Wild foods - gathering and foraging

Oooh, just seen you need recipes. I am out most of tomorrow and again in the evening, only just in from choir now, but I shall fish mine out. I don't have time to go picking until the middle of next week.

Most cordials only last if you keep them in the fridge, but I do have one somewhere that lasts for longer. I can't have our fridges cluttered up by the amounts I make! The champagne however is best in a dark cool shed full of stuff you don't mind being covered in champagne. I had to let out a little of the gas each day from every single bottle after I lost three bottles. It's quite a knack.

same here, only seen them in books! amazing.

Agaricus bitorquis - sounds very similar, but mine had a narrower stalk. I shall have to research them further. I would love to see an earth star fungus.

Is it the Urban Mushroom? I had Earth Star fungus in one border last year, never seen one before, most intriguing.

No, I didn't think to take one at the time, but I do know those very well. I know a lot of mushrooms and this one really puzzled me. I have never before seen one just rise flat-headed from the soil with a mound of soil on its head. I watched one large one come up over two days, an 8cm circle just pushing up through the soil. Like an alien. I shall certainly take a photo if I see one again - I found three that week. DBH has been using my camera at school, I remember now why I didn't have it.

I sometimes fantasise about finding a puffball around here, but never have. I used to love going for a walk with the dogs, finding one and taking it home to have for breakfast. And parasols/shaggy inkcaps are delicious.

I love both granjura!

Is it one of the Mycaenae family? Not sure of my spelling, sorry

So, the black elder is in full - pink- flowers. There are so many recipes our there for elderflower champagne or cordial. What's your very best and favourite? Merci.

Can you post me a photo? It sound like a wood mushroom, eg the same as an ordinary field mushroom, but with a darker cap. The gills should be light pink at first, before becoming brown. In which case it is not only edible, but excellent. But it could NOT - so do not try unless and until you are absolutely sure. Is the brown top plain or patchy. It could also be the ink cap, or the parasol- is patchy. But I don't think any of them do grow with flat cap from the start- but can open very quickly once out.

Google Wood mushroom, agaricus arvensis- and tell me what you think.

Can you post me a photo? It sound like a wood mushroom, eg the same as an ordinary field mushroom, but with a darker cap. The gills should be light pink at first, before becoming brown. In which case it is not only edible, but excellent. But it could NOT - so do not try unless and until you are absolutely sure.

Google Wood mushroom, agaricus arvensis- and tell me what you think.

I eat anything, but a mushroom stumped me last week. They are growing in my raised veg beds and I can't find them anywhere in my books or online. They rise straight up through the soil, with a flat head from the start, quite big, a ring around the stem, brown top, dark gills, blah blah and they are driving me mad.

This is the weekend for elderflowers - champagne and cordial. Dried to make sorbet with in the winter. I daren't pick too many though otherwise I shall have none left to make elderberry cordial to see us through the winter, it's lovely when you have a cold.

We are lucky enough to have morels growing in this area. In my garden, to be specific! They are so hard to see, though. I have to lift up every large foxglove and verbascum leaf.

Elderflower fritters- now that sounds good- will try with our Danish guests this week-end - now we have our second bathroom, am hosting our first French residential course this week and next- very exciting. Could do a 'champignons et français' course in October, lol.

Yes, I bought my dad Roger Phillip's for his 70th bd and have inherited it back...

St George's mushrooms are called 'mousserons' in French, and apparently gave the word 'mushroom' to your British, via the Normans. What is so funny, strange even, is that at our house in East Leic we had a big fairy ring of them top right of our garden- and here we have a big ring of them... top right of our field. The chances of having one ring in one's garden are pretty low, but in 2 sucessive gardens... a miracle!

We use the Roger Phillips mushroom book.
I had forgotten St George's. We don't get them here, but used to pick them a lot round Salisbury.
We dry the second-grade ceps in the fan oven at the lowest possible temperature and come down in the morning to find the smell is almost overwhelming. We add them to soups and casseroles and they make great presents for people as well.

OH is a passionate forager of mushrooms (ceps, hedgehogs, chanterelles etc) and I sometimes tag along. He spent years foraging in the New Forest and now goes to the Fôret des Andaines. In England we used to pick sloes, damsons and blackberries, but not so much here as we have so much in the garden. A few years ago we went on a walk looking for wild, edible plants in the Pays d'Auge and then went back to someone's house and cooked and ate them. It was fun, but tbh I thought most of the little green bits were much of a muchness and spinach from the garden would have been tastier.
I liked the elderflower fritters though!

I did find ONE morel once when walking with my school kids and colleagues near Dovedale- I was so excited and they all thought I was stark raving mad to get so excited about a mushroom

Used to find those giant puff balls in Leics, but never could make them tasty or palatable- tried all, butter, garlic, parsley, even curry- to no avail.

I have lots of mushroom books in both French and English, for cross referencing. My favourites are 'morilles' or 'morels' but they are so rare, and didn't find one this Spring. Fortunately we had several kilos of St Georges mushrooms at the beginning of June in our field (a bit late for St George I know, but we live at altitude)...My latest acquisition if Carluccio's Complete Mushroom Book- with lots of recipes.

Here, the ceps are called 'bolets' and yes, it is my other favourite species- and I love going out with my big basket and my Dad's genuine Swiss army knife. I can hear him talk to me 'look over there, under that branch. Don't go too fast...' really brings happy memories of our time foraging together.

My favourite wild plant for foraging is wild garlic. Their leaves, picked when young, make delicious wild garlic pesto, and instead of using pine nuts, I used the walnuts from our trees. Freezes well and lovely with pasta.
Walnuts also make a good dip/paté.

While walking in the country with a couple who were both plant scientists, I was amazed that they didn't believe me when I told them that ceps were edible! Once, visiting my parents in Yorkshire, my DSs went out to play in the field behind the house and came back with two giant puffballs almost as big as they were. Delicious, fried in butter. Unfortunately, my ex got custody of the very good and beautifully illustrated fungus identification book when he left. Our best find had been chanterelles in woodland near Blair Atholl. Or rather a Polish couple showed us where to find them but not until they were ready to leave the camp site!

Yesterday I boiled some nettles and ground elder leaves together, cooled and drained and then quickly tossed in a little butter with a crack of pepper. You should have seen OH's face when I told him and he ... loved it. Delish, totally fresh and guaranteed no chemicals- from our field.

Ah, elderflower, I have made elderflower cordial and DH made a superb red wine from elderberries, but not recently.

I forgot wild garlic and wild onions and herbs like thyme and fennel too.

Very wise- as said I learnt when I was very young- and if unsure, I check and re-check in several books I have, to check with someone I can trust- each area here has a registered mushroom checker we can visit.

Forgot to mention wild garlic- we went with a few other expats (I am local, but also an expat ... after 40 years in the UK) to pick lots in my favourite river side location. Lots of wild hazelnuts in the area too.

For elderflowers, I brought my red (black/nigra) elderflower tree from our UK garden and it is doing so well here despite our very cold winters. Just starting to flower now- the flowers are lovely and pink and the elderflower cordial made with them is also a lovely shade of pink.

The one wild food I discovered by chance and loved in the UK was wild samphire- from the days we used to YHA in Norfolk - nothing better than wild samphire, butter and garlic with pasta (and a long time before it became fashionable in Waitrose or Burough market, lol).

I certainly pick wild blackberries, sloes and, when available crab apples and wild damsons, once, a beautiful puff ball mushroom. I would also pick wild garlic if it grew in the area, but unfortunately it doesn't. There are no nut trees growing wild round here, although we have a magnificent hazel in the garden, but the squirrels usually get at them before I do. I am a little wary of other fungi because I cannot tell safe from poisonous.

In France I understand that we can take any mushrooms we find to the local Pharmacy to be checked over. Unfortunately mushroom recognition is not included in pharmaceutic degrees in the UK. When in France we would probably just ask our neighbour.

Blackberries, of course, so much tastier than the cultivated variety. Definitely worth getting rid of all the bugs for the glorious flavour! DH collects wild mushrooms, though only for his consumption as I seem to have an intolerance to them. In the past we have gathered dandelions for wine making (always best around St George's Day, and picked when fully open in the middle of the day) and primroses, also for wine. Not sure we'd get away with picking primroses these days, though I'm sure no-one could complain about the dandelions!
I pick elderflowers sometimes to cook with gooseberries, creating a wonderful 'muscat' flavour. Haven't done sloe gin for some years, might have to try that again this year if we can find enough.