Medlars, as we say in English…

… is the rather innocuous sounding name we have given to a fruit that the French have seen fit to dub much more alarmingly – Cul-de-Chien (Dog’s Arse).

Ironically enough, we have actually taken the word ‘Medlar’ from the French Medler, meaning ‘(the fruit of a) small fruit-bearing tree’, though quite why we were so prude as to adopt this radio-friendly version is not clear (for in Old English the name was equally risqué – Openærs (Open-arse)). Regardez… 

As you can see, it’s not hard to imagine how such mischievous names for these little fruits came into being – the five-tailed open end (known as a ‘calyx’) has that unmistakeable tea towel holder/balloon knot/dog’s arse appearance. Thankfully, though, I can absolutely assure you that it is only down to this appearance that the Medlar has acquired its more funky nomenclature, for its flavour is (contrarily I’m sure) quite divine.   

Identification

I hope everything I’ve told you thus far should leave you in absolute confidence as what to look out for when hunting for Medlars – if not then just follow your nose! (I’m joking, of course, but further pictures and description can be found on my Edible Fruits A-Z page).

Eating

The Medlar Tree is a Mediterranean plant and the fruits will not ripen on the branches in our more temperate climate. You will therefore have to pick (or scrump) them when still hard and store in a bag or box for a few months until they have bruised, softened and basically rotted a bit (a process known as ‘bletting’). The flesh when ready to use is a lovely brownish-caramel colour, and the taste almost datey but slightly sharper (it’s quite unique, in fact). I always make a Medlar Jelly with my bletted fruits, and it is certainly the richest of all the hedgerow jellies available to the forager. At the moment my fruits are still softening up, so I shan’t give you the recipe until they’re ready. In the meantime, though, I suggest you peruse fellow WordPress Blogger Ichykoo’s recipe for Lamb Chops with Spiced Medlars and Red Wine Sauce – now, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at that!
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The Horse Mushroom: Back in Business

This beautiful, nay, magnificent fungus was my first fresh wild mushroom of the year, and just look at it…

A thick, creamy, saucer-sized cap, as firm as a tennis ball, and, when I found it, as dry as a bone – no wonder the slugs couldn’t resist!  But take a look underneath…

A velvety fan of deep autmunal-brown, aniseed-scented gills…. What a find to get back onto my forager’s feet!

Horse Mushrooms are among the very best of all edible fungi, and perhaps indeed among all foraged food. I place them second only to The Prince when it comes to mushrooms, and they are so deliciously sweet and meaty that only Lobsters and Brown Crabs hold the trump cards over the rest of the forager’s menu – seriously, they’re that good.

Identification & Links

The cut stem base of the Yellow Stainer (left) stains yellow, whereas the Horse Mushroom (right) does not.

Notice the gills on the sliced mushroom. When very young the Horse Mushroom has pale cream/off-white gills. These soon turn a pale pink colour before becoming dark brown.

Horse Mushrooms have a very unfortunate look-alike, which itself is the most common cause of mushroom poisoning in the UK – the Yellow Stainer. It is imperative, therefore, to learn both of these mushrooms, or else what you thought was going to be your most pleasing dish of autumn, might well be your last (well, to be fair, the Yellow Stainer is not actually a killer, but the effects of consumption could well be enough to put you off mushrooms for life). Both of these mushrooms stain yellow upon bruising, though the Yellow Stainer more vibrantly so. After a few minutes, however, the yellow seen in the Yellow Stainer fades to brown, whereas it persists in the Horse Mushroom. What the Horse Mushroom does not do, though, is stain yellow when cut through the base of the stem – the absolute distinguishing feature of The Yellow Stainer. So, if you remember nothing else, then remember this: Always ensure that your Horse Mushrooms do not stain yellow at the base of the stem.

See my Edible Mushrooms A-Z page for for further pictures and description, and also my Spore Print Gallery to see the Horse Mushroom’s spores.

Eating

Inky, sweet, pungent with a heady aniseed aroma – I advise that you do as little with mature, open-capped specimens as possible: brush with melted butter, sprinkle with salt and a little pepper, and bake under a hot grill. I wouldn’t even be tempted to use garlic oil or a squeeze of lemon – especially if it is your first one: you don’t want anything to infringe upon the Horse Mushroom’s intense flavour and melting texture. I promise you, when those inky-black juices lather over your tongue, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were biting into a hot rare slab of sirloin. Exquisite.

Younger specimens, though still sweet, lack the gusto of their older brethren, and can be used as you would any other mushroom. I managed to collect both young and old on my travels, and so came up with a recipe that combines both: Baked Horse Mushroom Stuffed with Mushroomy Tapenade. Enjoy.
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Sea Beet: The Wild Grandfather of the Veg Plot

All hail the magnificent Sea Beet! So green, so succulent, so big and bright in the bareness and bleakness of winter!

 Where would we be without Sea Beet? Just look how rich and luscious these leaves are even now, slap bang in the middle of January. A lot of the literature on foraging will tell you that Sea Beet is only available from spring through to about the end of November – but I know of a good few plants that are just as productive all year round (there was even some fresh young growth coming through on this one (right)). And this is just as well, for at this time of year the forager’s vegetable rack can be starting to look a bit bare. 

Meet the Beets

But it isn’t just us foragers who would be feeling a bit hungry and hard done by at the moment if it wasn’t for this most fecund of plants. Without the incredibly versatile genetic properties of Sea Beet, plenty of domestic store cupboards and veg plots might too be feeling a little empty…

Over the centuries Wild Sea Beet has been cultivated into a multitude of domestic forms, some of which are the very staples of kitchen gardens and cupboards. This very plant is the common ancestor of no less than:

• Perpetual Garden Spinach
• Sugar Beet (from which we farm sugar)
• The Chards (Swiss, Rainbow, etc.)
• Beetroot
• And even good old Mangel Wurzel

What a very proud parent Sea Beet must be.

Identification

See my Edible Greens A-Z page for full pictures and description.

Eating

All parts of Sea Beet are edible, including the summer flowers and roots (the roots can often be quite swollen and look very tempting, but please be aware that it is illegal to dig up any wild plant without the landowner’s permission). The flowers are perhaps the sweetest part of the plant, but the real abundance comes from the leaves. These taste and behave (when cooked) so much like Garden Spinach, that you’ll wonder why you ever parted with your hard earned cash for something that is so similar and can be had for free. The flavour of Sea Beet is most definately stronger than cultivated Spinach, however, and, especially with the big fat older leaves, can sometimes be quite bitter when eaten raw. But the bitterness is invariably mellowed with cooking, and you can use Sea Beet in any recipe that calls for Spinach or Chard. Try out some of fellow blogger Chica Andaluza’s Spinach and Chard recipes using Sea Beet – you won’t be disapointed. I made a Sea Beet, Smoked Bacon and Potato Tart with what I collected – and very nice it was, too.

Hemlock Water Dropwort: The Most Poisonous Plant in Britain…

…And indeed one of the most poisonous in the world. Some websites (such as Zidbits.com) even list it as the deadliest, and it never fails to reach the top ten. If you only ever learn one poisonous plant, please, let it be this one.

Hemlock Water Dropwort is the Death Cap of the kingdom Plantae (plant kingdom), and in fact leaves that most deadly of fungus looking rather innocuous in comparison (it’s absolutely not, mind you). Whilst the consumption of the Death Cap will leave you with about 10 days to bid your final farewells to the world (though it may be more advisable to seek medical attention), a substantial serving of Hemlock Water Dropwort will see you in the ground within 3 hours.  

The poison contained in Hemlock Water Dropwort is oenanthotoxin, and the effects after ingestion are nothing short of horrific, as summed up very succinctly by the Online Encyclopaedia of the Umbelliferae (Carrot/Parsley) Family of the British Isles: ‘Great agony, sickness, convulsions, paralysing speech, death.’

Identification

The Parsnip-like roots and leaves of the deadly Hemlock Water Dropwort.

Unfortunately, there are a number of edible and very tasty species – including one of my favourites, Alexanders – with which Hemlock Water Dropwort may be quite easily confused. As you can see from the picture (right), the roots (which contain the highest concentration of oenanthotoxin) look rather parsnip-like, and as you can imagine, have been tragically mistaken for the Wild Parsnip and Water Parsnip in the past. I refer you to the online Emergency Medical Journalto read of the narrow escape had by a group of foragers after feasting on what they thought was a Wild Parsnip curry back in 2002.  The leaves, too, have found themselves mistaken for Wild Parsley and Alexanders (view the slideshow, below), and have sometimes, disastrously, even been nibbled absent-mindedly by children.

See my Poisonous Greens A-Z page for full pictures and description.

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P.S. The dangers of foraging sometimes stretch beyond the positive identification of species. Sometimes, it is the positive identification of direction that can prove to be one’s peril.  Even though I was sufficiently familiar with Hemlock Water Dropwort to leave it well alone, after taking these pictures I found that I was certainly not at all familiar with the woodland that I was rummaging around in. I was lost! Proper lost! I had ventured off the footpath and had no idea which way I had come. Forty-five minutes later, when I finally and very shamefacedly found my way back to the car, my waiting (and heavily pregnant) wife was just about ready to throttle me… perhaps Dropwort poisoning isn’t such a bad way to go.

Winkles

I’d like to lead a cheer for the humble Winkle. Hip, Hip, Hooray! I say, for this wonderful little mollusc. Hoorah! Hoorah! 

Winkles are, without a doubt, the kindest pieces of protein available to the forager. They are easy to find, easy to identify and easy to gather, and it is a real shame that they are so under exploited these days as a food resource. The problem may be that they are just so fiddly to eat – if there is a knack to extracting cooked Winkles from their shells then I don’t have it. Or it may be that they just too closely resemble the Garden Snail (to which they are indeed related (and which, too, incidentally, is perfectly edible)) to render people squeamish. But please note: I will be encouraging you to give Garden Snails a try at some point in this blog, so you may want to build yourself up with a few Winkles.

Finding and Identification

The Dog Whelk (left) and Winkle (right).

You will have absolutely no trouble at all finding Winkles (or Periwinkles, as they are sometimes called). They are extremely common down by the seashore, and it will take probably no more than a 10 minute scramble across the rocks to gather a hundred or more. The only thing you need worry about is the state of the tide, and the cleanliness of the water (see my Molluscs entry on my Forager’s Toolkit page).

Identification is also simple – the only things you are likely to confuse your Winkles with are Dog Whelks or Top Shells – both of which are edible and just as tasty. But see my Edible Molluscs A-Z page for full pictures and description.

Eating

Now, I’m going to be honest with you: eating Winkles is probably more of a chore than any meal ever should be – in fact it could probably constitute its own sport. Twisting out the cooked flesh from a Winkle’s shell with a pin is an incredibly fiddly and frustrating business. But fear not, for it is invariably made enjoyable when there are a group of you all struggling together, maybe after having boiled up a batch over an open fire on the beach, with perhaps some alcoholic lubrication applied.

Winkle recipes are very few and far between – I can find none whatsoever on WordPress to direct you to, and there are only three suggestions in the books that I have on the subject. But I have located one enthusiastic forager with a few ideas, and so I divert you to WILD AND FREE to check them out. Alternatively, I have devised my own recipe for them – Crunchy Winkle Dippers – designed, admittedly, to conceal the rather grey and rubbery-slug-looking flesh that curls out of the shell (though certainly not to disguise the taste: Winkles are actually surprisingly sweet, and slightly livery). Hopefully this crispy treat may convert a few Winkle skeptics to this excellent and under-explored free meat. Go on – give them a try, and then give them a cheer!

Earth Balls: Poisonous!!

Poisonous: Though not life-threatening, if consumed the Earth Ball will cause gastric upset.

The warty, 'reptilian' skin of the Common Earth Ball

I hate Earth Balls. It pains me to dignify them with a capital letter, and I only do so for consistency. They are the warts of the forest floor, and you will find them everywhere. They are extremely persistent little growths, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they stubbornly endured to feed the cockroaches if that nuclear disaster were ever to strike.

They do an important job, of course, as all mushrooms do: digesting the leaf litter and replenishing the soil with the vital nutrients it needs to feed the other plant life. But I don’t care. They are just too many.

I am joking, of course… well, slightly. Earth Balls have the infuriating habit of appearing in the corner of your eye when nothing much else in the way of mushrooms are about. Many a time have I returned home from a fungal foray with nothing to show for my efforts but an empty basket, deflated all the more by the masses of Earth Balls that have given me a false flash of excitement in my periphery vision. I swear these things are just put there to torment me.

Description

The Earth Ball's centre turns a purplish black upon maturity (right), whereas Puffballs (left and centre) are snow white when ready for eating. Notice, too, the thick skin of the Earth Ball.

The Earth Ball pictured here and on my Puffball post is a Common Earth Ball. You shouldn’t really confuse Puffballs with Earth Balls, but if you are unsure, just give whatever you have a firm squeeze between your fingers: Puffballs will squish and squidge like a marshmallow, whereas Earth Balls will be more resistant to the pressure, and the thick skin will crack and split rather like that of an under-ripe Passion Fruit. Another difference is that the inner flesh of Earth Balls is never pure white, like Puffballs are when in perfect condition for eating.

 For further pictures and description, see my Poisonous Mushrooms A-Z page.

Mussels (again): Purging, Scrubbing, De-bearding (And a Pearl!)

Hopefully, my last post – Wild Mussels vs. ‘Farmed’ Mussels – managed, in its funny little way, to persuade you that gathering wild Mussels is still a great idea, despite there being no real benefits for either the cook or the environment (though there certainly isn’t anything harmful either). As I state on my About this Blog page, foraging isn’t about convenience – it’s about discovery. And if you’ve discovered the fun of foraging for some of the free fruits-de-mer available to us all, perhaps you’d now like to discover the simple skills of how to render them as grit-free as possible in preparation for the pot.

De-bearding Mussels

De-bearding Mussels

Mussels attach themselves to rocks via thick black beard-like fibres called byssal threads. These are not very tasty at all and will need to be removed. To do so, simply pinch them between your thumb and a small knife and rip them away (being very careful not to cut yourself)(see picture, right). Mussels are also usually spotted with a few barnacles. Use the back of the knife to scrape them off.

Purging: Mussels, Winkles, Dog Whelks, Clams and Cockles

Take a look at the picture at the top of this blog post. As you can see, even when Mussels are growing on rocks, they will still be exposed to quite a lot of sand. So-called ground-seas swirl up the grains from the sea bed, and, as the currents calm, the sand then re-settles in amongst the Mussels. Even worse, Clams and Cockles spend their whole lives beneath the sand, constantly filtering all the grit and grains of the seashore through their flesh. And so, before you attempt to cook any of these bivalves, they will need to be purged for a few hours in clean water to remove as much of this grit as possible.

The process is very simple. Place your bivalves in a container of either clean seawater, or tap water with 35g of salt dissolved in every litre. Throw in a scant handful of porridge oats, and leave for 2-12 hours, depending on how gritty you suspect your quarry to be (this, I’m afraid, will be knowledge you discover yourself through experience). When purged, rinse off the oats under the tap.

For Winkles and Dog Whelks, the process is exactly the same, but you need not add the porridge oats, and a 2 hour soaking is ample.

Scrubbing

A pearl! I can't believe it!

No secret to this, just scrub each mollusc with a nail-brush to remove as much grit from the shells as possible.

Your bivalves are now ready to cook! Try my Thai-style Mussels with Noodles.

P.S. Check out this pearl that I found in one of my Mussels! I must admit, I didn’t realise until I nearly cracked my tooth on this thing that pearls could be formed in anything else but Oysters. But a quick search on the Internet taught me that a few other bivalves are also capable of forming pearls (it also taught me that it probably isn’t worth much). All the same, another great foraging discovery! Check out Gioiellando‘s blog to find out how pearls are formed.

Wild Mussels vs. ‘Farmed’ Mussels

Why would anybody want to forage for wild Mussels? Especially when one considers that ‘farmed’ Mussels are actually wild Mussels themselves, only they have been gathered when young and encouraged to grow on man-made structures – often ropes studded with plastic spikes – for easy harvesting when fat enough for eating. Moreover, these Mussel ‘farms’, when managed responsibly (which they usually are), serve as a natural boost to the local marine environment. 

Mussels (and other bivalves) are nature’s means of organic filtration. Every day a single 5cm Mussel will suck through 50 litres of sea water, filtering microscopic nutrients through its flesh and essentially cleaning the water that passes through it. What’s more, Mussel farms naturally enhance local biodiversity: they attract seaweeds and anemones, which then act as ideal nurseries for several species of fish and crustaceans. Indeed, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) regard rope-grown Mussels as one of the most environmentally friendly forms of aquaculture. Their website, FishOnline: The In-depth Guide to Sustainable Seafood, gives the farms a rating of 1 out of 5 for sustainability – the highest possible. (The website also rates hand-gathered Mussels (i.e. foraged) as a 1, though there are other farming methods that don’t rate so highly.)

The other great thing about farmed Mussels is that you don’t have to worry about cleaning them, or indeed worry about the cleanliness of the water that they are taken from. Truly wild Mussels that you gather yourself have to be scrubbed and ‘de-bearded’ before consumption – a time-consuming exercise – otherwise they will be intolerably gritty when it comes to eating. (Keep watching this blog for how to scrub, de-beard and purge Mussels.) And, of course, you also have to be 100% sure that you don’t gather wild Mussels from a shoreline that harbours a sewage or other industrial outlet, for obvious reasons.

So why would anybody want to bother foraging for Mussels – worrying about the pollution-levels of the waters you take them from; scrubbing them until your fingers are sore; purging them at home for hours to remove most (though certainly not all) grit? Why indeed, would anybody want to take a small adventure down to the seashore, grubbing around and splashing about the rock pools like they were 8 years old again? Why would anybody want to rekindle an ancient and lost instinct for the hunt? Why would anyone want to acquire the wisdom of season and habitat of the vulnerable wildlife – edible or otherwise – of our precious coastline? Why would anybody want the fresh smells of the salty shores adorning their kitchens while their quarry purges quietly away, waiting to be cooked. Why, indeed, would anybody want the satisfaction of feasting on a seafood delicacy that they have acquired, scrubbed and grafted for themselves?

Well, I know that I would – but you tell me…

Identification – See my Edible Molluscs A-Z page for full pictures and description.

Eating

Warning – Avoid months without an ‘r’ – May-August.

Moules Marinere is the classic way to prepare Mussels, and hard to beat. Check out a fantastic recipe for them on the blog Chop, Stir, Grate. You can, of course, ring the changes: use cider instead of wine; coconut milk instead of cream. But please try my Thai-style Mussels with Noodles – just as easy, fragrant and fresh.

Identifying Mushrooms: How To Take A Spore Print

The Pale Pink spore print of the Wood Blewit

This nifty little trick is not only pleasing to the eye, but a truly brilliant and in many cases essential means of successfully and assuredly identifying the mushrooms that you have gathered. What’s more, it couldn’t be simpler – all you need is a piece of paper and a glass (or mug, bowl, cup, or plastic tub of some kind).

What are Spores?

Spores are essentially the seeds of a fungus. Mushrooms, with a few exceptions, have either gills or tubes on the underside of their caps. Here they produce spores – tiny microscopic seeds that can be spread on the wind.

The spores of different mushrooms have different colours, and if you can get enough spores together, you are able to see their colour with the naked eye. This information is incredibly useful in determining identification.

Wood Blewits, for example, have pale pink spores. Some similar looking Webcaps have brown spores. So, if you are at all uncertain take a spore print.

Please note: Determining the spore colour of your mushroom is not a short-cut to identification of the mushroom. Always make sure that your mushrooms have all the distinguishing features contained in your guide books.

Taking a Spore Print

1. Slice off the stem of your mushroom.

 

 

 

2. Place the cap, gills or tubes side down, on a piece of paper, and place a glass (or some other beaker) over the top. This will prevent the mushroom from drying out, and also remove any draft that may affect the spore print. Leave for at least 2 hours, though 6 hours or even longer is better.

 

 

 

3. Check the colour against your identification guides.

The pale pink spores confirmed that this mushroom was indeed the Wood Blewit.

 P.S. Check out the artistic use of spore prints by Jo’s Green Room or Pretty Cool Spore Prints.

Wood Blewits

Yesterday I pulled off one of the mushroom hunter’s most self-glorifying and (unfortunately) rare of achievements – I found exactly what I set out to look for. It was a labour of love, mind you. Unsurprisigly, perhaps, December is not the best month for the mushroom hunter. Most fungi are sensible beings and keep their vulnerable fruit bodies (i.e. mushrooms) safely tucked up beneath the soil during the winter months. The Parasols have all ducked away for another year, and the Puffballs have all burst and dispersed their spores into the frozen winds. And even if you do come across anything mushroom-like still clinging on for dear life in the bitter chill of the forest floor, the chances are they will be soggy, rotten, crawling with maggots, or all three.

Unidentified, soggy mushrooms.

And so it was when I went out a-hunting for the tan and lilac treasures that are Wood Blewits. I came across many a mushroom, but nearly all were too saturated and soggy-sandwich-floppy to even consider identification, let alone eating. Then it rained. And then it hailed, and I spent a good twenty minutes cowering beneath a Holly Bush sheltering my wife’s terrifyingly expensive camera from the down-pour. Thankfully, it was just a (rather long) shower, and when I re-emerged it took me no time at all to stumble upon a patch of perfectly formed, tan and lilac Wood Blewits.

Blewits in general (for there are others apart from the Wood variety) are a gift from nature herself, as they almost single-handedly extend the mushroom hunter’s active-season sometimes right through into January. They are unflinching little soldiers that for some reason take favour in the nip and bite of late autumn and early winter (as must we if we are to enjoy them), and usually begin to appear just as everything else decides to call it a day for the year. And so, with a little persistence and tolerance of winter’s unforgiving weather, I’d soon gathered half a kilo of them – plenty to make a jar of one of my favourite preserves: Pickwits.

Identification & Links

Unfortunately there are some similar species that are very poisonous, so please see my Edible Mushrooms A-Z page for full description and pictures of Wood Blewits. And visit Wild Mushrooms Online, and Mushroom-Collecting.com for more.

Eating – Warning: Wood Blewits must be cooked before consumption

Wood Blewits are among my most favourite of all wild mushrooms. Not only does their colour add an immediate touch of almost floral intrigue to a dish, their strong mushroomy flavour and distinct warm-orange/wine-gum aroma is something truly special and a real winter treat. So fond am I, in fact, that I always preserve the first batch of Blewits that I gather, so that I may continue to enjoy them when they too have finally succumb to the hard frosts of mid-winter, and you can try my recipe for Pickled Blewits or ‘Pickwits‘ in my Preserves section. But, if pickled mushrooms aren’t your thing, check out my Frying Wild Mushrooms page for further inspiration. Or, even better, take a look at some of Girl Interrupted Eating’s ideas – yum yum.