The British Coast: A Free Larder Worth Learning

There is a very particular moment on a low spring tide in July when the estuary smells of ozone and warm mud, and stretched across the flats are acres of bright green marsh samphire. It is one of the great free foods of these islands, and most people walk straight past it. This guide covers two sides of coastal foraging — samphire from the creeks and seaweeds from the rocky shore — with enough practical detail to get you started safely and, just as importantly, respectfully.

Marsh Samphire: Where and When to Pick It

Marsh samphire (Salicornia), also called glasswort, is the jointed, fleshy green plant that carpets salt marshes, creek edges and muddy estuaries around Britain. It appears from late June and is at its best through July and August; by September the plants turn reddish and start to toughen into stringy, woody stems that are no pleasure to eat.

The trick is timing your visit to a low spring tide, when the flats are properly exposed. Big tides either side of a full or new moon will give you the widest window, and you want to be walking out as the water pulls back rather than chasing the last twenty minutes before it returns. Do not confuse marsh samphire with rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum), which grows on cliff ledges and sea walls, tastes of aniseed and parsley, and is scarce and protected in many places. Leave rock samphire alone.

Picking Samphire Kindly

• Pinch, don't pull. Take the top five to eight centimetres of each stem; it should snap cleanly between your fingers. Never uproot a plant — that is the whole thing gone, roots and all.
• Take from the middle of a patch. Leave the outer edges to flower and set seed, so the colony keeps going for next year.
• Check where you are. Salt marshes are frequently Sites of Special Scientific Interest, nature reserves or private land. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 you need the landowner's permission to uproot any wild plant, and local bylaws often ban picking altogether on protected sites. Foreshore ownership is a patchwork — when in doubt, ask or walk on.
• One bag is plenty. Samphire does not keep well. Use it within a day or two, or blanch and pickle it.

Rinse it in cold water and shake dry. Steam it for two or three minutes with nothing but a knob of butter and a squeeze of lemon, and do not add salt — it brings its own. For the winter larder, pack blanched samphire into jars with vinegar, sugar and a few peppercorns and it will hold its crunch for months.

Seaweed: Clean Shores Only

Seaweed is the more generous half of coastal foraging, available all year and far less fussy about tides. It is also the half where water quality matters most, because seaweeds take up whatever is in the water around them.

Avoid harbours, marinas, industrial estuaries, sewage outfalls, storm drains and their immediate surroundings, and give busy shipping channels and fish farm cages a wide berth. Skip sheltered, slow-flushing bays where the water sits stagnant. Do not harvest for at least forty-eight hours after heavy rain, when run-off is at its worst. The best seaweed comes from clean, exposed rocky shores with good wave action — the west coasts of Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, Scotland and the Hebrides, and stretches of Northumberland, are all classic ground. And always check whether the shore sits inside a marine protected area or reserve before you take anything.

Six Seaweeds Worth Knowing

• Dulse — rose-purple, leathery, hand-shaped fronds. Chewy raw, but transformed by thirty seconds in a hot dry pan or a deep fryer into smoky, salty crisps.
• Sea lettuce — bright green, thin as tissue. Wonderful raw in a salad or flash-fried as a garnish, and it grows fast enough to be genuinely sustainable.
• Sugar kelp — long golden-brown ribbons with a sweet, deep umami flavour. Excellent dried and crumbled into stocks and pickles.
• Laver — dark purple-black sheets, best in winter. The Welsh classic: simmer for hours, mince, then fry with oatmeal and bacon.
• Carrageen — small, frilly and iridescent purple. Makes a fine setting agent for puddings and panna cotta.
• Pepper dulse — tiny, garlicky and faintly truffly. A chef's favourite; use it sparingly as a seasoning rather than a vegetable.

From Shore to Kitchen

Cut seaweed with scissors an inch or two above the holdfast, the little anchor that grips the rock, and never strip a boulder bare. Take roughly a third from any one patch and move along the shore. Rinse in seawater first, then fresh, and either freeze in bags or dry it in the sun, on a radiator, or in an oven at its lowest setting until it snaps. Sealed in a jar, dried seaweed keeps for a year.

A word on safety: only eat what you can identify with absolute certainty, and be aware that seaweed from polluted water can accumulate heavy metals and excess iodine — another reason to stick to clean coasts. If you take thyroid medication, or are pregnant, have a chat with your GP before making it a regular part of your diet. Check the tide tables, tell someone where you are going, and wear something with grip on the rocks.

Samphire season is short and sweet; seaweed is there whenever you fancy it. Two hours on the right tide, a pair of scissors and a cloth bag, and the coast hands you something you simply cannot buy.