Foraging

[sumi]

My mouth is totally watering..lol..have you ever eaten this mushroom? If not you are in for a real treat! I’m jealous!

No, I haven't. I would love to try one though! Though they are so pretty, I think it'd be a bit hard to cook and eat it.

 

[sumi]

I don't do mushrooms, but it sounds like fun. I just can't stand the taste or texture of them. Wish I liked them!

Nooooo! Mushrooms are heavenly. I could eat them every day and never tire of them.

 

[mythreesons290322]

I love to forage wild foods..I forage the wild apple trees around my area which believe it or not they don’t look to good but taste better then any store bought or apple orchard apples I‘ve ever eaten..anyhow, I use them to make my apple pie filling, applesauce, apple butter, dehydrated apple chips, apple juice then I save all the peels and cores to make apple cider vinegar..$100’s of dollars worth of free food just from those apples alone.

I also forage blackcaps aka black raspberry and make all my jam from them.

There is a huge wild blackberry patch on my families property that I pick from event year..my family doesn’t care for them to much..I’ve made blackberry pie filling, blackberry jam and blackberry brandy. I’ve decided this year that I will de-seed them and then see what my family thinks. I’m also seriously thinking of selling them out in front of my house since city people take my road they would gladly buy them.

Wild Elderberry I use to pick until I planted my own is used to make my cold and flu medicine..never had enough to make wine or pie’s.

Wild raspberry grows on my dads property but they are so small I don’t like to bother with them...I grow several of my own.

Wild Ramps grow all over my area I feel very blessed to have this delicacy..I dug some up and planted them on my own property to spread out and canopy my woods.

Wild mulberry trees were a real treat for my boys when they were little..they picked and ate and picked and ate there was never any saved ever...lol..awe such beautiful memories..I now grow them myself.

Wild asparagus, wild grapes and black walnut trees we also have here though I’ve haven’t eaten any of them yet.

The morel and chicken of the woods mushroom my little mountain man nephew forages them for me..now that he is a young man and working I will need to ask him to give up his secret to where I can pick them for myself.

My son and I some time this week are going to explore the woods in my area for Chaga ...we have birch trees on our property but no chaga growing on them.

 

[sumi]

@mythreesons290322 you have a natural "pantry" over there! What a blessing The only wild food I've identified here so far is black berries, which grows abundantly along the road sides. My DS and I usually stuff ourselves on them when we go walking in season.

 

[mythreesons290322]

No, I haven't. I would love to try one though! Though they are so pretty, I think it'd be a bit hard to cook and eat it.

No they aren’t hard to cook..I slice them then fry them in a little butter and sprinkle with salt and it’s heaven on a plate. Enjoy!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Never heard of Chaga - learn something new every day I guess, lol!

 

[sumi]

No they aren’t hard to cook..I slice them then fry them in a little butter and sprinkle with salt and it’s heaven on a plate. Enjoy!

What I meant was it would be difficult to cut and eat such a pretty thing! They sound really yum though…. I bought and ate loads of shop bought, commercially grown mushrooms and would love to try some wild ones to see how they compare taste and flavour wise.

 

[mythreesons290322]

What I meant was it would be difficult to cut and eat such a pretty thing! They sound really yum though…. I bought and ate loads of shop bought, commercially grown mushrooms and would love to try some wild ones to see how they compare taste and flavour wise.

Lol..sorry, I misunderstood what you meant. I know what you mean by the beauty as I had one growing on a tree in my yard, I love coral colors and remember just staring at it and even took pictures of it...never knew until a few years ago that it was a chicken of the woods mushroom.. If it weren’t for my little mountain man nephew I wouldn’t of have tried it..my tree never grew that mushroom since which is pretty strange imh..As far as the difference in store bought verses freshly picked ...hands down I would pick the fresh picked one off the tree to be superior. Nothing like fresh picked!

 

[NH Homesteader]

We have mountains of chaga! We do drink chaga tea, amazing stuff!

 

[sumi]

Lol..sorry, I misunderstood what you meant. I know what you mean by the beauty as I had one growing on a tree in my yard, I love coral colors and remember just staring at it and even took pictures of it...never knew until a few years ago that it was a chicken of the woods mushroom.. If it weren’t for my little mountain man nephew I wouldn’t of have tried it..my tree never grew that mushroom since which is pretty strange imh..As far as the difference in store bought verses freshly picked ...hands down I would pick the fresh picked one off the tree to be superior. Nothing like fresh picked!

If I found one on a tree I'd do the same! I am amazed how pretty it is. I really need to find out if there are any wild mushroom experts here that can educate me on finding edible ones. I'm so curious to try some now!