What would you forage in your local area?

DocG

Full Member
Dec 20, 2013
874
127
Moray
Are fiddle heads ok to eat? As a kid I boiled them up - to Mum's disgust - but I thought that they were now regarded as unwise if not actually dangerous to eat. Any information?
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,669
McBride, BC
All depends upon the species of fern. Some of them ((eg Bracken) produce large amounts of oxalic acid.
The bitterness should put you off before you can eat a toxic amount.
We have 2 different species which almost look alike until the differences are pointed out.
Your better plant books ought to have ethnobotanical notes to select from.

Having said that, individual sensitivities vary a lot.

I can eat large amounts of them fried in butter with garlic and S&P.
Cream of Fern Fiddlehead soup is a wonderful spring dish.
My poor partner would be stuck on the crapper for 2-3 days.
 

uncleboob

Full Member
Dec 28, 2012
915
53
Coventry and Warwickshire
Just now we have
Pignuts,
Lesser Celandines
Ramsons
Reedmace
Masses of the peas from the sycamores which haven't sprouted yet
Dandelion
Burdock
Nettles
A lot of Spring greens, from bittercress to Lady's smock coming through too.
Sap from the birches as well.
Usual range of fruit plants, but no real eating from them yet, though my forced rhubarb is coming up and so are the chicons from the chicory.
Herbs have done surprisingly well this Winter. Even my olive tree has kept it's fruits slowly ripening, and the fig is trying hard to swell it's fruit buds.

We also have a lot of Winter veg still, from potatoes to parsnips, carrots and kale, turnips, etc., available too.

...not come across sycamore peas before?....is that leaf buds?...everyday is an education!
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
No, they're the 'pea' bit at the end of the sycamore wing. They overWinter here, and they grow fat as they swell. They're green inside the brown skin.
I've eaten them since childhood, not a meal's worth but just even yet I spot them and have a munch :)

Wait and see, someone'll be along to tell me they're toxic :roll:

M
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
39,133
4,810
S. Lanarkshire
Nice idea, how did it work out ?
Honestly, they're like peas to eat just now :) and there are literally thousand upon thousand of them. There's an enormous sycamore just the other side of the burn path from my garden. It's like a blizzard at times when they're all flying down.

M
 

uncleboob

Full Member
Dec 28, 2012
915
53
Coventry and Warwickshire
No, they're the 'pea' bit at the end of the sycamore wing. They overWinter here, and they grow fat as they swell. They're green inside the brown skin.
I've eaten them since childhood, not a meal's worth but just even yet I spot them and have a munch :)

Wait and see, someone'll be along to tell me they're toxic :roll:

M

Ahhhhhh, okay....the seed bit....I'm off to look at the trees!
 

TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,233
1,711
Vantaa, Finland
Exactly what species do you mean when speaking of "sycamore". There seems to be a few alternatives.
 

Billy-o

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 19, 2018
2,039
1,027
Canada
Are fiddle heads ok to eat? As a kid I boiled them up - to Mum's disgust - but I thought that they were now regarded as unwise if not actually dangerous to eat. Any information?

Fiddleheads are good. Earthy and chewy. They'll be selling them in the shops here soon. I like them fried a bit in bacon fat ... but then I could probably eat my own toes if they were fried in bacon fat.

Dandylion greens will show up in shops in a couple of months too. They benefit from similar treatment.

Note that Mint, Thyme, Sage and Rosemary are often easy to forage in urban circumstances given municipal tastes in this decorative area
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,669
McBride, BC
Very large licensed fiddlehead harvesting areas east of Prince George towards Giscome in central BC.
Fresh airfreight direct to Paris, France, daily out of YXS.

Billy-o: not everybody can tolerate fiddleheads like you and I can.
I'll steam and pure' them for a cream soup, a dozen for a garnish.

I'd like to have herbs just outside my front door but the damn deer eat everything.
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,464
8,343
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
I think you need to quote the actual species name if you are going to recommend them. I do eat fiddleheads from Pteridium aquilinum (what we call bracken) but only in moderation - probably only once or twice a year.
 
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Snufkin

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 13, 2004
2,099
139
54
Norfolk
I can get a lot of what's already been mentioned and can add alexanders to the list. Pretty much every verge is full of them.
 
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swotty

Full Member
Apr 25, 2009
1,880
249
Somerset
Plenty of nettles and ramsons around here
d12ec3703b82809ea5de622ed9ddd626.jpg


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baggins

Full Member
Apr 20, 2005
1,563
302
49
Coventry (and surveying trees uk wide)
I think you need to quote the actual species name if you are going to recommend them. I do eat fiddleheads from Pteridium aquilinum (what we call bracken) but only in moderation - probably only once or twice a year.
Agreed! We use the young shoots from Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) which we call fiddleheads (very similar shape). Also very delicious, although, as it"s in the Umbellifer family, care must be taken with ID.
 

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