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New Series of Ray

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Bushcraft4life said:
I wonder if we ever had witchutty(spelling :confused: ) grubs here.
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Witchetty grubs is a universal name used by the Aboriginals to describe the wood eating larval stages of moths, mainly the cossid moth(Cossidae), but also the ghost moth(Hepialidae) and some beetles larvae.Though mainly the Witchetty (Wijuti) Grub is generally the caterpillar of Endoxyla leucomochla.

Seeing as we have a few Ghost moths/Cossid moths in the UK we might have used their larval stages similarly, though for instance the Goat moth's (a cossid moth) larval stage has a strong goat-like smell (hence the name) so maybe we wouldn't have eaten it!


huzzah for Google! :)
 
I posted this on the other thread but hey ho...


Not wishing to sound funny here but I found it a bit light on content.

Although the bit when he actually got talking about how to identify and cook the stuff was good, I can't say I was blown away by the "filler" material and spiritual stuff.
It did crease me up when, after saying how well the aborigines were in tune with the land and essentially good people, he went out into the bush with the old bloke who wanted to show him how to make a boomerang.

What was the boomerang he made used for?
A weapon against people :rolleyes:
Yep, living in harmony with the land and not fighting over it at all ;)

With a bit of luck it will pick up next week and have a bit more wild food content though and a lot less ethnic dance stuff. Jeez that was the worst porn I have ever seen :eek:

Not blown away by it at all and if I was wanting to find out about aussie bushcraft his competition from Bushtuckerman is better, IMO like.

I will see what next week is like.
 
Happy with that. This latest offering from Mearsy seems to be more in-depth and aimed at those with an interest in bushcraft and/or primitive technology - it doesnt have the 'filler' stories that bulk the episode out and concentrates more on the subject. Looking forward to the rest of the series - but only if Ray stops wearing those silly ballbreaker shorts!
 
....strange holes have appeared around the shores of britain at low tide.... :lmao:

Very interesting programme....come on, who's been out and tried Kelp root and Buckthorn berry coolie.....
 
I take it you mean sea kale?

Being generally restricted to shingle Sea-kale is a rare plant, although it may be locally abundant where it is found, forming impressive colonies. This plant is protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981) and must not be picked without permission from the landowner.
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That i think will be the problem with this series as although Ray did mention that they obtained special permission to dig up the sea kale root and yes you do need a defra licence to collect razor s and some clams how many people will ignore that . It was also intresting to note the small size of the limpits gathered in the past for food . They again are slow growing and not sustainable if put under pressure . The problem i think whilst this program will raise a lot of intrest in wild foods many will not be able to sustain any further pressure and ultimatly this series may do a lot more harm than good .
 
ilan said:
The problem i think whilst this program will raise a lot of intrest in wild foods many will not be able to sustain any further pressure and ultimatly this series may do a lot more harm than good .
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I am not worried most of the population cant be bothered picking blackberries. :lmao:

Ray Mears shines above all other programs that deal with foraging in the way that he conveys the concept of finite natural resoures.
 
Quote "Being generally restricted to shingle Sea-kale is a rare plant, although it may be locally abundant where it is found, forming impressive colonies. This plant is protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981) and must not be picked without permission from the landowner."

So who owns the beach?

I think the point of this series is that it is ethno history and making a study of an area where archaeology has no answers. It isn't supposed to be bushcraft and, to my mind, it is more interesting than forays into Canada, Africa, etc. although they are interesting in their own way.

To lower the tone a little: does anybody know what Wellies they are that RM wears in episode 2?
 
nobby said:
To lower the tone a little: does anybody know what Wellies they are that RM wears in episode 2?
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Don't know, look on his woodlore website I am sure they will sell them for the budget price of £129.99p. Bargin!!

Quote So who owns the beach?

I always thought most beaches aren't owned. You can forage, start fires, sleep there for free, more less do what you like. They are still governed by laws such as the wildlife act so you cant dig up protected plants, or hold a rave there.

Has anyone out there also tasted sea buckthorn. I sat there half in disgust shouting "UUrrggh" at the tele and half in hope he was going cook them up in magical way and make taste less acrid. You know when you can nearly taste some thing thats being cooked on TV normally it is pleasant experiance, well.... :p
 
Changing the subject slightly why didn't Ray wash the orange berries (can't remember their name) he picked to remove the sand and then water them down to try and neutralise the acidic taste?
 
Zammo said:
Changing the subject slightly why didn't Ray wash the orange berries (can't remember their name) he picked to remove the sand and then water them down to try and neutralise the acidic taste?
Click to expand...

The series seems to be trying to recover lost knowlegde. It is normally reasonably easy to work out that our ancestors ate a berry, as the seed would be found in copraphites or in large piles near human habitation. The how or why they were eaten can only be found out if we experiment with eating paticlar food. What they did was the first stage that is eating it raw. After that cooking it with a sugar or something else to nutralize the acid. Plants can be mixed with other plants and sometimes they others cancel out each others bad points. This is a very long process, it is much easier not lose the knowledge in the first place.

Sea buckthorn was the plant they were eating. I tried straight off the bush ONCE, when I was about 12. From what I remember the taste is simerlar to rowan berries when they are still orange. There is more of a organic acid smell when sea buckthorn is your mouth. Bear in mind there is alot of common fruits which are unpaletable when raw, olives, sloes, cranberrys, capers, chillis.. but prepared or mixed with the correct other food become choice. I suspect that the sea Buckthorn may become a choice food if cooked and spread lightly on a strong tasting meat, like cranberry or rowan jelly are.
 
xylaria said:
Quote So who owns the beach?

I always thought most beaches aren't owned. You can forage, start fires, sleep there for free, more less do what you like. They are still governed by laws such as the wildlife act so you cant dig up protected plants, or hold a rave there.
Click to expand...

'Fraid not... Most of the coast is privately owned in one way or another. I believe there may be some laws granting some rights to gather from the foreshore (between low and high tide) but I'm not sure of the details - and it's not much use without access.
 
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