EkoSkola Malta

• ‹‹ Back

Edible Wild Plants in Malta

A Foraging Guide

Friends of the Earth Malta (FoEM) are working hard to raise awareness and foster a greater appreciation of the wild edible flora present in the Maltese archipelago. The importance of wild plants is regrettably often overlooked with a diverse array of plant life frequently dismissed as just weeds, or ħaxix ħażin.

In line with their commitment to food sovereignty and ensuring that the food that we eat is healthy and ecologically sound they have prepared this foraging guide to help you on your adventures in finding nutritious new ingredients close to home.

The following are some of the benefits derived from wild edible plants:

• Wild plants are highly nutritious, a good source of several vitamins, minerals, fibre, antioxidants, and phytochemicals which protect one’s body from ageing and pollutants.
• Consumption of wild plants is economically sound. Being self-propagating, growing unaided, and fully adapted to our local climate and soils, they do not require expensive irrigation systems, substantial amounts of water, chemical treatments, construction of greenhouses, and long hours of manual labour in order to flourish. The best thing of course is that, unlike the produce sold in supermarkets, they are free.
• Unlike some conventionally grown produce (and unless one picks them from fields where such chemicals are used or from the sides of polluted roads), wild plants are not treated with or exposed to large amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
• Taking a walk to forage in nature is a therapeutic activity, helping one to de-stress and nurture a spiritual bond with the land and the wildlife that it supports.
• Identifying areas of the countryside with high concentrations of wild edible plants creates an incentive for the legal protection of such areas from development.

More info about the plants and foraging rules can be found in the link below.