May is the season for wild food
As spring arrives in Southern Finland and leaves begin to appear on the trees, chefs go crazy for wild food, which includes not only game but also everything that grows in the wild that you can eat. Wild herbs, for example, can be found just about everywhere, even in Helsinki, and they can be savoured also in local restaurants.
Sami Tallberg is one such chef who is a big fan of wild food, and for him May is the best month.
“Spring is my favourite time of year. The start of the wild plant season is a promise of something new. I keep my eyes wide open in May, when nature offers such an amazing range of excellent ingredients,” Sami tells us.
Having discovered wild food during his years in London, Sami gathers all the possible ingredients he can by strolling along the shoreline, over the islands and through the parks of Helsinki.
“I get an almost ecstatic feeling at the start of the season, when the orpine [hylotelephium telephium] and the red sorrel [rumex acetosella] appear. You can usually find orpine on the rocks around the first of May.”
Other wild herbs that can be found in early spring include nettles, ground elder [aegopodium podagraria], wood sorrel [oxalis acetosella], garlic mustard [alliaria petiolata], ground ivy [glechoma hederacea], spruce shoots, blackcurrant and birch leaves, bittercress [barbarea vulgaris] and dandelions.
Sami Tallberg’s enthusiasm for wild food is contagious. Minister of Culture and Education Paavo Arhinmäki was so impressed that he awarded Sami the Finland Prize in December 2012. The award is significant not only for Sami personally but also for Finnish food culture on the whole.
