If you check, I'm pretty sure the deal is that you can't forage anything in the UK by pulling it up by the roots. You can pick the leaves in public areas. Most of the coastal foraging UK channels recommend this and sea beet leaves highly. Sea beets would be a good show for you.
Indeed - a halophilic show would be good. I have plans to grow a bunch of these when I move to the coast and need somewhere in my garden to wash and drain my kayak and wetsuit ...
I believe that's correct - as a general rule, foraging leaves, fruit, flowers and fungi is legal for private individuals in the UK. Commercial harvesting requires licences; endangered and otherwise protected species are off limits; uprooting plants generally requires permission from the landowner, but outside of those constraints, general purpose foraging by picking is not forbidden.
In restaurants here in UK we usually use marsh samphire. Fish is commonly served on a bed of it that has been fried in butter. Marsh samphire just tastes like salt water and doesn't have much of a flavour. I really want to try rock samphire now.
I love samphire (the rock or sea samphire rather than the marsh version). But I prefer it when it's been lightly blanched and then tossed in melted (unsalted) butter or olive oil. It's best, though, if you quickly deep-fry it in a light tempura batter. The secret is to NOT add any salt when you're cooking it - it provides enough of its own.
We call that rock samphire around my parts I find it on the cliffs at the coast, there's also a marsh samphire found in the mud banks of rivers. I see your other comment left by a viewer and I'm also in Cornwall.
This is why I have your channel set to chime, while I'm at work. You know Jared. You have to pop that cherry, and explore into mushrooms. There whole new world of strange out there.
The only way you'll persuade him is to recommend the one that is least like a mushroom. Giant puffballs when fried are like eggy bread (French toast in the US) with the texture of marshmallow. You have to be lucky to get them, though.
I love this stuff so much! Its basically crunchy sea spinach! Used to get it all the time working at a fish market here in Ireland. Although make sure to eat the youngest shoots, the old ones have this woody center which is kinda prickly
I remember watching something that was talking about someone trying out growing this in japan on land that had been flooded by seawater cause the land wasnt very good for the usual plants due to the salt, i think they got it to work idk to what extent its caught on though
Once again a shout out for wanderlust nursery. They have great plants and I had a great experience with them. Very cool assortment of rare edible species.
We have a relative of the rock samphire growing here in maritime canada, samphire greens are what they are called here, and they are usually pickled. A member of the Salicorniacea family. Either Salicornia virginiana or Salicornia europaea. Great post!
Same habitat and perhaps the same as the "Marsh samphire" greens some Brit mentioned above. However it isn't related to the plant Jared reviewed. Salicornia is part of the Amaranthaceae (pigweed, beet, & spinach family). Rock samphire / sea fennel is in the Apiaceae (carrot, celery, parsnip, chervil, dill, fennel, anise, angelica, etc family--umbellifers).
Great species choice! I hadn't heard of this at all and was especially confused at the common name being samphire. So many species with that common name. Thanks for the amazing video!
You should really try Florida betony. It is a tuber that when used in cooking is very similar to water chestnut. Ive been growing them for about 2 years now and have realized they are really versatile.
I’m doing a costal walk in Portugal. I saw this plant, identified it with an app. Cross referenced it with a couple of RU-vid videos amd I’m eating it now whilst I look at the sea. Thank you for your video. I didn’t even have to scramble down a cliff face for it, thank fully.
Samphire is one of those names that gets applied to a lot of unrelated plants. Almost anything in the Salicornia, Tecticornia, and Sarcocornia genus seem to pick up the name, all being succulent salt loving plants.
its pretty heavily salty in the uk, not sure if its because of the growing environment or what, but i usually fry it in butter, its usually served as a cooked vegetable alongside a dish here, almost treated like broccoli or kale
I foraged it for the first time in Croatia this year on the beach. It was growing there in huge amounts! I made a tea out of it and it tasted really good. Also I dried the rest for the winter time. 😉
I thought we had laws that permitted foraging for personal consumption. I've picked this many times. I norfolk we call it "samfur" and people sell it in honesty booths by the side of the road. It grows in huge expanses by the beach in muddy areas. I've always boiled it. tastes like asparagus to me. Love your content.
I don't believe it's illegal to forage it specifically. It's certainly listed in various foraging guides... However the habitats (in this case cliff faces) themselves can be protected. So you have to be careful where you are taking it from.
Hi Jared, in Australia our samphire is Tecticornia sp. It is commonly known as sea asparagus or sea bean. It grows on the sides of our salty lakes, I forage it and do an easy lactoferment. The young material comes out beautiful and literally tastes like asparagus. The older growth can be a bit chewy but you can sty fry that. It's delicious and free. Hi from Oz
I live in Plymouth England. It grows in profusion around and on the rocks by the sea. Whenever I'm down at the beach I pick a few leaves to chew on - I love it's unusual flavour sort of a mixture of vegetal fennel mixed with celery and kerosene - or some other product of the petro-chemical industry! I've tried pickling it but my batch wasn't vey good, but pickled Rock Samphire was hugely popular in previous centuries.
I still remember the taste from a tour I did on vacation on the Atlantic coast of France, man I wish I could have some now the crunchy and overwhelming saltiness, so strange yet pleasant
I'm guessing, because it is so strong, that it would hold up well to cooking...? So you could probably cook a lot with this herb, in a similar way to thyme or oregano
A couple of foraging channels from the UK I sub to have referenced Samphire several times. The description they usually give is peppery and tastes like celery.
These plants! A variation of this also grows in Canada in salt marches/beachsides The acadians (french first settlers in the atlantic coast) have a really funny name for them that roughly translates to "mouse nipples" (no idea why LOL) We serve it very differently than how youve tasted it. Traditionally its boiler in water (no salt needed) and sometimes served with butter. You only eat the skin on it and it peels right off. Ive also heard this called Samphire Greens or "Sea Asparagus"
I think you are talking about Salicornia instead. It is in the spinach and pigweed family. While salty (like most beach greens), it isn't spicy like sea fennel is.
I recently got to try Chinotto fruit (Citrus myrtifolia) in Southern Italy and instantly thought of this channel. If you're ever in Southern Europe I'd recommend trying it. Very bitter but strangely nice.
Related to fennel and dill, very tasty stuff. There are a few different chemotypes. The one I found in Spain tasted very like dill but salty and succulent. Recommended by me. In the UK, best found on the RHS Plant Finder - 13 suppliers.
I got some close to dry stocks from my short vacation on a croation island last september and put them in sandy soil. After three weeks, some small green tips starting to grow, now the plants are starting to grow very pretty, small and strong. I have the pot in my greenhouse, around 10-12 degrees over the winter, very bright. And give them some sea salt every third time, I water it. I hope to get it multiplied in the end of summer, because I like it a lot. Usual method to preserve it, is to wash it, fill it in jars and cover it with a mix of olive oil, vinegar and salt. I enjoy it together with tomatoes, olive oil, over hot spaghetti, or in a salad, especially nice with tomatoes and onions. It´s rich in minerals and vitamines, especially vitamine c - the sailors collected it (and stored it for sure in vinegar and salt water in barrels) for to have fresh vitamines with them during the long travels on the ocean.
Update (if anybody is interested ;) - 1 year later, the plants are growing great - the pot is in the greenhouse in the winter - and I water it from time to time with a little bit of sea salt to keep the salty taste. Needs tons of light, especially in summer time.
This grows all over Saskatchewan, Canada and has a completely different look to it, it takes up all the salt in our ground and is extremely salty. It’s called marsh samphire.
Warning to people in the comments: many plants get called Samphire ij english. This one is aromatic, related to fennel and celery. Other plants, much more common both on the wild and commercially, but with similar appearance and habitat, are related to spinach and beets and have a salty, mineraly, green flavour.
I used to love Samphire (used to grow around Norfolk and Essex). I do like it when it's pickled, as this makes it easier to take the flesh off the stringy core of older leaves. Didn't know it was illegal to pick it now. Shame. I did try and grow it from seed, but it hates where I am in Scotland and stubbornly refused to grow. As an alternative, I got a pot of Seablite instead.
You would probably like okahijiki (Japanese = land seaweed) and agretti (or barba di frate), which are Japanese and Italian varieties of _Salsola._ Both available from Chiltern Seeds.
Edgar says the line about samphire to sell the idea that they're standing at the edge of White Cliffs of Dover where he's ostensibly taken blind Gloucester to jump off. Then Gloucester face plants into the dirt and can't figure out why he's not dead. It's a darkly humorous moment in the tragedy. There's a great TV production with Sir Laurence Olivier late in his life.
interesting that pickling it made the flavor more mild. I bet you could put the pickled version, or raw even, on a nice sandwich. god I love sandwiches.
We actually have several species of samphire greens in the US, which grow all across the entire continent- usually at shorelines, salt marshes & even salty soils in the mountains & deserts. I've seen them where I live when I was a kid, but didn't know what they were back then. They look completely different from the European species.
Ive collected in Australia on high Tide Mark and stir fry just at end of making a dish and sprinkling on top of fish - try that - or on top of a chinese vegie dish for you
@@SY-ok2dq They are all related as they float bits would have floated around world and grown in suitable seaside locations - Rock Samphire would have been bird distributed in droppings.
