Free wild food

Rosyrain

Rosyrain

Veteran
Joined
16 Nov 2014
Local time
5:30 PM
Messages
943
Location
Washington, USA
What are the foods you can find wild in your location to eat? Up here in the Pacific Northwest there is an abundance of blackberries, blueberries, and apples that can all be picked for free if you know where to look. What about you?
 
Blackberries are coming into season in the UK There's a whole wealth of stuff to forage if you know what to look for: mushrooms, wild garlic, nuts (cob-nuts in Kent!), samphire (by the sea), seaweed, wild fennel, apples, cherries, wild strawberries, nettles. Then there are also pigeons, rabbits and squirrels (if you dare). I've got several books on the subject but must confess I don't really do much foraging. Too lazy...
 
Not sure about the squirrels - far too skinny to bother with IMO. Must admit however that now I tend to look at foraging in a time vs benefit light. After all several hours hunting for blackberries + getting scratched and usually muddy as opposed to just buying some, which by the time they are common in the countryside are pretty cheap, seems a bit pointless.
 
Mushrooms,and fungus
Game- land ,climbing,and flying,yes I have caught preperdm,cooked and eaten squirrel
Fish river and sea ,river and plants ,shell fish
Berries,sloes ,strawberries,apples,blackberries,hips,damson green gages,raspberries,cherries
Roots
Leaves
Flowers and herbs
Saps we tried the silver birch sap
 
There's lots of wild food here. You can get anything from squirrel(eeew) as well as deer, giraffe, crocodiles, zebra.. the works. We have lots of game meat and I have sampled a few. Anyone know how to stew a squirrel?:yuck:
 
  • Like
Reactions: L_B
In the mountains here, I was able to experience wild food starting with the wild chicken called Labuyo. It is prevalent in the forests of Bulacan, the province adjacent to Metro Manila. After catching the wild chicken and dressing it up, our friend who lives in the mountain brought us to the nearby creek where some ferns were growing. Together with some unknown leaves, the fern served as the garnishing of the chicken stew. With fruits, there are also lots and one is the fruit of the rattan vine.

Here is the wild cucumber that is made into a vegetable salad...
IMG_4511 wild cucumber.JPG
 
I would love to make an entire meal out of food that I foraged for free one of these days. The only problem is I am not sure of what all is available to me so I would have to do some research or get a book before doing it. There is an abundance of seafood here, so that would obviously be the main course. I could even scrape enough things together to make a salad to go with it. Something fun to think about for the future.
 
There are a couple of fruits which grow wild in our location here. One of them is a fruit called dunks. They are not in season now, but they tend to grow wild in many parts of the island. We can usually get these around Christmas time and into January. Another fruit that grows fairly wild over here are tamarinds. This is a very acid fruit, but people use them sometimes to make tamarind balls which have added sugar. I used to eat them regularly as a child. Tamarind syrup is also made from this fruit.

Here is what dunks look like:

upload_2015-8-30_11-36-9.jpeg
 
Rosyrain said:
What are the foods you can find wild in your location to eat? Up here in the Pacific Northwest there is an abundance of blackberries, blueberries, and apples that can all be picked for free if you know where to look. What about you?
Click to expand...
I haven't picked any wild foods lately. However, we do have blackberries, and apples in places. When I was young, I would pick blackberries every summer and my mother would make pies, cakes and cobblers. We had quite a few in our woods. There might be more wild foods here like chives and what not, but to be honest I haven't really investigated it.
 
Over looked hedge row forage,Hawthorn
Hawthorn used to be referred to as ‘bread and cheese,’ as the leaves sandwiched between slices of bread were once a staple food in the spring. The leaves can also be added to salads, made into a tea or munched straight off the branch, while the roasted seeds make a good coffee substitute. Hawthorn berries, bountiful in autumn, make a tasty jam or fruit bread – try adding the dried and ground fruit to flour for a fruity loaf. Hawthorn also has medicinal benefits and can help treat heart and circulation disorders. Powerful bioflavinoids present in the fruit stimulate blood flow to the heart and regulate the heartbeat.
 
We've covered nettles,elder,earlier on in their seasons,mallow fllowers and leaves are another and I enjoy seeking wild herbs such as marjoram
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom