Shaggy Inkcaps Coprinus comatus– also known as Lawyer’s Wig – are edible but there are a few things to note. You need to eat them soon after picking as they… Read More
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
Porcelain Fungus
Porcelain Fungus (Oudemansiella mucida) Edible. Wash off mucus & remove stems. Nice taste although not as tasty as oyster mushrooms. Eat them fresh as they deteriorate quite quickly.
Edible Hogweed Seed
Early August is the best time to harvest hogweed heads for seed.
Wild Dog Rose Petal Syrup
Wild Dog Rose Petal Syrup Ingredients 1 kg Dog Rose petals 500g sugar 1 litre water Directions Heat the water and pour over the rose petals. Leave overnight to infuse. In… 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
Wild Vegetable Rennet
“Blessed be the cheese makers, for they shall inherit the earth!” Life of Brian. Want to make your own cottage cheese or cream cheese? Although you can’t forage milk, without… 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
Lavender Flower Syrup
Lavender Flower Syrup Ingredients 500g Lavender flowers 500g sugar 1 litre water Directions Heat the water and pour over the lavender flowers. Leave overnight to infuse. In the morning, add… 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
Stump puffballs – Lycoperdon pyriforme
Stump puffballs are edible and best when gathered young as they have a firm texture, exquisite smell but mild taste, and not as good as field puffballs. But they are… 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
Mushroom breakfast
Gently fried in butter with some chopped chives, salt and pepper and garnished with chive flowers. This is mixture of chanterelles and hedgehog fungi. Before… and After!
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
Wild Chorizo Salad
Sadly I forgot to photograph this before we ate it all as it looked very pretty! Ingredients Go for a walk and see what you can find! Today I found… Read More
Common Wood Sorrel – Oxalis acetellosa
These pretty leaves have a distinctive sharp sorrel flavour and make a lovely addition to a wild salad, or as a garnish to a soup or dish. They are best… Read More
Blackcurrants
There’s a lot of plump blackcurrants (Ribes nigra) this year and luckily 101 things to do with them. Full of vitaminC and flavonoids, they bestow many health benefits as well… Read More
Meadowsweet Cordial
If you like Elderflower Cordial you’ll love this! It has a sweet, honeyed flavour that is perfect diluted with fizzy water. “Children’s Champagne” I told a young man who tried… 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
Eat your greens. They really are good for you!
There’s a lot more to eating greens than making sure you have enough dietary fibre and vitamin A. I think the majority of people think of their daily vegetables as… 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