Jen Wiss-Carline is a speara and keen coastal forager. In this series of posts, she shares some tips on how to make the most of the free food waiting to be found along our shores.
When I was a little girl, I used to love filling my plastic bucket with sea creatures for my mum to cook up. There was something extremely satisfying about finding juicy big cockles and mussels to bring a huge smile to her face, and she always made them smell wonderful. Now, as an adult, the soaring cost of food in supermarkets has provided me with a strong motivation to explore new ways to fill my table and freezer.
Whether you’re lucky enough to live near the coast or just visit occasionally, the ocean’s larder is always full of fresh, delicious and free food to forage, from crustaceans and molluscs to the mighty and often-overlooked seaweeds. It’s a great family day out with a lot of learning opportunities and the kids will love the thrill of finding you something to cook.
In this series of blog posts, I hope to inspire you to explore the shore, fill your buckets with tasty treats, and add the coastline to your list of favourite foraging haunts.
Before you venture to your nearest rocky shore in the search for tasty goodies, be aware that the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA) make bylaws for all coastal regions in England which set out minimum sizes for taking shellfish to ensure that populations can reproduce before being harvested. You can check which IFCA region you fall under on this map, and there are links to the regional policies at the bottom of this page. In Wales, you can check the Natural Resources Wales for rules (have a quick search by species).
Please don’t take more than you need – we are lucky that this supply of mouthwatering free food isn’t overly regulated at the moment, and foraging sustainably helps to keep it that way.
If you’re staying on dry land, I recommend taking a knife and some catch bags with you, and waterproof shoes such as wellies or crocs – the rocks can be painful with bare feet. A rake is also helpful for foraging cockles. Check the tide times before you go – you want the tide to be going out so you can explore what has been left around the sea bed and rocky areas (I’ll get to more adventurous options later). Ideally you want a spring tide which occur during full and new moons. This is when the gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun align, either pulling together (new moon) or pulling in opposite directions (full moon), resulting in the most significant tidal ranges. This unearths much more of the sea bed than a typical tide and will be most productive. Be sure to keep an eye on the incoming tide and don’t get cut off by it.
For all your foraged seafood, make sure you wash it very well in cold water before you cook it to get rid of sand and dirt. Some seafood such as whelks will also benefit from a couple of hours soaking too.
Starting with my childhood favourite, cockles are so delicious and incredibly healthy, packed with protein.
They tend to lie a couple of inches below the sand for which a rake is a really handy tool to drag them up, although you might find some above. They must be foraged alive so their shells should be closed and they shouldn’t smell bad. If you find an open one, give it a tap on a hard surface to see if it closes up – otherwise discard. Cockles are best steamed by adding a cup of water to a large pan with a lid. You can add a splash of lemon if you want to. They take just a couple of minutes and their shells should pop open – otherwise get rid.
Mussels are easy pickings to be found on the rocks, hanging on tightly by their little strings (“the beard”). Make sure they’re closed shut when you find them, and either twist them off or use a short knife to get underneath.
Before cooking, spend some time cleaning each one: cut off the beard and scrape off any small barnacles from their shells. This will ensure there is not grit in broth. There’s no shortage of very simple steamed mussel recipes to be found, ranging from white wine, butter and garlic broth to coconut milk, fresh coriander and sliced chillies. Most seafood recipes are interchangeable with other shellfish and literally take minutes to execute. Make sure the shells opens when you cook them – otherwise discard those that don’t.
In my next post, I’ll introduce three more of my coastal foraging favorites: winkles, scallops, and oysters. Get your bucket and wellies ready for a real teatime treat!All images licensed through Envato.
It has taken me a while to post this, so apologies for my tardiness. Earlier this year, in conjunction with Bwyd Powys Food and Builth Wells Community Hub, I led a wild food and foraging session with the aim to help local low or zero income families to learn about seasonal eating and how to improve their health for free, whilst increasing their nutritional intake.
It was a bit wet and cold, so a few people dropped out but we had eight people out and getting wet whilst learning about what is safe to eat and what isn’t, including 5 adults and 3 children.
We saw Stinging Nettles, Plantain, Dock, Hawthorn, Ground Elder, Cleavers, Mullein, Dandelions, Blackthorn flowers, Common Sorrel, Garlic Mustard, and Ground Ivy.
The learner foragers each took an identification card and harvested their chosen plant to be taken back to the hub.
Back at the hub we added some of our herbs to hot water to infuse and make a stock, meanwhile we got to chopping onions and plants. The younger members were tasked with frying the onions, adding risotto rice and gently cooking the risotto whilst adding the stock. When the risotto was cooked, they added the chopped plants and some grated cheese.
The risotto went down really well (especially with the younger foragers! Adults, take note, lol).
The session went down well, and we hope to repeat it at other times in the year to help educate about seasonal eating.
If you would like to do something similar with your group/organisation, reach out to Gavin at gavin@foundfood.com
I love the smell and the taste of Elderflower, so every year it is a race to make as many things as I can from them to last for the rest of the year. This is one of the most versatile options because you can use it to make so many other things.
Now you have Elderflower cordial, you can have it as a cold drink, a hot drink, a cocktail, you can freeze it in cubes for other drinks, you can use it in baking and other desserts, you can add it to creams, and many many other uses.
Rosehips have been used for many, many years and it’s common knowledge that there is more vitamin C, pound-for-pound, than in an Orange. But what does it taste like? Well that’s a difficult question to answer as there isn’t anything else similar tasting. The best I can do is to say that it’s like a citrus fruit, but not like any other citrus fruit you’ve ever tasted.
It can be served as a lovely cold drink, a hot drink, and even as a non-alcoholic hot spiced cordial which is very reminiscent of mulled wine.
You can make this with cultivated rosehips (as long as they haven’t been sprayed), but I find that wild rosehips are much nicer.
This will keep for 3 months or more in the fridge, if you can avoid drinking it all before then!
This cake is delicious and simple, and tastes a lot like coffee despite having no coffee in it!
Not so much a recipe, more just an idea of what to do with these wild vegetables. Usually, they’re steamed or boiled and used as a wild alternative to asparagus, but get them young and small enough and they make an excellent pickle.
Rosebay Willowherb shoots have a little tanginess to them, so I use organic apple cider vinegar to balance that with the sweetness of the apples.
See Rosebay Willowherb on The Forager Helper.