Wild food (11) – The Benefits by Ian Carter

The comment below was made following a previous post in this series: ‘……. with 7.6 billion humans on the planet, ‘wild food’ is either unsustainable, or a tiny niche irrelevant to almost everyone.’ It got me thinking and although it’s hard to disagree with the overall sentiment, I do take issue with the last part….

Wild food (10) – Amethyst Deceiver by Ian Carter

This is a very common species in the autumn and early winter in deciduous woodland, mostly under Beech trees in my part of the country. It provides an excellent example of the concept of ‘search image’ whereby things become much easier to find once you have got your eye in. You wouldn’t think that vivid…

Wild Food (9) – Brown Trout by Ian Carter

I often think of these as the freshwater equivalent of Mackerel: they are stunningly pretty fish; they snatch at any morsel of food in front of them, making them remarkably easy to catch; they are a doddle to cook and taste fantastic; and they can only be caught from spring to autumn (in this case…

Wild Food (8) – Sloe Gin by Ian Carter

I do admire people who manage to produce their own wine from flowers, fruits or leaves, gleaned from the countryside. It seems to require lots of faffing about with all sorts of different ingredients, and endless decanting of fluids from one vessel to another – followed by a long, nerve-wracking wait to see if it…

Wild food (7) – Blackberries by Ian Carter

No series on wild food would be complete without the humble blackberry and there can’t be many people who haven’t picked and eaten them at one time or another. Parents who are wary (or unaware) of almost all other forms of wild food will happily send their kids out blackberrying – at least that used…