Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Bog Myrtle along with all the Bog Myrtle containing recipes presented on this site, with 2 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Bog Myrtle recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Bog Myrtle as a major wild food ingredient.

This is a shrub that grows up to 1.5m tall in poor acid marshy soils of the bogs of north-western Europe. In Britain it can be found in a band extending through Northern Ireland, North Wales, North-eastern England and Scotland.

The foliage has a sweet rather resinous scent and this has been used for centuries as a natural insect repellent. In north-western Europe myrtle leaves was used as one component of gruit [made from sweet gale (Myrica gale), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), heather (Calluna vulgaris) and marsh rosemary (Rhododendron tomentosum, [formerly known as Ledum palustre])] that was used as a traditional flavouring for beer, though it fell into disuse with the adoption of hops as a bittering agent.

In May myrtle becomes covered in golden catkins that disappear as the grey-green leaves emerge. The leaves can be harvested and infused into a rather refreshing tea. Myrtle leaves are also an excellent and very versatile herb that can be used with both sweet and savoury dishes.

Myrtle propagates vegetatively by runners. As such it's easy to obtain a sapling which can be planted in a pot of poor waterlogged soil and kept in a shady part of the garden. Remember to keep well-watered in summer.