Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Cowslips along with all the Cowslips containing recipes presented on this site, with 1 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 Cornish recipes added to this site.

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

The cowslip, Primula veris (also known as Our Lady's Bunch od Keys, St Peter's Keys, Palsywort, Bunch of Keys, Buckles, Crewel, Covekeys, Cowflop, Cowstripling, Cuy Lippe, Dreckled Face, Golden Drops, Herb Peter, Hot Rod, Key Flower, Long Lefs, Nook Maidens, Titsy Totsy, St Peters Herb, Paigale, Peggle, Petty Mulleins, Plumrocks, Coweslop, Cowslap, Tittypines, Fair Bells, Fairy Cups, Cowslip Primrose and Keys of Heaven) is a flowering perennial herb native to Europe (apart from the extreme north) east to temperate Asia, which is a member of the Primulaceae (primrose) family. It tends to be one of the earliest of the spring flowers and cascades of the sweetly-scented pale yellow flowers (with their darker yellow centres) were once common on countryside verges and in woodlands. The flowers (typically occurring in April or May) are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by bees and butterflies. If flower, the plants can reach 30cm in height and individual plants can reach 20cm in diameter. The leaves are oval and mid-green in colour and form a neat clump. The leaves themselves are 5–15cm long and 2–6cm broad The flowers are borne on stout stems and the plant bears tight clusters of fragrant, tubular, yellow flowers that are produced in spring. Occasionally, but rarely, red-flowered plants are seen.

Cowslips are frequently found on more open ground than Primula vulgaris (primrose) including open fields, meadows, and coastal dunes and cliff-tops. The seeds are often included in wild-flower seed mixes used to landscape motorway banks and similar civil engineering earth-works where the plants may be seen in dense stands. It should be noted that, in the wild, the cowslip is often mistaken for the oxlip (Primula elatior) which seems to have originated as a hybrid of the cowslip and the primrose (they hybridize readily). They can be distinguished in that oxlips have large pale yellow flowers in a one-sided cluster. Cowslip flowers are much deeper yellow in colour, are smaller, and there are many blossoms in a cluster.

The cowslip was a common sight in the spring-time hedgerow and fields. Over the past 100 years, the flowers have declined precipitously in the wild. For this reason I would say that you should never pick wild cowslips. Indeed, in Britain it is illegal to pick any wild flowers without the landowner's permission. For these reasons, I have avoided providing information about the use of cowslips as a wild food previously on this site. Now, though, plants are commonly available for the garden and, as you can readily grow your own it is time to make the range of traditional and modern cowslip recipes available.

Young cowslip leaves and cowslip flowers can be eaten. Though cowslip leaves are not particularly tasty, they are available throughout the winter and this makes them a more valuable resource than they might otherwise have been. They are traditionally eaten in Spain as a salad green. The fresh or dried leaves (sometimes in conjunction with the flowers make a flavoursome herb tea or tisane). In the past the flowers were far more commonplace than they are today and they were collected in abundance in spring. These were made into fritters and into a tasty hedgerow wine. Cowslip juice was, historically cooked with eggs to prepare a springtime tansy. Cowslip flowers also make an excellent and flavourful addition to spring salads (including fruit salads). The flowers can also be made into preserves (in the same way as rose petal preserves) or can be added as a decoration to jams and jellies. In the past, a wine was prepared from the flowers.

However, all is not lost, this most traditional springtime plant can be bought as young plants from garden centres and seeds are widely available, so you can establish primrose (in a partially shaded spot) in your own garden. The plant clumps can be divided in the autumn, so primroses become established quickly and you will soon have enough plants for your culinary needs.

It should be noted that, in common with other members of the Primulaceae some people may be allergic to the stamens of this plant (though such cases are easily treated). Saponins may cause hypotension. Excessive/prolonged use may interfere with medication for hypertension (high blood pressure).

The English name 'cowslip' ultimately derives from the Old English cowshit, literally 'cow dung' and may pint to the association of the plant with cow pats in tilled fields. The common names referencing 'keys' refer to the northern European legend that St Peter allowed his keys to heaven to drop from his grasp when he learned that a duplicate set had been made. Where the keys fell to earth, cowslips grew.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants