Foraged / Unusual food recipes

Inspired by a few recent threads, I thought I'd start off a thread where we could share tips on foraged food or other stuff we might not think of as food. To kick off, here's one of my favourite spring time soups.

Nettle and Wild Garlic soup: [Disclaimer, you might need the landowner's permission before taking leaves]

Head for the countryside and collect a bag of fresh stinging nettles, and a bunch of wild garlic leaves. In the case of the garlic, take only one leaf from each plant so as not to kill the plant.

Take it all home and give it a good rinse.

Pull the tender leaves off the nettles and keep them. The chewy stems can be composted.

Boil the nettle leaves for about 20 minutes, rip up the garlic leaves and add them for the last 5 minutes. Add a bit of black pepper before serving.

Optionally you can bulk it up with potatoes or any other veg but it doesn't need it.

The result is delicious and wholesome and practically free.

 

sounds nice clueless. Might have to try that one this year.

May I recommend adding a link to a picture(s) of the foraged ingredients to get an idea of what they look like if your not familiar with them.

In the above recipe, I have never seen wild garlic, so something like this would help...

Wild Garlic

I think were all familiar with nettles though

Great Idea for a thread... I can see this becoming popular.

 

Good idea.

Good point, I took it for granted that everybody knows wild garlic, probably because it grows in abundance near where I grew up. I should add a warning here, wild garlic grows in a similar habitat and has vaguely similar appearance to another plant that is poisonous. They are only similar at a glance though. The poisonous one looks very different on closer inspection. If you find what looks like wild garlic but is dark green and waxy and has no scent, leave it be. If it is pale green and not waxy, then a good double check is to bruise a leaf and smell it. If it smells like garlic but slightly milder, it's ok. Once the flowers come out it is easy to tell. The garlic is the one with white garlic scented spherical flowers. If it has yellow flowers it isn't wild garlic.

We should always make absolutely certain with made the correct identification before we eat anything, because there are very toxic things out there that look similar to perfectly edible things.

 

That is precisely the reason why ive been so cautious about trying foraging out. You really need to know what your doing!

Nettles should be alright though ;-)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_nettle

 

Good plan guys, like has been said, don't go eating any Arums by mistake.

Love wild garlic(Allium Ursinum) Its great when wrapped around Yarrg cheese too

 

Is that the same plant that invades many peoples gardens and it takes month of precise weeding to eradicate? Just from those experiences alone... ive already grown to loathe this plant

Never had I thought you could eat it though.

 

After being fried in butter and then fully digested... I would still bet that it will grow back afterwards :WINK1: :D

 

Thanks for that marley, interesting thread... I think its the kind of information that needs reading through many times till it sinks in. :WINK1:

Some wonderful pictures on there.

 

Sounds great - I love foraging, and am always on the look out for new recipes.

 

Had to wait for a coat of paint to dry today, so I popped down The Chesil for half an hour, see what was around.



Last years Sea Kale had taken a bit of a battering. Although you can't dig it up without the landowners permission, it has a huge nutritious edible root. (see the Ray Mears episode on the Zigs TV Channel thread)




The Sea Beet is just starting its spring growth. This is a very good wild food, the leaves grow large and are abundant. Its the ancestor of our cultivated beets.




This was an unexpected suprise. Last years Giant Puffball Mushroom. One of the best tasting and largest fungi we have. They grow in the same location year after year, so I will check this out from August onwards If you find one, as long as the flesh is still white then its good to eat.

You can fry slices in herby butter, never use oil, or cut into small squares & thread them onto cotton & hang them to dry. This concentrates the flavour, use them in stews/casseroles.