A week on foraged wild food.

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
DSC00032-1.jpg
Here is this mornings brekfast Clockwise from the top Laver, bulrush paste, thistle roots and velvet tough shanks. They were all fried in ramson butter.
 
Jan 15, 2012
467
0
essex
You done it now, one of the moaners will come along soon and have a go because you used butter lol. keep up your good work and ignore the negative people. this is why i want to start camping, bushcraft again, peace away from the negative moaning sad people the world is full of.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,312
3,092
67
Pembrokeshire
You done it now, one of the moaners will come along soon and have a go because you used butter lol. keep up your good work and ignore the negative people. this is why i want to start camping, bushcraft again, peace away from the negative moaning sad people the world is full of.
:D
I am loving this!
Your breakfast does not look terribly filling or - IMO - very flavoursom (though I guess the ransom flavour helped there :)) - modern foods have lots of salt and sugar (not to mention artificial flavourings and flavour enhancers).
Basically I am asking - are you enjoying the foods as well as being sustained by them?
 

JohnC

Full Member
Jun 28, 2005
2,624
82
62
Edinburgh
Enjoying the food descriptions, we've only managed brambles in season, I'd like to try seaweeds, but Cramond has a cole of sewer pipes nearby!
 
Jan 15, 2012
467
0
essex
Enjoying the food descriptions, we've only managed brambles in season, I'd like to try seaweeds, but Cramond has a cole of sewer pipes nearby!

yeah got to watch out for floaters some places. Can get samphire here and the sea is pretty clean, lots of metal about were the samphire grows from the army firing shells out to sea. have eaten it a few times but worry about metals ect from shells and bombs.
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Me and the kids went out for a forage
DSC00033.jpg

wild parnsip and quite bit of it. I have double and triple checked the id it is not a group to stuff up on

DSC00035.jpg

bulrushes easier to get out of the ground than parsnip, but i reckon raost parnsip has more sugar

DSC00036.jpg

I had lunch as soon as got back. the soup base is wrack stock, there is sorrel and thistle roots, the brown blobs are the bulrush paste.

i have shoved the parnsips stright in the oven, i am starting to flag. Mesolithic man would of going goose hunting on the marshes in llanelli, they have been replace with parc trostre [retail park] and a bird reserve. One goose would of provide me plenty of fat.
 

winst0nsmith

Tenderfoot
Jan 8, 2012
83
1
South West Wales
Watching with interest, nice experiment.

One word of caution though, liver fluke lives in watercress, especially in sheep farming areas so the general advice is don't collect it in sheepy areas, cook it very well and do not consume it raw.

Much respect for your efforts, the best I've done foraging of late is dandilion, sorrel and gorse flower salad.
 

Ivan Owen

Tenderfoot
You probably know it already but it you grind up those hazelnuts real fine you'll get more nutrients out of them; nuts and seed generally just pass through for the most part.

I don't see much difference between this and any other bushcrafty activity; don't we all take on an activity, try to do our best at it and learn or teach from the outcomes?

Hope your enjoying it Fiona.
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
parnsip i like. Go nice with a goose or duck mmm. if you got lucky and found some washed up oranges on the beach could make a lovely sauce.

:lmao:
sea buckthorn is good subsitue for oranges, but you can only eat a small amount at time. A couple of fresh berries would be bloomin lovely stuffed into a duck. They have fruit on this time of year. i can find them on pembrey but the cockle bed is dead for the whole 10 mile or so of carmarthen bay and so it is not worth the trip for a handful of very rich fruit.

The parsnips were utter lovely, probably cause they had a sweetness to them. I cooked the shellfish tonight, only ate about a third and felt satisfied. save the rest for tomorrow. I can feel my body resetting itself to need not want.

There is a huntergather thing that if you chew food esspeically nuts and seeds very well you get more out of it, I am doing that instead.

I dont eat watercress unless it is cooked, I have read [on a proper medical paper] that washing watercress in vinegar kills the fluke. I still go for cooking it.
 
Last edited:

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,815
1,511
Stourton,UK
Nice one, the pics are interesting and add more to the info. But as I suspected, green pap. How does it all taste, and how is your hunger compared to how your regularly feel at certain times during the day?
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
I didn't know that about the vinegar :cool:
I have watercress growing in my garden pond but I have no idea if it's free from fluke or not :dunno: there are certainly snails in the pond though, newts, caddis fly things, assorted larvae, the occasional visiting frog and toad and a host of wee daphnia type things. Anyone know how I can find out ?
The sea buckthorn berries make a tangy jelly, like rowan.
Good find on the wild parsnip :approve: I don't know it, but I'm going to have a read up :)


cheers,
M
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nice one, the pics are interesting and add more to the info. But as I suspected, green pap. How does it all taste, and how is your hunger compared to how your regularly feel at certain times during the day?

When i found the parsnips i said to my daughter "I can smell the sugar", smell is very important ID tool for umbellifiers, but I could smell a really good food smell. I was very hungry mid afternoon. Once i had the roast parsnips i was fine. i had the winkle and mussles about three hours ago. Now I feel complety normal except normally at this time of night I start snacking from the cupboards. I have no desire to do that. i just put on a soup on for tommorrow.
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Wild parsnip leaves can give a hogweed like rash and carmarthenshire are trying to irradicate it from their parks. I got mine from the private side of a footpath which I know the land owner, but the council still maintain it.

I am not sure about the vinegar thing with watercress, i found an article on google scolar. I trust cooking it so keep to that. Mary do you remember this thread? What more does anyone need to know about liver fluke.
 
Last edited:

lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
Why do you think that is?

shell fish / fish and meat are very high or nearly pure protine, this fills you up faster for longer, carbs are slower to digest and can be taken more easily, your body will only take (i think) about 50 g of protine at one sitting, carbs are allot more....

the body works on fats first then carbs then protine, what hitting the gym can teach you hey....:)
 

lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
could be robbi, or I am eating enough of micronutrients so i am not driven to eat when I am not hungry. Generally it is the look at the cupboard or fridge and say I want something but I dont know what.

try drinking some water if that happens, it always helped me when i was training and needed to keep trim..
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE