What to Forage This Week: Five Things Flowering on the Late May Hedgerow

The final days of May are peak foraging season in Britain. The spring rush has not yet exhausted itself — elderflower is at its absolute peak, meadowsweet is opening in damp meadows, dame’s violet is in full fragrant bloom across the hedgerows — and at the same time, early summer plants are beginning to appear. This is the week of maximum plant abundance on a British walk.

If you are new to foraging, or returning to it after a winter away, this is an excellent week to get out. The plants are abundant, identifiable, and genuinely useful. Here are five things worth looking for on a walk this week.

1. Elderflower (Sambucus nigra) — the classic of late May

Elderflower is everywhere right now. Tall elder trees covered in creamy white lacy flower clusters line the roadsides, hedgerows, and woodland edges across the UK. Peak flowering is now, and the scent — sweet, floral, with an almost grape-like undertone — is one of the defining smells of late May.

Why forage it: Elderflower contains flavonoids and phenolic compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Historically used for respiratory support, modern research has investigated its role in immune function and inflammatory modulation.

How to identify: Mature elder trees are distinctive — grey-brown bark with vertical fissures, opposite compound leaves with 5–7 lance-shaped leaflets, and dense flat-topped clusters of tiny, five-petalled white flowers. The flowers smell sweet and floral, completely unmistakable.

What to use: The flowers only. Pick whole flower clusters, avoiding any brown or damaged parts. The leaves and berries should be cooked or dried before use; raw berries can cause nausea.

How to use this week:

• Cordial: Infuse flower clusters in boiling water, strain, add lemon juice and sugar, bottle.
• Panna cotta: Steep flowers in warm cream, strain, make a simple panna cotta with honey and gelatine.
• Tea: A simple infusion of dried or fresh flowers — calming and mildly sweet.

2. Dame’s Violet (Hesperis matronalis) — the fragrant crucifer

If you haven’t read Monday’s deep-dive on dame’s violet, this is the week to go looking for it. The lilac and white four-petalled flowers are at peak flowering, the leaves are still tender enough to eat, and the evening scent is one of the quietly perfect moments of a late May walk.

Why forage it: Dame’s violet contains glucosinolates — specifically glucobrassicin, gluconapin, and the novel glucomatronalin — which break down to indole-3-carbinol (I3C) on chewing. This is the same cancer-preventive compound found in broccoli and kale.

How to identify: Four-petalled flowers in lilac, pink, or white, arranged in racemes. Lance-shaped, hairy leaves. Hairy stems. Height 50–100cm. Flowers smell sweet and violet-like, especially at dusk.

What to use: Young leaves and flowers.

How to use this week:

• Peppery spring salad: Combine with watercress, sorrel, and ox-eye daisy petals. Dress with olive oil and lemon.
• Wilted green: Treat like rocket — wilt in olive oil with garlic and serve alongside grilled fish.
• Flower garnish: Scatter the beautiful lilac flowers over salads and soft cheese.

3. Common Vetch (Vicia sativa) — the high-protein legume

Common vetch is flowering prolifically this week — delicate pink or purple pea-like flowers on climbing or trailing stems, often scrambling through rough grass and over low hedgerow. It is a member of the legume family, and like all legumes, it is genuinely nutritious.

Why forage it: The young seed pods are edible — they taste like fresh peas and contain approximately 25% protein by weight, one of the highest vegetable protein sources available. The young leaves can be eaten in salads.

How to identify: Climbing or trailing annual plant. Compound pinnate leaves with 8–16 pairs of leaflets and branched tendrils at the tip. Flowers are pea-like, pink to purple, appearing in pairs or clusters from the leaf axils. Seedpods are small, flat, 3–8cm long.

What to use: Young tender leaves (use sparingly in salads) and young green seed pods when still tender and full of immature seeds.

How to use this week:

• In salads: Use just a few leaves. The young pods, shelled like peas, are delicious raw or lightly steamed.
• As a side vegetable: Steam or lightly stir-fry the young pods like sugar snap peas. Serve with butter and fleur de sel.
• Pods with early potatoes: Combine the young vetch pods with the first new potatoes of June.

Safety note: Vetch seeds contain vicine, a compound that can cause favism in individuals with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, a rare genetic condition. This is not a concern for healthy individuals eating culinary quantities of young tender vetch.

4. Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) — the salicylate treasure

Meadowsweet is at peak flowering in the damp meadows of the UK — creamy white feathery plumes, warm honeyed scent, growing tall in the wet grassland and along riverbanks.

Why forage it: Meadowsweet contains salicylic acid (the aspirin precursor) alongside stomach-protective tannins — meaning it eases pain and inflammation without the gastric irritation of aspirin itself.

How to identify: Upright perennial, 60–120cm tall. Deeply pinnate leaves with 3–9 pairs of lance-shaped leaflets. Feathery flower plumes at the terminal end — flat clusters of tiny cream-white flowers. The scent is warm and honeyed, distinctive and unmistakable.

What to use: Flower plumes (at peak now) and the leaves.

How to use this week:

• Cordial: Infuse the flower plumes in boiling water, strain, add lemon and honey.
• Tea: Dry the flowers for winter use, or make a fresh infusion in late May.
• In cream: Infuse fresh flower plumes into warm cream, strain, and use as a pouring cream for desserts or tea.

5. Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) — the natural sweetener

Sweet cicely is a member of the carrot family and one of the most charming plants of the late spring hedgerow. Crush a leaf and you’ll be hit with the most extraordinary anise and liquorice scent — impossible to confuse with anything else.

Why forage it: Sweet cicely naturally contains anethole — the compound that gives aniseed and fennel their characteristic flavour — but in a gentler, more delicate form. All parts of the plant are edible and genuinely useful in the kitchen.

How to identify: Herbaceous perennial, 60–120cm tall. Soft, finely divided fern-like leaves with a delicate texture. White flowers in small umbrella-shaped clusters. The entire plant is slightly hairy. Crush a leaf and the anise-liquorice scent is immediate and unmistakable.

What to use: Young leaves (now), flowers, tender seedpods (in about 3 weeks), and the roots (autumn).

How to use this week:

• In desserts: The leaves add a delicate anise flavour to cream, custard, and fruit dishes — particularly rhubarb, gooseberries, and apple.
• In salads: A few young leaves, torn, in a green salad.
• As a natural sweetener: Sweet cicely leaves enhance the perception of sweetness, meaning you can use less sugar in dishes sweetened with the leaves.

The five-plant walk: what to look for this week

On a single walk this week, you could realistically find and forage all five of these plants: elderflower on tall trees, dame’s violet on roadsides, vetch scrambling through hedgerows, meadowsweet in damp fields, and sweet cicely on woodland edges.

This is one of the great weeks of the year for a foraging walk. The plants are abundant, identifiable, genuinely delicious, and genuinely useful. The weather in late May is usually mild and pleasant. The hedgerows are at their most beautiful.

If you would like to learn foraging properly — how to forage safely, how to identify plants with confidence, how to work with them in the kitchen — I run workshops across the spring and summer. Details at chloearchard.com.

And if understanding the deeper science of why these plants work — the phytochemistry, the research, the cellular mechanisms — is something you want to explore, that’s the territory of The Cellular Reset, my nine-week programme on cellular nutrition and resilience.

References

• PMC7824106 — Biel W, Dar M. Nutritional and Anti-Nutritional Factors in Vicia sativa L. Seeds. Molecules. 2020.
• Meadowsweet phytochemistry documented in multiple ethnobotanical and phytochemical reviews.
• Elderflower and sweet cicely documented in traditional herbalism and modern botanical literature.

Medical disclaimer

This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Wild plants can be dangerous if misidentified. Never consume any wild plant unless you are completely confident in your identification. Some wild plants can interact with medications. Always consult your GP before using wild plants medicinally, particularly if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking medication.