What have you foraged?
Discussion
Morning all,
I thought it might be interesting for people to share what ingredients they've found in nature, as opposed to buying from a shop.
I've had plenty of Crayfish. Most of the waterways of the South East are utterly swarming with the invasive American Signal variety to the point where you can catch several dozen in a couple of hours just with the kids dangling bits of bacon on string into the water and a net to scoop them up with. They're exceptionally tasty too!
The other thing I used to get fairly frequently was wild Boletus mushrooms, but these seem far harder to find these days. My only bit of anti-EU immigrant sentiment being that the Eastern Europeans are far more into their wild mushrooms than most Brits, so there's far more competition for them these days!
I've also had blackberries and hurts, but tend to eat them on the spot rather than gather them and take them home. I've never tried looking for wild herbs or anything.
Anyone else found anything good they'd recommend looking for?
I thought it might be interesting for people to share what ingredients they've found in nature, as opposed to buying from a shop.
I've had plenty of Crayfish. Most of the waterways of the South East are utterly swarming with the invasive American Signal variety to the point where you can catch several dozen in a couple of hours just with the kids dangling bits of bacon on string into the water and a net to scoop them up with. They're exceptionally tasty too!
The other thing I used to get fairly frequently was wild Boletus mushrooms, but these seem far harder to find these days. My only bit of anti-EU immigrant sentiment being that the Eastern Europeans are far more into their wild mushrooms than most Brits, so there's far more competition for them these days!
I've also had blackberries and hurts, but tend to eat them on the spot rather than gather them and take them home. I've never tried looking for wild herbs or anything.
Anyone else found anything good they'd recommend looking for?
Lets see.
Rabbits, especially young ones. Delicious fried in butter.
Field Mushrooms, Horse Mushrooms and Puffballs, when they are small, sliced, fried in butter.
Pigeons/ Pheasants, delicious....yes you guessed it....fried in butter
For a side dish ground elder ( it's an escaped Roman vegetable ) pick the young leaves before they've fully opened. Steam like spinach then melt a large..knob of butter over it.
Rabbits, especially young ones. Delicious fried in butter.
Field Mushrooms, Horse Mushrooms and Puffballs, when they are small, sliced, fried in butter.
Pigeons/ Pheasants, delicious....yes you guessed it....fried in butter
For a side dish ground elder ( it's an escaped Roman vegetable ) pick the young leaves before they've fully opened. Steam like spinach then melt a large..knob of butter over it.
I went on an arranged walk around the docks and riverside in Bristol foraging. If you know what you're looking for (and I don't) there's loads of edible plant life pretty much everywhere. He encouraged us to taste many different leaves and plants which were mostly very good. One or two rather bitter but still passable.
21TonyK said:
Used to get lots of pigeon but don't shoot much anymore so not so much now. Mainly lots of wild garlic and occasionally samphire.
What about fishing though? Will get more mackerel than I can eat in the summer!
Problem with makerel is that whilst delicious esp when very fresh there are two drawbacks. What about fishing though? Will get more mackerel than I can eat in the summer!
1) the awful fishy burps for hours afterwards
2) they stink the house out ( the fish I mean not the burps )
On the foraging side of things I do also collect blackberries and hazelnuts.
I got well and truly out foraged last year, I was gathering blackberries when a chap walked past me with a Hawk on his arm (Harris Hawk is my guess), presumably off to forage for rabbits
I usually get blackberries and sloes, plus there used to be a lot of wild garlic near my parents old house. Used to get mushrooms from one of my parents fields that we knew exactly what they were, but I'm not too confident with my mushroom identification to do that by myself.
I usually get blackberries and sloes, plus there used to be a lot of wild garlic near my parents old house. Used to get mushrooms from one of my parents fields that we knew exactly what they were, but I'm not too confident with my mushroom identification to do that by myself.
Oh I just remembered another one, a year or so back I was at the seaside with the wife/kids and running my toes through the sand brought up some live shellfish that looked just like cockle shells, so I scooped loads up into a bucket and took them back to the holiday chalet.
I cooked them up with some cheap white wine and some chopped onions, and scoffed them with some crusty bread and the rest of the wine. Absolutely delicious as it turned out.
I cooked them up with some cheap white wine and some chopped onions, and scoffed them with some crusty bread and the rest of the wine. Absolutely delicious as it turned out.
S6PNJ said:
Loads of squirrel (if that counts as foraging!) in my last place, now having moved I've not bothered prepping them for eating as too busy with other things.
Never tried one, are they tasty?Forgot we used to forage a lot while diving, on a trip in Salcombe some years ago we managed to catch enough edible crabs to trade with a local hotel for air for the weekend. Had some strange looks on camp sites attacking crabs or lobsters with a pair of lump hammers Lifted oysters and scollops a fair few times too. I'm not actually a big fan of any of them though so tended to leave the eating to my mates.
A mate of mine once surfaced with an octopus but we put that back after having a good look at it.
Sorrel is always good for a nibble in the woods. Young hawthorn leaves are edible, but not very exciting. Had some wild garlic leaves baked on top of a cod fillet a month or two ago - absolutely first rate. Wife has found "pig nuts" in paddock. A relative of the carrot, I think. Haven't tried them yet.
S6PNJ said:
...squirrel.
RizzoTheRat said:
Never tried one, are they tasty?
Yes but you need a good sized one per person. Most of the meat is on the back legs, a little on the front, precious little on the saddle. Tastes a bit like chicken/rabbit. Colour of rabbit but consistency of chicken. We even had the neighbours round for squirrel pie and they loved it! (they did know what they were getting beforehand!)We forage mostly for wine making, and seasonally it goes:-
Dandelion (stinks when being boiled, but makes a great medium dry white)
Gorse (pain in the fingers to pick the flowers, but results in a dry - very pale - wine with slight coconut tones)
Clover (a pain in the back to pick being so low to the ground, but delivers a very dry almost resinous brew)
Cherry (my favourite)
Damson
Blackberry
Elderberry (my second favourite)
Dandelion (stinks when being boiled, but makes a great medium dry white)
Gorse (pain in the fingers to pick the flowers, but results in a dry - very pale - wine with slight coconut tones)
Clover (a pain in the back to pick being so low to the ground, but delivers a very dry almost resinous brew)
Cherry (my favourite)
Damson
Blackberry
Elderberry (my second favourite)
My first job as a chef upon arrival here in Norway was for one of the local restaurants that specialised in seafood so Saturdays mornings were spent foraging the coast for wild greens (samphire, sea aster, wild thyme, sorrel, sea plantain) shell fish and kråkebolle (sea urchin). The kråkebolle is very very delicious, cut the top open with some sharp scissors and just scoop out the orange roe, tastes incredible!!
Autumn time we get a crazy amount of mushrooms but I haven't delved into that yet!
Autumn time we get a crazy amount of mushrooms but I haven't delved into that yet!
Rabbits, chanterelles, girolles, wild garlic, pigeon, scallops, mackerel, blackberries, wild strawberries (which are generally st), elderflower for cordial, whelks and cockles, mussels.
Have shot pheasant, duck, goose, partridge but don't really class that as foraging because it's totally staged.
Still want to get a cray fish trap as I haven't got any yet and there are some perfect streams near us. I've also found an amazing spot for huge snails which when I return to I will take a bucket for.
Where can you find samphire? I had it in a dish recently and was bowled over by it.
For me there is not a lot that is more satisfying than eating something you have either hunted or gathered.
Have shot pheasant, duck, goose, partridge but don't really class that as foraging because it's totally staged.
Still want to get a cray fish trap as I haven't got any yet and there are some perfect streams near us. I've also found an amazing spot for huge snails which when I return to I will take a bucket for.
Where can you find samphire? I had it in a dish recently and was bowled over by it.
For me there is not a lot that is more satisfying than eating something you have either hunted or gathered.
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