One of nature’s many buried treasures! An absolute wonderful spring treat, well worth the dig!
Pignuts are a common find once you know what your looking for. They are likely to be found in areas that have not been disturbed for some years as they take a few years to grow and produce a tuber.
The leaves resemble a carrot, follow the stem back to find the ‘nut’, which is normally about an inch or two underground at a 90 degree bend.
Now is a perfect time to harvest, before all the nutrients has left the ‘nut’ to produce the flowers later in the season.
To me, they are what I’d imagine a radish and hazelnuts offspring would taste like. Delicious!
As they require digging up, the law states that one must obtain landowners permission when foraging these tasty treats.
Leave plenty behind to continue to grow and make a note of the spot for future foraging.
Scientific name: Conopodium majus
Happy Foraging!!