We enjoyed the Nature's Pharmacy Tour last year and decided to join Aggtelek National Park's tour focusing on edible forest plants. Ildikó was our tour guide again, as she was on last year's firefly tour. The nine of us plus Ildikó set out from in front of the Baradla Cave at 10am and followed the Baradla Nature Trail for most of the way. Mediterranean and Carpathian flora meet in the Aggtelek Karst. By the campground was a lone birch tree whose sap can be used as a sweetener and skin softener, and whose leaves may be brewed in tea for a medicinal effect. We passed a number of hazelnut bushes on the right, whose fresh catkins may be dipped in chocolate and eaten like pretzel sticks. The field to the left was awash in dandelions whose greens may be used in salads and stir fries, while its flowers may be used in making syrup, wine and beer. Dandelions can help regenerate the liver. Sap from the greater celandine/tetterwort may be rubbed on skin to get rid of freckles. The root of the corydalis flower may be used like a potato, while the little bell-like seeds of the shepherd's purse taste like black pepper. The lilac bushes are in full bloom, and their flowers can be made into a cordial. The ground was covered with white wild strawberry flowers that have not fruited yet. The trail was lined on both sides by sloe bushes. These berries, after the frost, can be steeped in gin, vodka or palinka with sugar for three months for a delicious liquor. The alcoholic fruit can then be added to chocolate or a steamed pudding. Sand leeks and wild thyme were also found in abundance. The juniper is the only pine species in the Aggtelek Karst that is native. Its berries are often used to make gin, the Czech-Slovak Borovićka, and to treat kidney stones. Nettles of course were thriving, but these are also edible. The young tips can be added to salad, to make soup and stew, drunk as tea, and Kata even found a recipe for nettle-strawberry cake. We saw an episode of River Cottage in which they used nettles to make beer!

Hawthorn trees can be identified by their celery-like leaves. The fruit, after a lot of effort, can be made into jam. The leaves and flowers can be brewed for tea to reduce high blood pressure. Wild violets can be used for tea or candied with sugar and egg white for edible cake decoration. Oak acorns may be ground into flour, and beech tree seeds may be pressed for oil.

Among the pines we encountered damaged trees which Ildikó explained were the results of wild boar rubbing their coats against. The sap creates a kind of armour for their coats, and also traps pesky bugs. Other damage was caused by deer cleaning their antlers. Observant people may have noticed that deer antlers can be many different colours. This is because the antlers take on the colour of the tree they are rubbed against. There was also a large wild boar mud bath area.

Wild ginger is strange plant. Its leaves stretch above, while its flower is at ground level. Note: this is not edible and does not at all resemble ginger. Hedge bedstraw/false baby's breath can be used for stew, and the sweetscented bedstraw tastes just like sweet peas and is sometimes utilised to flavour wine.

The absentminded Eurasian jay has been extremely helpful in spreading the growth of oaks. The bird stuffs its mouth with acorns, deposits them somewhere for safekeeping, and then forgets where it left them.

The kids were most fond of the abundant bittercress seeds that taste just like kohlrabi and wood sorrel that looks like clover but tastes like sorrel.

Although the sloe bushes should have been full of pink shield and St. George mushrooms, the arid weather has prevented their development. Kata and I came away with mush knowledge but empty bellies, so we split a lángos in Aggtelek before heading home.

Forraging websites:

http://erdokostolo.blogspot.hu/ (in Hungarian)

http://www.ediblewildfood.com/foraging-for-food.aspx