Forage and Feast near Coniston

About

A 5-hour course with a foraging expert, which includes ID work, tasting wild ingredients and a wild-inspired feast near Coniston.

Our 'Forage & Feast' events offer the chance to try the most wild food by far! These are ‘full day’ events, so we want people to be able to join in having possibly booked a day’s annual leave, ensuring they feel it is worth it (it most certainly is!).

3-4 hours will be spent finding, identifying and tasting wild ingredients. The big difference between these events and the shorter ones we run is that there will be a big feast served at the end to create a more comprehensive experience for those attending lasting an additional 1-2 hours. Most of this is made by your tutor in advance, but freshly-picked ingredients found on the day by the group will also be added to give an extra flourish to the meal and allow guests to feel an even greater connection to their food.

"These are easily my favourite workshops to run because of all the amazing food!" - Jim Parums, Forage Box Founder and Chief Forager

DURATION: 5 hours (approx 4 hours of foraging and 1 hours preparing and eating your wild feast)

 

We like to keep some elements a surprise for the day, but here is what you can expect from your foraging workshop:

• a short introduction regarding the safety and format of the day

• discussions around foraging tips, safety, ethics, etiquette, sustainability and the law

• a circular walking route taking in different growing environments around the site. Expect a route of around 2-3km predominantly on footpaths

• a closer look at edible wild species and any poisonous lookalikes by a professional forager

• a chance to slow the pace of modern life down, meet new people and immerse yourself in a soul-nourishing activity, reconnecting with nature and discovering new flavours

• small tasters of wild food, drinks and other preserves - this includes freshly-picked items straight from the wild as we look to find the ingredients that will work best in our meal

• our workshops are run in a welcoming and informal fashion, where attendee questions and contributions are encouraged

• after the event, you will be sent a follow-up email containing a list of everything we found on the day and a full menu. Please do not expect photos or descriptions in this email - it is purely a list for reference purposes, and we find it helps people do further research in their own time.

Please note: as with most of our events, this is an educational experience and not a 'basket-filling' session.

 

Sample Menu:

You can watch this video to see a sample 'Forage & Feast' picnic box being filled, or below is a sample menu from a Forage & Feast event in 2024:

 

🍴 Wild Pesto made on the day with sweet cicely, common sorrel, himalayan balsam seeds and ground elder;

🍴 Nettle seed sourdough with chanterelle duxelle, wild garlic preserved in honey and grated egg yolk;

🍴 Wild Sushi: sea coriander, guelder rose sweet chilli, sea radish pods, sea plantain, fermented blackberry, fermented wild garlic;

🍴 Pickled hop shoots in cow parsley vinegar;

🍴 Damson umeboshi;

🍴 Beefsteak fungus jerky;

🍴 Alexanders and wild garlic kimchi;

🍴 Fresh nasturtium leaf 'wonton' with pickled rock samphire seeds, marigold flowers, kelp seaweed syrup and sea buckthorn hot sauce;

🍴 Coronation pheasant with wild carrot seeds, barberry berries and hogweed seeds;

🍴 Bilberry-gin cured, smoked pigeon breast;

🍴 Perry-pickled mussels;

🍴 Wild devilled eggs - porcini, sea lettuce, marsh samphire powder🍴

🍴 Wild mushroom broth (porcini, parasol, honey fungus, chicken of the woods, turkeytail) with himalayan balsam flowers;

🍴 Common hogweed seed parkin with artist’s conk mushroom treacle and hogweed seed brittle;

🍴 Alexanders marmalade pudding with bilberry compote, dryads saddle mushroom cream and fresh fuschia berry;

🍴 Elderflower and Rosebay Willowherb Kombucha;

🍴Mirabelle Wine

At the end of the session, there may be a small selection of our wild products and workshop vouchers available to purchase (card and cash accepted). This is a recent element of our events after enough attendees made enquiries about it - there is no pressure to buy anything having already bought tickets but sometimes people want a souvenir to take with them! Please speak to your tutor about this at the end.

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