I tried some cleavers today – ie, grassgoose, Galium aparine, or more commonly around here, the stickybud plant.

Since the plants are young and sprightly at the moment, I tried the leaves, which don’t exact garner winning reviews from my wild food books – one calls them “too bitter” to bother with, another says they make “tolerable if stringy eating”. I thought they were … ok. Bitter, yes, but not much more so than rocket. I only like rocket about every fifth time I eat it though so it’s not exactly my favourite taste. It wasn’t off-putting enough that I wouldn’t try again (especially since I’ve read somewhere that people usually need to try a new flavour about ten times before they like it) but it’s not going to make it onto my favourite food list.

I’m interested in trying the buds steeped to make a hot drink later in the season…