Foraging the Edges

"I do really like that word - 'bunging'." I'm at Blaise Estate in Bristol and Martin Bailey, our forager-in-chief for the day, tells us of the joys of 'bunging' foraged goods into sauces, stews and vodkas. I'm quite partial to a bit of bunging myself, especially when it involves vodka or gin, so I make a mental note for one that's definitely on the menu in the near future: hawthorn flowers delicately infused in vodka. Yum.

For now, the season has provided - see photo above - wild garlic flowerheads (top), hawthorn leaves (right), crow garlic (bottom), and ground elder (left). They are all delicious when bunged into a salad. I've also left some of my wild garlic flowerheads to gently pickle away in some apple cider vinegar. I can't wait for that taste explosion on my tongue in a few weeks' time. Yum yum. Later on in the season, I'll go and pickle some wild garlic seedheads, which is a trick I've also picked up from Martin. If you've never tried it, give it a go - it's absolutely delicious. Strictly for the garlic fiends though, obviously.

When asked how I got into foraging, the words just bubble up. "I love the simplicity of it. The abundance of food and medicine that's right on our doorstep. Even in the city, often in plants that are commonly regarded as nothing more than invasive weeds." ...Well, there you go, I guess that is why I love it. Martin confesses that if he had an allotment, it would probably end up being a plot of 'weeds'. I'm totally with him. There's abundance in the humble weed, if we only know how to look. The myth of scarcity is just that - a myth. Wrapped in plastic, stamped with a use-by date and sold at a price.

But I'll leave my consumer-critical post for another day. For now, I just urge you to get out there. Even if you don't do foraging. Even if you don't know any of the plants. Check out the stirrings of life going on all around you. You know, the sort of life we're all a part of, whether we like to acknowledge it or not. Call it 'forest bathing' if you like. Get lost. Go on...