Sheila Spence: summer foraging
Marsh Samphire, or Glasswort, is a favourite summer treat, eaten raw if young, or lightly steamed, but always pick it with scissors, never pull it out of the ground as that is illegal. Growing along tidal mudflats it is easily distinguished from other leafy plants. Wild Fennel is another easily recognised plant to find now, especially but not exclusively on the coast. Chopped into salad, or just nibbled as you walk along, it imparts a great aniseed flavour. Shellfish like cockles and mussels are abundant now but be extra certain of the cleanliness of the site when there is no ‘r’ in the month. Giant Puffballs, Chanterelles, Parasols and early Penny Buns all appear during the summer months along with fruits such as cranberry, bilberry, raspberry and those tiny, but very tasty, wild strawberries.
Recipe: Eggy Samphire Dunkers
Ingredients:
•Freshly picked Marsh Samphire – a small handful per person
•1 large egg per person
•Pepper to taste if required (ground white pepper for preference)
Lightly pick over and trim the Marsh Samphire and rinse well, either boil or steam for just a few minutes until tender. Bring a separate pan of water to the boil and cook the egg/s to your liking but they are best slightly soft and runny, then drain the samphire and serve whilst still warm.
Dunk the samphire stems in the egg just like you would ‘bread & butter soldiers’ season to taste but you probably don’t need any extra salt as the samphire is already somewhat salty. Enjoy!
Image by Bob Jones via geograph.org.uk.
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3 Responses to “Sheila Spence: summer foraging”
At 4:44 pm on June 18th, 2012 Sheila Spence wrote:
Just had our first Elderflower Fritters of the year – sprinkled with Cinnamon Sugar, ‘absolutely fabulous’ as they say! Pick one large or two small heads of elderflower and give a good shape to get rid of any bits or ‘hangers on’. Make up a light batter, I used half cornflour and half plain flour mixed with some sparkling cider (you could use chilled fizzy water instead) until you get a good coating consistency. Dip the flower heads in a cook briefly in hot oil (I used Rapeseed Oil) then serve hot sprinkled with sugar to taste. You can only do this for a very few weeks of the year so get out there and try it NOW!
At 1:43 pm on June 26th, 2012 Sheila Spence wrote:
Saw some amazing Shaggy Parasol mushrooms this morning, great cut into wedge shapes and dunked in beer batter, deep fried and served as a starter or nibbles. Great finger food! Alongside them there were also lots of what appeared at first glance to be early field mushrooms or their look alike, Wood Mushrooms (Agaricus silvilcola) but as I pulled one carefully out of the ground to get the whole of the stem out, I noticed that the very base of the stem was turning a bright yellow – meaning it was in fact a Yellow Stainer and not edible. Oh well, never mind, I just enjoyed the Shaggy Parasol instead. Some people say that they eat Yellow Stainers (Agaricus xanthoderma) but the only time I tried they gave me severe stomach cramps – so never again thankyou!
At 4:30 pm on July 10th, 2012 Sheila Spence wrote:
Chanterelles are up! Saw several lovely young specimens whilst visiting a NT property in West Wales over the weekend. Didn’t pick them, just admired and drooled over them from afar:)
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- This entry was posted on: Friday, June 15th, 2012 at 10:42 am
- Filed under: Blogs, Food
- Tags: coastal walks,foraging,Sheila Spence,wild food
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