Foraging - Natures Food

andygb

Lazy_Liz wrote: »

lucky you to be able to forage in a place that is so clean. I love seafood but worry about shellfish from areas near habitiation which can be contaminated.

I know what you mean, I go fishing occasionally, but have been put off eating fish caught in the English Channel because of the high incidence of shipping.
I should point out, that it doesn't stop me eating trout, perch and pike caught in our lovely clear chalk streams:D

ostaragirl

Hi Level200, glad you enjoyed your foraged food. I live in the very far north of the highlands, maybe not far from where you were and I have a good few places I go for mussels and other tasty treats.

level200

Hi Ostaragirl
You are so lucky to live up in that area, i loved it
I stayed in Melvich near Thurso. Is that near to you?

John

ostaragirl

Hi John
Yes I'm in Thurso and know Melvich pretty well too, glad you liked it, it's a great place to stay, but I'd have to say that! There are some great places round Strathy to collect mussels.

level200

Hi Ostaragirl

Thats exactly where we went collecting we parked near the graveyard and collected mussels and limpets from the rocks to the left of the river flowing into the sea. What a fantastic area and a huge amount of mussels

John

ostaragirl

Och weel 'Haste ye back' as they say:)

zippychick

sounds like a lovel.y day Ive merged this with our foraging thread.

ZIP

jumblejack

Whoop whoop!!!:j :j

I've found you!!!!!!

Thanks to ceridwan posting a link on another ancient foraging thread (thank you:T)

I am so into foraging as never before.
I have been enthusiastically posting my adventures in the grocery challenge threads but worried that perhaps I am the only MSEr that is enthusiastic about foraging to supplement my diet and reduce supermarket spends.

You can't get better than free, fresh and organic!!!!

I have discovered new areas that seem to be overlooked by the general public. There is an area absolutely heaving with a multitude of elder trees and wild rose bushes that I have been experimenting with.

The last few days I have been busy with the following.....

I have started off an elderflower champagne batch for the first time. I'm hoping it will work out....

I made a rose petal and elderflower cordial which worked VERY well.

I made a couple of jars of rose petal jelly (sooo beautiful in looks and taste)

Elderflower fritters were a phenomenal success!!:T

I juiced nettles and dandelions and diluted the strong juice with soft drinks for the kids

And that is it for the last week!

I am chuffed to bits. I've made sure that the bushes and trees are not exhausted so as to ensure lots of hips/berries for later on and also for other foragers n the critters.

I have also discovered an abundance of hazel trees but I won't be picking as I've developed an allergy (I may pick for swapping for produce perhaps though ). There were also 2 wild cherry trees along my recent walks, horsetail (it's edible apparently), feverfew (there's loads in my garden though which I have yet to use for medicinal purposes), and brambles.

I also recently learnt that clovers are edible and the flowers can be used like elderflower fritters. All grasses are edible as long as only the juice is swallowed and the pulp spat out (I will save this one for a survival necessity though as it doesn't appeal to me;)). Docks are highly edible and apparently very tasty (I am planning on experimenting with this plant).
Oh, my absolute favourite thing at the moment is wood sorrel:T
It grows very abundantly at a spot near me so I am overjoyed. It is utterly delicious. The kids love it too!!!:)

What are you guys using at the minute?
I am very eager to learn from more experienced foragers!!

Ken68

Welcome Jumble....Went looking for cherries yesterday. (common land) No car, so bus so far, then walk a kilometre, none, noone, zilch, zero .
Will try another spot tomorrow on bike sussing out also wild plums and early apples and keepers.
Didn't know about horsetail , though it does look a bit like seeweed, forgot name.

jumblejack

Hi ken68. Thanks for the welcome!
It's a good idea to look around whilst things are out of season.
I now know where to go for cherries which is fab.
I do know a place for apples n pears but it's about a 40 min drive :eek:
I bought one of those picking gizmos from eBay for a quid months ago. Kind of like a little hoop with a bag attached. You can stick it on a broom handle etc to enable foraging higher fruits. A nice idea if there are inaccessible edibles higher up.
I bet youll find a few good sources whilst biking.
I'm setting myself the goal of checking out all the public footpaths bear to me. I was dogsitting last week so had a good excuse to check out different off road areas.
There is a wood near me that has alpine strawberries but they are so cute n tiny that I wouldn't really go out of my way. Also, I have em growing now in the garden quite happily.
There are also lots of rowan trees near me which are just beginning to develop berries. I will certainly be using a few for rowan jelly. It will be a nice thing to gift when they come into season.

I want to start using my shed more efficiently so that I can store more bottles n jars for HM produce. My cupboards are heaving and I could do with reclaiming the space