Ahh...forgot the seasoning. I like Knorr 'Seasonall' - pure monosodium glutamate though!
Re the gold panning: Lots of burns/streams are gold bearing: North Wales, Cornwall, Charnwood forest, maybe small amounts in the Lake District. Ireland has deposits in Wicklow and Sperrin. But the best opportunities are in Scotland: around Helmsdale/Strath of Kildonan, anywhere in the Crieff/Crianlarich/Pitlochry triangle, the Ochill hills, and also in Wanlockhead/ Mennock water area.
Panning is easy. A car hub cap/cooking pan will do, but a plastic riffled gold pan is ideal. I use a blue Klondike Special. Gold is 3-4 times heavier than rock and 20 times heavier than water. Put a spadeful of sand/gravel from a stream in the pan. Immerse in water, shake like hell, let the lighter stuff wash out.
Eventually you are left with the densest material ('black sand' - mostly iron and titanium oxides like magnetite and ilmenite). Sometimes you find spent lead shot in it - a good indicator that your technique is good. And, maybe flakes of gold. The biggest 'nuggets' I've found are match-head size, but I know folk who've found serious nuggets.
If you want to learn, you can go on courses, but alternatively, go to the Kildonan burn on a summer weekend, and look for anyone with a broad brimmed hat who is sucking gravel from the burn with a pump made from 3 foot of drainpipe. If you ask nicely, they'll show you how its done, and you can (?could) buy a pan at shops in Helmsdale.
) But when you've been foraging and cooked up, occasionall it tastes, well less than perfect. Add a few drops of this baby (1000,000,000 scoville units = effin' hot) and you won't care :-D
