February 12, 2010
The Bushcraft Magazine meets Fergus the Forager
The Bushcraft Magazine meets Fergus Drennan whilst he is out foraging for seaweeds on the North Kent coast.
January 20, 2010
Velvet Shanks / Enokitake
Velvet Shanks (Flammulina velutipes) are a genuine Winter mushroom that don’t begin fruiting until December or even January. They grow on dead wood particularly the stumps of Elm, where they can be frozen solid by frosts but are still good to eat when they thaw. Often the clumps are small but occasionally Velvet Shanks turn up in profusion. Provided your specimens are young and fresh I find that their supposed toughness is overstated. Generally they are an ingredient, rather than a meal in themselves because of their small size.
Velvet Shanks are very recognisable because so few other fungi are fruiting (Judas’ Ears and Oyster Mushrooms being exceptions) but forage for them well outside the main mushroom season and check to make sure your specimens don’t have a hint of a ring, or they might not be what you think. If in doubt do not eat them.
October 18, 2009
Shrimping and Cockling Seaside Forage; October 11 2009
Shrimping in shallow waters at low tide means a long walk with some fairly hefty shrimp nets. Even on a neap tide, the water was probably more than half a kilometre out and can retreat as much a 1 kilometre on a good spring tide.
A calm day thankfully, imagine if these were catching the wind.
You dont have to wade out into deep water. Many people managed wearing just wellies. Brave souls had bare legs but not bare feet.
Sandy bays are the favourite haunt of (Lesser) Weever Fish (Echiichthys vipera) so footwear was mandatory. The weever buries itself in the sand with eyes and head protruding. It has a venomous dorsal fin which if stepped on can be as mild as a bee sting or as serious as an Adder bite.
Lesser Weever with dorsal fin raised.
September 13, 2009
Jams, Jellies and Saucy Sauces
So after yesterday’s excellent day’s foraging I ended up with some of the fruit left over.
So I decided to have a day making stuff and seeing what I could produce.
First up was the haws, decided to follow Huw’s recipe he got from the Really Wild food festival.
First step, stew the haws in water and vinegar.
While they were stewing I cut up 3Kg of crab apples I had foraged on the Friday, to make some crab apple jelly.
By this time the haws had stewed down into a nice mush and it was time to force them through a sieve.
to produce a nice thick orangey liquid.
Sugar was added to this as well as various seasonings and boiled down to a thick sauce.
I also boiled up a mixture of the bullaces, sloes, damson, blackberries and elderberries for a hedgerow jam.
Once the apples had stewed down into a mush,
thay were transferred to a muslin bag and allowed to drip for a while.
More to come on the apples later….
The hedgerow fruits were also strained through a colander to remove the pips, skins and stones.
Again sugar was added and the result boiled till the setting point was reached.
So far we have a fabulous haw sauce that reminds me of HP fruity sauce and goes really well in a bacon sarny,
a hedgerow jam of a marvelous colour and that’s sweet but not too sweet…
seen here alongside a glass of last year’s blackberry wine…
and still to come, turning the apple juice into jelly and whatever happened to the damsons….
“Fruits of the Forage”
The Team had an excellent day yesterday ay our first “Fruits, Roots and Cider” day. Lots of regular faces.
The day started out a bit grey and windy with even a few bits of rain. We thought we were in for a damp day but it soon brightened up into a gorgeous day.
Huw started the day off with his customary meet and greet, then Steve took over and started the foray. We had not even reached the gateway before the first fruits were gathered, some hips and damsons. Steve gave us an excellent talk on the differences between sloes, damsons and bullaces. Moving on up the path we soon started picking lots of blackberries, haws and elderberries. Much was remarked on the difference in blackberries, with some have a tart sharp flavour and others having a fuller sweet smooth taste. Again Steve’s excellent knowledge was put to the test with a discourse on the various species.
Some ingenuity had to be used as the modern practice of threshing the hedgerows leaves the fruit at a rather high level.
Then it was across the field to dig up some roots, both hogweed and horseradish were added to the haul.
After that it was back to camp for a well earned cuppa and further discussion on fruits and roots by Steve.
Then it was all steam ahead for the cider! Huw has a small orchard on the farm and we soon gathered a bushel or two of apples, both eating and cooking varieties.
The kids had great fun feeding the apple chopper hoppper.
to produce the aptly named apple “porridge”
Then it was over to the press for the first of many layers.
Soon we had a production line with everyone involved.
And let me tell you the apple juice produced was a taste of heaven!
After that we went on to make a few things with the produce we had gathered. Steve made a summer pudding with the blackberries, followed by some damson and blackberry jam. Then we all had a go making and eating blackberry pancakes.
A few guests had brought along other stuff to show, myself bring blackberry wine, red pepper jam and onion relish. Mike brought along some spicy haw jam and blackberry chutney. There was also blackberry jelly and Huw’s birch sap wine, as well as Ben’s excellent refreshing fresh-made lemonade!
All in all a most fantastic day!