I myself have many times wandered through stacks of Hogweed to no ill effects whatsoever. If so many Humans had not gone away from nature we would know what to teach our children to keep them safe!
Fire for example,,, Dangerous but extremely useful. You have picked up on such a vital point Dean. How ignorant most folk are now of all things natural like being exposed to the natural world including dirt, bacteria, the elements and hard physical work from an early age.
The world has grown soft and fearful. Dear Nicola I was sorry to hear about your son and wish him a speedy recovery. Also whether your son has ever had any food allergies or hay fever.
Clement, Cornwall. I had cut some to remove it from a well-used area, when the stem was blown across the side of my face and neck. I had lumps appear under my skin and burning and itching, which lasted 3 to 4 weeks, and itching and dryness continue to be uncomfortable.
I have informed the local council, and an officer has visited the area, which had not been maintained for over a year, I await some action. The hogweed had now seeded, so will continue to be a danger to the public in future years.
Its hyper-abundant throughout the UK. What an odd precedent to start destroying all plants that could conceivably harm a human. Where would it stop? GM maize? I think the answer must surely be in education. We have become distanced from the plants around us, and often lack the knowledge to keep ourselves and our children safe.
I hope your burn clears up OK and you use your hard-won knowledge to help educate others, rather than wage war on a plant that has many beneficial uses for humans and infinitely more for the natural world. I run a Forest School in West Sussex. Our grounds are covered in common hogweed in Spring through summer.
No child has ever complained of any reaction to common hogweed, though I did find a blister on my hand the other day. I alerted the children to the danger. There were no complaints from them through the day. There is definitely the possibility that individual plants are more toxic than others. I will let you know if there are any further incidences of phototoxicity here.
Me, I have had my first taste just the other day—really enjoyed it! I also read on Plants for a Future that a sugar could be obtained from the stems.
Have you ever tried it? Hi, Ah, good to know you and the kids are switched on to this. This plant just gets better and better! After my post last summer, I am very sorry not to have replied sooner.
I am pleased to say that my son has not suffered any major damage or scarring following his severe burn after contact with hogweed. There appears to be no nerve or muscle damage in his fingers. He continues to have to wear a glove covering his hand at all times in daylight. This includes at school, sports, swimming et cetera, not easy for an 11 year old. We have had difficulty getting advice about how long he must keep this area covered.
For Monica Wilde: we live in Oxfordshire; he has mild hay fever, had mild excema; no known food allergies. I would be most interested in hearing more about your research. I agree with Mark that education is the most important thing. My son was not specifically playing with or handling the hogweed. He just came into contact with it somehow in outdoor play in a rural area. Awareness is key. People need to know about this plant and the potential danger, then make decisions about handling it.
Nicola i hope that your son now is okey! It can cause burns, but not so serious to be covered for 7 years. Hi Monica Here in Aberdeenshire we have a lot of Common Hogweed on our smallholding and I regularly collect it to feed to our horses who absolutely love it.
I am usually wearing gloves when I collect it but also wear a t shirt and collect armfuls of it and have had no problems with burns, and neither have the horses.
Hope this helps your study, it is an impressive plant that councils are spraying indiscriminately in the belief that it is Giant Hogweed, I have had council workers on our small holding spraying where I had just planted some Willow whips; they did stop when asked, seemed shocked that we did not want it killing off.
We had amazing sunshine for most of time we were there and little shade so used plenty of factor 50 suncream and wetsuits. Its interesting to note that this happened in Yorkshire, quite far North in UK terms. Hi Mark, I am a horticulture part time student back to it in September! A spectacular blistering rash developed on both palms necessitating medical attention.
The rash has steadily worsened, spreading to chest, abdomen and thighs over the course of days. Hogweed has been implicated but no proof. My question is this, can the phytophotosensitisation affect even those areas not contacted by the offending chemicals in the plant sap, effectively spreading? I wondered as this might lead to confusion in diagnosis?
Any info welcome, Best Wishes,R. Hi Rachel, Thanks for getting in touch. I hope she is OK? I know some experienced foragers that have looked into food uses for them. But they are all still alive! I was burnt all over my arms and legs 3 years ago by strimming common hog weed, im in stoke on trent, we on earth people say this horrible plant is safe to eat when it causes so much pain i will never know. Peolpe really need to understand just by touching this you can get burnt, as for eating it well, thats just silly.
I still have problems going out in the sun now. Your own fault for murdering the plants. Reminds me of my sister touching an electric fire!
She was only Learn something about what remains of nature before destroying it! Anyhow, the toxic reaction is UV dependent, and mediated by the same chemical that gives Earl Grey Tea its flavor, Bergamottin. Taken internally, you have no worries about sunlight. ANY OTHER plain black tea ok but Earl Grey tea contains the hogweed chemical and will make sunburns worse… I have lots of giant hogweed on my property in Canada and have eaten small amounts in season without any photosensitizing.
The seeds are delicious! The photosensitive nature of hogweed s is just one consideration. Here in Malham I have a large hogweed type plant growing beside the Pennine way footpath. Should I destroy it to avoid compensation litigation or let it grow? I tried to eradicate it two years ago and it has reappeared. If it is giant hogweed and its bordering the path, some remedial action may be sensible.
There should be no issues with common hogweed — its a super-abundant plant and a war with it will never be won. I had my first taste of common hogweed a couple of weeks ago — it was definitely an experience!! We steamed a flower bud, not quite opened, to see what it was like. I only eat the young shoots before their leaves have fully unfurled as pictured above. This is for reasons of taste, and to avoid while the plant is photosynthesising more strongly, with associated higher level of fouranocoumarins that can cause adverse reactions.
Similary, only the unfurled green flower buds, again, as pictured above. Some never get bigger than a foot or two, some very young shoots can be very fat. You just need to spend some time tuning in.
Cheers, Mark. Thanks for this Mark. I have referred to your page many times whilst learning about hogweed. It has been a huge help. I would like to point people towards a blog i just wrote with some additional photos which I hope might be of use to anyone trying to identify the plant.
I was really worried about identifying hogweed and wanted to add additional resources for anyone in the same boat. Thanks Liam, some great detailed pictures there.
Your approach of actively seeking out scary species is a good one. Familiarity with giant hogweed, hemlock and hemlock water-dropwort keeps us safe and gives us confidence with the edible species — imagining a few less demons! What a wonderful website! Stupidly I relied on memory and ate it raw. My experience of this was that it was utterly delicious, probably the most delicious plant I have eaten straight from the forest floor.
All gone now but having done further reading I see the advice is to cook it first. I have been collecting and eating wild foods for over a decade and cannot believe what a silly mistake I made by not double checking first. The young shoots and green flower buds of hogweed are often described as the best wild vegetable in the UK. At this time of year though, the seeds are what we are after. You could harvest them green, at which stage they are rather bitter and pungent; great for pickling.
I like to leave them to dry on the plant where they become remarkably flavourful and in the right hands, extremely versatile. Some might say they taste of cardamon, others would offer a comparison to tangerine peel.
Neither do it justice. So after that conversation with chef, I waited for the weekend and then went for a wander with the dog, to set about collecting some seeds. I wanted to see if they were all that I had built them up to be and knew that if anyone could make them work, the team in the kitchen were the ones to do it.
It makes a great addition to chutneys and sauces especially when cooking wild berry sauces for use with game or venison. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. The hogweed is starts to appear in February but really gets going in March onwards.
Other articles include: Is common hogweed poisonous? Using a large balloon whisk, beat together the yolks and 2 tsp of the reduced wine vinegar in a heatproof bowl that fits snugly over the pan.
Whisk in a tablespoon of the warmed butter, a little at a time, then return the bowl over a gentle heat to cook a little more. Remove from the heat again and whisk in another tablespoon of butter. Repeat until all the butter is incorporated and you have a texture as thick as mayonnaise. Just in time to go picking! Yes the information is there for the sharing. Oh, and that hollandaise sauce recipe is really great over the hogweed shoots, good topped on crispy bruchetta too.
I also enjoy them in lightly spiced Thai stir fries and […]. Common hogweed shoots are one of the many plants known as poorman's asparagus.
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