Foraging

[Default0ptions]

I know we have some foraging experts on here (hat tip to UE) and maybe we should have a section for foraging here.

My main gripe with the usual foraging groups is that they are very useful if you want to indulge in a few rather bitter and unusual salads plucked from the wild; but absolutely useless when it comes to bulk carbohydrates.

I really only know of two big hitters for carbohydrates: bulrushes/reedmace/cattails and burdock.

There are a few umbellifers that might fit the bill but there’s a serious risk of misidentification.

I’m sure there are more.

[Catweazle]

Whilst the idea of foraging is attractive it requires skill, one that is more difficult to learn as you get older, and it also ignores the efforts of thousands of gardeners who have worked hard to improve the native plants into something more useful to humans.

So I'd suggest that guerrilla gardening with some less recognisable heritage varieties might be a better idea. Edible plants hiding in plain sight, along footpaths, fields boundaries, under pylons, in hedgerows etc etc.

[Mark]

There's a community orchard near me - apples, pears, raspberries, gooseberries etc. It's on the edge of a reasonably large town. Plenty of dog walkers, but hardly anyone but me goes there to pick anything - guess they're either too lazy, or don't trust anything that doesn't come from the supermarket wrapped in plastic...

I also know good local spots for damsons and blackberries...., but most fruit is available at a similar time of year - the only other thing I would be confident with is wild garlic.... Mushroom identification concerns me..... Aware that some Dutch people survived WWII by eating 'roots', but I'd have no idea what roots can/can't be eaten....

Think I might be going hungry when the sh@t starts to hit the fan....

[Default0ptions]

Leaf curd!!

Take a carrier bag full of non poisonous green stuff. Mash up thoroughly in water. Strain off the juice. Boil the juice. Strain off the coagulated scum from the top. This is high protein and, in every case I’ve tried, thoroughly revolting.

It is edible though!

[Default0ptions]

Fruit leather: gather it, squish it, spread it out on a baking tray (or mad max equivalent if necessary) to dry.

Keeps fairly well.

[Default0ptions]

Mark - mushroom identification: our own Undercover Elephant wrote the best book on edible mushrooms that I’ve ever come across.