Hazel catkin tea wild edibles foraging - Off grid day 48

[@jeanhelliwell8160]

Wild garlic is amazing. You can eat every part of it. Leaves flowers, roots, everything. It's delicious. Great in salad, pesto, lots of things

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I am really looking forward to when the flowers come out to see what they are like to eat. Cant quite imagine what a tea made from them will taste like

[@jeanhelliwell8160]

@@beyondtheworkbench hmmmmm, not sure about tea, nice on salads. Round here from when I was young we always called them stinking nannies.

[@martincoleman7517]

It's very easy to propagate, so if you don't have enough..... We use it as a garlic/spinach substitute, so Indian food such as Sag Aloo, Sag Paneer etc - brilliant. Italian ravioli filling and canelloni. IIRC badgers enjoy it too. We even dehydrated some one year and used the crsushed dried powder as a spice - on cheese on toast!

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I haddnt considered drying and crushing it thats such a good idea

[@jeanhelliwell8160]

Have you tried blackberry leaf tea, very nice. Use young new leaves from the top

[@beyondtheworkbench]

no I havent yet but we planted some blackberry bushes last year so I will have to try it

[@leatonveg]

If you have birch trees try tapping the sap. Amazing stuff.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Thanks!

[@monkeyandsofia]

Another inspiring video, and so glad you put down that stupid myth (most newbie off-gridders believe), that just because the land looks unmanaged and barren nothing is growing. Total rubbish. We have just lost our primeval skills for foraging and eating seasonally. I was introduced to fresh herb tea by Ken Fern of PLANTS FOR A FUTURE (his book of the same title is a must for foragers) and haven't gone back to dried herb tea since, they are like two completely different things. Fresh is also a lot healthier. I pick mine daily, and even here in wild and windy Shetland that means at least a hundred plants to choose from. Today it was a mix of yarrow+peppermint+wild mint+comfrey+tarragon+catnep, lovely! Looking forward to the next video.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Wow you have loads to chose from! Since the video I have been hunting around for lots else to try as people let me know about different plants in the comments. I am searching for a chaga but no luck yet

[@monkeyandsofia]

Nettles should be available. They are good in a mixed tea and brilliant vegetable. When you make herb tea try steeping them covered for eight minutes. A great herbal reference is the RHS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERBS by Deni Brown. Search Abe Books for a second hand copy.

[@Pictman777]

Wild garlic, baby birch polypore, turkey tail mushroom, chaga coffee , rosebay willowherb leaves for tea, pignuts if you can find them

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I think I have heard about the chaga coffee, isnt it made from those black mushrooms? I have been on the lookout for them but so far either I cant find them or i'm not good enough at spotting them.

[@egidijuskilinskas4583]

Are you planning to plant any trees? Is there any chestnut trees around?

[@beyondtheworkbench]

you are on the same wavelenghth. We planted some chestnut seeds last month to get things moving

[@jeanhelliwell8160]

I've heard that if you roast them you can put them in cereals like nuts for flavour.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

That would taste amazing!

[@annabelmacrae5256]

Make wild garlic pesto!

[@beyondtheworkbench]

We were close to that with the pasta, Ill bet pesto would be even better!

[@jeanhelliwell8160]

I think pine needle tea is supposed to be good

[@beyondtheworkbench]

We have loads of pine so I will get some on my way to the blackberry bushes

[@insAneTunA]

You can eat dandelion flowers.

[@beyondtheworkbench]

I will give them a go, there are lots of suggestions so it feels like I will have a wild feast

[@insAneTunA]

@@beyondtheworkbench What Wayland Smalley does in terms of growing food withhis deep mulch garden would really work well for your climate, given that fact that you can create some flat surfaces or terraces. He also showed how you can pick flowers that are eatable, and extract tea from it, or even make jelly or gummy bears from it. One of those videos is called, Spring In The Garden Means Red Bud Jelly 3-20-2024

[@insAneTunA]

You can even grow Strawberries on top of bales of hay that have a little compost on top of them.

[@mppc2001]

Hiya, remember to look around your Larch trees from Aug-Sept for mushrooms. You could be lucky and get Larch Bolettes a very good eating mushroom. As for herbal teas, I collect and prepare a variety of teas each year but the minimum you should infuse the tea is five to ten minutes for a good flavour. Check out Eat The Weeds on KZbin for wild foods, also Wild garlic makes a great pesto but season is only around six weeks so get your fill while you can. All the best!

[@beyondtheworkbench]

Amazing thank you so much! I will keep a look out for those mushrooms as there are a fair few pathes of larch I can check