what have you been foraging?

[punkrockcaveman]

Hi folks. I thought I would start a thread that everyone could jump in on and learn from each other. I'm not a mega experienced forager but I'm keen.

For me this week I have been foraging plenty of wild garlic/ramsons. The young leaves are beautifully tender and the flavour is intense. Super as a salad leaf but I will be trying it as a spinach alternative in a curry.
Plenty of Jews ear about at the mo too, I've not taken any yet but I plan to, I rubbed some on my wrist and didn't have a reaction so I'll be trying a small amount.
The raspberries are waking up now, plenty of fresh growth on them.

On a side note, the brown trout season I upon us on the 25th so I'll be out trying to get a couple for the freezer on open day. Planning on building a hot and cold smoker, imo smoked fish is awesome.

I'll be heading out this eve after some more spring greens, the nettles are starting to poke through too so maybe some soup is on the cards.

How about yourselves?

 

[Macaroon]

Dandelion leaves, lovely fresh young ones in our woods at the moment.

 

[bearbait]

I foraged a huge load of rhubarb from my garden yesterday. And mowed the lawn!

This all seems very early to me.

 

[Bishop]

Wife discovered thread about nettle tea being good for arthritis so having to grab some on every bimble now.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Nice. I'll be putting dandelion leaves on the list. A friend has been tapping birch, and brought some over to enjoy over a knife making session. We used it for a bit of liquid to slow roast a rabbit in the oven, with a few root veggies and it turned out really well. He's also fermenting some of it using a handful of raisins, I'll report back the results.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Wild garlic, jelly ear and bean curry today. The jelly ears were only partially hydrated before going in the curry- big mistake! They had a horrible texture. The wild garlic was excellent. A brilliant alternative to spinach.

 

[Robson Valley]

Too soon for us yet, even in the valley bottom. Daily snowstorms are a nuisance. They usually quit or turn to rain by noon.
I peeked under the rubbish in my 12" doorstep pot = my chives are alive and up 1" after some -30C winter nights!
The really big deal here in a couple of weeks will be fern fiddle-heads. Two kinds, pick only 1 per plant, patches acres in size.
Cream of fern fiddlehead soup. The picking season is quite lengthy as we can go up in altitude when the bottom-lands are done.

 

[Joonsy]

been harvesting hogweed shoots for the past two weeks, young hawthorn leaves the last few days which i like to add to mashed potatoes, have had some young himalayan balsam shoots there's loads of young shoots along the river about two-three inches tall.

 

[bob_the_baker]

I picked some wild sea beet yesterday, a personal favourite of mine. The nettle tea is also supposed to be good for gout, so it's a regular drink for me and, touch wood, as I've not had an attack for 10 months seems to be helpful (or at least not making the situation worse). Fresh spruce tips. Ground elder is on the move as well.

 

[garyc]

I've not had a lot of experience foraging for edibles, but within the past few days I've had some dandelion (leaf) tea, nettle tea and gorse flowers, I've not spotted any Jews Ear yet but I'm rather intrigued!

 

[bob_the_baker]

I've not spotted any Jews Ear yet but I'm rather intrigued!

Have a good look deep in untended hedgerows with Elder in them

 

[TarHeelBrit]

Ever since my wife discovered that Dandelion tea was a natural diuretic on every me time bimble to the cricket ground woods I'd gather some young fresh leaves for her. The lane hedgerows were filled with wild blackberries and raspberries so in season we had nice fresh berries on the table 100% nature grown no man involved. There was a small patch of wild garlic and that was a hit but I didn't want to forage the poor things into oblivion so we only used the leaves twice.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Good work folks!

As said look out for elder, the jelly/jews ear seems to be at it's peak.

Hoping to have a bimble tomorrow, I'll be hoping to get a few dandelion leaves. Does anyone know what the roots are like this time of year? Are they still plump?

 

[Robson Valley]

Two parts
1. I actually foraged some nice ale to go with popcorn so I can read the Dive Watch and the Knife Idiot threads.
2. bob_the_baker: you speak of harvesting 'wild sea beet' in #9 (above). Over some decades, I taught a piece of a course on economic botany.
My reading led me to believe that Sea Beet (Beta vulgaris) is the only novel plant species cultivated in recorded history which is of economic importance.
From it are derived the miriad varieties of vegetable beets (aka beetroot) and the economic star, the sugar beet of the temperate zone.
Have you a link so that I might see more of this plant and its growth habit?

 

[Nice65]

Wild garlic, jelly ear and bean curry today. The jelly ears were only partially hydrated before going in the curry- big mistake! They had a horrible texture. The wild garlic was excellent. A brilliant alternative to spinach.

I'm no fan of the jelly type fungi, but love Ramson leaves. Gather a load and steep in olive oil for a day, strain into clean bottles. Don't wash them, they'll mould, they need to be dry.

Now, this is a faff, but well worth it. Make a thin tempura batter, dip the flower spikes and deep fry for a few seconds. Truly excellent as a starter or accompaniment.

I must go get some leaves tomorrow, the season when they're young and tender is short. I had a pigeon breast and wild garlic risotto as a gastro pub starter last weekend. One of the nicest things I've eaten in ages.

 

[Robson Valley]

Nice65: thanks for the mention of a real treat = battered and crisped herbs. I'll do 6" branches of sage.
Honestly, whatever you can forage, try it crisped. Batter or not. "Starter" is the right word.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

The Ramson flower fritters sound awesome. I remember seeing something similar on a cook on the wild side, flower fritter type things.

The oil sounds awesome too! Great idea.

 

[BushcraftM]

Yum yum, looking forward to some wild garlic up here too!

 

[bob_the_baker]

2. bob_the_baker: you speak of harvesting 'wild sea beet' in #9 (above). Over some decades, I taught a piece of a course on economic botany.
My reading led me to believe that Sea Beet (Beta vulgaris) is the only novel plant species cultivated in recorded history which is of economic importance.
From it are derived the miriad varieties of vegetable beets (aka beetroot) and the economic star, the sugar beet of the temperate zone.
Have you a link so that I might see more of this plant and its growth habit?

It's a great plant, very common around our coastline, within range of some salt spray during a storm, but high enough above the high water mark to avoid getting submerged in all but the largest tides. Very easy to recognise and, if you like spinach, has a great flavour and texture (better than spinach in my opinion).
http://www.gallowaywildfoods.com/sea-beet-identification-distribution-edibility/

 

[Alan 13~7]

I live within walking distance to the coast line. The sand dunes are a popular spot for a walk, sadly going by the amount of dog mess allong the dunes "above the high water mark" anything I might find would probably taste of dog wee!