> Features

Mountain culture: foraging with Heinrich Schneider

Mountain culture: foraging with Heinrich Schneider

by Tom Riby 19 May 2016

Tom Riby heads to the South Tyrolean mountains with Michelin-starred chef Heinrich Schneider to discover some of the region's unique wild herbs and flowers.

More from this series:

Traipsing through the country harvesting the bounty of nature on a foraging expedition has become a regular weekend activity for many dedicated foodies. This fun, free pastime hunting wild greens and edible fungi can introduce some novel flavours into the kitchen, helps cooks get up close and personal with Mother Nature and connects them with one of the greatest groundswells in global food trends. In Italy, there’s one man who is known for foraging above all else; Heinrich Schneider. As the head chef of the Michelin-starred Terra, he uses over fifty different ingredients found in the woods and mountains of South Tyrol in his dishes.

Northern Italy is one of the most exciting places in the world to carry out this wonderful pastime, particularly in South Tyrol. Home to the Dolomites and with more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other region in Italy, it’s a haven for foodies looking for something new. Whether you want to go out on a foraging trip yourself (always go with a guide so you don’t accidentally eat something poisonous) or want to leave it to the experts who will cook the local herbs and flowers with finesse, it’s an incredible place to visit.

There are around 130 species of plants that can be found in a healthy South Tyrolean mountain meadow, including many wild herbs that have played an important role in traditional folk medicine for centuries and now play a part in the dishes of this gourmet region. Chefs such as Heinrich Schneider, who grew up exploring the Dolomites, have always loved utilising wild herbs to expand the depths and flavours of food. He says there are over fifty different edible wild herbs in South Tyrol – here is a description of five of the most interesting ones featured on Heinrich’s menu.

Heinrich Schneider
Terra (Auener Hof)
The food and drink of South Tyrol

The herbs of South Tyrol

Lady's Mantle

Lady’s Mantle is a perennial herb with pleated leaves and very small yellow-green flowers that bloom from June to August. It is generally distributed all over South Tyrol, but flourishes particularly well in colder, high up areas. It also grows well near streams. The leaves have a mild, bitter taste, and can be shredded into salads, but they are also used to flavour bread, soups and medicinal drinks.

Birch ice cream with black bean pesto, spiced cream and milk skin
by Heinrich Schneider
Free-range egg with dried true morels and char caviar
by Heinrich Schneider

Silver birch

Native to parts of Asia and Europe, particularly in the Alps and Appennine mountains in Italy, silver birch trees have white or pale yellow bark with slender twigs. The leaves are generally dried and ground into a powder, then used as a seasoning or to flavour sauces, while the sap of the tree is turned into a drink now lauded for its health benefits. Heinrich, however, uses small birch twigs to create a birch-flavoured ice cream.

Wood sorrel

Wood sorrel has heart-shaped leaves and tiny flowers which can be anything from white and pink to red and yellow. While the flowers and roots are almost flavourless, the leaves have a pleasantly acidic taste due to the high levels of binoxalate of potash within them. This, combined with their delicate nature, means they’re often included in springtime salads, as their sharp taste makes a good substitute for citrus juice or vinegar.

Good King Henry

This is an annual or perennial plant which is native to much of central and southern Europe. It has long, broad, triangular or diamond-shaped leaves, with very small flowers. It comes from the same family as spinach, and its leaves are used in much the same way. The shoots are eaten like asparagus, flower buds like broccoli and the seeds are an edible grain.

Icelandic moss

Icelandic moss is a lichen which looks like moss, thanks to its upright leafy appearance. In Iceland it is only occasionally used to make folk medicines, and is included in a few traditional dishes, but in South Tyrol has been known to be used in breads, porridges and soups. Heinrich uses Icelandic Moss to garnish his dish of Free-range egg with dried true morels and char caviar.

Comments ()

Mountain culture: foraging with Heinrich Schneider

 

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Change your username in user settings to something more personal.

 

(Editing)

>

This comment was edited

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Reply | | Edit | Delete Report

This comment has been deleted

Report this comment

Please state your report in the space below

Please enter text

Reports must be less than 750 characters

loading

>

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

(Editing)

>

This comment was edited

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Reply | | Edit | Delete Report

This comment has been deleted

Report this comment

Please state your report in the space below

Please enter text

Reports must be less than 750 characters

loading

>

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Be the first to leave a comment on this page...
...   ...
 

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Change your username in user settings to something more personal.

 

You may also like

Mountain culture: foraging with Heinrich Schneider
Italy's regional cuisine
Puccia bread chips
by Matteo Metullio
Cabbage stuffed with bread, washed-rind cheese and speck, apple compote, grain mustard and Riesling mousseline
by Bruno Loubet
Vinschger cheese tortellini, pine oil, truffle and barley
by Heinrich Schneider
Chefs on tour: Pierre Koffmann and Bruno Loubet in South Tyrol
by Great Italian Chefs
Caramelised apple with ricotta crème diplomat and arlettes
by Pierre Koffmann
Speck and spätzle: an introduction to Ladin cuisine
by Great Italian Chefs
Chefs on tour: Robin Gill in South Tyrol, Italy
by Great Italian Chefs
The best chefs and restaurants in South Tyrol
by Great Italian Chefs
The food and drink of South Tyrol
Venison loin, celeriac purée, braised radicchio and blood oranges
by Matteo Metullio
Restaurants in South Tyrol
Restaurant Collection
St. Hubertus
Norbert Niederkofler
The cheeses of South Tyrol
by Great Italian Chefs
Stars on the slopes: the chefs and dishes of Gourmet Skisafari
by Tom Riby
The complete foodie guide to Emilia-Romagna
by Great Italian Chefs
Modican chocolate: Sicily's ancient bar of cocoa
by Luciana Squadrilli
Pane Sciocco: Tuscany's favourite bread
by Luca Marchiori
CARE’s: the future of ethical cooking
by Tom Riby
Sweets in Siena: festive treats from medieval Tuscany
by Giulia Scarpaleggia
The food of Veneto, region by region
by Luca Marchiori
The Italian Riviera: Italy’s vegetarian heartland
by Nancy Anne Harbord
The heel of the boot: food and drink in Salento
by Claudia Annie Carone
Wooding lab: bringing wild food to the masses
by Great Italian Chefs
The wines of South Tyrol
by Marco Rossi
Cook the mountain: talking Tyrol with Norbert Niederkofler
by Tom Shingler
Heinrich Schneider
Terra (Auener Hof)
Terra (Auener Hof)
Heinrich Schneider
Canapé
Recipe Collection
Asparagus with boznersauce
by Amy Gulick
Pasta starter
Recipe Collection
The wines of Trentino
by Marco Rossi
Urban treasures: foraging for food in London with Native
by Tom Shingler
A day elderflower foraging
by Sally Abé
Digging the dirt: discovering wild mushrooms in the New Forest
by Katie Smith
Be a fun-guy with your mushrooms
by Hayden Groves
A convert to barbecue camping
by Urvashi Roe
Packing, shopping and cooking on a canal boat holiday
by Nancy Anne Harbord
Foraging and fortitude: Chris Harrod at The Whitebrook
by Tom Shingler
12 British ingredients to forage
by Great British Chefs
Apple
Recipe Collection
Cabbage
Recipe Collection
Venison loin
Recipe Collection
The forbidden fruit: are we eating and cooking the wrong apples?
by Hugh Thomas
The wild chefs of Canada
by Great British Chefs
Pine and pasta: cooking the food of South Tyrol
by Felicity Spector
Raising the bar: Naples' coffee scene
by Luciana Squadrilli
The truffle hunt
by Russell Brown
Roam around Rome: the city's best street food
by Chris Osburn
How to cook cabbage

NAVIGATE

© Great Italian Chefs 2019