Passions - From elderflowers to brambles, foraging connects us to seasons
This year I’ll have lived in cities as long as I lived in the countryside as a child. Growing up in a seaside town in Fife, I had the best of all worlds - two beaches, rolling countryside and access to larger towns and a city. But it was being outside and enjoying exploring the nearby fields and hedgerows - specifically for brambles in autumn and raspberries in summer - that I remember and what I have carried with me into adulthood. What was a fun game of finding and eating the seasonal berries, I now know to be foraging and, despite living in Glasgow, still take pleasure in hunting out deep purple brambles and crab apples in September, spotting raspberries in summer as well as now picking wild garlic in spring, elderflowers in early summer and elderberries in autumn. Through work I’ve been able to keep this hobby going, while learning. I’ve been on foraging walks with chef Paul Wedgwood in Edinburgh, autumnal wanders with Rupert from Buck and Birch and birch tapping with Birkentree in Perthshire (you can listen to the interviews and results via Scran, our food and drink podcast).
There’s something satisfying about picking berries - trying to reach to get the fattest, juiciest ones - not to mention the sense of calm I find in turning them into jams, sauces and cordials which are given as gifts at Christmas (with leftovers cluttering my fridge and kitchen counter). Foraging also gives us a tangible link to the passing seasons, as well as a grounding in nature and I’ve taken my love of it to the cities I have lived in (apart from Dubai where there’s nothing to forage). It also gives us a chance to learn something new and it’s an activity for everyone, as our natural surroundings become a garden for all to take only what they need. Caution is needed over some things, so I only pick what I know as you should too. With autumn coming at us sooner rather than later, I won’t be despairing at the shorter days and colder weather, but instead look forward to more berry picking and jam making.