Foraging

The proprietor of Absolutely Wild is a keen and experienced forager. Being out in the countryside everyday with his dogs helps provide a feeling for the seasons, an insight into what is available locally and an ever expanding knowledge of wild food through practical experience. This knowledge is invaluable when sourcing products from other suppliers.

Although the interest in foraging is on the rise most people's knowledge is still limited. Just about everyone has picked blackberries but it takes time and a lot of experience to lean about and pick wild mushrooms safely. However it wasn't long ago when this knowledge was common place and just about everyone that lived out of town gathered food from the wild. Today much of this must be re-discovered or re-learnt.

The quality of food that grows wild tends to be better than cultivated products. Wild food is not forced. If the weather is not suitable then certain plants and fungi may come early, late or even not at all. Because they grown when, and only when, conditions are good the taste and nutritional value can be superior.

Even today some wild plants and fungi are difficult, not practical or even impossible to cultivate. Wild mushrooms are a good example of this: most have eluded the many attempts to bring them into cultivation and these can only be gathered from the wild.

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