Is foraging entering the mainstream?

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Is foraging entering the mainstream?
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Richy Rich

Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Posts: 31
Location: Coventry - Warwickshire....

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 12:38 pm Post subject:

Res I loved your post. The industry I work in would have exactly the same response....

It's bordering on hostility to something they have never seen and find hard to understand... few people seem to grasp the idea with both hands.

It has started to occur to me that the whole food industry really does control what we eat. It means that unless you start foraging you'll never really know whats around you in terms of plants etc.

Even if a plant is in-edible - by chance through foraging you'll learn about them...

Cab is the leader... and I'm looking forward to the coming months!

Richy

thos

Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 1139
Location: Jauche, Duchy of Brabant (Bourgogne-ci) and Charolles, Duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne-�a)

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 12:55 pm Post subject:

After seven years here I finally found a good site for blackberries last year. Amazingly it is an old railway line tarmaced as a foot and bicycle path. Although most users are cyclists there are plenty of walkers yet noone else seemed to have picked any. On a trip to Blighty I found blackberries plentiful and unpicked (Essex and Lancashire). When I was growing up in Bolton there were always other people picking and it was fortunate I could pick in my Dad's quarry because it was private land. So although there may be a recent upturn, my impression is of a long-term decrease in foraging.

However, as a counterargument, I was amazed last year to see a father send his son up a damson to collect the fruit. The said damson was in a park and the method of collection was for the son to pull off the branches while the father took off the damsons and tossed them into a large bucket.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 1:04 pm Post subject:

I think there are three things that put me (and others) off foraging:

- fear of killing myself (practise and reading are slowly moving me along that route)
- fear of looking stupid/mad/being arrested (pretty used to the first aand second and getting more confident about the last)
- worry about quality - that's still one to work on...dogs erm, well you know, what dogs do, and pollution from traffic etc are the main problems, and perhaps the most difficult to deal with because they're invisible

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 2:01 pm Post subject:

I still am a bit unsure about eating some of the plants, after my nettle omlette insident, because all of the ones I have tried over this last week, tend to be abit 'unusual' in taste, maybe 'to strong' in flavour?

I am still giving it a try, but have yet to find something that I am entirely happy with in taste/texture, bearing in mind I am tasting 'raw'. I have just had another omlette, but this time I tried the ground elder that CAB suggested, but with a few lesser celendine leaves thrown in just before adding the eggs, cos I am fairly OK with them, the lesser celendine that is, and have to say it was not to bad. The crunchy stalks, were I think, the best bit, if you can call it that. But live and learn dude.

"However, as a counterargument, I was amazed last year to see a father send his son up a damson to collect the fruit. The said damson was in a park and the method of collection was for the son to pull off the branches while the father took off the damsons and tossed them into a large bucket."

Is that a case of 'a little knowledge is dangerous'?

"worry about quality - that's still one to work on...dogs erm, well you know, what dogs do, and pollution from traffic etc are the main problems, and perhaps the most difficult to deal with because they're invisible"

Have you noticed that unfortunately some of the best pickings are along roadsides?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 3:55 pm Post subject:

Res wrote:

I tend to think that the wild plants worth picking are the ones with distict flavour. I'm not wasting my time taking home anything bland

But for 'background' leaf flavour, try hawthorn buds, young soft beech leaves (before they harden), lime tree leaves, smooth sow thistle, and maybe dandelion (if your local dandelions aren't all too bitter).

Quote:

I am still giving it a try, but have yet to find something that I am entirely happy with in taste/texture, bearing in mind I am tasting 'raw'. I have just had another omlette, but this time I tried the ground elder that CAB suggested, but with a few lesser celendine leaves thrown in just before adding the eggs, cos I am fairly OK with them, the lesser celendine that is, and have to say it was not to bad. The crunchy stalks, were I think, the best bit, if you can call it that. But live and learn dude.

Ground elder is surprisingly intense, isn't it? If you don't like it in omelettes, nibble some young raw stuff, that might be more to your tastes.

Quote:

Have you noticed that unfortunately some of the best pickings are along roadsides?

Yep. Disturbed ground. I tend to pick from quiet roadsides, but not from busy ones.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 4:00 pm Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

I think there are three things that put me (and others) off foraging:

- fear of killing myself (practise and reading are slowly moving me along that route)

A valid fear. Don't worry, you never lose that

, but you do learn enough so that it isn't a constant danger.

Quote:

- fear of looking stupid/mad/being arrested (pretty used to the first aand second and getting more confident about the last)

I've been stopped by a copper who wanted to know what I was doing, and it turned out that his mum had used to feed him blewits, which is what I was picking at the time. Generally, plod aren't interested in such things, unless you're being damaging.

The wierd looks you get used to. Conversations like this one are thankfully rare (two years ago):

Passer by: "What are you picking?"

Me: "Cherries"

Passer by: "How do you know they're cherries?"

Me: "Well, they look like cherries, they taste like cherries, they came from cherry blossom, and they're on a cherry tree"

Passer by: "A friend of mines son ate a cherry, ended up in a coma!"

But they do happen. More fool them for not getting the point of picking your own food!

Quote:

- worry about quality - that's still one to work on...dogs erm, well you know, what dogs do, and pollution from traffic etc are the main problems, and perhaps the most difficult to deal with because they're invisible

I've just never worried about it. Can't you smell if there's been a dog about?

Fee

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 5:51 pm Post subject:

I remember going picking blackberries with my dad when I was a kid, and my Mum would then cook up some wonderful pudding with them that evening...mmmmm, apple and blackberry crumble.

We used to go mushroom picking too, but this seemed to be a bit frowned upon, I remember my Mum frowning upon it at least, and I have a vague memory of ducking behind walls when people were walking past...A memory has actually just come back to me of us having just picked loads of mushrooms in a field (I seem to recall walking past it and my Dad saying, "look at all of those") and a woman coming out through the field and telling us they were so much per pound, would we like to come inside and weigh and pay, followed by the swift departure of my dad with us kids in tow, having given the woman her mushrooms back...I think my dad might have picked the wrong field to pick in, maybe the wall was a clue

Hoping to get back into it this year, think I'll avoid poeple's fields though!

Ah, the point I was going to make was that we used to as kids, but maybe the microwave meals in the late 80's/90's meant less people cooking propar food and our traditional recipes seemed to disappear in the main, people opting more for exotic cuisine, which might have moved people's recipes away from local produce?? Or was this just in my household?

Fee

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 5:54 pm Post subject:

cab wrote:

I tend to think that the wild plants worth picking are the ones with distict flavour. I'm not wasting my time taking home anything bland

You superstar, I guess that was my sort of hidden message, even though I didn't realise it, so well picked up and thank you for the suggestions.

Your point IS VERY valid, but I think I found them abit strong cos I dont smuther my dinner with sauce or even salad dressing, unless it's feta cheese with olives and whole garlic gloves in extra virgin olive oil and herbs! You might consider that a strong flavour, but like the herbs, you mix them in with something.

Maybe thats what I need to find out/experiment with, using the wild plants like herbs for flavour rather than the whole. Mixed with some of your 'background' leaves as fillers, would make it more usable, to me at least.
Many thanks

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 8:20 am Post subject:

Res, try a salad of fresh chickweed (tastes like cress and spinach), dandelion (a few leaves for a bit of 'bitter'), lettuce, rocket, sorrel and wild garlic. Use lettuce to be the staple, the bacground green, and then add in the other stronger flavours. Or any combination thereof, as long as you include a crisp, cool flavoured lettuce.

Another good 'bacground' leaf is common mallow, but be sparing with it, it can get chewy.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 9:21 am Post subject:
The Observer food magazine has something about foraging this month but haven't got around to reading it yet.

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 10:06 am Post subject:

CAB, I am growing valamaine, giant red mustard, and sorrel in the greenhouse and had them as a mixed salad. The valamaine is a lettuce and was nice, the red mustard was nice but I had but more of that in than anything else so was a bit overpowering for our girls, the sorrel was sooooooo nice. Defenitely recommend that one. I had got the seeds from T&M to try and the results are reasonable. The sorrel needs to catch up though as it's still quite small compared the the others and judging by the pic in your link, it should get massive, so am a bit disapointed but it's still early so I'm hopeful. The giant red mustard is supposed to be good in stir fries. It certainly likes it in the g'house, putting up quite big leaves, bigger than the others, so will have to try it that way.

I have not found any wild garlic yet. I hope I can cos I love garlic.

I think I have some garlic mustard down the lane, will try and take a pic today and post it for you. I crushed a leaf in my fingers and it did have a faint smell of garlic, but I was unsure about the leaf. It was the right shape but the texture bit not look 'quite' right. It is just starting to flower so will get a closeup of that as well.

I will try the hawthorn bubs while out as well, but dont know the smooth sow thistle?

How do you use the cow parsley? I tried a small peice of leaf yesterday. That one would be good as a flavour booster in small quantities. Do you use the stems?

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 10:08 am Post subject:

Res wrote:

valamaine

Never heard of that, what does it look/taste like Res?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 10:16 am Post subject:

Res wrote:

How do you use the cow parsley? I tried a small peice of leaf yesterday. That one would be good as a flavour booster in small quantities. Do you use the stems?

The leaves, ideally from plants before they flower. I personally make a nice potato and chicken soup, add handfulls of cow parsley (which you have to know well, of course, due to risk of confusion with deadly poisonous umbellifers) and then blend it in. Wonderful stuff. I also add sprigs and small leaves to salads, it looks good and adds a different taste and texture.

Smooth sow thistle... I'll find pictures.

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 10:28 am Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

Res wrote:

valamaine

Never heard of that, what does it look/taste like Res?

Looks similar to a coss lettuce, suposed to a cut and come again plant but I just pick off the outside leaves for what I need. It tastes very slightly stronger than a cos lettuce.

I am puzzled but the fact that it's supposed to be a tall plant and the giant red mustard is 'supposed' to be a squot plant judging by the photo on T&M but its out doing everything. I'm well impressed.

Guest

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 10:56 am Post subject:

Res -

Get foraging around and about because the Garlic's coming good now. You will SO know that you have found it as its smell is beyond distinctive....

I know two places in Wales and on of them there is SO much that that whole section of wood stinks of Garlic in the spring!!

Bugs

- fear of killing myself

I'm with you there - but - practice makes perfect. I picked close to 10 different types on mushrooms last November and threw them all away - EVEN if I had a positive ID... It is my theory that over time I will build up a knowledge that will enable me to get positive ID every time as I learn more about each variety.

- fear of looking stupid/mad/

Thats a self confidence thing - why are you mad or stupid for trying something?

- worry about quality

This is one that gets me as well - hence a thorough washing and good hard cooking before I eat anything... however if the position is not good I won't bother..

I take a small tupperware with me when I am foraging and stuff everything I find in there and then take it home. Its discrete and you don't look a pansy like Hugh and his open basket.... such a f**in ponce sometimes!!

Richy

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