edible plants, fruits and fungus - mountain adventures

Edible Plants, Fruits and Fungus

Volume 22 - BGMA Edible Plants and Fungus

Having spent well over 25 years practicing to master the skills of our fore fathers I have had first hand experience of the many processes that each learner will go through to finally achieve each element of natural wilderness survival.

I have tried to give a small narrative for each of the plants or fungus that I have used and eaten. For research purposes I have given the original name which usually derives from Latin dialect.

BGMA Tips!

Always remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch! Before eating any wild mushroom make absolutely sure of the identification in a good field guide or the appropriate scientific literature. You MUST identify the mushroom with great care, and you MUST identify it correctly. There's an old saying:

"There are old mushroom pickers, and there are bold mushroom pickers. But there are no old, bold mushroom pickers!"

Volvariella Speciosa

In autumn 2003 this mushroom appeared to be everywhere, Beautiful mushroom, appeared in patches all over some local farm fields and at the edge of the woods.



The first batch I picked were drenched in the rain, and cooked down to make a great soup with some onion, garlic, cream, chicken stock powder and some seasoning. When I've picked them on drier days they're great with pasta. Although the caps (especially in younger specimens, like the two on the right) are somewhat viscid, I've been experimenting with drying them and that seems to have worked out fine.

Armillaria Mellea

In some places, the parasitic honey fungus (also known as bootlace fungus) is tremendously common. It grows on dead tree stumps, sending out black rhizomes to attack other trees which will then die. As you'd expect, this fungus is most unwelcome in forestry plantations and in parks. The rhizomes themselves are quite fun, if you can find them on a moonless night. They are bioluminescent, meaning that they glow. The mushrooms themselves are perfectly edible once cooked. Very much a mushroom you'll either love or hate.



Laccaria Laccata and Laccaria Amethysta

The deceiver (and its relative, the amethyst deceiver) is a common mushroom found on lawns, in parks, and around woodlands. It is aptly named, because its look can vary greatly (as you can see in the picture). It's got a pleasant flavour, and dries well.

Laetipiorius Sulphureus Highly prized in Germany and the USA, Chicken of the Woods can be found growing on old trees and stumps from Spring till Autumn all over the UK.Bright yellow underside, orangey on top, with a distinctly chicken flavour I find it's best added to stews and curries. Only pick it when young, unless you have a taste for wood. When you find this fungus you can have literally kilos of the stuff to get through. It doesn't dry terribly well, as even specimens that are very young require long cooking to become edible after drying. It's a far better bet to dice it up and sauté till softened, cool, and freeze in small bags or tubs. Defrost it as you need it, and add it to soups, stews, etc



Polyporus Squamosus A more 'typical' polypore than chicken of the woods, the dryads saddle can be found very often in woodlands in the U.K. Primarily a species found on dead wood, you'll also come across it growing from living trees. It can cause a serious rotting condition on sycamore and beech trees. These are good, solid young specimens at their very best. If they're much older than this then leave them be. They're best eaten fresh, as they don't dry especially well, and good in chicken dishes. You can find this mushroom all year round, but it's most common in spring and early autumn.



Lycoperdon Perlatum One of a number of species of smaller puffballs that you might find on grass or in woodlands. Be sure not to mistake the slightly toxic earthballs for the edible puffballs (easy to tell apart by the dark, earthy colour of the earthballs interior). This one grows to about 8cm in diameter, but other species ranging between 3.5 and 15 cm are common. Make sure they're white all of the way through before even thinking about eating them.



Fruit

Fragaria Vesca The wild strawberry is to be found on hillsides, in woodlands, and on exposed land throughout most of the British Isles. It's not uncommon to find either wild specimens or garden escapees, and as you can see from this picture it can fruit quite profusely. Many texts recommend that the wild strawberry ripens in August, but depending on how much sunlight the plants get they can be ripe from June onwards. Use it like you would a domestic strawberry, bearing in mind that the flavour is more intense and sweeter in the true wild strawberry. I rarely ever get any home, they seem to get lost in between being picked and getting into my basket...



Prunus Avium The wild cherry or gean is common right across Europe. All of the cultivated cherries are derived from this tree, so as you might expect there's a huge amount of variation between the fruit. They can be anything from harsh, acidic, almost inedible little lumps to beautiful, succulent and sweet. You can only really tell by tasting them, but if you find a tree that gives you fruit you like then you can visit it year after year. The fruit are ready around June, but be quick about picking them or the birds will beat you to them. A good way to use an excess of wild cherries is to make cherry brandy.



Rubus Fructicosus

The blackberry is perhaps the most common, widespread wild fruit that there is in the UK. Best picked early in the year (these are rather late ones), the early ones are juicier. Bushes in the sunlight will start having ripe berries as early as late June or early July, but the crop can continue until the frosts. Great eaten raw, cooked in pies and crumbles with apple, made into jam, in homemade wine, etc. A very versatile and tasty fruit.



Rubus Idaeus Common both as a wild plant and as an escapee from gardens on waste ground and around woodlands, raspberries are one of the finest wild fruits you're ever going to find. They often have a more intense flavour than the bloated farmed berries, which they can replace in any recipes providing you can find enough of them. Typically ripe in June or July, but stragglers sometimes remain on the plants until August or September. Keep returning to the plants through the season, and make sure you look right under the leaves to find the succulent red fruit.

Rubus Caesius

The dewberry is a fine tasting fruit. You'll find it spreading along open ground, rapidly colonising railway embankments and the like. The only problem is that when the berries are ripe they're hard to pick in any quantity without squashing them, so I personally tend to eat them as I pick them. The berry itself looks very like a blackberry, but you rarely find them with as many drupelets (the individual berries) as you get on blackberries. The main difference in the berry is that it's somewhat powdery in appearance, having the same mustiness as you get on a grape or a plum. Some people recommend cutting the berry on the stem and freezing it, to be used like a cherry in a drink.



Ribes Uva-Crispa The wild-gooseberry is a relatively common inhabitant of our hedgerows and woodlands. This specimen had the familiar green fruit, but wildlings with red or yellow berries can also be found. Use the fruit as you would it's domestic cousin, picking early for jam and later on for puddings. If you have them, wear a pair of stout gloves to protect yourself from the plants ferocious spines! A truly great way to use the wild gooseberry is in gooseberry and elderflower jam.



Ribes Nigrum The familiar black currant fruits so profusely in some hedgerows that you can gather basket loads. A fine fruit to eat raw when ripe, but it's perhaps best used in jams, jellies and puddings. It freezes well for later use, and combines excellently with other berries in summer puddings.

Ribes Rubrum The wild red-currant is a tasty treat indeed. If you're lucky enough to find a big haul of them, they can be used in any recipes for cultivated berries. If you find only a few, then they make a fine addition to summer puddings or wild fruit salads. The white-currant (pictured below) is essentially a variety of the red-currant which you might occasionally run into. It's a beautiful looking berry, but the main difference between this and its red cousin is cosmetic.



Rosa Canina The fruit of the common dog rose, the rose hip, is a much under used entity. Cook it to a pulp with a little water, strain through a jelly bag, and cook with a pound of sugar per pint of liquid like you would for any fruit syrup and you have the legendary (to those brought up on tales of wartime austerity) rose hip syrup. There are also a whole range of soups and wines that can be made from rose hips.



Malva Sylvestris

The common mallow is a very, very common plant on roadsides and in disturbed ground in many parts of the U.K. I add the young leaves to salds, but their main use is in a soup that is popular throughout the middle east. The flowers and young fruit can also be eaten, but I find them to be a little bland.



Cardamine Pratensis

Ladys smock (or cuckoo flower) is one of the joys of spring. Found on wet ground all over Britain, this elegant member of the brassicaceae has peppery, hot tasting leaves that go well in spring salads and savoury puddings. Just in case you're interested, it's my favourite wild flower.



Capsella Bursa-Pastoris

This is the familiar shepherds-purse plant (the name coming from the purse shaped seed pods in the picture above). Add the leaves and flower/seed stems in the last minute or two to stir fry's, is has a pleasant flavour.



Tilia Vulgaris

This is the common lime tree, otherwise known as linden. This one is a hybrid of small and large leaved lime, as are most of the ones you'll see. The lush green leaves have a sweet, lettuce taste that lends itself to being put in BLT or cream cheese and salad sandwiches. I often find myself chewing on lime leaves while walking through the woods, especially during the summer after they've bled a little sap, forming a sweet, sticky residue that is quite delicious.



Borago Officionalis

You may have come across borage leaves in drinks, they're traditionally added to Pimms and lemonade, and very pleasant that is too. They make a great fragrant tea.

edible plants, fruits and fungus - mountain adventures

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