Summer foraging is a fantastic activity to partake in if you love food and nature! This season presents a fertile window to look for edible treasures, as the plants and trees are in full bloom. This time of year is also friendly for foraging beginners since many of the plants below are easy to spot and ripe for picking. Who knows, foraging in the summer months may just become your new favorite seasonal habit!
Summer Foraging: 12 Wild Foods to Gather This Season
1. Wild Strawberries
These are red, cone-shaped, and much smaller than the strawberries you can find in stores, but are more fragrant and flavorful. They grow in forest edges, grasslands, and open woodland areas.
The summer months of June, July, and August are the best times to look for them. Pick these wild fruits when they’re deep red and detach easily from the stem.
How to Use Them: Eat them fresh, add to salads, spoon over yogurt, or make into syrups and jams.
2. Blackberries
You can find these juicy berries growing in thorny brambles along trails, fields, and other disturbed areas.
Blackberries generally ripen in late summer to early fall, turning a deep purple-black in the process. They’ll be plump, shiny, and release easily with a gentle tug.
How to Use Them: They can be made into jams and added to pies, muffins, and other desserts.
3. Elderflowers
These are beautiful and fragrant flower clusters that bloom on elder trees in either late spring or early summer.
The best time to pick them is when they’re creamy white and fully open. For the best results, avoid getting blooms that are already brown or wilting.
How to Use Them: Turn them into tea, cordials, or syrup.
4. Plantain (Plantago)
This common weed is often found in disturbed areas, including between paving stones and driveways. It can grow in either sunny or shady areas, so be on the lookout for broad, ribbed leaves that grow at the base of the plant with a central flower spike.
The seeds and leaves are edible. However, it’s better to eat the younger leaves since the older ones are harder to chew.
How to Use It: Can be tossed in salads or mixed in soups and sautés.
5. Yarrow
Yarrow thrives in areas with mildly disturbed soil, such as dry meadows, grasslands, and open forests from June to August. It features frilly leaves that look like feathers, with small white or pale-pink flowers.
The whole plant can grow up to knee-height and emits an herbal scent, primarily when crushed. You can use both the leaves and flowers in the kitchen.
How to Use It: Make yarrow-infused oil, steep the flowers or leaves to make tea, or chew the leaves to relieve a toothache.
6. Raspberries
You can find wild raspberries in sunny clearings, roadsides, and trails. Look for thorny canes with compound leaves, white flowers, and tasty berries during summer and fall months.
Only pick those that are entirely red and slip off the core easily, as the hard, unripe ones may taste sour or bitter instead of sweet.
How to Use Them: Add them to smoothies and desserts or toss them into salads.
7. Wild Roses
These beautiful and edible roses can be found growing on the edge of forests, along trails and roadsides, and in open fields. They feature five-petaled flowers, often pink or white, serrated leaves, and thorny stems.
You can forage the flowers while they are soft, open, and fragrant, as well as the rose hips, which are berry-like gems that form after the petals fall.
How to Use Them: Use the petals and hips in making teas and jellies, body scrubs and more.
8. Chanterelle Mushrooms
Chanterelles are golden-yellow mushrooms with big caps, forked ridges underneath, and a distinct citrus-like smell. They can grow in small or large patches in deciduous or coniferous forests and damp woodlands in July or August.
If you’re unsure of what to pick, it won’t hurt to bring a field guide when summer foraging to avoid getting dangerous lookalikes.
How to Use Them: Saute them in butter or add them to pasta and soup recipes.
9. Mint
Wild mint prefers areas that are moist and grassy, such as those near bodies of water or in damp and shaded forest areas. They grow in bushy patches with square stems and toothed leaves that bear an unmistakable minty aroma, especially when crushed.
Pick the leaves anytime during the summer months to enjoy them.
How to Use It: Make refreshing sauces and teas, add to fruit salads, make a simple syrup, or use as a garnish on various dishes.
10. Blueberries
You can forage blueberries on low, bushy shrubs in well-lit, rocky areas with acidic soil, especially in pine forests. They’re abundant from mid to late summer months, ripening from green to dusky blue fruits.
Avoid green berries or those tinged with red, as they tend to have a bitter or tart taste.
How to Use Them: Add them to pancakes and muffins, sweet desserts, and cold drinks.
11. Elderberries
Like elderflowers, elderberries come from elder trees. The fruits emerge from pollinated elderflowers and can be harvested in the late summer. You can find them growing in umbrella-shaped, drooping bunches.
Ripe ones are soft, dark-colored, and have a shiny appearance. Don’t eat them raw, as they can be toxic if not properly cooked first.
How to Use Them: Create elderberry syrup and add to pancakes, ice creams, and other herbal recipes.
12. Dandelion Greens
Dandelions are common weeds that grow everywhere, even on sidewalks, yards, and parks. They’re very recognizable with their yellow flowers and jagged leaves, which are edible and nutritious.
Pick the younger leaves, which tend to be more tender and less bitter than older ones. Also, to be safe, forage only from areas that are not sprayed with pesticides or frequented by pets.
How to Use Them: Toss them in fresh green salads or saute them in garlic and olive oil.
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