Hidden Treasures - tell me your foraged finds!

[CuriousEats]

My Wild Food Foraging book arrived on Friday!
We went to our local NT garden yesterday which is normally pleasantly dull, but its like a 4th dimension has just opened up and I'm seeing stuff everywhere!

Tell me what wild food you've found!

Obviously, it goes without saying, do your own research and don't eat anything you're not 100% sure of the ID.

@Gatekeeper thanks for the headsup on rosehips. I'll keep my eyes peeled! Is sea buckthorn jelly more savoury than sweet? I have some sea buckthorn oil in my fridge and its very good at healing skin and inflammation. I use it and rosehip oil in my homemade moisturisers. As a bonus they give you a lovely sunkissed glow!!
I need to do some bullace research so I can tell the difference by sight! They sound lovely.

That Pam the Jam book sounds intriguing. I keep buying preserving books and then being disappointed in them when I get them home and read them properly. I've just bought a load more ball jars to do some American style preserving. I've not got much fridge space but theres plenty of space in the garage for ambient preserves. The Ball recipes annoy me though as I like to play around with recipes and get them to my taste but it's not safe to do that with them.

I have made rosehip syrup this year and its lovely. Also a hyssop oxymel for coughs and sore throats. I regularly browse on the herbs in the garden and have stuffed myself on blackberries from.hedgrows this year. Made nettle soup in the spring and nettle tea.

@CuriousEats seabuckthorn is sweet/tart/fruity depending on how ripe the berries are

For jams/jellies/ cordials you can't get better than this book

"hyssop oxymel"...doesn't that sound just lovely

So far this year I have found porcini/penny buns, bolete and parasols lovely!
I love hunting for edible mushrooms. There is great fb page which will identify them for you.

I have found a few quince growing and made a beautiful amber jelly/jam with them. As well as the blackberry, and grape jelly.

Sloes we're quite good this year and put into vodka for sloe gin

@dementedma just had to google Hyssop Oxymel. How satisfying to make your own medicine!! One of my must haves in my dream house is a good size herb garden with all sorts of culinary and medicinal herbs.

@Gatekeeper that looks interesting. Are they fridgey jams or can they be stored on the shelf till opened?

One is a fridge jam the others keepers

@onmywayamarillo ooh you lucky thing! Injust wandered outside before it got properly dark and was blown away by the sheer variety of mushrooms just in my medium sized garden. I've filled the baby trug with samples to identify by the fire. A very cosy pastime. I've got some earthballs and puffballs so far. My nose needs to spend some more time between the pages of my books before I can ID any more of them.

@Gatekeeper I've bought it, but it looks like a dangerous buy. I'm going to have to buy the other 17 books in the series now, aren't I?

I make quite a lot of medicinal oils,teas,salves and tinctures. Its incredibly interesting. Running out of room to store my jars of stuff.

That's what I aspire to @dementedma. My great grandfather was a herbalist and I reckon its in the blood!
We tossed up between getting our kitchen area remodeled or moving house. Sadly the only quote we could get was £135k!! So its a new house for us. Sigh. I had such a lovely dream kitchen with a big utility room to wash my freshly picked veg and walk in pantry with space for all my essential oils and herbal stuff.

curious love that you have herbalism in the blood. I am.learning as I go and have very little room,but love the feeling of connectivity in using plants and herbs that generations of people have used to heal and nourish. And they are so beautiful. A jar of golden calendula oil is just gorgeous and I use it for so many things. Also way cheaper than shop bought and with out the additives. You can start with a few potted herbs: sage,rosemary,thyme,hyssop,lavender,mint etc

that sounds wonderful...I love when I read in hostorical books about the ladies of the house in the stillroom- drying flowers and herbs, distilling tinctures and making salves and unguements

unguents!

I've been supping too much grape based 'tinctures' today

@dementedma beautiful and multifunctional. What's not to love?!?
I always run out of space at my allotment so have been planting good looking edibles in my flower beds. I have some red cabbages which look like giant roses growing next to rose plants and purple globe artichokes scattered around the garden.
I do have herbs planted around the garden but my inner control freak demands to have them in a parterre style garden all to themselves!! Ah well, maybe one day.
So far I have rosemary, oregano, bay, lavender, chamomile, but I struggle with thyme and sage for some reason. The softer annual herbs, calendula and tagetes etc are grown at the allotment as I put them in my salad mixes to tart them up. I grew summer savoury this year and that was a flavour bomb! I've got some drying on my kitchen ceiling to make my own herbes de provence. I get through stacks of that in a year.

@Gatekeeper a little grape tincture for thy stomachs sake 😉
I love the sound of a still room. I think it would be a lovely place for reflection surrounded by herbs and dried flowers. And can you imagine the scent as you walk in the door?

Unguent is another lovely word. A whole language of decoctions,tisanes,essences,oxymels,salves poultices, distillations and fomentations.

I agree...they are very sensual words

Yes and infusions. It just brings to mind the slow life doesn't it. Appreciating the little things.

I've just been looking at Pam the Jam. Whats the difference between the books do you think?

oh, I didn't know she had her own book out as well. Just what Hugh Fearnley_ thing always called her. I can't imagine the recipes being that different but expect she wanted her own book out so profits mostly go to her rather than River Cottage

Ahh ok! I thought you had both books from your comment!
Hugh Fearnley-Thing 😂its a right mouthful of a name isnt it. I can never remember it