London activities to help you feel closer to your Witchcraft practice
FORAGING – PART 1
The humble beauty of elderflower
Foraging is probably one of the most witchy activities I can think of. It is essentially noticing small things around you and seeing that they have use and value.
There’s a Terry Pratchett quote:
“A witch delights in small details. A witch sees through things and round things. A witch sees further than most.”
When you learn the basics of foraging, you do see further!
A walk in nature becomes not just the opportunity to stretch your legs, exercise your dog and observe the beauty of plants and trees. It also becomes the opportunity to look out for completely free ingredients that you know are growing at certain times of year.
We live in a modern world that asks us to be very insular and not pay much attention to the small details around us. Or it’s a world that causes us so much stress that we don’t have the capacity to notice beauty in the little things.
If we observe nature carefully and we respect it, it gives back to us, sometimes in the form of things you’d pay a lot of money for in a specialist supermarket.
For instance, the focus of this post: Elderflower 🌱
In May and early June, this sweet scented, delicately herbal flower is all around us in the UK for the taking, as long as we leave plenty for the birds and insects to enjoy too.
And you’re not missing out if you’re not based in the countryside. It grows in absolute abundance in London, a city that is 21% trees, making it technically a forest. That’s actually true!
I’m willing to bet there is elderflower to be found on your doorstep if you live in London, or anywhere in the UK. Yet speciality supermarkets will charge you £15 for a few umbels because they did the foraging for you.
Now foraging does come with its dangers of course, which may put some people off. But nowadays, your smart phone is likely to have a built in lens that will identify the plant you’re taking a photo of and confirm exactly what it is. Or you can download apps that will help you safely identify actual elderflower in the wild.
And although elderflower is quite similar to some plants you can’t eat, it is also distinctive enough to spot with some tips, as I’ll talk you through below.
Please note I am not an expert forager. Always do your own thorough research when foraging. Do not eat anything unless you’ve been completely assured by careful checks and research that it is safe to eat.
About elder
Elderflower grows on the elder tree and it’s scientific name is Sambucas. Sambucas nigra is the edible elderflower that grows in the UK. Commercially produced elderflower cordials don’t taste particularly like actual elderflower as they’re too sweet. But if you’ve ever enjoyed a few shots of the alcoholic spirit Sambuca, you may recognise the slightly aniseed-y, herbal, natural flavour profile of actual elderflower.
Later in the year, you will also find elderberries on the elder tree and these are a key food source of food for birds before hibernation, which is why it’s important not to over-forage elderflowers earlier in the year. Taking a few sprigs from each tree you find is absolutely fine, but don’t clear out an entire branch of flowers.
The distinctive herbal and naturally sweet flavour of elder comes mostly from the yellow pollen on the flowers, so it’s best to pick elder flowers when it’s been sunny for a few days in a row, so that the pollen hasn’t all been washed off by rain. Flowers turning brown also won’t have as much pollen on there, so try to pick the whitest flowers you can.
You shouldn’t wash the flowers in water when you get home, as this will remove the pollen. When you’re out picking them, check for flies and bugs amongst the white flowers and pick the cleanest blooms you can find to minimise bugs. Then just sort through them when you get home and shake out any bugs that were hiding from you when you picked them.
It is best to pick your umbels of flowers from higher up branches, to ensure they haven’t been weed on by any foxes or dogs, or sprayed with any nasty weed killers meant for lower down plants!
Identifying elderflower
We must be respectful of nature and observant when foraging.
There are some plants just as common as elderflower in the UK in late spring/early summer that resemble elderflower but ARE NOT ELDERFLOWER.
The below IS elderflower:
Some key characteristics to look out for:
🌱 The flowers are completely white with yellow pollen.
🌱 There are 5 little petals on each white flower.
🌱 The stems around it have 5 leaves stemming from them.
🌱 The leaves have a zigzag edge, like a serrated knife.
🌱 They are in a tree on a tree branch, not growing directly out of the ground on a long stem, or from a hedge.
The below is NOT elderflower!
The above is cow parsley. It often grows near elderflower but it is not elderflower.
⛔ It grows UP from the ground on stalks, not in tree branches.
⛔ The white flowers live on long thin stalks and are not surrounded by 5 serrated leaves.
The below is NOT elderflower!
The above is hawthorn. It is not elderflower but again, it was growing near it in the park where I foraged mine.
⛔ Notice how the flowers have little black prongs sticking out of their petals. Whereas elderflower are all white, with no little black prongs.
⛔ It grows in a bush rather than in a tree branch like elder.
⛔ Its leaves are smaller and not arranged in the distinctive pattern of 5 like elderflower.
Of course, the above is not a complete list of examples of things that are not elderflower.
They are just the two things that looked sneakily like it, and was growing very close to it in the park I was in.
Just make sure you always check before picking!!
A final photo below of definitely elderflower!
The uses of Elderflower
Historically, the elder tree was known as the witch tree. It was believed that witches could literally turn themselves into elder trees to hide from enemies.
With this came the believe that consuming elder could open your eyes to magic. It was even believed that it could cure you when grieving the death of a loved one.
Now if I were to turn into a tree, elder would be a good one. It’s adaptable, abundant and useful for feeding birds and insects and even humans… And it smells great. But I would never encourage anyone to try to whisk away their grief with a flower. Grief is hard but important, it’s how we remember the good times with someone who is gone. It’s not something to be cured.
Elderflower has also been considered to cure colds and flu when made into tea, although there is no real scientific evidence to back this. There is undoubtedly something soothing about a hot steaming tea made with all-natural ingredients though, and sometimes the placebo effect is magic in itself.
What may have some scientific backing is the use of elderflower to help ease hay fever symptoms, if your hay fever is caused by tree pollen specifically. Similar logic to consuming honey made by local bees to ease hay fever, you are essentially microdosing the pollen which causes your allergies. With strong hay fever symptoms though, this may not work.
One real magic foraged elderflower holds (in my opinion as a kitchen witch) is that it is delicious and can be used in quite a wide variety of recipes.
I collected a quarter of a bag full of elderflowers from 5 different huge trees dotted around my local park and I made a litre and a half of syrup which was more than enough to make:
🌱 An elderflower and lemon drizzle cake
🌱 Many elderflower gin cocktails
🌱 A really amazing elderflower panna cotta topped with elderflower jelly (recipe pending!)
🌱 A simple halloumi salad (you know when you add honey to halloumi and it’s an amazing balance of salty and sweet? Well adding elderflower cordial to halloumi creates a similar result but with an added herbal punch too)
🌱 Filo pastry wrapped backed feta drizzled with elderflower syrup
In short, elderflower is a delicious natural ingredient that grows all around us in early summer. If we are mindful and pay attention to our surroundings, we will find it.
Foraging it is a great excuse to get out in nature on a sunny day. Just make sure you do your research first (there’s nothing more witchy than educating yourself!)
Boiling up an elderflower syrup in your home kitchen is a great way to feel witchy and fill your house with a delightful herbal smell, perfect for welcoming in the approaching summer solstice.
And the edible results are definitely worth it!
Elderflower season is short but sweet, so get out there and enjoy! ☀️
If by some miracle someone is reading this, please know that I am relatively new to practising Witchcraft. I have felt the call for many years but only started truly learning about the Craft properly about 6 years ago.
Some rituals I perform are taken from books and spell kits, some are just my own. I love being a witch because there is space for flexibility. I hope you will be kind and join me on my journey!
The City Kitchen Witch 