LAND: FOODLOVER’s summer guide to exploring the great outdoors for edible offerings.
Here in the South West, we have such a bounty of wild food to forage for right on our doorstep, but where do you start? Foraging is finding amazing flavours in plants, fungi, shellfish and seaweeds, exploring parts of the countryside you’ve never ventured to before and creating better connections with nature.
At the Lost Gardens of Heligan, expert forager Emma Gunn runs monthly foraging walks around the estate from April to October. Author of the Never Mind the Burdocks foraging book and all round plants-woman, Emma explains the dos and don’ts of foraging;
“When it comes to finding wild food, always use common sense and you shouldn’t go wrong…
Don’t be greedy
Never uproot anything from the wild so the plant can continue to grow, leave plenty of flowers to be pollinated and plenty of foliage so the plant can photosynthesise. Also, make sure you haven’t over-harvested and that you have left plenty behind for wildlife to forage, especially in the autumn and winter months.
Don’t risk it
If you are identifying something and you aren’t 100% sure, then leave it as it isn’t worth the risk. Almost everyone has picked blackberries before and that is as simple as it has to be. You don’t have to rush into foraging, and by starting slowly and watching as the seasons unveil new edible delights, you get to follow plants in their cycles from new shoots to edible fruits, flowers or perhaps even edible seeds or nuts.
Don’t pick the poisonous or toxic
There are, of course, things you must be aware of when foraging, such as toxic or poisonous plants that can look similar to edible ones and keeping in mind soil quality or hygiene. If you are gathering wild food in a dog walking area, always make sure you pick above a certain height.”
WILD FLAVOUR FINDS
The different flavours you get from the diverse wild foods that grow all around us are astounding. Delicious elderflowers fill the hedgerows and make the most fragrant cordial, panna cotta, ice cream and champagne. From humble common weeds such as hairy bittercress with its cress-like flavour to hogweed seeds which pack a punch of coriander and orange zest, there’s something for everyone, no matter their palate. Emma loves to find new flavours and work up new recipes. Her favourite is using lilac flowers to flavour crème pâtissière, magnolia petals for an unusual ginger, chicory spice or wild garlic seed pods for an intense garlic caper.
For more information of The Lost Gardens of Heligan and their foraging walks visit; heligan.com