Edible nature – in other words what can get onto the pantry shelves from forests in the vicinity of Budapest?

Before setting out with huge bags, it is important to note: nature mustn’t be robbed. We should just pick any kinds of fruits in a way that we must also leave behind some, and we should pay more attention not to ruin anything during harvest. We should also focus on the frequency of the plants: it is only ethical to harvest from places where are plenty of fruits. A strict principle is that we should eat only those plants and fruits which we recognize with sufficient certainty. Fortunately, there are several kinds of smartphone applications nowadays that help us to identify plants, however we should be cautious – for example, mushrooms can be eaten only after being tested. Finally, we mustn’t forget that in protected areas nothing can be picked without permission, however if we walk in a non-protected, state-owned forest or meadow, we can take home only two kilograms per capita a day.

Besides the plenty of rules, of course, it is useful to know what to look for.

Although it doesn’t seem to be the best bite, it is worth trying: in spring the fresh leaves of the nettle – wearing gloves – , in the fall, the roots should be harvested. We can consume the cooked or boiled tender leaves and buds at home, moreover we can make tea from them. Nettles also grow around the city in many places, they like wet areas, and they can be found in acacia woods. For picking nettles, we recommend the area surrounding villages in Pilis or Visegrád Mountains.

We should time the trip to see the white flowers of the acacia in June. Besides the exquisite fragrance, we can enjoy the syrup made from flowers or an acacia dessert fried in sweet pancake pastry. We can easily get into acacia woods in Hungary: this species spreads quickly in sandy, dry soils, so they often live next to roads or on the edge of leafy forests. A lot of times the acacia settles down on the abandoned slopes of hills, no wonder, it can be seen almost everywhere on the edge of settlements around Buda.

We need good eyesight more when we feel like eating strawberries. Because no matter we know that the tiny red fruit tries to attract attention on the edge of woods, in the meadows of the forests and along the road in the summer as well, we hardly notice them. But if we notice them, surely we can find more than two stems: usually we can bump into entire strawberry fields. Picking strawberries can even be fine for a field trip: children can enjoy it. And where should we look for suitable fruit? If you know good places for picking strawberries, you shouldn’t reveal the secret areas, so we can only say: where you can smell thyme, you will find strawberries, too; you should look for them on the edge of sunny meadows, along dirt roads, on the southern side of the hills.

Zsámbék is supposed to have been named after the elderberries: in the country, numerous elderberries grow indeed. No wonder a festival has been organized about the topic in recent years. Picking elderberries guarantees similar success to acacia: we can easily collect elderberries to make syrup or elderflower pancakes, we don’t need to search for them either, as they grow almost everywhere.

The end of the summer and the beginning of autumn gives us blackberries as a gift, which is hard to collect because of the thorns, but it is harder to leave there. The blackberry is full of antioxidants, but there is something better: the fresh fruit is delicious! If our hands and lips turn black because of the blackberries, let’s fill up our boxes bravely – if we cannot process them immediately at home, we can place them on a metal tray to freeze the berries, they will remain rolling blackberries. The blackberry prefers sunny, semi-shade places along the road, too. Along the hiking path of Etyek Hills, for example, there are many of them.