Foraging for Hazel Catkins | UK Wild Edibles

Can you eat Hazel Catkins? This week I teach you how to identify and use hazel catkins as a nutritious wild edible and medicinal plant.
More information on the uses of Hazel:
www.eatweeds.c...
Medieval Hazel leaf stew:
giveitforth.bl...
#foraging #wildfood #spring
Some useful plant identification books:
Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland - Robin Harford
www.amazon.co....
Food For Free - Richard Mabey
www.amazon.co....
The Forager's Calendar - John Wright
www.amazon.co....
Some amazing foraging channels:
Wild Food UK
/ wildfooduk1
Coastal Foraging With Craig Evans
/ @coastalforagingwithcr...
Vincent Petit (Amazing videos)
/ @vincentpetit2109
Totally Wild UK - Excellent regular content
/ @totallywilduk6228
totallywilduk....

[@user-ws2bc6zq3o]

"You can eat it raw" *clearly doesn't enjoy it* *goes in for seconds* "I wouldn't recommend it" I'm getting mixed messages here. Have you ever talked about how you yourself got into foraging? Been loving your content after coming across your dryad saddle video, and it's been awesome watching the channel evolve. Keep it up.

[@Fieldstudy_]

Ah thanks! No I’ve not really gone into how I got into foraging and why I think wild food is important, but it will certainly be something I talk about more in the future. Maybe I’ll do it in a live stream and everyone can ask questions as we go along, how does that sound?

[@user-ws2bc6zq3o]

@@Fieldstudy_ Sounds like a plan

[@AF-pw8il]

Are young’s weeping birch catkins also edible? Loved this vid by the way

[@garyphisher7375]

I'm going to learn 3 different foodstuffs per week. Getting into foraging can be overwhelming, so I'm going to cut it down into manageable chunks. My neighbour has a Hazel tree - I collect the nuts that fall onto the pavement - I wonder if they'll mind me grabbing some of these?

[@Fieldstudy_]

That’s such a good goal to have! You’ll be extremely knowledgable in no time 🌿

[@Layer03cyberia]

All set for the apocalypse😎

[@adiem1653]

Cheers for another lovely video - hope the Corylus Avellana catkins help fend off your cold lol 😆

[@Fieldstudy_]

4 days later and I’m feeling pretty fresh!

[@anylogwotem373]

I was looking at some of these a couple of days ago and thinking 'I wonder...' Cheers for a great video as always!😊

[@Fieldstudy_]

Thankyou, I someone once describe the taste of raw catkins as ‘bitter sawdust’ 😂 So I definitely recommend making the tea if you’re going to try them, much more palatable

[@anylogwotem373]

@@Fieldstudy_ Going to be making a tea with polypore & add it in, plus some lime and honey. Hopefully the honey and lime will help it be pleasant enough 😂

[@Fieldstudy_]

Yeah I swear by birch Polypore, I put some ginger in there as well when I boil it up and it masks the slight bitterness of the mushroom 🍄

[@anylogwotem373]

@@Fieldstudy_ Thanks for the tip, a good excuse to get some more ginger in my diet :) Is there anything I might mix up with hazel catkins? Just a little worried as the ones I've found don't taste all that bitter when raw. Plenty of pollen though :')

[@nseight]

:-) * Stumbled apon your channel. Just subscribed :-) Sending best wishes from Scotland*

[@Fieldstudy_]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@wolfenstein6676]

Thanks for the video, mate, that recipe with the hazel leaves sounds interesting :) .

[@Fieldstudy_]

Yeah super interesting, I’ve linked a blog post in the description of the video where a person is talking about it. Check it out 😀

[@wolfenstein6676]

@@Fieldstudy_ I took a look at it, you've definitely found some kind of 'ye olde worlde' version of 'Masterchef' there, mate :) .

[@thewildflowerkitchen]

Thanks for that! Can't wait to enjoy consuming a few of these golden tassels at a sparce time in the woodland (Early March).

[@Fieldstudy_]

Have fun!

[@mikealman9259]

Very good info and stunning scenery 👋 especially liked the end lol, liked, subbed etc 👍

[@Fieldstudy_]

Thankyou Mike! Welcome to the channel 😀

[@mikealman9259]

@@Fieldstudy_ 😁😁😁

[@basil2175]

So much to learn all the nature given us thank you for sharing your knowledge

[@Fieldstudy_]

My pleasure ☺️

[@EarlybirdEnglish]

Great video as usual! My hazelnuts in the Basque Country are still a bit behind yours

[@Fieldstudy_]

Thankyou! Are you up at high altitude in the mountains?

[@aabbushcraft]

Great video mate 👍 so good I have just subscribed 🤗

[@Fieldstudy_]

Glad to have you with us! If you ever have any questions just let me know. I’m sure you’ve got loads of knowledge that would be useful to the community 😊

[@sadiesmith5096]

Great video 🥰🥰🙏🏼

[@danthelambboy]

Do you have a source of scientific info on the nutritional composition of hazel catkins?

[@Weirdisjustabrownandyellowword]

They're delicious on cakes.

[@rosiedsouza2846]

Are the mulberry catkins also edible raw off the tree or make a tea like what you've done with the hazel catkins

[@Fieldstudy_]

Absolutely no idea, I haven’t come across a reference to them being eaten 🤷‍♂️ sorry I couldn’t be more help

[@TheMegaJobe]

Can you use the windfall catkins ? They turn into a dark rust brown colour? Can they still be used? Thank you

[@Fieldstudy_]

A great question! I recommend only using the fresh ones for food purposes, they go that beautiful brown colour as they are starting to decompose. At that point they have also released all of their pollen so are pretty much just a papery husk! I hope you’re having a good week ☺️

[@TheMegaJobe]

@@Fieldstudy_ Thank you for your reply . One more question as I'm pretty new to all this ..I'm trying to make sure I've got the correct tree, does it also have tiny little cones on it? Similar to pine cones . Thank you in advance.

[@Fieldstudy_]

@@TheMegaJobe Hello! So what you have found are the catkins of the common alder tree. They look incredibly similar to hazel catkins so easy to confuse 😊 Alder is incredibly bitter and astringent and is used more as a medicinal plant than a food plant. The little cones you saw can be boiled in water to create an antibacterial and anti fungal foot bath. Very useful if you do a lot of hiking 🥾 Best of luck finding hazel and I hope you have a great weekend

[@mariebassett4498]

How would you go about drying them? Dehydrater/oven or just hanging them? Thanks 😊

[@Fieldstudy_]

I use a dehydrator or you could use an oven on its lowest setting, you could try drying them by laying them out if you have a warm and airy house. Just hanging them up might be a little messy as the drop their pollen when drying! Thanks for watching and I hope you have a wonderful week 🙏

[@mariebassett4498]

@@Fieldstudy_ ahh cool thanks, how long do they take in a dehydrater? What temp please? I'm going to forage some today!

[@Fieldstudy_]

@@mariebassett4498 I do a nice low temperature and they don’t take too long as they don’t have a particularly high water content. Hope it’s a beautiful day wherever you’re foraging!

[@mariebassett4498]

@@Fieldstudy_ thanks so much for the info, beautiful day here, forgot my foraging basket, but got a good 'poop' bag full of catkins! 😁

[@jokeogh9939]

I was going to ask if you had the recipe for the stew. 😊

[@Fieldstudy_]

I’ve put a few links that reference ’noteye’ stew in the description. If it tastes any good I’ll make a recipe video on it 😂 Hope you’re having a good week