# Any Foragers out there ?



## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

On all of our travels we see the French do it ......... the Dutch and Greeks do it ......... but how much do 'us Brits' use wild food? 

Have we really lost the knack of eating anything that doesn't come wrapped in clingfilm, and with a sell by date?

Whether it's raking up clams, picking young leaves or using wild herbs, I would be interested in hearing of your foraging tips and tales. 

Thanks

Barry


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Nuts, blackberries and wild strawberries I grab at every opportunity. My wife also collects the odd mushroom but I am a bit wary of them.

We also have a local roundabout that gets strewn with carrots in season.

Ray.


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## StewartJ (Nov 20, 2009)

All wild fruits, garlic, mushrooms and roadkill (game-birds mainly gone off rabbit since mixy outbreak couple of years ago) Have a couple of skinned and gutted pheasants in freezer.


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## GypsyRose (May 9, 2005)

Mushrooms, wild garlic, loads more depending on where we are.... shellfish....


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## Hydrocell (Jan 29, 2011)

I have a pile of snails crawling up my garden wall any one interested?

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I would pick anything that I could identify, would be wary about 

mushrooms, adore wild garlic. Wish I could identify wild leaves and 

herbs that are edible, I suppose we just lost the Knack

In the Black Forest people were picking vast basketful's of wild 

blueberries with a special tool, they said they sold the berries to the hotels

Would love to identify edible seaweed

Aldra


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Hydrocell said:


> I have a pile of snails crawling up my garden wall any one interested?
> 
> :lol: :lol: :lol:


Get a couple of young Ducklings, they are an eco-friendly way of getting rid of the snails. Once they are gone, you have 2 nice meals. 

There is a certain m/home show venue with loads of fruit trees, nuts and berries galore. I took advantage of the bounty and will be better prepared for next years event. :lol:

I should really take advantage of the Rabbits that the dogs catch but I prefer my meat from the supermarket these days. It was a different story when I was a kid. Not much protein in Rabbit anyway.


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## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

I'm looking for a good book to help point me in the right direction if anyone has any recommendations. I bought the Collins 'Food for Free' as an introduction.

When we were in Portugal a couple of winters ago, we saw the locals harvesting razor shells, using salt to tempt them out like this






I can't say that I fancy eating them, but I'm intrigued what others forage.

B


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Hydrocell said:


> I have a pile of snails crawling up my garden wall any one interested? :lol: :lol: :lol:


Jest not Hydro.

There is a brand of British snail which are edible.

I've eaten them and they taste the same as the French ones . . . . . butter and garlic!! :lol:

As for fungi, the trick is to learn how to identify what NOT to pick. There are only about six varieties of fungi found in the UK which are really poisonous, and all are easily recognised.

There are a few which will make you a bit poorly, especially if eaten raw, but nothing serious.

Have a look on Google at the Parasol Mushroom, or the Shaggy Parasol. Probably the most delicious of all, and there are some around right now. Impossible to confuse with anything poisonous, so perfectly safe to gather and eat . . . with an egg and a bit of bacon!! 

Then of course there's Amanita Muscaria!!!! . . . 8O 8O 8O

Dave


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## TishF650 (Jan 10, 2008)

Shaggy Parasols - we found some of them just last week and a very nice soup they made too!

Other recent hauls include walnuts, sweet chestnuts, field mushrooms, cockles and clams. Oh...and the sea bream I caught (if that counts).

Chris

Quick edit

I forgot the oysters and mussels from a few weeks ago too.


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## Antonia (Apr 27, 2008)

*yum*

Love foraging !

Wild berries, sea food of all kinds, especially Razor shells. All seaweed is safe to eat. I use my catapult to hunt wood Pigeon and rabbit.
Alexanders, Ramsons and of course, with seafood Samphire.

I'm going to do a course or two when I retire as well. Mushrooms need knowledge after all.

Antonia


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## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

TishF650 said:


> Oh...and the sea bream I caught (if that counts).
> 
> Chrisquote]
> 
> ...


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

_which bit of the Razor Clam is edible and how do you cook it? _

The same way as mussels, clams etc Rinse well, Steam quickly in a glass of wine, finely chopped Shallot and Garlic till opened. Remove the small dark coloured bit

Can also be grilled I believe

Aldra


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

We live on the coast and regularly go down to the beach and pick Mussels off the groins, boil them up and eat with a lovely white wine sauce and bottle the rest in vinegar for later.

We also do a lot of cockling, one of the best spots we've found is at the le Croty aire, see >Here<


















Judy is also very partial to winkles but I'm not keen, remind me of bogeys. :lol:

All seafood goes well with Samphire, we used to get it near the coast at Boston, trying to find some good spots for it in Norfolk where we now live, anyone know any good spots?

Also, autumn in Germany is a great time to go foraging for walnuts.

Pete


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## TishF650 (Jan 10, 2008)

Hey Barry, why doesn't it surprise me that you bought one of those??

I've had to bring my own lobster pot this year so if you get on the road and catch us up maybe we could get a fish each this time.

C


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## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

> ..........so if you get on the road and catch us up maybe we could get a fish each this time.


I'll look forward to that Chris mate.



> The same way as mussels, clams etc Rinse well, Steam quickly in a glass of wine, finely chopped Shallot and Garlic till opened. Remove the small dark coloured bit


I hadn't thought about doing it that way,  and had envisaged having to take the clam apart to seperate out the edible bits. Seems easy enough...... I could be tempted.



> .......go down to the beach and pick Mussels off the groins, boil them up and eat with a lovely white wine sauce


.... sluuurp. Do you do anything particular with your walnuts Pete...... or just eat 'em?

Wild garlic seems popular....... I'm not sure what I'd do with that other than put in a soup or broth? Do you just eat the leaves ?

So much to try.

B


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

StanDup said:


> .... sluuurp. Do you do anything particular with your walnuts Pete...... or just eat 'em?


I just scoff 'em :lol: Nice with a dash of salt.
Its also best to leave them for a few days to dry out properly or they are a bugger to crack open.

Pete


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## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

> 5. Place the cockles into a bucket of fresh water and add a few handfuls of flour and mix well and leave for a few hours (This fattens the cockles up and cleans the sand out of them)


I've just read your link Pete........ cracking, thanks.

Firstly, how long do you leave them to cleanse?

Secondly...... instead of putting them in vinegar, I presume you could just cook them in wine, garlic and shallots ?

B


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Wild garlic

I like the young leaves wilted in a little water +butter - A bit like you cook spinach

Works well with cabbage too--I mean cooking finely chopped cabbage in a little water and butter

I have to buy my samphire Pete and its not cheap 

Winkles--bogeys? b***** big bogeys Pete

I realise all seaweeds are edible but I think that some may be more palatable than others---maybe not so tough when cooked havent tried --will have to collect some specimens and experiment

Aldra


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

StanDup said:


> > 5. Place the cockles into a bucket of fresh water and add a few handfuls of flour and mix well and leave for a few hours (This fattens the cockles up and cleans the sand out of them)
> 
> 
> I've just read your link Pete........ cracking, thanks.
> ...


1. For a few hours is ok or ideally overnight.

2. Yes, they're nice in wine etc, similar to cooking mussels. When we're away though we bottle them in vinegar as they keep longer.



aldra said:


> I have to buy my samphire Pete and its not cheap


 Yeh, they pay a fortune for it darn sarf i've heard.



> Winkles--bogeys? b***** big bogeys Pete


Who you calling bignose :lol:

Pete


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## brimo (May 10, 2005)

any more?


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## Lesleykh (Apr 13, 2009)

We love foraging.

Rob's living in our van during the week these days while he's contracting in the Midlands and he's been raving about the mushrooms he's been finding.

We too pick up recent roadkill. I'm hoping the new pup turns out to be a bit of a rabbiter as she has a good turn of speed.

While away last year we had samphire from the German and Danish coasts. Caught cod, ling and coley in Norway. Well, I say caught - they more or less threw themselves on our line and we never had the same success anywhere else except a belt fish in Greece.

We had fab mushrooms in the Baltic countries and in Greece we followed the locals in picking 'horta' - wild green leaves which were mostly dandelion or oxalis related.

I'm jealous of anyone finding razor shells. As to cooking them. We used to buy them from a late night street stall in Madrid where they were lightly grilled on a griddle, with a splash of lemon juice and olive oil, until they'd opened. They are delicious.

If anyone comes across any good books or cheapish courses do let me know as that would make a great pressie for Rob's next birthday.

Lesley


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## bigfoot (May 16, 2005)

If the walnuts are green prick them with a sterilised needle and lay them out on a tray until they go black then pickle them delicious with cold meats and cheese.


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## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

> If anyone comes across any good books or cheapish courses do let me know as that would make a great pressie for Rob's next birthday.


I've done some 'rooting around' (sorry !) on the web and came across three main (UK) sources of information.

The first one , home bred 'Guru' Frank Cook






Sadly, he died a couple of years ago (at the age of 46yrs )..... but there are a few short videos of his work.... (both here and in the States ) if you Google him.

The second 'chap' ( and disciple of Frank) is Robin Harford who runs courses and seems to be making a living out of wild food.






How to Make a Nourishing Stinging Nettle Infusion from Robin Harford on Vimeo.

...... and the third is Marcus Harrison






His style looks a little dry for me, but he has published dates for courses in 2012. He is selling a Video Course. If anyone has seen it, then please let me know how you got on with it... I would find 3 hours of latin indigestible.

Barry


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

I hope there was no connection between Frank Cook's death at 46 and his advice?


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## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

No..... I wondered the same.

Robin Harford pays tribute to Frank on his web page.

A slightly worrying thing about Robin's video (aside from the quality) is the dog that is wandering around the nettles, in the background.

B


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

Anyone know what we used to call groundnuts or pig nuts? Very popular with us as children. Sweet and crunchy root lumps on a plant that was from memory about 1-2ft high, carrot like leaves and white umbrel flowers. Again from memory found on uncultivated ground.

Dick


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## StanDup (Sep 12, 2008)

Pignut........ Wild garlic (Ramson), etc.....






Barry


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

Have a look at www.bushcraftexpeditions.com

Lots of good stuff there. Some meets i used to go on with a club would hire a forager to take us on a fungii foray in the woods and it was quite nice

Phill


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Blackberries are my favourite, best eaten straight away after a quick swill, full of antioxidants, wild garlic is good and has loads of anti cancer properties due to the content of Allicin.

Pheasants are lovely, Caroline goes mad when i find one and fetch it home though(although soon changes when she is stuffing it down  )

Young nettle leaves are great for making tea which i sometimes do.

Paul.


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