Foraging - Natures Food

Ken68

Yes Edwardia, forage every year, blackberries, sloes, walnuts all sorts of apples and favourite of all a bucketful of hazelnuts from the local Sainsbury carpark. They fall on the public path. All good stuff. Bought a de-hydrator in the year so looking forward to cherry picking too.

savingmonkey

I got this little book for christmas so planning to do some foraging!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Gem-Food-Richard-Mabey/dp/0007183038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328086285&sr=8-1

In the past we have only only got blackberries from the local park which I make blackberry jelly (jam without bits) with and cook up with apples (and sometimes pears) and freeze for crumbles and to have with custard or porridge in the winter

squeaky

Hi, have a browse...

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Foraging - Natures Food

babyshoes

We are fairly new to foraging, and not having grown up here we are a little nervous about our identification skills. However, even in a pretty urban area close to London we have managed to find apples (tonnes of them, made a load of juice and pasteurised it so it keeps), damsons (damson gin made like sloe gin is YUMMY) and blackberries. Saw some cherries last year but being in a hurry didn't manage to pick any.

thriftwizard

I'm a die-hard forager too and forage not just in the countryside surrounding our little town (we find & eat all of the aforementioned, plus hazelnuts) but also in gardens! Before you start imagining ninja-style allotment raiders, I always knock & ask politely, and return a pot of whatever I've made to the garden owners. It's surprising how many people actually don't realise they can eat what's grown in their garden, or can't be bothered. Favourite garden "score" just now are bush quinces, aka chaenomeles or Japonica quinces, which make a lovely jelly or marmalade (recipe here), tasting like tree quince only a little spicier. They're often still hanging on the bushes at this time of year; birds don't like them as they're so hard until they're cooked, but I put the pips out for them after cooking.
Shock horror - I also forage at our local tip! It's astonishing how many boxes & bags of apples & pears are just rounded up & brought down to be thrown in the compost bins - if they don't come from Waitr*se they can't be edible, and they're just unsightly wasp-attractants lying around! Luckily the guys that run it usually save them for themselves & those of us with more sense. I had a whole box of organic Beauty of Bath last autumn; they were gorgeous. :j

SailorSam

When i've heard people saying they go foraging for wild food i thought you'd have to live in the countryside, where do you start looking in subaria.

Gigervamp

SailorSam wrote: »

When i've heard people saying they go foraging for wild food i thought you'd have to live in the countryside, where do you start looking in subaria.

Lots of places. Parks, commons, alongside canals and rivers, unused ground often has brambles over it. You just have to keep your eyes open.

About the legality, technically, you're supposed to get the landowners permission.

celyn90

We forage a lot - just for fun really. We have a map of the area at home with different spots marked on it! For us it's mainly mushrooms; which we preserve by drying or salting but we do forage for fruit as well.

gailey_2

I live outer suberb of city.

we have cyycle paths around ringroad that have about 10cherry trees although dident manage to get any last year wondered if bi annual.

we have few plum trees too.

we not too far to walk over dual carriageway bridge and have walked down country lanes and nearby villages.

couple of parks have pears, apples, chesnuts
housing estate has cherries even.

must have picked 3different varieties of plum green gage most common in hedgerows here like bigger cherries and have 20bags in freezer from year before last .

i have so far only done
chutneys
elderflower wine-although missed last year as they came out early
cherry brandy
crumbles.

this year want to try

elderberry cordial
jams and jellies
blackberry liquer
sloe gin-but get confused when sloies come out and what I thinka re sloes are sloes as seem some on bushes in jan,

I can recognise nettles but not wild garlic or wild salads. you can eat dandelion leaves in salad by way.

do love foraging though.

[Deleted User]

Being a dyed-in-the-wool money saver I always remember my wise old Mum saying if you pick something remember to make sure its from shoulder hight because of dogs 'watering' things as they are taken for a walk :0:0 I love the autumn time especially as my tribe of grandchildren and I walk around the local country park for blackberries etc.My DDs ma-in-law has a huge aplle tree that I get bags of apples from I peeled just under 60 lbs last year and stewed and froze them and still am using them in crumbles now.Those chinese takeaway white boxes are brilliant for stewed sliced apples as they stack brilliantly in the gfreezer.Nothing gets binned if I can help it I even froze some sliced up brocolli stalk last week to go in a casserole later as the brocolli had come with a long thick stalk attached.My freezer is usually crammed to the rafters with free or saved stuff