Foraging for food

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SatNavSaysStraightOn

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I was brought up with a respect for the countryside and have lived rurally for most of my life. I was also taught to forage and still do collect many things from the wild in most seasons of the year. There are some things I enjoy more than others, I love nettles - they are a very underrated food which is full of vitamins and minerals and is one of the earliest plants to grow. It is also very abundant. I love the taste of new leaves such as lime or beech in the spring. Various flowers add variety and colour to salads and nuts and berries are abundant in the autumn. Roots are also a good source if you know what you are looking for, such as nettles.


What are your thoughts on it? This article variously describes foragers as "bloody annoying" and "pasty-faced young men and women, wearing jumpers over their chefs' whites, stumbling about looking for produce". I couldn't help smiling to myself...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30015052
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/10/just-because-you-can-go-foraging-jay-rayner
 
The only thing people around here forage for are berries. Quite often people can be seen with plastic bags picking blackberries. No one here minds at all, although one person from the midlands who bought a house here complained, saying when he saw someone berry picking from the grass verge "oi, thats my land" which it wasnt and it was pointed out to him. He sulked back inside muttering to himself and looking rather embarassed.
 
I started forgaging a few years ago and each year I do more of it. I live near some common land which has masses of blackberry bushes, several apple trees, some elderberry trees and many wild plants. I gather edible leaves, fruits, seeds and fungi. There is even a fig tree growing there and I make my own fig leaf and fennel tea, which has many health benefits. Living on the coast I also have edible marine plants available. I never take more than a few leaves from each plant. There are many sea kale plants growing on a nearby beach and their leaves that taste exactly like cabbage when cooked.
 
I also live rurally and spent a short time living on a farm as a child. The nearest I probably get to foraging now is blackberry picking. In the autumn, I pick blackberries with my children and make jams and blackberry and apple crumble. A few weeks ago, we picked elderberries to make homemade wine with. One of the things that puts me off is the fear of picking the wrong thing. I think foraging is a great idea though, and if I were a little more knowledgable it is possibly something I would do more of.
 
I have certainly done a fair amount of foraging for blackberries in my life. I love how prolific they are in out of the way places where you can pick them for free by the flat. I have not foraged for many other things, but I have gone looking for dandelion greens a few times, which I love to saute with onions.
I have never heard of eating nettles, in fact I have heard only bad things about nettles as a weed, but perhaps I should do a little research on this, a free food that is full of vitamins is something I want to know about.
 
DancingLady said:
but perhaps I should do a little research on this, a free food that is full of vitamins is something I want to know about.
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There is masses of there on the Internet about nettles. Better for you than spinach and it love the taste of them as well. Obviously spring is the best time to pick the new leaves, which are really good for you and will replace any greens in most recipes. Later on in the season you can eat the growing tips only where there is new growth, but if they are on your land, cut them down regularly and you will be able to eat them for much longer throughput the year. Nettle seed is also very good for you, but you need to be more careful with it and it is harder to collect (it is a potent endocrine stimulant even in small quantities) as are the roots. Nettle stems traditionally were also used to make string, rope and baskets /bags which I have done once, but it requires a lot of effort and a considerable quantity of nettles stems (this is a winter job done when the nettles have died back for the year)

Useful information on nettle nutrition. But basically they are good for iron, calcium, potassium, manganese vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D and vitamin K.

Other good articles can be read here.
Www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_dioica
www.eattheweeds.com/urtica-chamaedryoides-nettle-knowledge-2/
 
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This is an excellent topic and something I am very interested in learning more about. I have read books on foraging, but the most I have really ever foraged for was blackberries and strawberries. I really would love to do more foraging to save some money on food and eat a more natural diet.
 
Well I started foraging more as a way to get food stuffs for my pets. I raise torts and they eat quite a bit of vegetable matter. berries are a given, I also can identify several different species of plants or weeds that are edible. Dandelions are the most common, along with a weed called bugle-weed (juka) very nice in salads, a could different mints, wild oregano and wild strawberries. We have a few areas that have crab apples, they are pretty good, a bit sour. My favorite though is the root of the tiger lily. In July there is a type of Tiger lily York, the roots taste just like a carrot, very good high in carotene.
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native in New
 
I'm not sure if it counts as foraging, but I do like to get or find certain wild flowers and see if they are the kind that one can turn into a tea; there are various kinds and I don't usually make the tea itself; just a collection of tea-related flowers I'd like to start properly some day if given the proper chance to do so. Unfortunately, I'm too germophobic to eat anything I've found in the wild around where I live; so I don't get the joy of using wild flowers as a food source often.
 
Just a point to be aware of [mostly in the UK- we are a bit more crowded than most] try to avoid anything growing too near a main road [and that can be a surprising distance]. The exhaust pollutants can and do get absorbed into plants.
 
sidevalve said:
Just a point to be aware of [mostly in the UK- we are a bit more crowded than most] try to avoid anything growing too near a main road [and that can be a surprising distance]. The exhaust pollutants can and do get absorbed into plants.
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That is an excellent point no matter where you live, it is not just the air pollutants it is also the run off from the road. It can have all sorts of fuel and chemical by products, In urban areas even in the neighborhoods you have to be mindful that people sometimes have lawn applications done. That spray is toxic to everyone.

I think that no matter where you are there is always the danger of some type of contamination. I worry about that quite a bit when I am searching for greens for my turtles. My nephew is involved in micro biology and how it pertains to fish in local streams and waterways. He tells me about things I never would have known about-for example a toxic form of seaweed that will really affect you if you come in contact with it. It also effects the surrounding areas because it dries into river banks when the tide lowers. So yes there are many things that you have to consider if you want to consume product you find outside your own growing areas. Its weird but we still gather cherries from the trees behind work and the apples that grow near the rail line. Still alive!
 
OOOH good point, I would never forage for food near the side of the road because you never know when kind of polutants have infested in it. It is best to hike up into the woods to collect so that you know it is going to be fresh. I really love venturing out into the mountains in search of fresh berries. The only thing you need to worry about are bears who are looking for the same food source that you are.
 
There was a very good episode of "Bizarre Foods" about living off the land. This man made a soup from nettles that resembled pea soup. This guy foraged every year, and ate healthy and free of charge. I have also heard that the stalk of cattails are very healthy, and taste similar to celery. Dandelions can be eaten when young. This includes the flower and stalk. The roots can be dried and ground up, and made into a coffee that's healthier than the real thing. Every spring mushrooming is huge around here. I personally don't care for them, but it's a huge craze around here. There are more people hunting than there are mushrooms available. It drives a pound of mushrooms up as high as $50.00!
 
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Here in New York I have never foraged. When living in Puerto Rico, yes we often foraged, mainly for wild Cilantro which looks different from the cilantro in the supermarkets here, and for Yucca and Name (yamee..sorry I don't know how to add the accentuation mark above the N) There were also various herbs to be found that older residents of the village knew how to use to make remedy tea's with
 
I could see how cat tails would taste like celery because they are both very watery plants. I have never tried eating them, but I think it is time to experiment. They grow like crazy on the woods near my home.
 
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