Easing back into the real world…

I’m in Somerset this week, at Ki-Aikido summer school. The class schedule is relaxed enough that I’ve been able to get out and about a little bit. I haven’t done huge amounts of foraging while I’ve been here – about a pound of plums the other day that were hanging over a car park in Highbridge, and the odd handful of blackberries from beside the various lanes. Lots of things are starting to ripen nicely, and I expect I’ll have plenty to harvest when I get back to London if it hasn’t all been rained away.

Things to watch for, at least in the south of England, in the next few weeks:

• Hazelnuts–ideally you want to get this when they’re just starting to ripen, if you wait until they’re properly ripe then the squirrels will have the lot.
• Mulberries–these are planted as ornamental trees, usually, but the fruit is quite edible once it gets dark. It doesn’t keep at all so you need to either eat it, juice it, freeze it or jam it the same day you pick it. Personally I tend to eat it straight away.
• Walnuts are getting big now and, just like the hazelnuts, if you want to eat them instead of letting the squirrels take them all, you’ll have to get there quickly.
• Elderberries–some people find that there are laxative effects from eating these raw, although personally I’ve never had a problem with the odd handful. They make good wine, good jam and good juice or syrup. I’ve even had elderberry port, although to be fair I didn’t make it myself.
• Grapes are also quite common as ornamentals and can range from deliciously sweet to rather too tart for eating.
• Apples! Some won’t be ready yet but it’s difficult to tell this year as the weather has been quite odd.
• Blackberries, of course.
• Fennel seeds when they start to ripen, which may be pretty soon. You can use them as a condiment, or sprout them.
• Various other seeds – hedge garlic, rocket, shepherd’s purse and various other wild brassicas are good for sprouting.
• Poppy seeds are edible and have a nice nutty flavour, although collecting any great quantity from the wild can be daunting.

That’s probably all from me until after I’m back to London, unless I find something really spectacular that warrants a post of its own.

Foraging Log 7

Time: Perhaps 2 hours
Place: New River Path, Islington, from Essex Road to Canonbury station.
Gathered: A handful or two of lemon balm, some walnuts for pickling, and a few early-but-edible apples

A friend asked me to arrange some foraging as she was going to be in town, so I did. I had some difficulty choosing a location but decided on the New River Path because there is quite a variety of plants there and also because I had promised to point out Amelanchier alnifolia. It’s also quite handy for getting to the Pembury Tavern, which has good food and good beer and, on this occasion, also had Morris dancers.

There were quite a few of us – 6 or 7. I pointed out many of the plants I could identify, and some I couldn’t. It was hot and sunny and we were glad of the shade provided by the trees. We gathered some lemon balm near the beginning. The wild strawberries were pretty much past eating so we left them well alone; edible weeds in a vacant carpark behind a closed branch of MECCA weren’t looking particularly healthy so they were left. Many lovely walnuts were picked from the walnut tree, though, and the little red heart-shaped apples are nearly ripe.

Foraging Log 5

Time: a very slow two-hour wander
Place: Crane Park, Whitton
Gathered: a few sour cherries, three Jew’s Ear mushrooms, and a small handful of hedge garlic

This weekend I was at a friend’s party in the pleasant leafy suburb of Whitton. A group of us went to the local park to take some air in between rainstorms and food.

A few apple trees and a pear tree were apparent quite near the beginning of our walk; those fruits won’t be ripe for a while yet but the trees are fruiting very well. While taking shelter from yet another of the intermittent showers, I found some Jew’s Ear fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae), a treat at this point in the year as they are much easier to find in winter when there aren’t so many leaves on the trees. Later, nearer the riverbank, I found some young hedge garlic (Alliaria petiolata), a pungent member of the brassica family. At this time of year much of the hedge garlic in the London area is getting old and leggy and going to seed, and not tasting so nice. I do have some ideas incubating for the seed

The hedge garlic and the Jew’s Ear fungus ended up on homemade pizza later in the evening. Yum!

Foraging Log 3

Time: About ninety minutes on a Friday evening
Place: New River Path, Islington, N1, from Essex Road to St. Paul’s Road.
Gathered: nothing, because I wasn’t really hungry, and didn’t have a sensible way to carry anything
Other notables: I saw a heron!

Islington is where I was living in 2004, just before I started getting seriously interested in foraging. It was interesting to re-visit my old stomping-ground, and view it through more educated eyes. Islington doesn’t have a lot of green space, but the space that exists is very pleasant.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), with its mint-like leaves and fresh scent, was the first edible I spotted on this particular walk. It does make a lovely tea. This was soon followed by a real treasure – wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca)! I’ve not seen them in London before now, so I was quite pleased. I didn’t pick any, though. As I kept walking I saw a fair amount of feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), as well as violets growing on ornamental rocks.

A churchyard contained fenced-off areas of “bog garden” – I think they’ll need more rain to get established properly, but at least the gardener is trying to give them a chance. There was also a healthy walnut tree, and something that is some sort of peach. The fruits were green and hard and fuzzy. I will definitely be going back later in the year for closer investigation! Unfortunately that tree did not look terribly healthy, though whether the problem is one of old age or disease I cannot tell.

Across Canonbury Road, then, and into the area of the path where there is actually some “river”. The New River is now a very slow-moving stream, thick with algae. I saw a huge heron, although of course I do not eat those, and several ducks. One of the plants I remember from previous explorations of the New River Path is also looking like it should provide well this year. This is a variety of apple, I’m not sure which, that produces small, heart-shaped apples, pink and sweet, with a line of darker pink in their flesh partway in. There are three or four of these spread through the park from Canonbury Road to St. Paul’s Road, and I always mean to go back in apple season and get some, as they would look fantastic dried.

I also saw several roses which will produce lovely hips, white valerian amongst a patch of ivy, a second probably-peach tree, a few stands of bamboo, a lone Saskatoon berry tree, various planted ornamental herbs, and more willow than you could shake a stick at.

Further on again, after crossing a bridge, I found a few bushes that I’ve not yet identified. I cannot decide whether they might be cloudberries or salmonberries. The fruits resemble cloudberries more, but the flowers are pink rather than white, like salmonberries. I didn’t eat any – I never do if I don’t know what something is – but I will be going back to have a closer look.

All along the stream, on the other side of course, were plenty of elder trees and blackberries. There were a few on the accessible side too.

Near the exit at St. Paul’s Road there was a rather magnificent fennel plant, and various ornamental herbs, some of which I believe must be related to tansy. It was starting to get dark at this point, and I didn’t really want to hang around on my own trying to identify plants in poor light.