Foraging Challenge

vitamin_joe

I've had a great year so far! loads of blackberries, more than I could pick for a couple of weeks. Wild raspberries just before that. Also been eating a few elderberries, though I don't like too many, they make my throat feel funny after a certain amount. Apple season is here- actually missed a couple of trees- I don't know if someone got there first, as they were stripped bare, with nothing on the ground either.

Started eating wild nettles- yes, straight off the plant! Superb for vitamins and minerals. Of course, you can make teas or soups, or even a pasta where the nettles are a spinach substitute if you're not so brave. There's a great video I found that encouraged me to start eating wild nettles- I'll post it below- he goes into the nutritional benefits of nettles in an infectiously enthusiastic way. I've got a good technique for picking and eating now, and rarely get stung. They have a slightly sweet, pea-like flavour to me, eaten raw.

Rosehips have been good this year- another one I eat straight off the bush. Excellent for vitamin C.

I'd love to find a place to pick sorrel and jack-by-the-hedge locally. Not seen any yet.

Nettle video with Frank Cook- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KNlYtfWknY

Petlamb

This is something I'd love to do, just struggling to find sites and acquire the knowledge!

vitamin_joe

Food For Free by Richard Mabey is a good starting point- it's an acknowledged classic in the field.

I'm also using youtube to help me identify various plants- jack-by-the-hedge for example. Just search 'forage wild plants' or something and there should be a good choice of vids

earningNsaving

I would just like to say WOW and thanks so much for creating this thread.

I never realised you could go foraging for food. I had never even thought about it before. It sounds like a wonderful idea. I live in the heart of the yorkshire dales so there is plenty of woodland and grassy areas around me. I will definetly be giving it a go next time we go for a walk, although I will have to do a lot of research on what I can eat and what is poisonous

When I was little, my parents sometimes took us to a wood and we used to pick blackberries. Growing up, we had loads of mint plants which my Mum used to boil with her potatoes, rhubard plants which my parents would bake in to a rhubard crumble and blackberries growing over the fence which my Dad would make in to jam.

Living_proof

I have just come back from my local B & M who had some really attractive looking clip top coloured glass bottles and I was about to buy a few for my fruit vinegar project. However, the label stated 'not for preserving' but do you think they would be OK for vinegar? They would make lovely gifts and were 99p and 69p depending on size. They would certainly be great for sloe gin once strained.

Seakay

I should get 1 bottle, fill it with water and then turn it upside down and see if it leaks. If it doesn't then try the same thing with vinegar to check that none of the colour comes off. Also check the lid and seal. If there is bare (unenameled) metal this will react with vinegar and flakes of rust will drop into your preserve. If the lid has rubber or cork then those materials also react with vinegar and will crumble.
Alternatively or in addition you could contact B&M http://www.bmstores.co.uk/contact
and ask them why. The company is looking to float so should be particularly anxious to make a good and helpful impression.

Living_proof

What a splendid idea Seakay. I will do just that. They are so pretty I give it a whirl. The smaller bottles are an ideal size for a gift and the larger good for the store cupboard and at the right sort of price (there's no point having to spend a fortune to package a home made gift). Lemon barley water and other cordials also spring to mind.

Kevie192

Hi Living proof,

If you get an answer would you mind updating us on here please? I'm always on the look out for little bottles so would be very interested.

Thanks,

Kevin

ravingandsaving

I'm right on the foraging this year! So far made nettle pesto - yummy! Currently eagerly anticipating the elderflowers coming out in full bloom! Really wary about mushrooms - wondering if I should go on a course?

ravingandsaving

Hey vitamin joe - you shouldn't eat raw elderberries - they're mildly toxic. Only ever eat them after they've been cooked! I'm surprised your stomach didn't feel funny as well!

vitamin_joe wrote: »

I've had a great year so far! loads of blackberries, more than I could pick for a couple of weeks. Wild raspberries just before that. Also been eating a few elderberries, though I don't like too many, they make my throat feel funny after a certain amount. Apple season is here- actually missed a couple of trees- I don't know if someone got there first, as they were stripped bare, with nothing on the ground either.

Started eating wild nettles- yes, straight off the plant! Superb for vitamins and minerals. Of course, you can make teas or soups, or even a pasta where the nettles are a spinach substitute if you're not so brave. There's a great video I found that encouraged me to start eating wild nettles- I'll post it below- he goes into the nutritional benefits of nettles in an infectiously enthusiastic way. I've got a good technique for picking and eating now, and rarely get stung. They have a slightly sweet, pea-like flavour to me, eaten raw.

Rosehips have been good this year- another one I eat straight off the bush. Excellent for vitamin C.

I'd love to find a place to pick sorrel and jack-by-the-hedge locally. Not seen any yet.