A great way to introduce novel flavours into the kitchen and get up close and personal with Mother Earth, it’s no wonder food foraging is such a trend right now.
Here are 10 tips to help you on your way to harvesting nature’s bounty.
1) Read up on the law
While a wild green or fungus might look ripe for picking, it may have legal protection. Be sure to read up on local laws, or else you could incur a hefty fine.
2) Brown-field sites are a no-no
Avoid foraging on industrial sites – along with the great nutrients, herbs will also soak up nasty stuff like heavy metals too.
3) Respect, respect, respect
Be respectful to the eco-system. Don’t harvest all that you see, as you might just be depriving a resident critter of its next meal.
4) Down on the farm?
Think twice about foraging in heavily farmed areas where pesticides and herbicides are used in abundance.
5) Basket, not case
Use a wicker basket – as opposed to a fully enclosed container – to transport your haul. That way you’ll be giving back to the ecosystem by allowing fungus spores and/or pollen to fall to the ground.
6) Read up!
There are countless, sad stories of foragers who have poisoned themselves through mistakenly identified fungi and plants.
7) Cities are good for foraging too!
You might not think it at first, but cities can be a great place to forage. Look out for wild food tour guides such as John Rensten in London and ‘Wildman’ Steve Brill in New York.
8) Give farm animals a wide berth
Forage away from areas populated with farm animals to avoid picking up parasites.
9) Meet fellow foragers
Walks organised by local enthusiasts are a great way to get into food foraging and meet like-minded harvesters. See wildforage.co.uk and Fat Hen.
10) The best foods to forage include:
- Mushrooms
- Wild garlic
- Elder
- Seaweed
- Dandelion
- Nettles
- Berries
- Hawthorn
- Horseradish
- Sloes
- Nuts
- Mallow
- Quinces
- Chives
Featured image by Chante Beam Photography
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
