The foraging thread - No such thing as a free lunch?

[NoReturn]

shaggy ink cap

Rezzing to ask, do you know what these are?

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Where i live every other house has mango trees, the whole area its full of them, when in season i could walk around the block and just pick them. Some are hanging very low , you can just grab them in the middle of the street. I don't really like mango though.

Schoolkids are always climbing, using sticks and throwing rocks at them , every year.


If there's cow hooves (bahuhinia forticata) in your area the leaves are good for tea, its tastes bad but is full of antioxidants and specially good for diabetics.

I really miss eating Tatuíra. Cute and tasty critters that can be picked up in some beaches where I live, also love the feeling of them walking in your hand.

For me it was Guacucos . When i was a kid we used to go to the beach and i'd pick a bunch of them in the sand to make stew back home or to eat with rice or pasta.

I really miss eating Tatuíra. Cute and tasty critters that can be picked up in some beaches where I live, also love the feeling of them walking in your hand.

For me it was Guacucos and chipi chipis . When i was a kid we used to go to the beach and i'd pick a bunch of them to make stew back home. Or to eat with rice or pasta. You just dig a little in the sand and it'd be full of them

 

[Xarpho's Return]

I wish I had a yard, because dandelion greens (when the flower is yellow, not the "puffball" stage) can be quite good.

 

[Damien Thorne]

Beans, rice, hot sauce, frozen veggies, and pan fried fresh spinach, mixed together in a cheap ass casserole. The hot sauce is the most expensive part. This got me through many evenings when I was pinching Pennie’s.

 

[ShortPoppy]

Right, so down under berry season is well & truly over and acorn season has begun.
I still have a heap of rose hips waiting to be turned into cordial, plus a jarfull to dry out/de-hair for tea, plus a bag of sloe berries which have kept surprisingly well for weeks in the fridge.
I was travelling last year so missed out on my usual summer picks; coming back to it this summer, I had the wonderful reminder that in southern Australia at least, berry season coincides with spider season. I managed to flick off/reach around most of them but there were always a few that ended up in my container of blackberries and cobwebs all over my pants
(They're all harmless garden weaver species and I like bugs, so it's all good.)

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has tips for making acorn flour? I'm planning to follow method 2 on this page, assuming the brown acorns I've picked off the ground are OK.

 

[skjora]

I still have a heap of rose hips waiting to be turned into cordial

Try making some rose hip soup, too! Can be eaten out of a bowl if served with rusks broken into pieces, or drunk out of a mug with a simple cheese sandwich on the side. Perfect as a light meal on a cold day.

 

[Kurt Eichenwald]

When I was a kid and my local ecosystem was a little bit different, there was a plant that would grow in my back yard that I liked to eat. It was relatively small, with a vertical stalk and clusters of yellow flowers. The best part to eat was the flower buds before they bloom, they were soft and chewable with the flavor of brussel sprouts and cauliflower.
Does anyone have the slightest idea what I'm talking about?

 

[A-Stump]

Rezzing to ask, do you know what these are?
View attachment 5066976

Pleated inkcap

Parasola plicatilis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

When I was a kid and my local ecosystem was a little bit different, there was a plant that would grow in my back yard that I liked to eat. It was relatively small, with a vertical stalk and clusters of yellow flowers. The best part to eat was the flower buds before they bloom, they were soft and chewable with the flavor of brussel sprouts and cauliflower.
Does anyone have the slightest idea what I'm talking about?

Could be an escaped canola or mustard.
eta: they, and Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, are all part of the brassica family. It's amazing how different they all are since they've been bred for different uses for so long, but they all share that slightly cabbage-y taste. I like to pick the leaves when they're small, before they get too tough, and treat them like kale or broccoli (also brassicas!) in recipes.

 

[Kurt Eichenwald]

Could be an escaped canola or mustard.

It might have been mustard I think I remember the leaves having similar frills and folds, but I don't think they were very big. What I do remember is that all the flower buds clustered together looked a bit like broccoli, which is probably why I decided to put it in my mouth.

 

[keytar]

Elderflowers seem especially plentiful near me this year. I got a load to make into wine but I might do some cordial and/or cider as well, there's so many!

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

I wish I had a yard, because dandelion greens (when the flower is yellow, not the "puffball" stage) can be quite good.

My mother and grandmother always talk about eating dandelions in salad in the same vein as "walked to school uphill both ways".

I've still yet to see proof of anyone eating them in modern times.

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

Elderflowers seem especially plentiful near me this year. I got a load to make into wine but I might do some cordial and/or cider as well, there's so many!

Same here, I made some cordial yesterday! And some beach rose petal cordial too. There's so much of it, I might freeze some, or take some round the neighbourhood and see if anyone wants extra.

 

[keytar]

Same here, I made some cordial yesterday! And some beach rose petal cordial too. There's so much of it, I might freeze some, or take some round the neighbourhood and see if anyone wants extra.

Rose petal cordial sounds lovely, I always forget to do anything with roses but it's one of my favourite flavours so I should give it a go.

 

[amieth]

Elderflowers seem especially plentiful near me this year. I got a load to make into wine but I might do some cordial and/or cider as well, there's so many!

i got a whole gallon mason jar full of elderberries today and two gallons of some other native berries called "oregon grape". this is the first season i've been able to grab some. i love berry season, i love berry season!

edit: if you have a university near you, check their aboretum. theyre likely to have a lot of types of berries that are free to pick!

 

[Hongourable Madisha]

Rose petal cordial sounds lovely, I always forget to do anything with roses but it's one of my favourite flavours so I should give it a go.

It's good, you just make it the same way you'd make any cordial: boil it with water, acid (lemon juice, citric acid, whatever) and sugar and strain it. The colour of the petals comes out in the boiling too, so the result is (roughly) the same colour as the roses. It tastes a lot like rose Turkish delight - which you can also make with roses, sugar and cornstarch or gelatin.
There's a lot of big dark pink ones around here with strong flavour and colour. I take the ones where the flowers have already bloomed and the petals are falling off, or have already fallen off if they're not d dirty or rotted - I wash everything before I cook and eat it anyway so windfalls are fine.

 

[afternoon_tea]

Elderflowers seem especially plentiful near me this year. I got a load to make into wine but I might do some cordial and/or cider as well, there's so many!

I came here to post about that, I got a ton this year and I'm making mead. There's still ton of flowers left in my yard so I can get the berries in a few months, I like to make ginger ale with them. Might do a ginger ale with the flowers too.

 

[keytar]

I came here to post about that, I got a ton this year and I'm making mead. There's still ton of flowers left in my yard so I can get the berries in a few months, I like to make ginger ale with them. Might do a ginger ale with the flowers too.

I actually went with mead in the end too! Racking it tomorrow as it's already done fermenting (thanks, hot weather!). There are still enough flowers on the trees to make em look like lovely fluffy clouds so I'm gonna start some cider off as well.

 

[afternoon_tea]

I actually went with mead in the end too! Racking it tomorrow as it's already done fermenting (thanks, hot weather!). There are still enough flowers on the trees to make em look like lovely fluffy clouds so I'm gonna start some cider off as well.

Elderflowers go really nice with apples. I decided to make an apple soda with some. I'm going to use it to make cocktails with bison grass vodka this weekend.

Today I noticed a lot of chicken of the woods is starting to pop up on the trees. It's supposed to rain all weekend so I should have a ton soon. I'm already fantasizing about all the things I'm going to cook.

 

[Septictic]

Mr.Septictic and I wanted to harvest earlier this year. Previously we've just cared about fall.
I crawled under a public staircase to forage rhubarb, and I felt like a badass white trash woman afterwards. The jam turned out real nice. We've collected and dried a little nettle, hope they will make it into soup this winter. And then I pickled two big jars of dandelion buds with red onion and garlic. The jars looked so pretty.



I have major plans to collect and dry buds of Meadowsweet, to save money on aspirin this winter. Prices have increased on everything. So I've been looking for it everywhere but they aren't up yet.

I want to make dandelion jelly, but haven't gotten around to it. Apparently, cleaning the flowers is time-consuming. Anyone made any jelly here? Was the job worth the effort?