Foraging

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Posted at 10:29AM, 26 July 2010 by Stuart Ovenden - Deputy art editor, Good Food magazine

One of the most enjoyable things about foraging is the way in which it compels a greater awareness of one's surroundings - the need to slow down, pause and look. My walk (run) to the station each morning plots a dishevelled and hastily coordinated line towards town - it's only as the dust starts to settle in the evening and I make my way home that I spot what I've missed. Lime, sweet chestnut, ash, elder, common mallow, dandelion - last week I found clumps of wild fennel just a couple of hundred yards from our front door. Bit of a poor show that they're marooned in a central reservation on the A331.

Spotting poisonous plants can provide clues to finding edible ones

It goes without saying that a major aspect of foraging is identifying not just what to eat, but what to avoid. It'll be a long while until I explore certain plants in the umbellifer family; wild chervil's uncanny resemblance to a dangerous cousin is a little too close for comfort. There'd be few complaints from the family if I stirred a handful of finely chopped hemlock into a herby risotto, mostly due to the fact that we'd have expired at various points around the dining room. That said, spotting poisonous plants can provide clues to finding edible ones; foxgloves like soil with a higher PH, acidity loving sustenance may well be nearby.

Robin Harford runs a number of wild food courses in and around Sidmouth, East Devon - a great start if you're keen on foraging. It was a revelation to discover that dried hogweed seeds have a lightly citrus, cardamom flavour; similarly I had no idea that German uniforms were woven from nettle fibre during World War 1. Nettles are a fantastically versatile plant, higher in vitamin C than oranges and packed full of protein. Why we use them so infrequently is something of a mystery.

Reedmace (bullrushes, as I erroneously knew them as a youth) is in flower about this time of year; slender spikes poking out of riverbanks and ponds with a fuzz of cottony pollen on top. When flour was rationed during the forties reedmace was regularly used as a substitute in bread making (roughly 20% pollen, 80% flour), apparently the roots are tasty too (not entirely dissimilar to hearts of palm). I could be onto a winner with the 'hedgerow pizza' - reedmace dough base, steamed nettle and ricotta topping with a scattering of mallow flowers at the end to add a bit of colour. Might work on an alternative title for the 'Chocolate and hogweed torte' though.

Have you had any foraging experiences?

Comments

Debbie U

27 July 2010, 8:00AM
Debbie U

Free food!- what is not to like about foraging - for townie beginners like myself everyone can spot a blackberry (bramble) in late summer onwards. In spring we collected dandilion heads and made some scrummy fritters (throroughly wash the heads and dip in batter then fry until golden - NB. avoid collecting dandilions from along roadside due to pollution - not to mention the odd looks you may receive!) Beginners beware though - if in doubt - leave it out. I was hesitant about how to spot elderflowers and when doing a little more research realised what I thought I had identified as elderflower was in fact hemlock! Which in turn looks very similar to wild chervil. I'm glad I took the extra time to check! Don't be put off though, a little time and research and attention to details such as the growing season, the shape of the leaves etc will pay off and hey presto - free food, there for the taking

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Lollipop

7 August 2010, 11:08AM
Lollipop

I'm still a beginner at this, but my kids were occupied for an hour on Thursday collecting brambles so I am going to try much harder! Can anyone reccomend a good guidebook?

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Elaine

18 August 2010, 7:56AM
Elaine

Just picked my first blackberries, along the river near where I live. Stewed them with some apple. Wonderful intense flavour. A friend has gone one better, she picked loads of blackberries last week and presented me with a pot of jam at the weekend

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Nat

5 September 2010, 3:59PM
Nat

I'm a basic forager. I go blackberry picking, crab apple and cob nut gathering. This weekend I am collecting damsons again. They're a bit fiddly to cook and eat because of the stones, but I've experimented with pricking them and adding them to vodka with some sugar in a big glass jar. It's a bit like sloe gin I suppose. I've left this in a dark cupboard. I did this last year and I've just had a little test of the brew that's been soaking since last September. It's delicious!

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