I am still alive! Who would have guessed that foraging is like an extreme sport with more bravado than a skate boarding park? Is that a delicious, edible plant, or a deadly looky-likey? You first!
Whilst my nearly-wife ate blackberries from a bramble for the first time last year I have to admit that I am not much further behind in the foraging stakes. Despite the advantages of growing up in the countryside and a Dad who studied botany I have walked past wild garlic and other wild foods all my life.
The half-day foraging session by Dave Hamilton was inspirational and has challenged my food boundaries. This introduction has made me want to spend time on the process of finding my food and cooking it rather than a quick trip to the supermarket so that I can spend my spare time in front of the TV. Foraging will provide food for my soul as well as my body!
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Dave Hamilton explaining how to make tea from pine needles |
Me frying and eating Woods Ear mushrooms |
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My new resolution is to buy Food For Free (classic foraging text by Richard Mabey) and go foraging one day a month for nuts, berries, fungi, leaves and birch sap. Well, that’s the plan. Bees forage every day through necessity. I hope I am strong-willed enough to do this once a month!
So, what did we learn? We tried numerous foods but here are my favourites.
| Wild garlic: Eat the leaves and flowers. Add to salads, make pesto | Sorrel: Tastes fresh and lemony. Add to salad or eat with fish | Dead Nettles (not to be confused with regular nettles that have died): Squeeze the flowers and suck out the nectar |
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Warning: Make sure the food you eat has not been sprayed with pesticides; take a bottle of water with you to wash the food; know what you’re doing. It’s this last one that’s the stumbling block!
Books written by Dave Hamilton and his brother Andy:
Recommended links:
- Plants For A Future is a database of 7,000 edible and other useful plants
- David and Andy Hamilton’s website: Self Sufficientish
You might like to read some of my other foraging posts.
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Sorrel leaves are delicious in salad and I love nettle tea. Great post! 🙂