Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Ground Ivy along with all the Ground Ivy containing recipes presented on this site, with 3 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Ground Ivy as a major wild food ingredient.

The Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea (also known as Nepeta glechoma Benth, Nepeta hederacea (L.) Trevir, Alehoof, Creeping Charlie, Creeping Charley, Catsfoot, Field Balm, Run-away-robin, Ground-ivy, Gill-over-the-ground and Turnhof) is a an aromatic, perennial, evergreen, creeper that's a member of the Lamiaciae (mint) family of flowering plants that is native to Europe and southwestern Asia (though it has been naturalized in North America). Its most notable feature is it's round, reniform (kidney-shaped) crenate (with round toothed edges) opposed leaves 2–3 cm diameter borne on 3–6 cm long petioles attached to square stems which root at the nodes. It is a variable species, its size being influenced by environmental conditions and can grow anywhere between 5 and 50cm tall. The flowers of Glechoma are bilaterally symmetrical, funnel shaped, blue or bluish-violet to lavender, and grow in opposed clusters of 2 or 3 flowers in the leaf axils on the upper part of the stem or near the tip. It usually flowers in the spring. Glechoma thrives in moist shaded areas, but also tolerates sun very well. It is a common plant in grasslands and wooded areas or wasteland. It also thrives in lawns and around buildings, since it survives mowing.

Though nowadays considered a weed, it was once an important bittering and preservative agent in ales and beers (hence the name alehoof) before the advent of hops and was still in use in Wales and Cheshire until the 19th century. It has also been used as a traditional medicine and as a leafy vegetable. It is not one of the prized edible species, but is valuable as the leaves are high in vitamin C and it is available early in spring when there is scant choice. The young leaves can be used either raw or cooked and though the leaves have a bitter flavour they can be mixed into salads to add a slight aromatic tang. They can also be cooked like spinach and added as a flavouring to soups. Traditionally a herb tea is also made from both the fresh and dried leaves where it is often combined with lemon verbena leaves.

Some caution should be taken in the use of this plant. There is evidence that it can cause poisoning in horses and Glechoma hederacea is known to contain terpenoids, and terpene-rich volatile oils are known to irritate the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys. The volatile oil also contains pulegone, a chemical also occurring in pennyroyal that is a known irritant, toxic to the liver, and also an abortefacient (but the levels in Glechoma hederacea are thirty-fold below those in pennyroyal). As will all new wild foods only consume a very small amount of the plant at first, to gauge your own tolerance.

The very young leaves of ground ivy have an aromatic tang with a bitter overtone. They are quite pleasant, added sparingly to a spring salad — particularly as the leaves are available very early in the year. The cooked leaves can be used as a spinach and can be added to soups, stews or stir-fries as a flavouring. A herb tisane can be prepared from an infusion of the fresh or dried leaves (commonly ground ivy leaves are mixed with verbena in making herbal teas).

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants