#autumn foraging

[bonfires-n-hares]

Hawthorn Berry Ketchup by greatbritishchefs

[freshtendril]

Autumn Foraging

Hen of the Woods mushrooms, hickory nuts, rose hips, and acorns. Though it’s possible, the acorns aren’t for eating, I just want to plant a couple of oak trees.

It’s been a thin season for summer and fall mushrooms, especially for chanterelles and boletes; a lot of searching with little return. Thankfully other edibles like fruits and nuts are still plentiful.

[totallyoffourgrid]

Foraging for Elderberries

@totallyoffourgrid We went foraging for elderberries locally, to make elderberry syrup ready for the cold season. Elderberry syrup is great for coughs and colds! Remember to forage responsibly and never take to much of one tree/plant depending on what you are foraging for. #elderberry #elderberries #foraging #foragingtiktok #syrup ♬ original sound – totallyoffourgrid Recipe Ingredients: 500g…

Foraging for Elderberries

[jazzeria]

A relatively recent birthday tradition is foraging for birthday horseradish.  We revisited the same site as last year, to find that the plant had grown even bigger!  We came prepared with a legit shovel this time, and sliced a big nob of root (instead of digging a whole taproot).  

We got about 500g of usable root; and a few nubs to experiment with planting (at least, overwintering in a pot indoors).  

I made a horseradish cranberry sauce (added orange juice + zest)!  It goes well with pork roast.  

The rest made a decent-sized jar of prepared horseradish (grated root + salt + vinegar) and I froze the rest (grated root + salt).  We’ll see how both these preservation methods work.  

The little end-bits leftover from grating, I threw into pickle jars.  Those pickles pack a wallop!  

[winterpaganism]

What to Forage in Fall: 30+ Edible and Medicinal Plants and Mushrooms

Learn about what to forage in fall! Autumn is an abundant time for foraging and wildcrafting. Fall foraging includes berries, nuts, roots, a

[freshtendril]

Today's Gathering: Chanterelle, Hedgehog, Chestnut Bolete and Black Trumpet Mushrooms. Also, burdock roots!

[culinarywanderlust-blog]

Autumn Foraging with Darina Allen

The whole reason I ended up in the tiny town of Midleton was so that I could take a course at the nearby Ballymaloe Cookery School, which is well-known and renowned throughout Ireland. Led by Darina Allen, Ballymaloe has acres and acres of organic farms and gardens, accommodation for visitors and students, a huge greenhouse, and a lot of whimsy.

I biked out to Ballymaloe and, oh my goodness. It was about 16 km out there, so a little more than 9 miles. I have never biked that far in my life, and I was very sore after the roundtrip of almost 20 miles, but I'm happy I did it. The countryside was beautiful and I loved seeing the fields and hills.

Needless to say, once I got to Ballymaloe, I devoured at least six of the little confections we were offered with our tea.

The course, Autumn Foraging with Darina Allen, includes a tour of the grounds, a trip to the seaside, and some cooking demonstrations. It turned out to be so much more than I expected.

We started with a two and a half hour tour of the farm and gardens, with Darina encouraging us to pick things along the way, taste them, smell them, learn what they could do. Her limitless knowledge and lively personality made it a great tour. We learned everything from nettles and dandelions, to crabapples and sage, to hops and wild garlic.

The grounds included incredibly fun installations, such as a "shell house" coated entirely with seashells on the inside, a Celtic maze, and this awesome monster in the field:

It had several humps, and as the wildflower field grows around it, they will continue to fill in his wire body with the plants.

We also had a tour of their greenhouse, which was unimaginably huge. They were growing everything I could think of, and plenty of things I had never heard of.

We also visited Ballycotton, a tiny village nearby, and learned about foraging on the seashore. I was lucky enough to get to ride with Darina, and she was a hoot. All day long, she was joking, teaching, entertaining, learning and laughing.

For example, she jumped over this little wall in her dress and stockings to teach us about watercress.

After foraging the shore for periwinkle snails and seaweed, we headed back for lunch. Her son-in-law hosts a pop-up pizzeria that is growing in popularity, and we got to try the pizza he had made from ingredients on the grounds. I ate several slices of fennel sausage pizza, but neglected to take any pictures. I was so hungry. I did take a photo of our amazing dessert, a chocolate and hazelnut tart:

After lunch we went into the demonstration room so Darina could show up how to make a variety of things out of what we found while foraging. We saw jams and jellies, soups and salads, main courses and desserts. And! I got to help with the Damsen Jam. My super-fun job was to pick out the pits once the berries started to burst. In all seriousness, it was really fun to be up there while Darina was teaching, and she gave me a free jar of the jam I helped with afterwards!

She made so much food. It was incredible to see all she could do with foraged ingredients. This is the mirror above the demonstration area so we could see everything at all times:

And, one of the best parts of the day, we got to sample everything. Mussels and periwinkles:

Prawns with delicious homemade lemon mayo:

Chocolates with crystallized flower petals:

It was a really lovely time, and I biked back full of knowledge and food. My favorite dishes of the day were the watercress soup, carrigeen moss pudding, and homemade sloe gin.We were given a huge packet of recipes that I can't wait to try out, if I can find similar ingredients, and I'm definitely ready to pop open that jam! (Something to look forward to doing with friends and family when I get home in November.)