Category: wild food

  Hunting down things to eat (and write about) becomes more of a challenge as the winter months drag on, particularly during prolonged spells of cold weather. I certainly wasn’t expecting to find this species, at least not in flower, during the second half of December. Whilst it’s tempting to blame climate change for this…

I’ve had this argument a few times and I always seem to end up on the losing side. In starting to write this I have a sense, already, that I’m not going to influence many people. It’s such a contentious subject that the merits of logic and common sense seem not to apply in the…

The feature that gives this fungus its name is both a godsend and a pain in the neck. The mass of spines on the underside, instead of the more usual gills or pores, make this otherwise rather nondescript species virtually impossible to confuse with anything else. So, if you are relatively new to foraging and…

There are a few different puffball species, ranging in size from the small, spiny, Common Puffball (the one in the photo) and its close relatives, to the altogether more impressive and aptly-named Giant Puffball. The stalks are often mostly hidden underground, though, as here, they can extend to several centimetres. The good news is that…

That’s useful books used by me (not written by me) just in case that wasn’t obvious. These are a few of the books I refer to most often or have found especially inspiring. Mainly they are about the essential business of identification but they also describe how to go about tracking down edible species and…