useful site for any sea food forager in Kent..
http://www.kentandessex-ifca.gov.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&Itemid=184
it appears it's Game On for pacific rock oysters
and there are no by-laws on what we really want, razor clams, so the search continues.
Tj@TheNook
Tj @TheNook
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Foraging for Spring and Summer baking decorations....
The North Downs Way from Hucking to Harrietsham runs through numerous copses of chalk downland and woodlands.
Along the way look out for a number of baking decoration ingredients for free.
Wild Strawberries - just coming into flower today - so another 2-3 weeks and you should have strawbs ready to pick. They're delicious added to the top of cup cakes embedded in the icing
Wild Violets - both natural and white ones
pick a few flowers and dip in sugar solution and dry off. use as you would shop bought crystallised flower decorations
There are also numerous patches of wild yellow
primroses - which any one can spot - use these as above
It goes without saying - please DO NOT dig up any wild flowers if you suddenly get an urge to try and transplant a few of them to your own garden - they are easily disturbed, there are not a shortage of them if all you take is a handful of little flower heads, and their surrounding habitat contains numerous other life forms which would be upset if you dug them up too.
Along the way look out for a number of baking decoration ingredients for free.
Wild Strawberries - just coming into flower today - so another 2-3 weeks and you should have strawbs ready to pick. They're delicious added to the top of cup cakes embedded in the icing
Wild Violets - both natural and white ones
pick a few flowers and dip in sugar solution and dry off. use as you would shop bought crystallised flower decorations
There are also numerous patches of wild yellow
primroses - which any one can spot - use these as above
It goes without saying - please DO NOT dig up any wild flowers if you suddenly get an urge to try and transplant a few of them to your own garden - they are easily disturbed, there are not a shortage of them if all you take is a handful of little flower heads, and their surrounding habitat contains numerous other life forms which would be upset if you dug them up too.
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Of Sailing Ships and Sealing Wax, of Cabbages, and Kings.....
From the Western Heights above Dover, via the 12th Century Knights Templar church, the North Downs Way crosses under the A2, climbs high over Shakespeare's Cliff, weaving past the crumbling remains of the Napoleonic and 20th Century gun batterys towards Capel le Ferne.
Along this cliff top path is a wide array of foragables, with the added bonus of sweeping views out to the sailing boats in the straits of Dover, East and West over the cross channel ferry harbours of Dover and Folkestone, and vertically down to Samphire Hoe.
Patches of Alexanders litter the whole path and grassland area, but the best pickings are the two of three varieties of wild cabbages/kales growing tall and proudly along the cliff edge, and across the grassy banks, which are great to pick the new succulent leaves like homegrown kales, for stir-fries, or maybe even finely shredded for 'slaws, added to soups and casseroles, or simply steamed with a splash of balsamic.
For later in the season, the hawthorns, sloes, and abundant gorse flowers ready for late summer brewing lean up the slopes away from the bracing sea breeze.
the view from Shakespeare's Cliff back across to the Port of Dover
Plenty of big wild kale/cabbage, and at this time
of year, fresh, succulent new leaves for
stir fries and soups.
several different varieties of the
wild kales, alongside the freshly
sprouted alexanders.
the perpetually flowering gorse
ready for a spot of gorse fizz
brewing later in the summer
Along this cliff top path is a wide array of foragables, with the added bonus of sweeping views out to the sailing boats in the straits of Dover, East and West over the cross channel ferry harbours of Dover and Folkestone, and vertically down to Samphire Hoe.
Patches of Alexanders litter the whole path and grassland area, but the best pickings are the two of three varieties of wild cabbages/kales growing tall and proudly along the cliff edge, and across the grassy banks, which are great to pick the new succulent leaves like homegrown kales, for stir-fries, or maybe even finely shredded for 'slaws, added to soups and casseroles, or simply steamed with a splash of balsamic.
For later in the season, the hawthorns, sloes, and abundant gorse flowers ready for late summer brewing lean up the slopes away from the bracing sea breeze.
the view from Shakespeare's Cliff back across to the Port of Dover
Plenty of big wild kale/cabbage, and at this time
of year, fresh, succulent new leaves for
stir fries and soups.
several different varieties of the
wild kales, alongside the freshly
sprouted alexanders.
the perpetually flowering gorse
ready for a spot of gorse fizz
brewing later in the summer
Sunday, 26 February 2012
There'll be Alexanders over the White Cliffs of Dover....
12 degrees, and sunshine today on the North Downs Way.
8 mile stroll from the White Horse @ Folkstone around to the Battle of Britain Memorial and back again.
Whilst the only things worth foraging were the fresh Alexanders growing above the white cliffs, the bird song, the spitfire and hurricane, the views of the calm sunny channel....and the bacon buttie at the cafe down from the WWII memorial made the journey all the more pleasurable.
May also have found another rocky sea-food beach (well...I saw it from above, and it looks worth a look at low tide) - it's east of Folkestone below the Martello Tower...will check it out next weekend.
Tj@TheNook
8 mile stroll from the White Horse @ Folkstone around to the Battle of Britain Memorial and back again.
Whilst the only things worth foraging were the fresh Alexanders growing above the white cliffs, the bird song, the spitfire and hurricane, the views of the calm sunny channel....and the bacon buttie at the cafe down from the WWII memorial made the journey all the more pleasurable.
May also have found another rocky sea-food beach (well...I saw it from above, and it looks worth a look at low tide) - it's east of Folkestone below the Martello Tower...will check it out next weekend.
Tj@TheNook
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Hairy Bikers go foraging....
As razor clams are definitely on our winter foraging list....the Hairy Bikers are on trend it seems.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b019x4v5
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b019x4v5
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Sunday - Detling to Boxley
Firstly the Map -
http://gps.motionx.com/maps/9fcbfc44104f8215f12c3c8686f82f74
8 mile stroll down, up, and across from Detling (White Horse Wood) across to Boxley Woods via the Pilgrims way, and back along the North Downs Way
Despite the recent frost, there is still Hedge Garlic in the sheltered spots, and something to definitely revisit if you look hard enough along the tracks up through Boxley Woods are a number of clumps of wild strawberries, for a mid-summer fruity snack along the way. There's even a few gorse bushes with flowers still on them for a thoroughly off-season spot of brewing.
Tj@TheNook
http://gps.motionx.com/maps/9fcbfc44104f8215f12c3c8686f82f74
8 mile stroll down, up, and across from Detling (White Horse Wood) across to Boxley Woods via the Pilgrims way, and back along the North Downs Way
Despite the recent frost, there is still Hedge Garlic in the sheltered spots, and something to definitely revisit if you look hard enough along the tracks up through Boxley Woods are a number of clumps of wild strawberries, for a mid-summer fruity snack along the way. There's even a few gorse bushes with flowers still on them for a thoroughly off-season spot of brewing.
Tj@TheNook
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| Hedge Garlic |
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| Wild Strawberries |
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Sunday on the Downs.
Crisp, clear Sunday ahead of us, so a walk along the North Downs from Detling back across over Boxley. Lets see what the weekend frost has left us. a little further along last time back towards Blue Bell Hill we found a number of patches of wild marjoram.
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