How to live greener

By Peter Petersen

This article will be about my experiences with the Danish flora and fauna. How you can implement things you find in nature to your daily life. Hopefully giving you a healthier life while making your carbon dioxide footprint smaller. Avoiding plastic wrapping and the polluting harvest and so on.

You will find many usefull things around your neighborhood that may substitute supermarket goods. 

I have devided this article into month so it is easier to navigate in and hopefully more usefull.

Garlic Mustard

Løgkarse

Alliaria petiolata

Is found in most gardens and other green areas in Europe. It grows up to around 1 meter tall. It is edible and can be used for many purposes in different dishes. The taste is a bit like onion. This plant can be found from early spring and all through the summer.

Watermint

Vandmynte

Mentha aquatica

 Can be found around lakes, swamps and ponds. Watermint can for example be used in a salad or for tea. It is very tasteful especially in spring when the plants are just sprouting forth like in the photo above. This is from Utterslev Mose near Copenhagen.

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Watermint (Mentha aquatica) can be found from early spring and all through the summer. This video is from a stream in Utterslev Mose. 

Ground elder

Skvadderkål

Aegopodium podagraria

Is regarded as a pest for many garden owners but this plant is also edible. The fresh young leaves are great in a salad and these are some of the most common plants in Denmark. It is found from early spring.

Sand Leek/Field garlic

Skovløg/Vildløg

Allium scorodoprasum/Allium oleraceum

Wild onions are abundant all over Denmark. These species I usually find in March and April. They are there all summer but grasses and other plants will grow up around them and they will be harder to find later in the season. In summer you will have to look for their purple flowers. The wild onions can be used in most dishes. Notice the triangular leaves close to the ground. This is Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) in Danish called Skovjordbær.

Broadleaved Pepperweed

Strandkarse

Lepidium latifolium

The Broadleaved Pepperweed belong to the Mustard or cabbage family (Brassicaceae). The leafes have a powerfull taste which remind me of a mix of mustard and horseradish. They are found from early spring.

Wild Asparagus

Vild Asparges

Asparagus officinalis

 Are found in coastal drylands. This photo is from the Island of Amager near Copenhagen. These are usually found from May.

Horseradish

Peberrod

Armoracia rusticana

 The root of this plant is edible and can be used in many dishes. It has a strong taste and can be used grated in salads, dips, soups, sauces etc. Horseradish contains more than twice the amount of vitamin C compared with oranges. I usually find them from April and all through the summer. 

 you want to learn more about edible nature this website have a lot of interesting advice: www.kokkemanden.com