Friday Foraging #168 - 12th September 2025
Friday Foraging
Horsetail
This hugely invasive plant can be found all over Europe, but ensure you are picking common horsetail as in Equisetum arvense and not Marestail or marsh Horsetail that look similar.
This plant produces two types of young shoots: fertile and vegetative shoots. The fertile shoots have brownish colour and appear asparagus like. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Each node of the shoots contains water; it is juicy and with almost no taste when eaten raw. However, try giving them a quick fry with some oil and garlic, and yum yum yum, they have a crunchy, slightly sweet and savoury after taste.
When gathering vegetative shoots, try to look for the green tops that are bright green with upward foliages. These green tops can be dried to make herbal tea.
Avoid the green stalk and rhizomes as they can cause health issues due to the enzymes that can destroy Vitamin B1 and thiamine. Also, long-term alcohol users, people who are Vitamin B deficient, pregnant or nursing women should avoid using horsetail. Drinking horsetail tea only one or two times a week as a treat should be beneficial while trying to get the medical benefit from it, but I wouldn’t drink more than that.
To eat as a snack or vegetable, try this method -
Recipe - Use a handful of horsetail shoots, 2 cloves or garlic sliced, a tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt.
Peel off and discard the black papery rings around the stems. Rinse the shoots a few times to remove the sand and dirt.
Heat up the oil over medium high heat. Add garlic. Fry it until slightly brown.
Add the shoots. Continuously fry them until they are fragrant; about two minutes.