Freedom In Wild Food

07/09/2021

When life gives you a ridiculous amount of mushrooms what do you do ??
Make a pie!! And a damn good pie at that ☺️🤌🍄

After an amazing wild mushroom forage (and a forage in the reduced section of Morrisons) I decided to make my first pie.🤞

Bottom layer : reduced turkey meatballs
Middle layer : false saffron milkcaps and ceps cooked in a selection of wild seasonings (including dehydrated few flower leek kimchi, Cep powder and wild garlic salt)

Topped with puff pastry. And cooked until golden

Sweet Jesus I've made myself a happy man! 😃

Foraging helps me explore the possibilities in the kitchen with a little more attention and care.

Live, love, forage ❤️🌱✌️

22/08/2021

Well I've had a fantastic weekend to say the least !
Found some new Cep spots which will be revisited in a few days.
I caught a dozen mackerel from my kayak (there could have been a lot more).
✨
I found a never ending trail of false saffron milkcaps ( which have been shared out with friends)👫
And now I'm sat in front of a fire after some freshly cooked mackerel seasoned with wild garlic salt, dehydrated few flowered leek kimchi and dunked into a home made fish sauce gifted to me by .the.bodhi.tree (thank you !)
Life is good when you forage ❤️🌱🌳

Live, love, forage ✌️🙂

21/08/2021

A beautiful example of mycelium at work. Look at how this false chanterelle has attached to (really grown from rather than attached ) and started to decompose this pine cone. The complex world below our feet never fails to amaze me. ❤️🌱🌳🍄

Live, love, forage ✌️

18/08/2021

A trail of miller's lead us (and Hannah's keen eye for the silhouette of the edulis .rotcorp) towards a lovely wee venture amongst the fort William hills.
Upon arriving home some of these were dehydrated, and some were popped straight into a lovely creamy mushroom soup.
Mushroom season is such a wonderful time of year !❤️

Live, love, forage ✌️

20/04/2021

13/04/2021

Foraging isn't just about food. The host of plants and fungi which make a tasty tea is astounding !!

Instead of an afternoon coffee I decided to give my body a little boost.

Birch Polypore - a strong medicinal mushroom to aid recovery and boost the body when fatigued or under the weather

Sweet Woodruff - part of the bedstraw family, this plant adds sweet vanilla and hay/meadow notes through my afternoon tea

Rosebay willow herb - here I've fermented the leaves to add a black tea flavour to this combination (look up ivan's tchai on Google and you'll find an easy to follow recipe when the season comes round again)

Seeing the green colours return to our landscape is filling me full of excitement and appreciation. Got out a walk for yourself and see what you can find? What plants do you already know?

Live, tea, forage

13/04/2021

Not long now until one of my favourite trees burst in to magnificent decaying glory!!

Around the end of April, this fallen tree produces one of the lost amazing displays of oyster mushrooms I have ever witnessed.🥲

Keep your eye out for large fallen trees or decaying standing trees as we move into the middle of the season. Dead or dying trees are an important part of the ecosystem and host a magnitude of insects and fungi life.

If you find a woodland close-by, visit it every week or so to get a better understanding of the hidden life that lives there. You may just stumble across a hidden gem like this 🙂😃

Life, Death and foraging

12/04/2021

Some matches are truly made in heaven 👌

Poached eggs
Wild garlic seed pods (pickled in ground ivy infused vinegar)
Dehydrated pepper dulse
And certainly not least..... Elderberry vinegar 😌🤤

A nice combination of last year's pantry and this season's finds.

Keep an eye out for the events which I'll be holding this year where you can learn to forage these delights for yourself.

Pickle, pantry, Forage ✌️

12/04/2021

Flowering currant is in full bloom just now ☀️

I'm my opinion, there are no other bushes/shrubs which present us with such a beautiful display and smell at this time of the year.

It's flowers (which can vary slightly In colour, from deep pink to a much lighter, paler shade) are filling gardens with bursts of colours after a long winter and a cool start to spring. 🌿🌱

Look out for its blackcurrant like leaves and five petal pink/red flowers.
It's has a sweet smell which is an absolute delight. Some people (like my old neighbour) do not like the smell and will gladly let you pick some from their garden. 😁👌
The flowers can be easily picked off in their clusters, leave some for the Bees and other insects. This isn't usually a problem though as one bush can produce hundreds of racemes (clusters).

I "currantly" have some which is being turned into a flowering currant champagne. Recipes for such an adventure can be found far and wide, though I took inspiration from Mark, from gallowaywildfoods.com

I'll post a video of how to make a syrup/cordial with the flowers soon!! It's a great mixer for vodka/gin, or is sweet and flavoursome on its own as a diluting juice on a fresh spring afternoon.

Get outside and have a look in your neighbourhood or countryside hedges.

20/02/2021

Hello and welcome to the page. Here you will find information on upcoming guided events, foraging advice on identification and edibility, ideas for the kitchen and harvesting methods and techniques.