Wild food and foraging

I know this is an old post, but I always get interested in wild foods this time of the year. I use the dandelions growing in my backyard, as well as lambsquarter, purslane, wild amaranth and wild salsify. Last year I discovered that you can eat sunflower buds and since there were some wild ones I let grow, I tried them - very good. I wish there were nettles growing around here. With the price of gas, I don't get out and around to the wild areas much any more.

Oddly enough, I've just come back from collecting a bag of nettle tops intended to dry for adding to soups and things like scrambled egg. They're great when you need a handful of greens and haven't anything to hand. Sorrel is another of my favourites. It grows like crazy here and I love it both as a salad ingredient and as a soup. I'm always on the look out for wild herbs to add to salads, and mushrooms of course when I can spot ones I recognise. They've not been good this year unfortunately, though I've still a few dried from last year. The wild apples and blackberries do us all through late summer with crumbles and jams and I love using up the extra apples in chutneys. Last year I was able to bottle wild figs in syrup and wild cherries in port. Yum! Right at this moment I'm keeping my eye on the elderflowers which are just opening. I normally make elderflower cordial, but this year we'd liek to try elderflower champagne as well. Wish me luck!