Any foragers around?

[Dilbertian]

Not strictly a prepper issue, but I tried asking this in Food, and, apart from one disgusted poster...tumbleweed. So I thought maybe there might be foragers among the peppers, who would not be appalled at the notion that there are bugs on flowers

I made elderflower cordial last week, and in a flash of demented inspiration decided to try steeping the flowers in cream to flavour a dessert. Why didn't I just use the cordial? Now, of course, the cream is full of tiny bugs. Normally that's not an issue - I just filter the water through a paper towel. But will single cream filter through a paper towel?

God, no idea about filtering cream, but we made stinging nettle soup a few weeks Ago, blast 4yo and their good memories!

I am already checking out the best blackberry picking spots! I have a special set of old ice cream tubs which fit snugly in my rucksack especially for blackberry picking.

I would go with a muslin rather than a paper towel if I had to strain it, but in all honesty I would just throw it away and try again.

We also made nettle soup last week! In our case it was to appease a 5yo 😂 5yo and DH declared it superior to the usual spinach soup, 3yo was unconvinced. I rated it 5/10. A bit 'meh' and it had a funny furry feeling much like kiwi juice if you juice it with the skins on.
We currently have elderflower cordial sitting in the fridge and elderflower champagne brewing in a bucket in the dining room 😋

I’d love to be able to forage but live in one of the areas of London often shown on news with partying covidiots being germy all over the park. My parents were eating a lot of wild garlic a month or so back and I was very jealous. They’ve just made elderflower cordial too!

@EstherLittle , me too!
I'm really tentative about it generally although it's an area I'd love to get into. I was given that little book Food for Free yonks ago.
On our regular walks I was dead chuffed to spot "Jack in the Hedge" [ooer missus] which has a kind of garlic vibe . And wild garlic of course.
My big achievement a couple of years ago was making hawthorn ketchup and sloe gin from foraging. It was a massive time consuming ball ache to do and I don't know how successful it really was. Maybe I will try again this year if all this malarkey drags on.

I like to forage when I am "down home" where I grew up - I live in the suburbs of a city and there are not many opportunities to forage near here. Except the annual blackberrying trip with my Cub Scouts and some blackberries on our green that no one else seems to want ever.

Down home though, it's blackberries and wild strawberries, sloes (for gin) and damsons (although I haven't got those in a few years now) and crab apples mostly. There are a few mushroom spots but I am not sure enough of what's edible or not so don't tend to take those.

There is also a lot of what we used to call wild garlic, but it is triangular type long pointy leaves rather than flat oval leaves that is sold as wild garlic. Too many dogs walk those roads for us to have ever tried it so I don't know if it is actually usable.

DF used to make elderberry wine too, rather than using the flowers - but he was into home winemaking and home brewing using kits so had the gear.

I'd love to forage. We bought bikes at the start of lockdown and have discovered loads of cycle paths which look promising but I haven't got a clue about what to look for or what time of year to look!

I picked wild garlic a month back for the 1st time. No where near as garlicky as I expected and rather disappointing! I do love a good forage though.

Blackberry jam, sloe gin, damson jam or gin etc. Would love more idea though.

I'd love to make sloe gin. I made rhubarb gin with rhubarb from my garden and it is outstanding.

I dont know where or when to look for sloes... or what they look like. Off to google!

The sloes are not around until late autumn - October/November time.

Damsons (wild baby plums) are late summer fruit, they are usually finishing up around the time the blackberries are starting to ripen.

Yes sloes are best picked after the first frost.

Daisy leaves are very good in stew.

I'd love to find a beach with razor clams or samphire to pick. Does anyone know if they are all around the British isles, or only certain areas?

I missed the hawthorn leaves this year.

Tiny tiny in lack bugs...get eaten

This time last year I saw 2 women picking a green, round thing off a tree. Turns out they were immature walnuts! Apparently they can be pickled whole in the green husk before the nut hardens. I'm not a fan of pickled walnuts myself, but might be worth seeking out for those that do.

I once had green walnuts that had been preserved in syrup. They were amazing. A taste of heaven.

@Dilbertian- now green walnuts in syrup would be delicious! Hadn't thought of that! I'll need to revisit the tree and see if there are any still on it.

@Dilbertian

Daisy leaves are very good in stew.

Daisy leaves? Like ordinary daisies? eyes lawn

Yes. The whole plant is edible. Just make sure you harvest from an area where dogs do not go.

So I could crystallise daisy flowers & put them on a cake?

Certainly. No idea how they would taste, though! I didn't like daisy leaves raw, but they were great cooked.

I've done a lot of foraging. Was really pleased to find wild garlic for the first time this year. I've found it in other areas when we've been on holiday but not spotted it locally til now. Surprised to see @Elouera describe it as not very garlicky. It's really pungent, you can usually smell it before you see it. You didn't pick Jack by the Hedge did you? That's often described as 'garlicky' but I don't think it is.

The advantage of foraging, imo, is that it's zero effort compared to growing your own. You just turn up and pick it, you don't have to spent time tending to it.

@ProfYaffle- I wonder if the wild garlic isn't as pungent later in the season? Ours had flowers and even some had gone to seed. The seed was certainly stronger, but I found once cooked, it lost any pungency. We could certainly smell it in the field and I'm sure it was indeed wild garlic. (well, I hope so!)

Wild garlic is pungent raw and very mild when cooked. It can be a bit bitter after flowering, though.