The Lazy Forager: #8 – Glass o' Goose Grass!

Brace yourself for a foraging recipe that's about as lazy as it can get: Goose Grass in water! Or, if you want to be all fancy about it, a Cleavers Cold Tea Infusion.

Cleavers, aka Goose Grass, aka Sticky Willy, is the stuff that grows in pretty much every garden border and sticks to your hands and clothes like velcro. As well as being a handy ingredient in all sorts of mischief, it's also really good for you! Herbalists rate it for improving lymphatic flow and for stimulating the body's ability to eliminate waste through the kidneys

There are all sorts of things you can do with cleavers, but because we have a lazy reputation to live up to, we're just going to do the following:

- Take a handful of cleavers
- Rinse them
- Put them in a glass or jar, whole or chopped
- Cover them with room temperature water
- Leave for 8-12 hours

...and enjoy! I'm really loving how they give my regular drink of water a refreshingly grassy, almost cucumbery touch. And just to point out the obvious: Do not chew or swallow the cleavers! Unless you fancy the sensation of a thousand tiny hooks against your tongue. Even then, don't do it.

 

I procured massive handfuls of these simply by doing a quick scout around in my back garden. Go on, have a look - I bet there's some in yours, too. And, I hasten to add: This will obviously be a sign of a healthy polyculture and by no means an indicator of a neglected or weedy garden!

Oh, final fun fact: Cleavers belong to the coffee family (Rubiaceae) and the seeds can be ground to make cleavers coffee. Who knew! Sustainable coffee startup, anyone?!