Adventure 49: Goosegrass is not just for scurvy...

Typical Easter holiday. Just beginning to feel vaguely human again at the end of a busy term: sleeping a bit, catching up with friends and drinking a few nice beers and then my nemesis hits: the bastard cold (BC for short). Stinky, nasty little coldy, why do you pester me so? My bones ache, my head pounds, my nose pretends it's a tap and all I want to do is to retreat under my duvet. So what better to do, than to go foraging! Hooray! I was quite interested to find out this week that Goosegrass is very high in vitamin C and used by sailors in the past to prevent scurvy. Ok, I don't have scurvy (though I probably should knowing how little fruit and veg I eat) but a big dose of vitamin C can't hurt the BC, right?

In preliminary walks with the dog since I've been in London I've seen a lot of goosegrass about, and thought it might be fun to make something warm and healthy out of it. And so, my father and I set out for a walk with the dog yesterday to explore the urban common land near our home in Hampton. We walked through Hatherop Park and down the footpath that way behind Kempton Park Resevoirs. From there we walked through Hanworth to Hampton Common. Not too bad for suburbia, I didn't think. There were lots of growing things: Goosegrass, nettles, dead nettles, dock leaves, plantain and ground ivy. I picked a few handfuls of Goosegrass as my main ingredient and a little bit of everything else. Amongst other things it was fun to catch up with the pater and he's offered to help me find Marsh Samphire next time we are by the sea. He said when he was little a family friend, McKenzie Thorpe, used to boil it up and eat it with vinegar. I'll write some more about McKenzie (known as the Wild Goose Man) another time, when I'm feeling less poorly, but he was an interesting character and friend of my grandfather, who helped the naturalist and painter Peter Scott with his work.

(Did I mention it was pouring with rain... Yes, I sure do enjoy a bit of a soaking when I'm ill, hence the mardy face)

Once home I found an excellent recipe here for Goosegrass soup. 

You will need: 

1 onion 

2 garlic cloves

3 handfuls of Goosegrass

2 handfuls of wild greens (I used dead nettles and dandelions)

Some wild herbs to taste (I used ground ivy)

Oil

2tsp flour

Vegetable stock

First I chopped up the greens coarsely, along with an onion and the garlic. I fried the onion and garlic for a few minutes before I mixed in the flour. Then I added the vegetable stock (1.2l) before putting in my greens to boil for 15 minutes (apparently the boiling dissolves the little barbed hooks that makes Goosegrass stick to you). After that I left the mixture to cool a bit and then blended it smooth. 

And voila, a tasty green soup was born, served here with a dollop of creme fraiche and some pepper to taste. Easy peasy and fairly tasty (can't put an exact finger on it, maybe a bit like cress?). And if that doesn't help the BC, there's always lempsip.