Foraging wild vegetables with Signora Wanda

Foraging wild vegetables in Italy is an ancient art which has been passed down from generation to generations, although less people nowadays have time to look for these flavour-packed wild vegetables. So, together with friends, yesterday we asked Signora Wanda to take us for a walk through the fields and reveal all the secrets on wild shoots and leafy green vegetables. It was a beautiful, sunny, crisp morning and after a few steps out of Toffia's medieval gate we where shown 5 types of cicoria (from the dandelion family), some mild in flavour to eat in salads and others to be boiled and stir-fried; wild artichokes called "cardi"; peppery hot wild mustard; wild garlic; chives; wild broccoletti, and even wild carrot, and radicchio. Pretty much every vegetable that we grow today has its corresponding wild "relative" out in the fields. It's out there and it only takes a bag to collect our wild 'goodies' and a little knife, making sure we don't damage the root of the plant, so it will produce more leaves. Fresh, wild vegetables that are full of flavour, essential nutrients, vitamins and anti-oxidants: it's all out there and it's for free! Grazie, Signora Wanda!

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