Coastal foraging for samphire and sea beet

A green worth wading for

There is a particular kind of pleasure in eating something you have gathered yourself, twenty minutes after stepping out of a saltmarsh. Two plants make that possible for almost anyone with access to a British estuary or rocky shore, and they happen to be among the most rewarding wild greens in the country: marsh samphire and sea beet. Both are abundant, both are easy to identify once you know what you are looking for, and both cook beautifully with nothing more than butter, lemon and a hot pan.

What follows is practical. Identification first, then the tide and the law, then how to pick without harming the marsh, and finally what to do with your haul.

Marsh samphire, the salty asparagus

Marsh samphire (Salicornia species), also called glasswort, is unmistakable in high summer. It looks like a jointed green finger: a fleshy stem made up of smooth segments, no obvious leaves, often 10 to 30cm tall, growing in dense colonies across bare mud and the lower edges of saltmarsh. Hold it up to the light and the stems look almost translucent, hence the old name. It snaps crisply between the fingers and tastes of the sea with a grassy, faintly asparagus-like finish.

Timing matters. From late June through August it is tender and bright green. By September the plants redden and stiffen, and the stems become woody and unpleasant, so take it early in the season. Pick the top few joints, which are the tenderest, and leave the base of the plant intact.

Do not confuse it with rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum), which grows in crevices on sea cliffs and walls, has proper blue-green leaves and a strong aniseed scent. It is edible too, but tough and bitter raw, so it is usually blanched or pickled.

Sea beet, the wild ancestor of chard

Sea beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima) is the wild parent of beetroot, sugar beet and chard, and it grows in great clumps above the high-water mark: on shingle, sea walls, path edges, the bank above a beach. The leaves are the giveaway. They are glossy, almost lacquered, dark green, thick and spoon-shaped, often with faint red or purple staining on the stems and veins. They grow in a rosette from a single crown and look suspiciously like a cultivated crop that has escaped.

Flavour is mild, earthy and mineral, closer to spinach than to beetroot. Spring and early summer leaves are tender enough to eat raw when young. Once the plant sends up its tall flowering spike in summer, the leaves turn bitter and leathery, so pick from plants that have not bolted.

A note on safety

The saltmarsh and the ditch beside it hold one genuinely dangerous plant: hemlock water dropwort, a deadly umbellifer with white flowerheads and parsley-like leaves that grows in wet ground near the coast. It looks nothing like sea beet or samphire once you know both, but the lesson stands: never pick anything you cannot identify with absolute certainty. If in doubt, walk on.

Also avoid harvesting within a few metres of sewage outfalls, marina berths, busy roads and anywhere dogs are routinely walked. Wash everything in cold running water before it reaches the kitchen.

Reading the tide and keeping legal

The marsh is only accessible for roughly four hours either side of low water, so plan around a falling tide, arrive with plenty of daylight, and tell someone where you are going. Soft mud and hidden channels are the real hazards, not the sea. Wear wellingtons with grip, take a phone in a dry bag, and never go out alone on a first trip.

On access and the law, the practical position in England and Wales is that picking foliage, fruit, fungi and flowers for personal use is generally acceptable on land where you have public access, but uprooting is not, and gathering for commercial sale requires the landowner's permission. In Scotland the access code is broader, and in Northern Ireland the rules differ again. Sites designated as SSSIs, National Trust land, RSPB reserves and many local nature reserves prohibit or restrict foraging, as do some council bye-laws on foreshores. Check before you go, and ask if you are unsure.

• Cut samphire with scissors, never pull it up by the roots.
• Take no more than a third from any single patch, and spread your picking.
• Pinch sea beet leaves from the outside of the rosette and leave the crown to regrow.
• Stay on established paths across the marsh where you can; saltmarsh habitat is slow to recover from trampling.

To the plate

Samphire is best treated simply and unsalted. Rinse it well, blanch in boiling water for 60 seconds, drain and toss with butter, a squeeze of lemon and plenty of black pepper. Steaming for three minutes is even gentler. Serve it beside grilled mackerel, brown crab, roast lamb or a plain omelette.

For a pickle that will keep you in coastal flavour until Christmas, blanch 200g of samphire for 30 seconds and drain. Warm 300ml cider vinegar, 100ml water, a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of mustard seeds, a teaspoon of black peppercorns, a bay leaf and a pinch of dried chilli until the sugar dissolves. Pack the samphire into a sterilised jar, pour over the hot brine to cover, and seal. Leave it two weeks in a cool dark cupboard before opening. It keeps for around three months and is superb with cheese, cold meats and oysters.

Sea beet cooks like spinach but with more backbone. Strip out any thick stalks, wash thoroughly, then wilt in a covered pan with a knob of butter and a splash of water for two or three minutes. Finish with grated nutmeg and lemon zest. It reduces dramatically, so a carrier bag of leaves feeds two generously, and the young raw leaves make a fine salad dressed with olive oil and a little vinegar. Gather a bag on a bright morning, cook it that evening, and you will understand why people plan their summers around the tide tables.