Category: Wild Food Recipes

Orange peel fungus

Orange Peel Fungus Aleuria aurantia is a choice edible fungi with a fondness for following the edges of paths ad tracks especially where there are also decaying stumps and debris.… Read More

Field mushrooms by the pailful

When our local farmer told me there were field mushrooms “by the pail’fer in the files next to the sheep” he wasn’t joking! This was a lucky meeting a the… Read More

Calamus aka Sweet Flag ~ the Singer’s root and Forager’s spice

Calamus (Acorus calamus) is also known as Sweet Flag, Sweet Rush or Sweet Cinnnamon although the roots taste like ginger. Calamus (known as sweet flag) has a spicy fragrance to… Read More

Sorrel Hollandaise Sauce

This is a lovely lemony sauce with a distinctive sorrel tang that goes extremely well with baked white fish such as sole, or the local river trout I am lucky to be… Read More

Edible Seeds & Wild Spice Conversion Chart

One thing that often gets overlooked when foraging is the area of edible seeds which can be used to replace spices or even, in some cases, add a whole new… Read More

Gooseberries and Gorse Flower Syrup

This is a lovely dessert. The almost tropical, honey-sweetness of the gorse flowers contrasts well with the gooseberries. Although most gooseberries are green there are some red variants. I find… Read More

Pickling and Preserving Green Walnuts Recipes

A selection of recipes for green walnuts. Pickled Walnuts Pick only young green walnuts – usually around June. Remember that walnuts stain. Great for making homemade hair dye and self-tan, but… Read More

Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)

A Taste Like None Other Of all the plants I eat, people are most suspicious of Common Hogweed Heracleum sphondylium. It’s got an undeserved reputation because of a sinister relative that… Read More

Edible Gorse Flower Syrups, Cordials & Cocktails

Print Yum Gorse Flower Syrup Ingredients500g gorse flowers 500g sugar 1 litre water 2 limes 1 orangeDirectionsPick your gorse flowers in the morning on a warm, sunny day before it… Read More

Chanterelles – Cantharellus cibarius

Exquisite flavour, slightly fruity and slightly peppery, this is one of the most popular of the edible mushrooms. Most foragers have a secret patch that they visit and the secret… Read More

Rowan berries – Sorbus aucuparia

I picked these to make Rowan Berry Jelly. They are not poisonous but they are quite bitter (an acquired taste!). Rowan Berry Jelly is particularly delicious served with venison, hare… Read More

Hedgehog fungus – Hydnum repandum

Luckily for foragers, hedgehog fungus is far less well-known that it’s cousin the chanterelle. It is easily identified by its spines or teeth under the cap which look vary different… Read More

Crispy Dulse Seaweed Snack

I was given some dried dulse Palmaria palmata last night by Fi Houston, a fellow forager and a seaweed aficionado who sells wonderful sea spices at www.seaspice.co.uk. Below is the dried… Read More

Pink Purslane

Pink purslane (Claytonia sibirica) is an edible plant in the Portulacaceae family related to Spring Beauty (Claytonia perfoliata) and Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) which is high in Omega 3 oils… Read More

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Dandelion Taraxacum officinale is high in vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. For comparison, spinach contains around 9,000 –… Read More

Easter Banquet featuring Venison in Elderberry and Hawthorn

To those of you who imagine that a forager’s fare is stark or unexciting, then think again. A fortuitous gift of venison (I love living in the country) turned Easter… Read More

Oyster Mushrooms on the Menu

Both of the large horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum trees that fell in the January gale were host to some fabulous oyster mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus. Fried in butter with an egg… Read More