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Wild Pickle - Foraging & Fermenting

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Fermentation workshops, foraging, pop ups and well-being experiences Staffordshire & beyond.
Day 24 Wildbiome Project yesterday. Catching up Day 24 Wildbiome Project yesterday. Catching up on myself. Reflecting on a previous post about community. I think I am still high on all the feel good hormones from yesterday’s and the day before gatherings! Thanks for yesterday @forestherapies forestherapies @mycosiauk @foragingforages. We have been planning this for a while to inoculate some oak with shitake spores to see if it works. The oak came down in the storms and it’s been awesome to create something from the destruction last year. We spent the day outside drilling and popping the spores in and covering with wax and then stacking the logs and then we wait! All of us gathered are on the @wildbiomeproject eating just wild food. I love when we come together to exchange ideas create food together. I’ve been left buzzing! We had Vension mince with hen of the woods, slate bolete, wild garlic and three cornered leek, sea spaghetti, lime leaf salad, and lacto fermented wild garlic, morels and star of the show was reed mace salad (the taste and the texture was so welcome) We had a cocktail of fermented birch sap, defrosted birch sap and black currant shrub Later we had blackening poly pore, chestnut flour with egg pancakes, with damsons and a little birch sap syrup served with some lovely dandelion root coffee. This was delicious! 🤤 Big thanks for making this day so special @forestherapies @foragingforages @mycosiauk 🌳 🍄‍🟫 💚 @wildbiomeproject #wildbiomeproject #eatwildfood #community
Day 22 of the Wildbiome Project These images don’t share the amount of effort it takes to create these simple life pleasures. We take for granted when the food is in aisle such and such of the supermarket. Nettle & Mint energy balls Chestnuts foraged by my good friend @tirramaralara dehydrated and now blitzed Seabuckthorn seed flour 3/4 cup combined flours 150g of foraged and frozen plums, defrosted and partially dehydrated over night to become sticky like dates & destoned. 1 tbsp of nettle powder from nettles picked washed, dehydrated and ground into a powder 1 tbsp of mint powder from apple mint picked washed and dehydrated 50ml of seabuckthorn juice ( I bought this from @seabuckthornscotland who are amazing and I really appreciate having this as we don’t have seabuckthorn locally anymore and it’s a vitamin c boost and a naturally sweetener and tang needed sometimes!) These were blitzed together and made into balls and rolled in powdered nettle. These are now frozen for a kayaking trip coming up in a couple of weeks or so where I might need that energy kick up the arse! Next up is a delicious cup of roasted dandelion root coffee made from roots gifted to me on Sunday by my lovely cousin. The roots were scrubbed, chopped and dehydrated over night and then roasted for 40mins until toasted. These are then boiled in water for 15 mins to make a brew. Well earnt I would say! I thoroughly enjoyed the drink! That’s today’s efforts. Food wise, I had laver cakes for breakfast which satisfied my carb craving. A few chestnuts and one or two energy balls snuck in today. Wild caught salmon with foraged veg (which was quite disappointing for the first time but looked nice! 😂) and some wild kimchi. One glass of blackcurrant shrub and lots of dandelion coffees. That’s it for today! Somewhat lacking in motivation today and wish for an early night. I’m hoping to find some mushrooms tomorrow! 🤞 Have you foraged today?! Happy Earth day! 🌱 #seabuckthorn #wildenergyballs #wildbiomeproject #eatwildfood
Harvesting Laver! Laver is like a black plastic ba Harvesting Laver! Laver is like a black plastic bag covering a rock when the tide is out. When the tide comes in it floats like a skirt of a ballerina with such grace! It’s beautiful and I’ve fallen in love with it! @pickleandbrew Andrea and @foragingforages and I foraged last week and laver was gold! We have more to share of our adventures! It requires more than just a quick post to explain the process but here’s my @wildbiomeproject recipe in the comments. This tasted delicious and it’s the best comfort food I’ve had on the project. Thanks so much Mark @markwildfood for introducing me to laver bread this February and thanks to Sam for her roadside picnic laver bread patties in Anglesey. Where’s it been all my life?! #laverbread #wildbiomeproject #wildfood #seaweed
A little update on Day 21 of 91 days of eating wil A little update on Day 21 of 91 days of eating wild food for the @wildbiomeproject. Thriving rather than surviving I’d say. I’m doing well, I do miss carbs though and carbs are craved by me at certain times of the month. So I’m seeing what I can come up with! Today, I’m out foraging for rose bay willow herb stalks to go with some lemon sole caught in Cornish waters. More updates in comments! #wildbiomeproject #wildfood #rosebaywillowherb
Day 13 @wildbiomeproject Smoked mackerel & flowe Day 13 @wildbiomeproject Smoked mackerel & flowering currant pate with apple (Inspired by @foragefinefoods Liz Knight from her gorgeous book “Buds & Blossoms” please see the original recipe! It’s delicious!) This is modified for the @wildbiomeproject of eating only wild food for 3 months. I headed out early this morning to collect some flowering currant flowers while they are still in bloom and it felt good to do so! 🩷 This recipe has smoked mackerel, flowering currant flowers, soaked feral apples, cow parsley, grated horse radish, apple cider vinegar, three cornered leek, a tiny amount of hazelnut oil, all whizzed together to make a pate. This will go with some acorn and rosehip crackers for a small lunch. If I had sweet cicely or Japanese knotweed I would use some of that with it. Liz has Rhubarb in her recipe which I adore and these are worthy alternatives. I’m off out to an urban jungle like a duck out of water! Wish me luck. I have my snacks and some lovely blackcurrant and lemon balm shrub to keep things relaxed! This project is going well so far. I feel I have more energy and feel much better for it. In terms of making food. I’m still by the seat of my pants! 😂 Have a lovely day! #wildbiomeproject #wildfood #freefood #eatwildfood
Quite blown away by @ekhocollectivecic work! As a Quite blown away by @ekhocollectivecic work! As a collective the gathering of lovely women created a couple of different wild sauerkrauts yesterday in a workshop in the woods by a wooden round circle space and inbetween an outdoor kitchen with a cob oven. Creating ferments outside is my favourite kind of workshop, especially in a setting like this! Dandelion, garlic mustard, ginger and Lemon sauerkraut Wild garlic, garlic mustard & chipotle chilli sauerkraut. These will be ready for the next meet up! We had a beautiful day, wonderful women and fun 💚Thanks so much for inviting me to run the workshop in your space @ekhocollectivecic ! This was an easy workshop to have a @wildbiomeproject snacks and drinks for day 12. Thank you! #inthewoods #community #workingtogether #wildfood #freefood #fermentednettles #wildbiomeproject #fermentation #sauerkraut
Day 11 Wildbiome Project Hop shoots (Humulus lupu Day 11 Wildbiome Project Hop shoots (Humulus lupulus) Sometimes referred to as the most expensive vegetable, this is the tender hops shoots growing up right now. These are hard to harvest hence the cost. I’ve watched this plant through the seasons so I was able to identity the shoots when they arrived. I only harvested a few this morning.Harvesting the shoots actually encourages the plant to grow more, so I’ll head back every so often. You’ll find hops growing in the hedgerow & river banks. I usually harvest hops flowers to pop into flavour kombucha, and these have been traditionally used to make bitter notes in beer for centuries! The shoots have a flavour similar to asparagus but with a small bit of bitterness. I enjoyed these wilted with 2 poached eggs and some wildbiome friendly mayo for breakfast. The rest of the day, I had a little venison stew, some pemican, venison jerky and an another mulberry and hazelnut crunchy granita, it’s been such a sunny day! 💚 I will be making more food and will share but the hop shoots I feel deserve a special mention as I really enjoyed this breakfast! Today was a relaxed morning for a change to rest and have a sauna @whitmorelakes which was perfect! Currently feeling good energy wise on the Wildbiome project. Hopefully enough to make a nice dinner! 😃💚 What have you foraged today? What are you making? #hops #hopshoots #wildbiomeproject #wildfood #earngwildfoodonly
Day 10 Wildbiome Project The day started gently w Day 10 Wildbiome Project The day started gently with a weak black chaga coffee. I’m following traditions of just having chaga in a pan on the back burner and just keep adding water each day to the chaga ground up pieces and simmer it and drink it, refill it until the water goes clear. There is a thought that the chaga staying in the pot may ferment alittle which is good. I haven’t had this for a year and a half so, I’ve been enjoying it. I had some feral black currants and a couple of hazelnuts for breakfast. Such a treat! It was a small quantity, so the rest I have macerated in a little honey for a few days to add to cider vinegar to make a shrub to extend enjoying them for a little longer. Whilst enjoying the sun in a town park, this smoked mackeral pate with sorrel was perfect! And on top of some very crispy crunchy acorn crackers made with rosehip puree and a few chopped hazelnuts, salt and Alexander seed for seasoning. These worked well for a packed lunch out and about. I had some wild greens soup to accompany it. In between I was helped to sort another car whoop! 😃 This evening I had venison & ground ivy stew with sautéed common hogweed shoots and some garlic mustard as a veg and then some wild kimchi to give it some depth. Frozen mulberries & a couple of hazelnuts for a little crunch whizzed up like a granita with a little birch sap syrup made my day! 💚 Have you managed to get outside and forage today, even from the garden? Let me know 🙂
Day 9 Wildbiome Project My car, may it rest in p Day 9 Wildbiome Project My car, may it rest in peace! So I reached home for 1 in the afternoon after a meeting and had no food or drink as my car died and I wasn’t prepared for that to happen. After 9 days the fridge is starting to have more wild food made up. So I cobbled together some Wild garlic & nettle soup, some venison meat balls & some mayo made with venison tallow (it’s an acquired taste 😂) made better by adding some hawthorn ketchup! Chaga coffee supported me today A wonderful walk to the local woods meant I had sheep’s sorrel and rosebay willow herb for dinner. This evening was a smoked mackeral pate, with egg, sorrel, ground Alexander seeds, wild garlic salt, some wildbiome friendly mayo, and a few serrated wrack tips. This was delicious and worked well! Woohoo! Accompanied by rose bay willow herb new stalks cooked, these were like asparagus. I made some acorn and rosehip crackers but they were taking all night to happen. So they will be ready for tomorrow! I have to admit, this is the toughest challenge I’ve ever experienced 😂 I won’t lie! My mind is constantly thinking about picking, storing, creating food. This kind of lifestyle is for communities to work together not on our own. Working together and supporting each other is the only way forward! 💚 I’m incredibly grateful to the @wildbiomeproject for being able to participate. I love the foraging community and how much I am learning 💚 #community #woodland #wildfood #freefood #wildbiomeproject
Day 8 of the Wildbiome Project started with this v Day 8 of the Wildbiome Project started with this view and these sounds at 7am gathering wild garlic and nettles. What better way to start the day? Food for today: Chaga coffee, pineapple weed & hazelnut milk Birch sap infused with flowering currant Nettle & wild garlic soup 5 acorn, chestnut, hazelnut tallow & dried fruit biscuit. Rock salmon we caught last year made into scampi made with acorn flour, egg, wild garlic salt & cooked in tallow. These were actually tasty! The dandelion roots dug up this eve were glazed in honey roasted in tallow chips, with wilted dandelion leaves with a egg mayo and tallow on the other hand was 3/10 😂 After a full days work the bitterness was perhaps a little to much for the palette. I had boiled some venison bones and ground ivy, three cornered leek etc the night before. The soup had sweet cicely and mint added and was a soup recipe @monicawilde had written up. It sadly missed the carrot roots recommended in Monica’s recipe. It was ok for a warm day and I wasn’t too hungry, whilst out @ymcans volunteer day for a project I’m helping to run. What I will say is that I have more energy to exercise than I have had for a long time. Let’s see what Day 9 brings! #nature #wildbiomeproject #wildfood #freefood
Day 7 Wildbiome Project Things feel a little easie Day 7 Wildbiome Project Things feel a little easier! Breakfast: Egg omelette with three cornered Leek, lacto fermented wild garlic, hawthorn ketchup (thanks @foragingforages) and cep mushrooms (thanks @edible.leeds) with seasoning fried with a little tallow. I love eggs and apart missing cheese that I love too, it was almost there! I had a couple of ye olde usual acorn, hazelnut and chestnut with tallow and fruit biscuits (off the biscuit tree @edible.leeds 😂)with dandelion tea through the day. Lastly, I was determined to make this today! Venison meatballs, rosehip sauce and spaghetti seaweed. Yesterday I raided the freezer and pulled out venison mince to create some variety in the venison as I’ve almost had on a daily basis 😂. I had frozen rosehips for the sauce and spaghetti seaweed frozen from a few days ago at the coast. The version seemed really gamey in flavour in these meat balls and I know venison meatballs are often mixed with pork to lessen flavour and add fat. I added a bit more tallow to fry three cornered leek, ground ivy and cow parsley off that I picked earlier. This had wild garlic salt and Alexander seeds added to the mix and some acv. The meatballs had an egg and some chestnut flour added. The meatballs were baked. The rose hip sauce was made from cooked rosehips in water strained through a sieve/muslin to prevent getting the hairs from the rosehips in the sauce. I added some damson puree, some wild garlic salt, Alexander seeds crushed, a little acv and some serrated wrack to help thicken the sauce and add a little umami and I think that was it. Lastly the spaghetti seaweed was frozen and just dropped into boiling water for a few minutes. I added some navel wort & lacto wild garlic. The day consisted of sorting dehydrated magnolias, seaweeds, picking greens for today, making food, a couple of meetings and spending time with my daughter. I did set foot in a supermarket and it’s a surreal experience after having spent so much time in the hedgerow and picking from previously foraged supplies. I really don’t want to go back to relying and using the supermarket and that’s just after 7 days of 91 on just wild food!
Day 6 Wildbiome Project I’m still trying to se Day 6 Wildbiome Project I’m still trying to settle into the groove! 😂 I foraged in the morning for common hogweed, wild mint, garlic mustard, sweet cicely and ground ivy. I race kayaked for the morning on a local lake, so didn’t eat until lunch, I had venison steak, with a wild chimchurri which consisted of wild mint, ground ivy, three cornered leek, wild garlic salt, ground ivy infused acv and some grated horseradish radish. This was served with wilted common hogweed using a little venison tallow. I adore chimchurri so a wild version hit the mark. I really didn’t need to eat again until evening! Dandelion flower tea and fermented birch sap were my drinks. Dinner was poached scallops with cooked feral gooseberries foraged last year & sweet cicely that has self seeded up across the farm. This was sooo welcome as a light meal and the flavours worked well. It was a beautiful day today on a local lake. I saw a swans nest which I didn’t think I’d see! It was like hitting gold. No photo evidence as these boats are tippy and I’m clumsy! Rather than taking the swans eggs which is illegal, we can have an equivalent in organic hen eggs for this project. Which is a relief as I can have one or two extra. The eggs I have are from the organic chickens at the farm where I have a kitchen. I feel really lucky to know where my eggs are coming from. I really enjoyed my meals today. It is a challenge to try and think ahead to keep up with the seasons, forage variety, keep up with life & work, cook different meals for my daughter like chilli con carne & rice… and not eat any of it it! 🤪 #vension #sweetcicely #commonhogweed #wildmint #threecorneredleek #scallops #wildbiomeproject

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Acton
Newcastle Under Lyme
Staffordshire
ST5 4EE

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