Help yourself to nature’s larder

STINGING nettles, ground elder, hairy bittercress and dandelions: to a gardener these sound like a whole bunch of weeds, but for Fred the Forager they’re a gourmet feast.

Wiltshire-born Fred Gillam is a big fan of scouring fields, hedgerows and woodlands in search of tasty leaves to add to salads or gently steam and enjoy as a vegetable, and he says the British countryside is more bountiful in delicious things to eat than we might think.

He’s keen to get more people out picking their own wild food, both for the nutrients it contains and the benefits that exposure to nature can bring to our physical and mental health.

Nevertheless he urges beginners to exercise caution when they first set about searching for natural goodies —they should equip themselves with a good reference book and, ideally, join an organised forage like the ones he runs to learn what’s safe to eat and what’s not.

You might think ‘well he would say that’, given that he earns money from such activities, but it’s when he sends us off into a shady woodland to pick the leaves of wild garlic – or ‘ramsons’ as some people know them – that the value of spending time with somebody like Fred becomes apparent.

For nestling among the lush and pungent-smelling foliage, like a coiled snake waiting to pounce on its unsuspecting prey, is another type of green leaf that would make a meal memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Lords and ladies, also known by the common names cuckoo’s pint or Jack-in-the-pulpit, and Arum maculatum under the botanical nomenclature, could cause serious poisoning.

Knowing that it exists, and can often be found growing among clumps of wild garlic, should help to save the budding forager from suffering serious damage.

And, should a lords and ladies leaf be unwittingly placed into a basket, another piece of sterling advice from Fred should root it out later on.

“I always tell people to check things as they put them in their basket, check while they’re sorting through and throwing out any twigs that may have fallen in, and check while they’re preparing it to be eaten,” he says.

Fred’s advice is built on a lifetime spent looking for and eating wild food, both in Wiltshire and all over the UK, and his knowledge is such that he is now an internationally recognised fungi specialist who works with Natural England as part of a national cross-organisational panel on the future of foraging. He also represents the Forager’s Association in a similar group convened by the Forestry Commission on the future of looking for wild food in the New Forest.

Last month his The Wild Side of Life company was named Trade Monthly’s Food & Drink Awards’ Foraging Education Provider of the Year.

The 48-year-old, who also earns his living as a herbalist, grew up on a private estate in All Cannings near Devizes, where his dad, George, worked as a gardener. It was here that Fred first found an affinity with the countryside, spending his school holidays and weekends exploring, fishing and foraging for tasty wild fruits such as blackberries and damsons that his mum, Pat, would incorporate into the family’s home-cooked meals or use to make jams and jellies.

“We had a very simple diet back then,” says Fred, who now lives in Avebury. “There were always lots of vegetables growing in the garden and Mum would always cook with what we brought home, which was quite encouraging.”

George took great pleasure in passing on his knowledge of plants to his son and over time Fred began reading up on wild species and increasing his knowledge of what was good to eat. As a teenager he developed an interest – he calls it ‘an obsession’ - with mushrooms and set about learning all he could about the UK’s native fungi.

“By the time I was 13 I had an understanding of simple things, particularly mushrooms, although there was one occasion, when I was 14, when I managed to poison myself and this taught me great respect for fungi in particular. What happened was that I had a couple of children’s nature books that contained pictures of one or two mushrooms, and I didn’t realise there was anything else. That’s why education is so important.”

A few hours in Fred’s company are all that’s needed for even the most convenience food-addicted couch potato to start seeing the countryside as not just a pretty place but a veritable larder of fresh produce to enjoy — as long as they know what to look for and what to avoid.

Those signing up for his Wild Side of Life courses get to discover the delights of lesser celandine leaves, although we’re told to go for the young, marbled ones rather than the older specimens, which can be tough and bitter; blackberry shoots, which are best eaten in moderation; garlic mustard, also known as Jack by the Hedge; goosegrass, or cleavers, the bendy tops of which are lovely steamed and said to be a tonic for the lymphatic system, and rib plantain, Plantago lanceolata, the buds and seedheads of which have a mushroomy taste, although Fred doesn’t bother with them when they’re actually in flower.

The delicate inner shoots of hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), known as ‘fiddles’, are as tasty as asparagus, says Fred, although he cautions that they’re toxic if not first blanched in boiling water for five minutes, with the fluid being discarded, before being sautéd in butter with salt and pepper for three minutes. Take care not to mistake common hogweed for the giant version (Heracleum mantegazzianum), the shoots of which are much larger, and avoid it altogether if in any doubt.

Hawthorn leaves, traditionally referred to in rural areas as ‘bread and cheese’, contain nutrients that are proven to be good for the heart.

Elderberries are particularly recommended by Fred, both for making a balsamic vinegar substitute and because they contain flavonoids that attack the flu virus and are much cheaper than buying off-the-shelf remedies made from the same ingredients from chemists.

Ground elder — now the scourge of gardeners — was actually brought to the UK as a vegetable by the Romans, who prized its ability to grow untended. Young tips are great when wilted for 30 seconds and have a celery or gin-like taste, says Fred.

All of these sound well and good, one might think, but stinging nettles?

Fred’s a big fan of these calcium and vitamin C-packed leaves and uses large amounts of them in his ‘spring cure’, a soup made with nutrient-rich wild plants that was traditionally cooked in the West Country to kick-start bodies left lethargic by meat-rich winter diets.

He even eats them raw, and, to prove it, demonstrates a technique for rolling leaves to break down their tiny needles so that they don’t sting the throat on their way down.

Many may be surprised to learn that the right to forage is enshrined in law, namely the Theft Act of 1968 that says that picking wild leaves, flowers, fruit and fungi for non-commercial use isn’t an offence, although digging up plants is not permitted. This legislation does not provide a defence for trespassing on other people’s land or taking farmers’ crops, however, and Fred urges those looking to forage on nature reserves to ask permission first as their activities may harm valuable conservation work.

“It’s a common misconception that foraging is bad for the environment but it’s not a bad idea; it’s about foraging intelligently and sustainably,” says Fred.

“In the past it was especially important that people could forage: during the Second World War the government actually produced two guides to foraging as a way of improving the content of people’s diets.

“I encourage people to focus on common plants, those that are regarded as pests, and those that are plentiful. It’s also a good idea to be aware of areas of the countryside commonly used for walking dogs. It’s a matter of using your common sense.”

With all the positives that come from foraging, it’s surprising that more of us aren’t including more wild foods in our diets, although, as Fred says, the time constraints of modern life make it more of a luxury than a necessity.

“It is hard work and very seasonal: people would have to learn the art of preserving to get them through the winter, which can be pretty bleak for wild food,” he says. “It’s not possible to run a job and then get home and go off looking for plants to eat for supper.”

Nevertheless he’s keen to spread the word about natural food; the good things known to our ancestors and the benefits that come from being close to nature, so long as we set out into the big wide yonder equipped with the knowledge that will save us from biting off more than we can safely chew.

Visit www.thewildsideoflife.co.uk.