IN WHICH I
  • ... Write
  • ... Explain

Go foraging in Norfolk

9/9/2014

10 Comments

 
Norfolk beachCrepuscular rays near Hunstanton.
In North Norfolk, at the mouth of the Wash, the wind churns the sea into choppy brown peaks and sends clouds scudding across the wide horizon.

At low tide, mudflats and salt marshes stretch endlessly, carved through by meandering waterways, spiked with grey and yellow grasses, lightly but thoroughly trampled by flocks of wildfowl and waders. Inland, fields of wheat, corn and sugar beet stretch across the gentle, shallow swells of a landscape punctuated occasionally by dark stands of trees and the grey flint spires of village churches. Life exists here on a thin strip, like the Earth’s crust, sandwiched between sky and stone.

Having visited Norfolk several times during the colder, off-peak months, I’ve tended to describe it as flat, bleak and full of birds. But this time, after the best summer in years, I was struck by the abundance and diversity of the hedgerows, streams and tidal marshes. As I explored the area, I couldn’t resist making the most of this wild harvest. . .

Foraging for leafy vegetables and herbs

Stinging nettles and mallow are familiar friends. We found them growing in great quantities along a footpath snaking between coastal villages and we sautéed a few bunches with mushrooms to make a tasty snack. The wild mint we found alongside the nettles went into fresh mint tea. We later found a stream overrun with watercress, but we were out without a bag or container, so I made do with munching on a few peppery leaves.

Foraging for berries and fruit

Crabapples and damsonsCrabapples and damsons.
Established hedgerows encircled the village we stayed in, offering a variety of fruit. Blackberries are probably one of the most commonly foraged fruits in the UK and we tossed a handful of small but sweet specimens into an apple crumble along with the last cherry plums from a nearby tree.

Intertwined with a couple of sloe bushes, and easily distinguishable in such close proximity, I discovered damsons – the first time I’ve found these small plums in the wild. I made a tiny batch of damson jam to experiment, and it was absolutely amazing – tart and flavoursome. We went back later to pick a few more and made them into jelly with some crabapples collected during a bike ride. This wasn’t quite as lively, but it was still good spread on challah toast in the morning.

Elderberries in handA handful of elderberries.
The hedges were dripping with droopy bunches of shiny, black berries on bright red stalks. After checking with some knowledgeable friends on Twitter, I identified them as elderberries.

These were completely new to me, so I decided to make something simple to get a feel for the flavour. Alys Fowler in The Thrifty Forager claims elderberries “have a slightly rank taste so it’s always the last jam in our house to get eaten”, but I was not to be dissuaded! I made a tasty (if slightly too sweet) cordial, which was reminiscent of a well-known blackcurrent drink. We drank it with ice out of champagne flutes while sitting in the Norfolk sunshine. . . bliss!

Foraging for samphire

Marsh samphireMarsh samphire.
My most exciting find, out on those wide, sticky flats, was patch after patch of marsh samphire. I had never eaten samphire before. I snipped a few bits (not sure if it was legal to harvest it, not wanting to disrupt an ecosystem I was not familiar with) and added it raw to a salad. It was gorgeous – tiny, crunchy pockets of salty sea-flavour bursting in each mouthful.

(N.B. We later went to Titchwell Manor for a delicious evening meal, during which I was presented with an enormous bowl of samphire. It made my foraging efforts look rather paltry in comparison. . . but food is always tastier when you find it and/or grow it yourself!)

Over the course of our holiday, this flat ribbon of North Norfolk became more than a beautifully bleak and bird-filled landscape to me. Through our foraging excursions, I connected with it on a personal scale and felt grounded there in a way I hadn't before.


What wild food is in season where you live? Have you got any foraging stories or questions? I'd love to hear them in the comments or on Twitter.

10 Comments
Eliza
9/9/2014 10:57:35

Gah! loooove everything about this post especially the landscape description at the start but really everything. Beautiful and sweet. Thanks!

Reply
Jonathan link
9/9/2014 11:18:27

Thanks, Eliza, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope the description helped evoke memories of your time in Norfolk, too!

Reply
Emily link
9/9/2014 13:03:25

I has an envy! Today I foraged some parsley from someone's front yard - and tend to forage rosemary when I feel like it because it's very common in that location! - but otherwise the more "wild" foraging is pretty thin in the suburbs :(

But you've reminded me I bought an "edible plants of australia" guide a while ago that I need to dig out again - and see if I can make any preserves from anything in there!

Reply
Jonathan link
9/9/2014 13:26:40

Rosemary must be the standard foraged herb of inner-northern Melbourne - why buy it when there are huge bushes of it leaning into the footpath on almost every block? And in the back alleyways, figs! Yummo.

I would love to know how you go with finding edible natives in Victoria. I don't know that many. We had a cherry ballart at my parents' place, which was OK for a tiny snack. Most of my Australian wild foraging was limited to invasive/non-native species (blackberries if they weren't sprayed with Roundup, allium triquetrum) or suburban foraging... which deserves its own post, probably!

Reply
mary link
9/9/2014 20:48:35

hi jonathan! marsh samphire! we call them sea beans, and the chi chi farmers markets around here sell them for big bucks. i think they are best in small handfuls and a good snack with beer. :) i've never encountered wild pears...how fun! right now all the queen anne's lace is going to seed, and i found a recipe for using the seeds in a cocktail with brandy, so that's my next foraging expedition.

Reply
Jonathan link
9/9/2014 21:20:07

Hello! Sea beans, I love it! I imagine samphire would indeed make a deliciously fresh alternative to salted nuts as a crunchy beer snack. (The enormous quantity of samphire I was served in the restaurant was quite a shock - I thought it would have been too expensive for such luxury! But there you have it - I guess it's very local produce, so they had lots?)

Is this the Queen Anne's Lace you mean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daucus_carota ? It's a more romantic name than wild carrot, that's for sure... Mmm, cocktails. Yum. If I can afford a bottle of gin soon I think I'll try my hand at sloe gin.

Reply
Belinda link
10/9/2014 15:56:44

Oh my goodness I ogle everything.

I SHOULD NOW LIKE YOU TO FIND BURIED TREASURE ON A WINDSWEPT BEACH WHILE BEING LOOKED AT QUIZZICALLY BY A BIRD.

Reply
Jonathan link
11/9/2014 18:16:16

I'll do my best - just for you!

Reply
Margot
10/9/2014 22:09:41

Takes me right back and I can taste everything again as I read

Reply
Jonathan link
11/9/2014 18:17:37

I will bring some of my new jam up to yours next time we visit!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    In which I

    In which I do things and write about them

    RSS Feed

    In which I tag

    All
    #30DaysWild
    Art And Architecture
    Audio And Music
    Australia
    Battle Observer
    Birmingham
    Books And Stories
    Bristol
    Buckinghamshire
    Cambridgeshire
    Cooking
    Cycling
    Devon
    East Sussex
    Eating And Drinking
    Film And Video
    Foraging
    Gardening
    Gippsland GunaiKurnai Country
    Grand Union Canal
    Hastings Independent
    Hertfordshire
    Heysen Trail Prep
    Housekeeping
    Imagining
    Interviewing
    Kent
    Lake Field
    London
    Manchester
    Marketing
    Melbourne Wurundjeri Country
    Microadventure
    National Trust
    Netherlands
    Norfolk
    Northumberland
    Paddling
    Q&A
    Reporting
    Review
    Share The Love
    Sheffield
    Snowy River
    Somerset
    South Gippsland Bunurong Country
    Suffolk
    Swimming
    Tea
    Victorian High Country Jaitmathang Country
    Victorian High Country Taungurung Country
    Wadawurrung Country
    Wales
    Walking
    West Sussex
    Wiltshire
    Year Of Sleeping Variously
    Yorkshire

    In which I archive

    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.