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Thread: Favourite Wild Foods

  1. #1

    Favourite Wild Foods

    Pretty predictable question and no doubt asked before, but what are everyone's favourite wild foods (non-mushroom)? Unprepared that is. I was thinking of how much i like bulrush/cattail pollen and it inspired me to start this topic. So as you can guess one of my, if not my favourite is cattail pollen. Tastes like a cereal to me. I'm also a fan of the young hearts of the same plant. Another favourite is wood sorrel but I've only found it once. However i genuinely think it tastes really good. I don't include any fruits here as it goes without saying that they taste good.

  2. #2
    Bushman jbrown14's Avatar
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    I do love wood sorrel, it's not uncommon around here in upstate New York. I find it in my back yard, and have even gotten some strange looks when I've picked a bunch to snack on when playing soccer (sorry...football. )
    However, I'd say my favorite type of wild food has to be the wild blueberries we get up in the Adirondacks. Early to mid August, they're plentiful, ripe, and just bursting with deep, rich blueberry flavor.

    Josh

  3. #3
    Samuel Hearne paulthefish2009's Avatar
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    Chestnuts. Paul

  4. #4
    Trapper
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    Blackberries and samphire would have to be the top ones. After that maybe crab, crab apples for jelly (and cider), sloes for gin, wild strawberries. If we're talking wild foods that you can buy then things like salmon and hazelnuts come into the mix too.
    There's plenty of really gourmet wild food that is worth going out for even if you're not doing it as a bushcraft exercise. I've picked my top 2 largely as they're both part of family tradition and also they're not things you can really buy (certainly not at good quality and price)

  5. #5
    One with Nature JonnyP's Avatar
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    Meat.. Muntjak
    Fruit.. Wild strawberries. Bullace. Yew.
    Plant.. Ramson shoots
    Fish.. Yuk
    Fungi.. Dunno, don't really eat them much, maybe St Georges
    Roots etc.. Pignut
    Nuts n seeds.. Chestnuts

  6. #6
    Tribal Elder Humakt's Avatar
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    That's a good question.

    I think it's chestnuts for me. I love them raw (don't like them roasted). Simple and easy to identify, simple to collect. OK, a faff getting the pith off, but there's something hugely satisfying and rewarding when you get a big chestnut and it's one of those ones where the pith peels off nice and easily and then that gorgeous crunch of the nut and the creamy taste.

    Yup, I'll choose chestnuts. Or hazelnuts.
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  7. #7
    Tribal Elder Humakt's Avatar
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    Mind you, I like blackberries as well.
    And we're lucky enough to have some cherry trees in a hedgerow nearby.
    'What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare' - William Henry Davies

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  8. #8
    Tribal Elder AdrianRose's Avatar
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    I was just about to say that my favourite wild foods were either Venison or pheasant risotto. However, having re-read the original thread, I am supposed to state my favourite "unprepared" wild food.

    So here we go:
    For sweetness you cant beat wild strawberries.
    For roots it would have to be fresh pignut.
    For greens it HAS to be thistle stem, if you haven't eaten it then you haven't lived!
    For citrus I prefer common sorrel to wood sorrel.
    For sheer pleasure of taste - pineapple weed tea (yeah I know you have to boil the water, but you gotta give me at least one prepared thing).

    Ade

  9. #9
    Wanderer
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    I love sea greens, I feel with the change of season times are getting tough. But sea beet is always so green, so alive. And steamed it is great to add to dishes. Mushroom & nettle omelete with a side of side beet I think for tea

    and nettle of course what a fantastic plant, I forgot to add it to our pheasant stew last night, a shame as its a great addition

    pheasant stew was
    pheasant lets say naturally sourced
    reduced (as in due to go out of date the moment I bought it) smoked bacon 45pence, wrapped over the breast
    rosmary & salt applied to the meat
    a bath of cheap sweet/medium white wine £2.66, didn't waste the remainder
    a reduced caserol mix 55pence
    mushrooms
    reduced crusty rolls

    I do love sell by dates, whos dates are they?



    1.1/2 hours gas 4, then added veg & shroom another hour or so, added the rolls for the last ten minutes

    this had a lid on so not to dry out, just had a bowl each and fought with each another to get another bowl full out of the caserol dish

    picked the bones this morning for sandwiches.

    just lovely

  10. #10
    Ranger OakAshandThorn's Avatar
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    Hard to decide - let's see...

    Greens:
    - Sassafras leaves and stems
    - Sheep Sorrel
    - cattail hearts

    Nuts:
    - Black Walnuts
    - Hazel

    Berries/drupes:
    - Blackberries
    - Autumn Olive (similar to Chokecherry)
    - Plums
    - Blueberries
    - Frost grapes (a wild grape variety)
    Last edited by OakAshandThorn; 25-01-2013 at 03:33 PM. Reason: shame on me for forgetting the Frost grape
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