More often than not, my foraging classes and outdoor events are blessed with fine weather and the jammiest of lucky finds. This week was no exception, my Cambridge based weekly forage group struck gold - literally - with an amazing stand of chicken of the woods (Polyporus sulphureus) fungus. Why lucky you ask? Well, it's been so dry this year that all my usual COTW haunts haven't yielded much in the way of this excellent edible mushroom, so to find enough for the four of us really felt a lot like Divine intervention!
Funny how things come in threes....On a wild goose chase today ( excuse the phrasing!) for a free range chicken, I eventually tracked a 'Label Anglais' one down at a butcher's on the other side of town, late on when the traffic was beginning to get nightmarish. So many agressive motorists hogging the kirb side, making life harder for us bikies, grrr! So I took the longer but less traffic clogged way home across the common, and was rewarded by my second 'chicken' , a big clump of chicken-of-the-woods fungus on one of the old riverside willow trees, just above head height! Rich pickings indeed. At the base of the tree there was my third chicken of the day - a lovely lush patch of young chickweed! I haven't decided what to do with my forage haul yet, I was set on a Thai chicken curry but that was this morning. Humm, time to get a bit of inspiration with a nice cuppa!
Magic: mushrooms at last!
It's hard to remember that April was actually pretty pleasant weather wise, we've had so much rain recently. The wet is great when the sun comes out, but foraging can be tough going in heavy downpours. Increasingly, Nature dictates when and where I forage: rain makes low lying plant matter stick together, mushrooms go soggy, flowers droop or shut themselves up tight. My basket after a wet forage contains more than the usual haul of slugs and snails - yeuch. Why bother: the principle of least effort is a good one to follow!But in between the storms, it's really quite warm and pleasant. Elderflowers continue to come, I notice the first signs of fruit set, next to a spray of green unopened buds, beside another flower head with trembling, creamy yellow pollen showers. 3 litres of cordial to date - the recipe is so simple, I can't resist making another batch!
St Georges mushrooms - traditionally an April treat - are beginning to show themselves. Maybe it's me and I've been too busy, but it seems as if this spring was the pits for wild 'shrooms. Happily, I gathered enough yesterday for breakfast this morning: St Georges on toast with last night's bottifara negra (Spanish black pudding) , Veggies, avert your eyes! :-)
