The Foragers' Thread

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gbb

Squire
Location
Peterborough
I've never desired...ir dared, try any edible mushrooms...beyond mushrooms, and puffball.
While ealking the dog in a local industrial estate this morning I spied these...
20241009_103804.jpg


Shaggy parasol apparently ? Quite edible if so.
But no, I wouldn't bother personally. I recall trying puffball, yeah you can eat it but it's flavour didn't do much for me, a bit woody which I gather shaggy parasol is too.

Interesting looking it up nevertheless
 

Witzend

Well-Known Member
I've never desired...ir dared, try any edible mushrooms...beyond mushrooms, and puffball.
While ealking the dog in a local industrial estate this morning I spied these...


Shaggy parasol apparently ? Quite edible if so.
But no, I wouldn't bother personally. I recall trying puffball, yeah you can eat it but it's flavour didn't do much for me, a bit woody which I gather shaggy parasol is too.

Interesting looking it up nevertheless
The clincher for these is the ring on the stem (which you can't see here) which are free and moveable on the larger, edible parasols. The stems are tough and fibrous, but they're worth eating if you can get enough (they can shrink massively on cooking).
 
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These popped up under my big holly tree the other day. I have a lot of them in the garden, particularly under trees. When fully open (and if the slugs haven't got to them), they tend to be about the size of a breakfast plate.

IMG_141603496_small.jpg


I *think* they are shaggy parasols just like @gbb's ones, but other than giant puffballs, I prefer foraging for mushrooms on the shelf in Tesco. :blush:
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
Never noticed these trees before, but the road closure for the chasm 'twixt Macc and Whaley made them obvious.

They're in a dip normally traversed at 30+mph, and overhanging a normally fast and busy road, so this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

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It's just possible I went OTT though...

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Now... ...jam!
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
Mirabelle plums!

I'm up to my eyeballs in yellow variety thereof, as I have two big trees in my garden. Not the best for jam (brown jam looks wrong LOL), but brilliant for chutneys, crumbles and just to snack on.

A sniff around the community orchard has liberated a good supply of "Old Thack" plums, some greengages and a few early apples. Not enough ripe blackberries yet to make them worth picking.
 
The stand of briars across the road from me yielded around 300g of blackberries. Given the size of the fruit, I suspect a cultivated variety that has somehow escaped.

Probably via bird poo vector.

Still, I'm not going to complain. They will join the apples I picked yesterday under a blanket of crumble topping.
 

figbat

Former slippery scientist
It seems to me that fruiting plants are smothered this year, and ripe early.
 

figbat

Former slippery scientist
There’s wild blackberries around here fully ripe - it’s not even August! The fields are harvested, there are plums and apples strewn on the floor, cherries were ripe weeks ago, sloes growing like grapes…
 

figbat

Former slippery scientist
There’s wild blackberries around here fully ripe - it’s not even August! The fields are harvested, there are plums and apples strewn on the floor, cherries were ripe weeks ago, sloes growing like grapes…

…and at the same time this year the nettles and brambles are nothing like in previous years.
 
Been busy foraging again. Picked a load of blackberries the other day while waiting for the garage to do the MOT on my car. They're in the fridge, still need to think what I'm going to do with those. Also picked some greengages from the community orchard.

Found some plums in a nearby hedge that I wasn't sure if they were bullaces or damsons. Turned a small quantity into jam. I shall be going back to pick some more. The test batch of jam was a bit on the sharp side, so most likely bullaces. Will add greengages to the next batch to add some extra sweetness.

There's also a giant puffball coming up in my lawn. I'll let it get a bit bigger, and then it'll be going into a fry-up alongside some free range eggs and a nice chunk of black pudding. :hungry:
 
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