Today I ate.......

[Toddy]

Wild strawberries,
fresh oats and barley
borage flowers

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Snufkin]

I was doing some trail clearance in my local woods and found quite a few wild raspberry bushes. Also found some young hazelnuts that had dropped from the tree, so I ate them too .

 

[JonnyP]

Cor, I'm all inspired now. Got to do a plant survey tomorrow, will collect some stuff too and let you know tomorrow evening...........

 

[Toddy]

I was doing some trail clearance in my local woods and found quite a few wild raspberry bushes. Also found some young hazelnuts that had dropped from the tree, so I ate them too .

I love them like that, all milky and juicy
atb,
Toddy

 

[Tadpole]

Today I ate half a handful of just ripe blackberries, a few random hazelnuts, and a few leaves of woodsorrel ( I still can’t find anything nice to say about the taste of it)

 

[falling rain]

I havn't eaten any wildfood today but in the past I've eaten (what I've gathered or caught myself)

Wild strawberries
Wild Raspberries
Cherries
Elderberries
Crab apples (in a pie with elderberries)
Pignut
nettles
Mint (tea)
red clover (tea)
Ground Ivy (tea)
Yarrow leaves (tea)
Pine needle (tea)
Chamomile (tea)
Burdock root
beech mast
hazel nuts
sweet chestnuts
lime leaves
beech leaves
hog weed shoots
Jack by the hedge
Ramsons
Plantain root
Wood sorrel
Sheep sorrel
Dandelion roots (drink) and leaves
Shaggy ink cap
Trout
Perch
Eel
Crayfish (signal not native)
Pike
Rabbit
Shrimps
winkles
Limpets
Mussels
snails
Razor fish
Cockles
Spider crab
Bass
Pollack
sea bream
garfish
gurnard
dog fish
pouting (not that nice)
Conger eel
Flounder
Plaice
Mullet
Wild boar (trapped in Germany)

These are the ones that spring to mind and ther'd be a few more to add to the list that I've probably forgotten There I things that I know to be edible but havn't tried yet and I've eaten others that I didn't actually get through my own work like some Roe deer and pheasent for example (thanks Buckshot) As you can see I'm not too hot on funghi. At least I can recognise a few that I'm fairly sure of but often hesitate because of the consequences if I'm wrong.

 

[Stumpy]

I had a feast of wild rasps on my walk through woods yesterday - Lovely!

 

[tomtom]

falling rain what do you do to elderberries to make them eadible, i was told it was not very good for you to eat many of them in their "off the tree" state?

we had a nice lobster in a pot a few days ago and the fishing is good right now.. thats about all the wild food i have had lately.. appart from the wild stawberries on the path which seem to ripen one at a time so you have to just eat one a day!

 

[falling rain]

falling rain what do you do to elderberries to make them eadible, i was told it was not very good for you to eat many of them in their "off the tree" state?

I didn't do anything in particular to them. I just washed them with the crab apples, de-stalked them and put them in a pie. No ill effects. I havn't heard that they arn't good for you straight off the tree if you eat too many

 

[Toddy]

This came up recently, but I have to admit that not only do I eat them straight from the tree, I turn them into syrup and wine and bake with them too....and I don't know of any ill effects.
Even the BBC has recipes for using them
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/autumnfruitsinmulled_70811.shtml

or see
http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/...nd=search&db=twmain.txt&eqisbndata=1903919525

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Toddy]

Oh, and today I have eaten

Mint,
bittercress,
rasps and a *very* sour bramble (too, too early)
thistle nuts
reedmace pollen

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[tomtom]

I havn't heard that they arn't good for you straight off the tree if you eat too many

strange, i used to eat them off the tree but when i mentioned it on this forum i was told that it wasnt a very good idea, i cant remember who by, or it what thread it was though, as it was some time ago.. i just presumed i had never eaten enought for anything nasty to happen and stopped eating them.. anyone know what the deal is either way?

 

[Seagull]

Oh, and today I have eaten

Mint,
bittercress,
rasps and a *very* sour bramble (too, too early)
thistle nuts
reedmace pollen

Cheers,
Toddy

You sure youre not a Goldfinch
atb

Ceeg

 

[JonnyP]

Cor, I'm all inspired now. Got to do a plant survey tomorrow, will collect some stuff too and let you know tomorrow evening...........

Well we didn't find much.......
Me and the boy nibbled on
Water mint.........Yuck
Thistle nuts........Hmmmmm
Meadowsweet flowers.....Interesting

Thats it....
We found so many new plants and now have a list of well over 100 in the one area, and I sort of forgot about eating when I found the antler.
We were going to nibble on the inner stalk of some cocksfoot, but it had all dried up.
Me and the boy always eat elderberries when they are out and have had no problems

 

[Toddy]

Meadowsweet flowers are a better medicine than they are munchies. They make a good tea too. I soak them in hot oil and leave them for a couple of days. Strained, and then thickened with beeswax, it makes an excellent anti inflammatory ointment. The leaves and roots are also used but the flowers are very easy.
At this time of year I gather the just opened flowerheads and dry them in paper bags. When they are really dry I store them in dark glass jars to have through winter. It's one of the real goodies of the still room.
They are also added to homemade beers and wines, heather and meadowsweet ale is good.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[JonnyP]

Meadowsweet flowers are a better medicine than they are munchies. They make a good tea too. I soak them in hot oil and leave them for a couple of days. Strained, and then thickened with beeswax, it makes an excellent anti inflammatory ointment. The leaves and roots are also used but the flowers are very easy.
At this time of year I gather the just opened flowerheads and dry them in paper bags. When they are really dry I store them in dark glass jars to have through winter. It's one of the real goodies of the still room.
They are also added to homemade beers and wines, heather and meadowsweet ale is good.

Cheers,
Toddy

Yes, its an interesting herb, I will have to collect some flowers and try the tea, its meant to be good for heartburn, which I sometimes get. It is also one of our few plants you can make a black dye from. I have also found a recipe to make beer from it as well .
Try nibbling on the flowers, they are not unpleasent.........

 

[Emma]

I've spent the past few days eating almost exclusively red dwarf plums from several trees
And the past few evenings with stomach ache from not all of them being quite ripe... but it's worth it for the good ones.

I eat elderberries straight off the tree as well...

 

[falling rain]

Slightly off topic sorry, and a question for Toddy really but if anyone else knows.........I quite fancy having a go at making some nettle beer and making some chutneys and jams from wild food as far as possible. Do you have any recommendations on where to get jars and bottles suitable for this? preferably the 'grolsch' type bottles for the beer with the rubber seals and some similar jars with seals and the wire locking mechanism. And when is the right time to pick Ash keys for pickling. I've tried some before but have read that they have to be just right or they are a bit tough. Any help or tips appreciated.

 

[JonnyP]

Slightly off topic sorry, and a question for Toddy really but if anyone else knows.........I quite fancy having a go at making some nettle beer and making some chutneys and jams from wild food as far as possible. Do you have any recommendations on where to get jars and bottles suitable for this? preferably the 'grolsch' type bottles for the beer with the rubber seals and some similar jars with seals and the wire locking mechanism. And when is the right time to pick Ash keys for pickling. I've tried some before but have read that they have to be just right or they are a bit tough. Any help or tips appreciated.

Well that is the best excuse for buying grolsh I have ever heard, I recommend unwins or even the supermarkets do it these days

 

[Toddy]

I know of about a dozen different suppliers for the glassware but if you have an Ikea near you then they are selling both the bottles and the jars just now.

These folks also supply the bottles

http://www.easybrew.co.uk/product_r...=5&PHPSESSID=0dc210fdbedd4ae8c9db20e7d6b8ecad

and Lakland sell the jars

http://www.lakelandlimited.co.uk/product.aspx/cookbake/preserving!3813_3814

Ash keys need to be green and soft, there's no point trying to pickle the tough ones, aim for the ones that look the same as the ones that your teeth can sink into easily.

Let us know how you get on? recipes are always appreciated

Cheers,
Toddy