Articles
Nuts
about foraging
Karen. August 5 2011
Foraging
- ground elder
Karen. July 7 2011
Foraging
- elderflowers & berries
Karen. June 17 2011
Foraging
- wild about food
Karen. June 9 2011
Nettles,
a sting in the tale
Karen. April 21 2011
Yes
Chef! II - Cauliflower tempura
Karen. April 5 2011
Yes
Chef!
Karen. March 11 2011
Further reading ::
Is foraging fruit legal? BBC website >
Picking wild fruit and plants to eat – where do you stand legally? >
Wild flower society - code of conduct >
Legal issues ::
Not sure? Don’t pick it.
Foraging on private land? The landowner’s permission is needed.
It’s illegal to uproot plants or sell foraged food without the landowner’s permission.
It is illegal to pick anything in your local park.
Foraging on a Site of Special Scientific Interest is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
The National Trust has byelaws on their land that forbid foraging.
Steer clear of nature reserves that are managed to protect wildlife.
Foraging a commercially grown crop is theft.
Fruit on overhanging branches belongs to the tree owner.
No more than 1.5kg of mushrooms should be gathered per session, for personal use only.
Respect the environment; take care not to trample rare species.
Look out for bye law notices.
Walden Local Food sells a small amount of foraged food, with permission of the landowner (who is one of our directors).
The flip side ::
Wildlife is under much pressure due to mans activities and population size. Rotting fruit can benefit wildlife such as butterflies, badgers and voles, specially over winter when food is scarce.
Articles
Nuts about foraging Karen. July 7 2011
My first memories of foraging for hazelnuts (Corylus avellana) were in the nut bowl at Christmas – perhaps more of a fumble than a forage as my clumsy child paws attempted to weald nut crackers and reveal the tasty flesh inside. Now, living on the edge of Essex, I have my own small hazel copse (7 coppiced specimens do a copse make), and this year designed a website for a local coppice craftsman who utilises every aspect of hazel. But, we both have the same gang of bushy tailed critters beating us to ripe hazelnuts each year (fair enough in a way, squirrels can’t nip down the shops), Mr S Nutkins Esq.
Locate your hazel tree or coppiced specimen along the hedgerows or the brighter edges of woodland, and it will be in nut now. The green nuts can be eaten when plump (straight away though, they won’t store) to bare a rather milky tasting soft flesh. Waiting until they are ripe is a game of hazelnut/squirrel/forager roulette. Green nuts can be eaten when plumpIf setting up “nut cam” and a simple alarm system seems too extreme, then hedge your bets and wait until the nuts begin to brown and can be successfully stored. But, the gamble doesn’t stop there. Did you hear the story about the foraged hazelnut? There was nothing in it. Some hazelnuts are completely empty (known as blanks) and most I have found are smaller than those imported from warmer climes. But, it’s still worth coming out of your shell and sampling fresh hazelnuts straight from the tree.
Come out
of your
shell?