Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Oxeye Daisy along with all the Oxeye Daisy containing recipes presented on this site, with 10 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 Oxeye Daisy as a major wild food ingredient.

The Oxeye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare, (also known as Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, Marguerite, White Weed, White daisy, White Goldes, Moon Penny, Maudlinwort, Midsummer Daisy, Love-me-not, Large White Gowan, Espibawn, Herb Margaret, Sheriff Pink, Love-me, Field Daisy and May Queen) is a perennial flowering plant, native to Europe and temperate Asia that is a member of the Asteraceae (daisy) family of flowering plants. It is a perennial prostrate herb with small flower head (not larger than 5 cm) that consists of about 20 white ray flowers and numerous yellow disc flowers, growing on the end of the stem. The stem is mostly unbranched and sprouts laterally from a creeping rootstock. The leaves are dark green on both sides. The basal and middle leaves are petiolate, obovate to spoon-shaped, and serrate to dentate. The upper leaves are shorter, sessile, and borne along the stem. Typically it grows from 30cm to 90cm in height. The stem is long, thin and hard with occasional branching along the stem. The flower comes into bloom in the middle of May and continues to flower until the end of October although it is at its peak towards the end of June. The leaves are small with a rough toothed edge and those near the root are more round in shape with long stalks.

Despite having a bitter taste, young leaves of Ox-eye Daisy are eaten in salads in parts of Italy and, indeed, when very young they are quite palatable and make an acceptable early spring salad. The root is also edible and can be either cooked or eaten raw. The flower petals (but not the entire flower head) are edible and make interesting garnishes for salads and desserts. The unopened flower buds have also, traditionally, been pickled as a caper substitute. The leaves and flower buds can also be used in stir-fries.

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