The Great Hunt: What's the best thing you've foraged?

Seakay

My best city finds were a walnut tree in a park - made some pickled walnuts and some walnut ketchup; ginkgo tree in another park - dried some leaves for tea; wild garlic by the castle - soup; Alexanders by the Taff - candied; bay bush self seeded in the entrance area of an arts supply shop (did ask) - general flavouring.
Had to take a trip into the countryside for blackberries, sloes, crab apples.

juleyross

Last winter, we opened up the fireplace, and after begging from skips (always ask nicely), [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] and taken all those wind-damaged fences (we asked first!) we spent the whole winter very warm FOR FREE! We've already got loads for the coming winter including wood bits from the burnt-down Hastings Pier and the off-cuts from builders building it back up! You do need somewhere to store it though!:j
AND a freezer full of blackberries, rosehip syrup, foraged apples, plums (hedgerow), pears (tree in local car park), chestnuts (a delicious sauce), apples, pears, almonds, and figs from our garden - yummy!

janiebquick

Many years ago I lived near an allotment in Leamington Spa. The council bought the site to build on, evicting the allotment holders, but left the site as it was for a couple of years. So, I filled my freezer two years running with every possible variety of soft fruit plus apple sauce made from windfalls.

Ken68

The funniest forage ever was some hazelnuts I gathered (after a strong wind) from all places a Sainsbury Car park.

patm_2

A few years ago an amazingly abundant tomato plant sprang up in the normally poor soil in our front garden next to the drain. Earlier in the year the drain had been blocked, there must have been a bit of overflow when it was unblocked! We had a fine crop of tomatoes.

CupOfChai

Ken68 wrote: »

The funniest forage ever was some hazelnuts I gathered (after a strong wind) from all places a Sainsbury Car park.

There's a Waitrose here that sells chestnuts when it's that time of year. Out in their car park is a chestnut tree!

I've not worked out yet if they're just picking them from their own tree and putting them on the shelf

I've heard of someone foraging salmon. He'd also sometimes sell his foraged salmon to a local pub and they'd use them for the pub meals.

Suzy_M

CupOfChai wrote: »

I've heard of someone foraging salmon. He'd also sometimes sell his foraged salmon to a local pub and they'd use them for the pub meals.

:rotfl:'Foraging salmon' :rotfl:- new one on me always known it as 'poaching' myself and likely to get your collar felt by the local gamekeeper/gilly/bobby.

Horace

I forage in my local park - I have had loads of blackberries this year, last year I was picking wild raspberries but couldn't be bothered to look for them this year. During the war, the park had some prefabs built along the sides of it, these have long since been demolished but the trees that were in the gardens still remain so I have helped myself to eating apples before now. Some are near the road but I give them a good wash before eating them. I have also picked crab apples (mistook them for eaters as they are so large - with lovely red skins and red flesh - they were a bit tart but when I told mum she told me that they weren't eaters).

I have previously foraged for sloes (in a friend's field) and made sloe vodka with them.

I run the Friends group for my local park and have been awarded some free trees (these will only be about 2ft tall) - I chose wild harvest so that we will have rosehips, hazel nuts, elderberries & flowers, sloes and crab apples. I was thinking harvest for the wildlife and harvest for humans lol.

kboss2010

sloegin wrote: »

During the last week in the Isle of Skye: caught mackerel, picked mussels, clams and huge scallops D

A word of warning when foraging for bivalves (scallops, clams, mussels etc.), commercial stocks are tested for shellfish toxins regularly but there is currently no publicly available monitoring data for shellfish toxins in the waters around the UK.

Shellfish toxins can cause anything from vomiting and diarrhoea to paralysis in the most extreme cases and they ARE NOT destroyed by cooking.

Also, the presence/absence of an algal bloom nearby (which produce these toxins) is not a good predictor of concentration levels as toxin production varies dependent upon type and environmental conditions. Bivalves are filter feeders and they take in the toxins with the sea water. Toxins, once accumulated, can stay in shellfish for weeks after the bloom has disappeared.

Shellfish toxins are invisible, scentless and tasteless so you won't know if your bivalves are contaminated until you get sick.

Personally I wouldn't forage for bivalves anywhere unless I contacted CEFAS (DEFRA) (England) or SEPA (Scotland) first.

moneypicapica

Last year I was walking by an estate where they shoot pigeons and found one freshly shot. Nobody was to be seen around, but bird still warm and sloppy, so I took it home and cooked it in red wine. (After carefully removing all the lead shot.)

Can't really call it poaching as it was already shot and not by me.

Found another bird at the same place this year, but the poor thing was only injured and I couldn't catch it by hand. Actually, I'd call this animal cruelty. They either have completely incompetent retriever dogs or really don't care at all and its all just for the fun of shooting.:mad: