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Space Cowboy · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:32 pm Post subject: Wild food finding.

Howdy all,
As the spring air starts to fill the land, its bringing my awareness around to the new and upcoming wild foods to br found out there. I know afew, such as sorrel, fat-hen, primrose ext, and just wondering if anyone else here is keen on this sort of thing? I know afew of the sea weeds too, but havent tried them all yet (origianally i thought it was only the wavered edged kelp that was edible, but indeed there are more) So if anyone has any good ones, and is interested in exchanging ideas, i'd really like that.
Tip of the hat, Space Cowboy.

quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

Blowin is your man.

blowin · Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:23 pm Post subject:

Hi Space Cowboy and welcome to the forum .
Wild food , fungi and sea fishing -- a kindred spirit at last ! Surprisingly few people , around here at least , have much interest in wild food other than the more obvious nuts and berries . As for fungi , it is common knowledge that anything other than a field mushroom is a toadstool and all of those are horribly poisonous so they wouldn't accept Hedgehog , Deciever , Chanterelle , Parasol or anything of the sort -- even if you cooked it for them . I have found all of those plus a few other edibles in the local woods .
Have you tried Ground Elder ? The young shoots will be coming soon . One of the few wild veg which are actually worth eating IMHO .
Whereabouts are you when not in outer space ? Was it you who nearly collided with me the other day ?

Space Cowboy · Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:31 pm Post subject:

Howdy Blowin, and thanks for the Welcome.
The mushroom finding sounds great, and i'm happy to say that i've dicovered all listed, except for the parosol. Good to know someone else has! And i know what you mean about people being alittle unsure to try the differcultly found bounty - i offered a neighbour some Amerthist decievers last year, and she said " well as long as they're not htose Magic ones", and then walked off anyway without taking me up on it. Their loss i quess.
Funny you should mention Ground elder - i've been watch a small patch come up over the past few weeks.( And luckily its not growing on the ground here at the Ranch!). Its about 2 inches big at present - how big have you tried it at? I'm keen to get picking, but dont want to pillage a young crop and slow down future production (if a worry at all - tenacious stuff!!) I remember trying it when i was a wee nipper - seemed fairly strong, but wasnt awfully inpressed by spinach at that age either!
And as for the near collision, was that hear on earth, or up in the sky?? Either way, i was blissfully unaware of any such imbending doom!
Drive and fly save Blowin, Tip of the Hat, Space Cowboy.

Space Cowboy · Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:09 pm Post subject:

Update on the Ground Elder ;

So i robbed the baby shoots (about 3 inches tall), and just cooked them in the pan in only the water i'd washed them in. I left it plain, resisting the urge to add a wee bit of salt or butter, and... It was actually pretty good. But man, it was quite strong - i cant imagine what its like when its fully grown. Next time i'm going to go with a touch of butter and salt. I imagine it might be good in a soup with maybe parsnip and carrot (??).
Tip of the Hat,

blowin · Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:03 am Post subject:

Sorry about the delay in response .
Sounds like spring is more advanced in your area than around here . I picked Ground Elder for the first time just the other day . Young shoots about 3" are ideal -- it does get quite a bit stronger and tougher when bigger than that . It is nearly impossible to kill it so pull off all the leaves you want . Best not to get too much stalk if you can avoid it .
I wonder if you cooked it for long enough . I gently boil in a little water for a good bit longer than spinach -- 15 to 20 mins with the pan lid on -- until it is tender . Use a plastic spatula to chop it up finely . Squeeze out all the liquid then add a good knob of butter + salt and pepper and a drop of milk . I wouldn't particularly want to eat it on its own but find it good as a side veg .
Tried something different this year which was to add leaves from wild garlic -- about 1/3rd by volume -- before cooking . That turned out to be really nice as a veg and the leftovers were a great addition to leak and ham risotto the next day .
The garlic was growing in the same patch as the elder which made for easy foraging , which was lucky , but the inexperienced should note that bluebells were in the same area and their leaves look quite like the garlic when small . There should be no danger of confusion if you are alert .

I was referring to the astral ! Wink

blowin · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:16 am Post subject: