Food for free! Plants and fungi favourites

[stripee]

A long time ago I had the book "Food for Free" by Richard Mabey and tried out many of his suggestions. Some of which turned out to be truly horrible. I still eat stinging nettles in the season, anyone else got favourite wild plants or fungi that they find yummy?

[stripee]

responsibly of course, should add, nothing taken that shouldnt be

[Jez]

Blackberries and ramsons but would love to try nettle soup amongst other foods which are fit for the plate. Ray mears hunter gathers prog was excellent. Hence now a kean curiosity for limpets!

[stripee]

Ray mears is amazing he will never starve, in fact he is looking a little chubby on his wild diet and is a revelation concerning our prehistoric diet Blackberries, one of the best, sloes in gin, wild garlic. One of the worst things I tried was dandelion root which made me ill. Also dandelion leaves are very bitter. The French eat them blanched, which I tried doing to make them palatable but no success. Some of the other leaves I tried were also bitter, think we are not used to this type of flavour anymore. Young beech leaves not bad, chickweed took too long to gather enough. Birch boletus yuk, and ate an earthball instead of puffball really not a good idea.Young tips of nettles make very good soup before June after that they get tough and laxative.

[Jez]

Gordon Ramsey Swears by our Garden Snails & stuffed puffballs i keep meaning to cook as we get a few in the Nursery, but never seem to get around to picking them!

[stripee]

Originally Posted by Jez

Gordon Ramsey Swears by our Garden Snails & stuffed puffballs i keep meaning to cook as we get a few in the Nursery, but never seem to get around to picking them!

cordon bleu garden snails I think eating from the wild takes a lot of time, we had all day to do it thousands of years ago but it didn't leave much time over for anything else!

[Dan Salter]

I have recently made plum, damson, blackberry and elder jam, crab apple jelly etc...so i guess thats food from the wild ( apart from the amount i have spent on jam jars and preserving sugar haha)
I have mabeys book too but always forget to try stuff before its gone over and vanished...i have so many nettles i could make enough soup to last a lifetime if i could just have that thought before June

Oh i did harvest a fair few cobbs/hazel nutts this year before the tree rats had them all.

[peppermint]

I bought that book about 4 weeks ago. I collected some hazel nuts but found some of the shells had no nut in did i pick too early?
I love blackberries. I make apple and blackberry crumble, my husband loves it and its sooo simple to make.
I have yet to try most of the things in the book, but look forward to experimenting with wild food.

[seamusagleann]

o h and i were camping near loch sween and i went wading in the sea , got some whelks and boiled them up . some garlic butter absoluty delicious .

[Jez]

Originally Posted by seamusagleann

o h and i were camping near loch sween and i went wading in the sea , got some whelks and boiled them up . some garlic butter absoluty delicious .

Whelks i love them without let alone with garlic butter. My favourite is Perriwinkles but just can't find them in the supermarkets or fishmongersMaybe Ian Wright Knows where to get them from now he's certified

[gez]

Im a really big fan of food for free & have read quite a few books on the subject. now when im of on my walks with camera in hand looking for a good pic im also looking for a snack. This time of yr its fruits from blackberrys plums apples etc.
On tue i was of work & at the coast so picked some mussels & limpets & while waiting for the tide to come in for some tern pics. I cooked them very quick & very fresh they were really nice even the limpets. re fungi though i tend to stay away from all but a few that i know 100% are safe & must say if anyone is unsure to leave well alone. gez

[Jez]

Elderberries are good for building up your immune system, which with climate change is no bad thing!

[jdurbo]

Originally Posted by Jez

Gordon Ramsey Swears by our Garden Snails & stuffed puffballs i keep meaning to cook as we get a few in the Nursery, but never seem to get around to picking them!

Jezabel you and your snails!!

jen xxx

[seamusagleann]

Originally Posted by Jez

Whelks i love them without let alone with garlic butter. My favourite is Perriwinkles but just can't find them in the supermarkets or fishmongersMaybe Ian Wright Knows where to get them from now he's certified

try razor clams jez , find a sandy beach and look for the burrows , pour salt in the holes and up they come . cook inthe shells over a fire made of drift wood , or steam them using damp seaweed .

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by Jez

Elderberries are good for building up your immune system, which with climate change is no bad thing!

As far as im aware ( sure i read this before i made jam) that elderberrys are also toxic until they have been boiled so dont go munching too many straight from the tree.

[seamusagleann]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

As far as im aware ( sure i read this before i made jam) that elderberrys are also toxic until they have been boiled so dont go munching too many straight from the tree.

dan.. i heard that as well ,same as rowan berries . once they're boiled they're fine ...nice with a bit of venison

[Jez]

Originally Posted by seamusagleann

try razor clams jez , find a sandy beach and look for the burrows , pour salt in the holes and up they come . cook inthe shells over a fire made of drift wood , or steam them using damp seaweed .

Yes i have watched that being done & i'm in Tenby next week so if my unkle doesn't mind i'll have a go

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

As far as im aware ( sure i read this before i made jam) that elderberrys are also toxic until they have been boiled so dont go munching too many straight from the tree.

Forgot to point that out. Thanks Dan.

[svenrufus]

Things I have eaten...
I quite often go out with dliberately rather drab sandwiches safe in the knowledge that I can pick some stuff to liven them up later. Usually this involves garlic mustard leaves, or sorrel (sometimes wood sorrel but always feel a bit guilty about that, as it is so small I need quite a few to make it work). Also had wild garlic when in luck, but found that hawthorn leaves weren't up to much. Cresses are good - but not water cress because of whatever the parasite it might have is called.
Made nettle soup lots, it's great.
Never figured out what to do with elderflowers, but I like what other people do to them, fritters, and cordial. Didn't know the berries were poisonous, bit worried about that. They are a bit intense in their raw state so have never eaten many thank gawd. The other product of elder I am partial to is the Jews Ear fungus, looks horrible, but is quite good.
Other fungi as and when I stumble across them, particularly Shaggy Ink Cap, which is the only one I am likely to come across that I am absolutely 100% happy with ID'ing, even if it is before the first coffee of the day kicks in. Ceps too, but I don't get them round here, so have to go looking for them.
Obviously all the berries and fruit that you find, but also - this was discussed in another thread recently - yew berries, but only the outer red part as the hard inner part is very toxic. You might ask if it is really worth the risk - oh yes! So sweet, what a flavour. Just whatever you do - do not swallow the seed.
I had meant to try Good King Henry this year, but forgot, and now it is too late. My granny used to eat it a lot, and says it was good. The shoots are like asparagus apparently, and the leaves like spinach, but with more iron, and less oxalic acid so you absorb more of it.
I actually have dreamt of some post apocalyptic world where I have to scavenge and make do on that sort of fair, nice idea in a way, but then I realise how dull it would be - I'd miss coffee too much, and feta cheese, and brie, and humous, and tomato ketchup, and beer, and Nik Naks and .....

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by svenrufus

Things I have eaten...
IAlso had wild garlic when in luck, but found that hawthorn leaves weren't up to much. Cresses are good - but not water cress because of whatever the parasite it might have is called.

Its called a Liver Fluke and can be fatal...something i was unaware of on one of our first college wildlflower walks on the campus..after succesfully id'ng fools water cress then real water cress to demonstrate which one was edible i and another two class mates munched a few leaves..
Days later when i reached the water cress section of Richard Mabeys Flora Britannica i was horrified to hear of the danger of eating the wild plant without washing or cooking...and to eat it from exactly where we had ...the still, non flowing end near the bank of a pond being the most dangerous situation...apparently unless its in clear, fast clean flowing water do NOT eat it....I worried myself sick for days....couldnt sleep...a bit like i felt as a teenager after the AIDS virus became public...i didnt know what symptons liver fluke would cuase but i started to imagine anything slightly wrong was it....I then came down with a serious blocked stuffy nose and convinced myself it must be the "fluke" in my nasal passage...lol...i eventually forgot about it all and that was this time last year and my class mates and i havent died....but its a lesson learnt.

what was the other thing?.....erm...
oh yes....although the number one DEFRA invasive on their list and the biggest invasive that affects my life....Japanese Knotweed is edible...the young asparagus looking shoots can be picked apparently and cooked in the same way and have a rhubarb taste apparently?...

hmm...ive just had an idea?....runs off to find saucepans...

[m1.carson]

Yoiks,

We've just been advised to plant some watercress in the pond to keep the nutrient level down, and thought "what a good idea" we can harvest it for egg & cress sandwiches, just gone off that idea.

Next, elderberries are poisonous, haven't hear of that, we frequently make wine with raw berries [hic], perhaps the yeast renders them non-toxic.

Giant puffballs are probably our favorite fungi, being lazy,you only need one and you've enough mushroom for a week, just remember to keep them in a paper bag or the whole fridge reeks of it, they really can't be mistaken for any other fungi.

They're almost maggotless as well, even the young field mushrooms, hardly a bump in the ground seem to be alive with maggots, I'm sure they never used to be.

Max.

[gez]

Originally Posted by seamusagleann

try razor clams jez , find a sandy beach and look for the burrows , pour salt in the holes and up they come . cook inthe shells over a fire made of drift wood , or steam them using damp seaweed .

I would love to find these & have a try but ive never seen them up here at my local beaches. Though i love to watch them be collected on tv. they look so meaty also .lol. gez

[Gill Catton]

I can recommend chopping up a couple of dead nettle and bunging them in a curry, a very mild flavour but tons of vitamins and minerals - far more than domesticated green veg. I have a little book called cooking with weeds - there's a recipie in there I want to try with fat hen but it may already be too late in the season

[Jez]

Natures Calendar were having a good much on wild shrooms earlier