Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Wood Avens along with all the Wood Avens containing recipes presented on this site, with 9 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 Wood Avens as a major wild food ingredient.

Wood Avens/Herb Bennet, Geum urbanum (also known as Herb Bennet, Colewort, Bennet's Root, Old Man's Whiskers and St Benedict's herb) is a perennial plant in the Rosaceae (rose) family which grows in shady places and is a native of Europe and the Middle East. This is generally a small plant usually reaching 30cm in height (though it can reach 60cm tall) and bears bright yellow five-petalled flowers between May and August. The fruit, when it matures, bears many spines which are used for dispersal on the coats of mammals. The roots grow up to 5cm long and for the forager are the most useful part of the plant.

This common hedgerow plant used to be grown extensively as a pot herb in fifteenth and especially sixteenth century Britain. It is mainly the root of this herb that is used as it possesses a clove-like flavour that was used as a spice in both sweet and savory dishes. Though the young leaves can also be consumed in salads.

The young leaves can be served cooked as a vegetable. However, it's the root of the plant that is most useful. It can be chopped and used as a spice in soups and stews. Historically, it has also been used as a flavouring for ales and meads. The root can also be boiled to make a tea. When dried, the roots can be used as a substitute for cloves.

If you would like to try growing your own wood avens/herb bennet a number of seed companies now sell the seeds for this plant. It's excellent as a clove substitute in traditional apple tart.

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