Let's go foraging

[story]

It wasn’t me that found the truffles. I was with a friend who has truffle hounds. The hounds found the truffles.

 

[newme]

My local patch of puffballs is alongside the road where I live. I get off the bus, walk by the patch and get my supper on the way home. My Piopino patch is also along my commute route. I also harvest fairy ring champignons here in Brixton, and once I found St George mushrooms at the foot of a tower block, although I’ve not seen them again. St George mushrooms seem to like the patches of grass nearby buildings like schools, housing estates etc. I’ve often found parasols near roads and building too.


You can find wildish places in the city for sure.

I am in Cornwall in an AONB, we just have no mushrooms nearby lol, apart from whatever the fuck the weird black mushroom thing growing on some of my firewood is??

 

[story]

If your on an AONB and you’re anywhere near woodlands I bet you do have plenty of mushrooms nearby newme

 

[nogojones]

My local patch of puffballs is alongside the road where I live. I get off the bus, walk by the patch and get my supper on the way home. My Piopino patch is also along my commute route. I also harvest fairy ring champignons here in Brixton, and once I found St George mushrooms at the foot of a tower block, although I’ve not seen them again. St George mushrooms seem to like the patches of grass nearby buildings like schools, housing estates etc. I’ve often found parasols near roads and building too.


You can find wildish places in the city for sure.

I'm about as inner city as you can get round here and I can
normally find puffballs, oysters, jelly ears and scarlet elf cups within 10 minutes walk. For field, horse, shaggy ink caps, COTW and others, I have to get out of town.

There are death caps and shaggy parasols at the bottom of my road, but they're staying there

 

[story]

Yeah, I’ve found COTW in Brixton but only once. The tree it was on has since been cut down

I found Ganoderma lucidum in Brockwell Park once. It was a small bud and I kept an eye on it but when I went to harvest it it had been stomped and smashed. That has pissed me off. It’s a beautiful fungus, and I had gotten excited about it’s being there and being able to harvest it. It’s not budded since then but I always go to check. I’ve had oysters from Brockwell Park too, and parasols.

The puffballs near me also get trodden on so I have to harvest them when they’re still pretty small.

There was a dryad‘s saddle near where I used to live. I’d harvest that every year and make medicine with it (it’s not great eating tbh) but that got smashed pretty regularly too. That tree stump has also gone now. There was some honey fungus in the same patch that was pretty good eating. I had that til the tree fell over. (NB Not everyone can tolerate honey fungus so anyone minded to try their local homey fungus needs to check first).

 

[heinous seamus]

I'm about as inner city as you can get round here and I can
normally find puffballs, oysters, jelly ears and scarlet elf cups within 10 minutes walk. For field, horse, shaggy ink caps, COTW and others, I have to get out of town.

There are death caps and shaggy parasols at the bottom of my road, but they're staying there

I found some shaggy parasols at the weekend and tried a wee bit to see if it agreed with me. It tasted good and I felt fine, but the next day there was quite the explosion on the toilet bowl

 

[nogojones]

I found some shaggy parasols at the weekend and tried a wee bit to see if it agreed with me. It tasted good and I felt fine, but the next day there was quite the explosion on the toilet bowl

Parasols are wonderful. Never been tempted by the shaggy ones mind.

 

[Callie]

I am in Cornwall in an AONB, we just have no mushrooms nearby lol, apart from whatever the fuck the weird black mushroom thing growing on some of my firewood is??

Like black bubbles? King Alfred's cakes? Daldinia concentrica

King Alfred's Cakes

Although not edible, King Alfred’s Cakes make great firelighters, can be used as charcoal briquettes for campfire cooking, used to transport fire and as hand warmers on a cold day.

www.wildfooduk.com

Don't eat them

 

[story]

I found some shaggy parasols at the weekend and tried a wee bit to see if it agreed with me. It tasted good and I felt fine, but the next day there was quite the explosion on the toilet bowl

I‘m lucky. I can eat them without issue but I know several people who can’t tolerate them.

 

[story]

I had Dead Man‘s Fongers in my old garden. Spooked the hell out of me when I first saw them.

Turns out they can be grated over food, like a truffle, and they taste pretty good.

 

[heinous seamus]

I thought I'd found horse mushrooms, but I think they're actually yellow stainers There's definitely a slight antiseptic smell.

 

[newme]

Like black bubbles? King Alfred's cakes? Daldinia concentrica

King Alfred's Cakes

Although not edible, King Alfred’s Cakes make great firelighters, can be used as charcoal briquettes for campfire cooking, used to transport fire and as hand warmers on a cold day.

www.wildfooduk.com

Don't eat them

Possibly, on sycamore, was more concerned for dog, chucked it out the way just incase.

 

[platinumsage]

Lots of mushrooms in the forest yesterday, unsurprisingly:

 

[dessiato]

How times have changed since I last posted on this thread.

I had a wander around the lake near our holiday home and found magic mushrooms, ink caps, and another I couldn’t identify. There’s a bombing range nearby where there’s samphire, cockles and lots of sea buckthorn. The wildlife volunteers advised me that although there’s no pollution on the beach they would strongly discourage foraging. I guess the risk of being blown up or shot is sufficient discouragement, even for me.

However, I’ve found another beach where theres a lot of samphire and cockles which is safer, although the road is deeply potholed, the beach is very shallow and undulating with a very fast flowing tide. I might give it a go, having checked the tides first of course.

 

[Callie]

I thought I'd found horse mushrooms, but I think they're actually yellow stainers There's definitely a slight antiseptic smell.

View attachment 394966

The gills look very pink there. Does it stain yellow when cut/bruised?

 

[heinous seamus]

The gills look very pink there. Does it stain yellow when cut/bruised?

Yeah it definitely stained yellow. I took a spore print and it came out brown. Staining went from yellow to brown too after a while.

 

[seeformiles]

I thought I'd found horse mushrooms, but I think they're actually yellow stainers There's definitely a slight antiseptic smell.

View attachment 394966

I once picked a couple of these thinking they were Horse mushrooms. Next day I was about to fry them up for breakfast when I saw the yellow stain on the stem. Was quite disappointed

 

[seeformiles]

Just picked up several huge bags of apples from a local donor. One of them is full of fruit no bigger than a golf ball with some as small as marbles. They are almost pure juice though. The scrumpy yield might be better than previously predicted (160 pints and counting)

 

[heinous seamus]

Today's haul.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Today I preserved some rowan berries in rum.

 

[nogojones]

Loads of big jelly ears and the first wild garlic of the season

 

[iona]

Wild garlic's just started coming up here but not ready to pick yet. Already started picking ground elder from the massive patch in the garden though.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Picked & frozen last year. Rhubarb & Cardamom Liqueur Recipe | Abel & Cole

 

[seeformiles]

Loads of big jelly ears and the first wild garlic of the season

View attachment 412438

Must check my local garlic patches. It’s pretty early this year if it’s up already.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Wild garlic soup time again. This year also going to make wild garlic butter for garlic bread.

 

[telbert]

Wild garlic soup time again. This year also going to make wild garlic butter for garlic bread.View attachment 416773

I can fucking taste that.

 

[seeformiles]

First wild garlic picked yesterday morning. Still very young leaves but taste good. Will pick some more tomorrow for making garlic naan breads to go with a Sunday curry.

 

[bcuster]

35+ Ways to Eat Dandelions (& Why You'd Want To)

While most of us were taught to loathe this tenacious garden invader, it turns out dandelions have much to recommend them. One of most home foragers' favorite edible weeds, dandelions are nutritional and medicinal powerhouses

www.healthygreensavvy.com

in full bloom now! Rain washed, delicious & nutritious

 

[gentlegreen]

35+ Ways to Eat Dandelions (& Why You'd Want To)

While most of us were taught to loathe this tenacious garden invader, it turns out dandelions have much to recommend them. One of most home foragers' favorite edible weeds, dandelions are nutritional and medicinal powerhouses

www.healthygreensavvy.com

in full bloom now! Rain washed, delicious & nutritious

They've gone to seed in Bristol, it's all buttercups now - sadly rather toxic...

 

[gentlegreen]

In terms of edible greenery, the alexanders, garlic mustard and curled dock are also past-it (I only recently learned the latter was edible in small quantities)... I suppose the three-cornered leek would still be OK .. it'll be a different life before I take chances on umbellifers...
I munched on some hawthorn blossom last week but it was past it...

Yesterday I cycled past some schoolkids playing with nettle leaves - not sure if they were going to eat them or if it was just bravado ..
Later on there will be wild chicory and rosebay willowherb blossoms - though I prefer to leave them to look pretty alongside the path ...

I have both nettles (transplanted from the park) and sowthistle and cleavers in my garden but there are too many tomcats and foxes...