Description

A full day exploring the abundance of spring plants. At this time of year nature is waking up giving you the perfect opportunity to learn some plant identification, harvesting & processing techniques. Foraged full day courses are very much a hands on experience and you will be collecting leaves, shoots, roots & flowers.

Set at the picturesque Kidbrooke Park, a stones throw from the Ashdown Forest this course will introduce you to the abundance of spring time plants. You will get to explore the many and varied habitats at this location under the guidance of experienced forager James Grant. James will show you how to approach the subject of foraging in a safe and fun manner considering plant families and features to get you started exploring spring wild foods. 

Sessions

The day is set out into four sessions with two 30 minute brew breaks and 1 hour for lunch.

1. Salads - With everything waking up from the winter there's an abundance of young fresh shoots and leaves to collect for a very diverse salad full off flavour and nutrition. You'll be introduced to the easy to identify families and collect for the basket and the first course of your lunch.
2. Herbs & Spices - What doesn't taste better with the addition of herbs? A lot of wild herbs are at their best at this time of year and can be quite powerful so be prepared to have your socks knocked off! 
3. Trees - Outside of fruit and nuts trees are often forgotten about when it comes to food with a lot of tree leaves being edible as well as very tasty! One reason for this is there is a short window to enjoy them so being able to recognise when to grab them can totally change your perception of the mass of green that appears in the spring.
4. Fermentation & pickling - When you've had your fill and cant eat anymore its a good time to think about processing wild foods for eating in the future which is what this last session is about. You'll get to make foraged 'something' to take home with you and enjoy later in the year. What you make is up to you, ingredients are provided for pickling and ferments but if you wish to do something alcoholic you'll need to bring your own alcohol.

Skills covered

• Tree and plant ID
• Harvesting techniques
• Food preparation
• Food preserving

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