the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service and latterly via wild foods via Nibbling On Nature. Alison has worked with Frontier as a course assistant since 2013.

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