Wild harvesting

La Cueillette Sauvage: Rediscovering Nature's Treasures

In a world where fast food and processed foods dominate our daily lives, wild foraging offers an authentic way to reconnect with nature. It's an ancestral practice that's gaining in popularity, allowing us to rediscover forgotten flavors and enjoy the nutritional benefits of wild plants and fruits.

We have a range combining fresh fruit with wild plants, but how do you choose which wild plants to combine?

Caution! Picking wild plants is not without risk.

Precautions to take

Wild picking, although beneficial, must be practised with care:

• Correct identification: Learn how to correctly identify edible plants to avoid confusion with poisonous species. Specialized books and mobile apps can be a great help.
• Picking areas: Make sure you pick in areas uncontaminated by pesticides or pollutants. Choose natural areas away from roads and industrial zones.
• Respect for nature: Pick responsibly, taking only what you need. Leave enough plants to regenerate and respect natural habitats.

Some plants are similar, and while one may be edible, the other may be toxic or even lethal.

The first step is therefore TRAINING. It's important to be able to train oneself to recognize edible plants from non-edible ones. Our team was trained by Théo Bourget from Clé des Plantes, who helped us learn to recognize edible and non-edible wild plants.

The second step is to KNOW which plants are edible and which are not.

So, for example, in this table you have edible plants, and on the other, plants that may resemble them visually, or plants similar in name but which are toxic or even lethal.

 Training is therefore essential to recognize which plants are edible and which are not.

If we go back to the table above, these plants are very similar in appearance, but in reality they are not all edible.

The Great Hemlock, for example, is very similar to the meadowsweet, but is deadly.

Other non-edible plants, on the other hand, can cause numerous health problems.

If in doubt, don't hesitate to consult a pharmacy or refrain from using the product.

The last stage is IMAGINATION and ENJOYMENT.

In fact, depending on the plant, some go better with red fruit, others with yellow...

You need to experiment and have fun with fruits and plants. Sometimes the combination will work perfectly, sometimes it will need adjusting, and sometimes it won't work at all.

That's how we started our range of wild-gathered jams. By testing the plants with various fruits. We came up with four combinations that we consider to be the best in our tests.

So we find :

• Reine des Prés apricot: Reine des Prés brings notes of bitter almonds, like the apricot jams our grandparents made with almonds. 
• Elderflower raspberry: Elderflower adds a distinctive floral note that blends perfectly with raspberry. 
• Round mint strawberry (also known as water mint): mint adds freshness to the woody notes of mariguette strawberry. 
• Orange hogweed fig: Hogweed seed accentuates the slight bitterness and tangerine note.

However, as with fruit, plants are not available all year round; they follow the seasons. Some plants can be found dried out of season, but the ideal is to take them fresh to get all the taste the plant can give us.