Rowan Berries
A trip out to the New Forest in hope of finding wild mushrooms or bilberries - we found neither, but found instead some nice, ripe, plump Rowan berries.
Marsh Mallow
Isn't it interesting? - Marshmallow (the confection) is so familiar, yet the origin of the name is quite obscure - to the extent that a mention of Marsh Mallow (the plant) often raises eyebrows or is met with laughter.
Lime Flowers
Lime flowers are reputed to have calming and soporific properties. I have no idea if this claim is true, but they're deliciously fragrant anyway - and useful.
Bilberries
An outing to The Devil's Punchbowl at Hindhead, Surrey, for a picnic lunch and a spot of berry picking. Bilberries are found in abundance here.
Wild Strawberries
A trip out to Crab Wood, near Winchester to enjoy a walk in the woods, and to pick wild strawberries
Crow Garlic
Also near Keyhaven, we found Crow Garlic - a kind of wild onion with rather interesting potential.
Marsh Samphire
We went for a walk around Keyhaven harbour and out beside the salt marsh toward Lymington. There, we found Marsh Samphire in great abundance.
Stinging Nettles
I've heard so many people speak positively of stinging nettles as a food, but for some reason that I cannot properly explain, I remained very wary of the idea but not any more
Dandelions
I've always known they could be eaten, just never really quite got around to trying them. Until now.
St George's Mushrooms
It would be enough of a treat just to be picking any mushrooms in spring (most other wild mushrooms appear in autumn), but on top of that, it happens to be the case that St George's Mushrooms are really excellent eating.
Garlic Mustard (Jack-By-The Hedges)
Another adventure with wild greens. Sadly, not exactly everything I hoped for, this time.
Ramsons (Wild Garlic)
There are several species of wild onion or garlic that are common in the UK - This one is called Ramsons.
Ground Elder
Introduced to Britain from Europe either by the Romans, or during the Norman Conquest - depending on who you ask. Either way - Ground Elder was a common and popular vegetable in days gone by.
Sea beet
It's a very common coastal plant all over the UK and Europe. In the kitchen, Sea Beet has all of the good attributes of spinach, with none of the bad ones.
Sloes
Sloes - also known as Blackthorn - are very small, bitter plums (although they are a distinct species: Prunus spinosa) that grow on spiny bushes in hedgerows and on heaths and wood edges.
Feral Apples
Although there are such things as true crab apples, many of the 'wild' apple trees we see are the naturalised offspring of cultivated varieties - either chance seedlings from a discarded core, or perhaps remnants of derelict and forgotten orchards.
Blackberries
Wild blackberries have it - that intense fragrant fruity aroma that just can't adequately be described in words.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go and pick a cupful (or more!) of fresh, ripe wild blackberries on a sunny day, then stick your nose in the cup and inhale. The scratches, barbs and stings melt away into insignificance when you smell that smell.
Chanterelles
"Isn't it terribly dangerous?" is the question people most often ask me when I talk about eating wild mushrooms...
The truth is, it needn't be. Especially if you familiarise yourself with some of the more easily recognised ones, such as Chanterelles.
Shore crabs
We went crabbing down at the pontoon at Manor Farm Country Park and brought back a bucket of shore crabs to make soup.
Crayfish
Kids had a day off school, so we piled into the car and drove up to Oxford, where the river Thames is suffering from an invasion of foreign crayfish - the American Signal Crayfish
Camping Cake
Camping (in the rain) on Exmoor, during the wet summer of 2007, we found a nice assortment of wild berries along the hedgerows, so I made Camping Cake
