The Green Heart: Watercress, Walnut & the Wisdom of the Hazel
- Aug 20
- 4 min read
A Note on Eating Green
This week we're opening the Heart Chakra (Anahata) with vibrant green foods. Watercress, spinach, parsley, fennel, and cabbage bring freshness and vitality to the table. The Heart Chakra is the bridge between the lower and upper chakras — the centre of love, compassion, and connection. Green foods are rich in chlorophyll, which oxygenates the blood and literally opens the vessels of the heart. Here are this week's recipes:
Breakfast: Eggy Bread with Spinach & Green Onions
Download This Week's Resources
Download this week's Recipe Card (PDF) and Shopping List (PDF) to take with you to the kitchen or the shops.
Where to Meditate
The Heart Chakra (Anahata) is the centre of love, compassion, and connection. Its element is Air, its colour is green, and its seed mantra is Yam. Lorna's Sunday morning chakra workshops are a beautiful starting point for each week's meditation practice — find her at https://www.instagram.com/lorna.mckey Edinburgh has 92 Hazel trees in council care, scattered across the city from Inverleith to Portobello. The Hazel (Coll) is our Ogham tree this month, running from August 5 to September 1 — our final week with the Hazel before we move to the Vine (Muin) on September 2.
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The Hazel (Coll)
In the Celtic Ogham calendar, the Hazel month runs from August 5 to September 1. The Gaelic name is Coll, and its Ogham is the fifth letter, a single stroke to the right of the stem line. The Hazel is the tree of wisdom — in Celtic mythology, the Salmon of Knowledge gained its wisdom by eating hazelnuts that fell into the Pool of Segais. This is our final week with the Hazel. The nuts are ripening now across Edinburgh's parks — at Inverleith near the Botanic Gardens, along the Meadows, and at Hailes Quarry Park. Next week we move to the Vine (Muin) as September begins.
A Picnic Table in Green
Pack a picnic this week and let green do the talking. A flask of peppery watercress soup, walnut pesto pasta in a tub, savoury eggy bread wrapped in foil, and a jar of tangy sauerkraut. A bottle of rowan eau de vie to finish. Find a spot under a hazel tree and breathe.
Breakfast: Eggy Bread with Spinach & Green Onions
Thick slices of bread dipped in beaten egg and pan-fried until golden, layered with wilted spinach and a scatter of chopped green onions. A savoury twist on French toast that's quick, green, and deeply satisfying — the kind of breakfast that makes you want to linger.
Lunch: Watercress & Crayfish Soup
A classic British watercress soup enriched with sweet crayfish tails. Peppery green watercress blended with potato and onion into a smooth emerald velouté, finished with a swirl of cream and tender crayfish. A bowl of pure green comfort. Recipe adapted from greatbritishchefs.com.
Dinner: Walnut & Parsley Pesto Pasta
Fresh parsley and toasted walnuts blitzed with garlic, parmesan, and olive oil into a vibrant green pesto. Tossed through warm pasta and finished with a squeeze of lemon. Simple, nutty, and deeply green — proof that pesto doesn't need basil to be brilliant. Recipe from simplyrecipes.com.
Treat: Apple, Fennel & Dill Sauerkraut
Green cabbage shredded with tart apples, fennel bulb, and fresh dill, then massaged with coarse sea salt and left to ferment for one to three weeks. Crisp, tangy, and alive with probiotics. A green condiment that keeps on giving. Recipe adapted from bbg.org.
This Week's Brew: Rowan Infused Eau de Vie
Rowan berries gathered from Arthur's Seat — where the trees are heavy with bright red clusters this month — steeped in vodka or clear eau de vie for four to six weeks with a little sugar. The result is a tart, fruity spirit with notes of grapefruit and orange peel. Serve chilled as a digestif.
What the Land is Offering Right Now
Late August in Scotland is peak foraging. Rowan berries are blazing red on Arthur's Seat and across the Pentland Hills. Blackberries are darkening on the brambles. Hazelnuts are fattening but not yet ripe. Elderberries hang in heavy purple clusters. Wild apples are starting to drop. Plantain grows in every park and pathway, its broad leaves ready for poultices or salads. The land is offering its last great burst before autumn. Gather what you can, give thanks, and leave enough for the birds.
Medicinal Herbs in Bloom
Plantain (Plantago major) is everywhere right now — in every park, pavement crack, and grassy bank across Edinburgh. Its broad green leaves with their distinctive parallel veins are one of the most accessible first-aid plants in the world. Crushed fresh and applied to skin, plantain draws out stings, soothes burns, and speeds wound healing. The leaves are rich in allantoin, a compound that promotes cell regeneration.
Plantain also makes a gentle medicinal tea — anti-inflammatory, soothing to the digestive tract, and helpful for coughs. For the Heart Chakra, plantain offers a green, grounding medicine: simple, generous, and always within reach. Look for the broad, rounded leaves and the tall, slender flower spikes in any Edinburgh park this month.
Cook in Colour - Series 2
Cook in Colour is a 7-week series exploring the chakras through colour-coded nutrition, paired with the Celtic Ogham tree calendar. One chakra per week, matched to whatever Ogham tree month is active. Recipes selected each week by Sharon for thenofussgourmet.com. Next week: Throat Chakra — Blue foods.
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