Urban Gathering Fruits of the City

8/11/2019 Urban Gathering Fruits of the City

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Urban-gathering-fruits-of-the-city/

Food Living Outside Play Technology Workshop

Urban gathering - fruits of the cityby sursula on September 17, 2014

Table of Contents

Urban gathering - fruits of the city ..................................................................................................

Intro: Urban gathering - fruits of the city ..........................................................................................

Step 1: A few words before you start / equipment ...................................................................................

Step 2: Nuts! ..............................................................................................................

Step 3: Elderberries ........................................................................................................

Step 4: Apples and other fruit .................................................................................................

Step 5: Apple and elderberry jelly ..............................................................................................

Step 6: Finishing the jelly .....................................................................................................

Step 7: Seabuckthorn ....................................................................................................... 1

Step 8: Seabuckthorn-liqueur ................................................................................................. 1

Step 9: Berries ............................................................................................................ 1

Step 10: Hops ............................................................................................................. 1

Step 11: Rose hips ......................................................................................................... 1

Step 12: Rose hip & red onion chutney .......................................................................................... 1

Step 13: Nettles ........................................................................................................... 1

Step 14: Mushrooms ........................................................................................................ 1

Step 15: Clean & prepare the mushrooms to make... ................................................................................ 1

Step 16: Fillet of pork with a bay bolete ragout ..................................................................................... 2

Step 17: Now go out and find some things yourself! ................................................................................. 2

Related Instructables ........................................................................................................ 2

Advertisements ............................................................................................................... 2

Comments ................................................................................................................ 2
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Intro: Urban gathering - fruits of the cityever since i was a littl e kid i loved to find things, especially edible things in the nature. gowing out to gather walnuts in autumn from one of the many t rees that were justgrowing outside the village on the egde of the black forest where i grew up. finding tiny little wild strawberries in the woods, eating blueberries strait from the bush ormaking apple sauce with apples from one of the many old abandones orchards all around, that was so much fun!

but since i wanted some more fun in life than the li ttle black forest could provide i moved to the big city over ten years ago now. the passion for gathering f ruit didn't stop,though. and it didn't have to, since even in a big city like berlin, you can find a surprising amount of edible or otherwise useful plants if you just walk through the worldwith open eyes and a little knowledge for what you have to look for.

in this instructable i want to give you some inspiration on going out there, even in a big city, and finding the unexpected in places you wouldn't think of. there are so manyplaces, parks, green belts along rivers and canals, abandoned lots and city forests that can yield a lot of fruit and other things.and especially for those of us living in the cities it is healthy and important to get outside and into "nature" (at least the nature a city can provide) and spend some timeoutside of buildings. gathering is a perfect opportunity to do just that. and especially now in the late summer and autumn, many things will be ripe and waiting to beenjoyed.

i included some recipes and ideas on what to do with the found stuff, i hope you like it and maybe it inspires you to go out yourself and find great things!

Image Notes1. it doesn't look like berlin, but it is. only ten minutes by bike from kreuzberg youcan almost feel like alone in the woods


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Image Notes1. this is berlin, too. closer to the edge this time but hey, berlin's berlin.

Step 1: A few words before you start / equipmentfirst of all, when gathering fruit, mushrooms, herbs or other stuff it is important to only gather stuff that you only collect things that you can identify whithout a doubt. Eatingthe wrong kind of plants or mushrooms can lead to range of unpleasant things from an upset stomach to poisoning and serious illness.

try to damage plants as littl e as possible, it is much better to use a knife to cut parts of plants of or to cut mushrooms instead of yanking things out of the ground, becausethat can damage the roots of the plants and might lead to their (unnecessary) death. be kind!

another thing to keep in mind is that a city is not the most clean place and especially in parks, even though you might not see it, a dog might have peed somewhere. thisis why it is very important to thoroughly wash everything you gather before you do something with it. things growing close to the ground need the most washig! also, don'tpick or gather stuff directly besides big and busy roads as the exhaust fumes might have made their way into the plants.

the only things you really need for the urban gathering are a knife ( i very much like my opinel knife, a french product that can be closed for security and is also great forcamping) and some sort of containers to put your found treasures in: paper bags, baskets, simple fabric bags, plastic bags are not so good, but still ok.protective gloves might come in handy sometimes when you are dealing with stingy or thorny plants.a bike is defenitely the friend of the urban gatherer, but you could also walk....


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Step 2: Nuts!nuts are one of the things you can easily find even in cities, since nut-bearing trees or shrubs are often planted in parks and or back yards.

for example beech trees are a popular park tree and the produce the most delicous, t riangular nuts. two of them sit in one little pod. they are super tasty and you mightnot even have had them before even though they grow all around you.

another nut that is often found is the walnut. walnut trees are easily recognisable by there rather big, bright green leaves and the green balls hanging on the tree that arethe nuts still in there outer shell. inside the green shell, there is the normal hard, brown shell. the outer green shell desintegrates as the years passes and the nuts fall tothe ground. as it desintegrates it turns brown and slimy and can easily stain hands and clothes (they can be used for dying and for making ink!), so be carefull whencollecting the walnuts.i love fresh walnuts from late in the summer or early autumn, when they are still white and have that wonderfull earthy smell....

often you can also find hazelnuts, which are grown as hedges in the city.


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Image Notes1. a walnut tree hiding between the green...


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Step 3: Elderberriesthe elder is one of the most common shrubs in central europe and can be found in many other places as well.

it can easily be found in a lot of parks where it is grown as a decorative plant. in late spring it is abloom with panicles of tiny white flowers. the flowers can be made intoelderflower syrup or elderflower wine or lemonade or dipped into batter and fried and then eaten with powdered sugar.

in late summer the flowers that haven't been used in spring will have turned into black berries. like other fruit they can be turned into jam, juice, jelly or fruit wine. theyshoudn't be eaten raw though, since they contain small amounts of toxins that are destroyed by heat. the berries and their products are quite healthy, a warm elderberryjuice with a dash of rum works wonders when you have a cold.

to collect the elderberries, it's best to cut the whole panicles of the shrub with a knife or garden scissors. the berries can often be too high up to reach them, but thebranches are quite flexible, so you can bend them down carefully, cut of the berries and then let go.

apart from the berries all other parts of the plant are toxic, so please don't chew on the leaves!


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Step 4: Apples and other fruitsorry, no pictures of the apple trees, since we found them on a day where we had a little camera free adventure. but even inexperienced persons might recognize anapple tree (with fruit) when they see it, since it, well, has apples, a fruit that is quite famous all around the world.

it might surprise you but even in bigger cities fruit bearing t rees can be found. not only apples, but also pears, differnt kinds plums or cherries might be just around thecorner.i don't know why, but in quite a lot of berlin streets, cherry trees are planted along the sidewalks (probably because of the nice flowers in spring).

these apples we found when we went for a walk where the berlin wall used to be...

the biggest problem with picking fruit that grow on trees it that the are too high up to reach them. there might be some lying on the ground, but sometimes you don'twanna pick stuff that has been lying on the ground for a while (even in a park) in a bigger city, dog poop being just one of the reasons... and also most often the fruit thatfall to the ground while a lot more are still up in the tree are worm infested and so not really good for consumption, either. or maybe you like that extra kick of protein....

so shake that tree and collect the fruits that freshly fell down.

Step 5: Apple and elderberry jellyso now that all that nice fruit has been successfully gathered, what to do?

make a nice apple and elderberry jelly!

wash the apples and then cut them into chunks, the cores don't have to be removed. beware of the wormholes, though, or you might end up in the delta quadrant. eventhe apples that are still hanging in the tree might be already worm infested, but don't throw away the whole apple, just cut out the wormy bits.

put the apple chunks in a big pot. put the pot on the stove on medium heat, at a bit of water (depending on the amount of apples, about 300 - 500 ml) an put a lid on.

rub the elderberries from their stems, the not completely ripe ones wil l not be easy to remove, don't use them. wash the berries and drain them, then add to the applesand let everything boil on low to medium heat (with the lid on), stirring occasionally until everything is very soft and falling apart. let the fruit cool down.


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Step 6: Finishing the jellynow we have to dejuice the cooked fruit. if you are lucky enough to have a steam juice extractor, you can skip the f irst part and just dump the fruit in the extractor andcontinue to make the jelly with the obtained juice.

i don't, so here is how to do it whithout: put a clean (!) kitchen towel over a sieve over a bowl or pot and put some of the cookes fruit inside, fruit juice will start to drip outof the botton. you can speed that up by taking the four corners of the towels and then wring against the lump of mashed fruit. it will press more juice and also some of thepulp out. i like to do it that way for two reasons: it goes faster and yields more jelly in the end, only the jelly won't be clear afterwards because of the fruit pulp. i don'tmind, and the fruit pulp tastes just as good so why let it go to waster? if you want clear jelly, knot a bigger cloth or towel to the legs of an upturned chair, put all the friut inat once at let gravity do the work.

no matter how you did it, discard the rest of the fruit and measure the amount of juice obtained. transfer the juice into a big enough pot, add the right amount of gellingsugar (sugar with added pektin to make the gelly "hard"), see the packaging. since apples contain a good amount of pektin themselves, you can put a bit less of thegellng sugar than the packaging says. we have different kinds of gelling sugar, i prefer the one with the highest pektin to sugar ration since the jelly or jam made with itwon't be as sweet.

bring the juice and sugar mixture to boil an on low heat boil for about 4 minutes while stirr ing constantly.

thoroughly clean enough glasses with matching lids with lots of hot / boiling water.

pour the jelly still boiling hot into the glasses, filling them as full as possible. screw the lids on imidiately. this is best done with two persons.


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Step 7: Seabuckthornseabuckthorn is a shrub most often found at the coast (hence the name seabuckthorn) or also in heathland in europe and central asia.

but since it's quite pretty to look at with it's thin, silvery leaves and bright orange berries you might f ind it growing in parks or other green areas. because of it's uniquelook, it can't be mistaken with other plants.

gathering the berries is not the most fun, since the shrub is quite thorny (as can be guessed from it's name) and the berries are easily squished when trying to pick them.on top of it all, they contain a lot of acid, and after some time picking the acid juices of the squished berries made my hand hurt a bit. but it's worth the effort!

the berries are very healthy, they contain about 15 times as much vitamin c than oranges, among other things. but they are not good for eating raw, better do somethingnice with them!


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Step 8: Seabuckthorn-liqueuras the raw seabucktorn-berries are (as mentioned) not very nice when eaten raw, and i already made preserves out of the apples and elderberries, i made liqueur fromthe seabuckthorn.

making liqueur from basically any kind of f ruit is quite easy and rewarding and a good way to have a fruity winter.basically you just add whole or smashed fruit along with sugar and, if desired, some herb or spices to some spirit that doesn't have a lot of taste on it's own (like vodka,korn or maybe even gin) and let it macerate for some time.

so for the seabuckthorn-liqueur you need a bottle ( size depending on the amount of berries found), the berries, spirit (i used vodka), brown sugar and vanilla bean.

clean the berries of all l eaves and branches, then crush them thoroughly with a fork or the bottom of a cup. put the berries and all the juices in the bottle, a funnel mightbe of help at this point...slice the vanilla bean open and put it in the bottle as well.add about one third to half the weight in sugar as you put berries - guessing works just as well. but keep in mind that the berries are very sour, so if unsure rather putmore sugar than less.fill the bottle with vodka (about as many milliliters of vodka as the weight of the berries in gramms, eg 200 g berries, 200 ml vodka), close the bottle and shake until all thesugar has dissolved.put the bottle on the windowsill (where some rays of sun might touch it eventually) and let it macerate for some weeks (1-2 months). there will be different layers forming(a clear orange one at the bottom and a more murky orange one on top), don't worry this is perefctly normal.

after the wating is over, filter the liqueur and transfer to a clean bottle and enjoy!


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Step 9: Berriesthe berry most often found in cities is the blackberry. it often grows wild (on overgrows other plants on the way) in a huge thorny heep along roads, on abandoned lots,along paths and in more unkempt parks. depending on the amount of sun in summer, the berries will be ripe in late summer or autumn (the ones i found where all not ripeyet...).

in the city forests of berlin, i also found blueberries and raspberries, but they are less common in urban areas.


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Image Notes1. blackberries!but unfortunately not ripe yet...

Step 10: Hopswhile most people know hops only as one of the chief ingredients in beer, it is also quite a beautiful plant that (at least here in berlin) grows "wild" in a lot of parks. it oftenovergrows other plants since it needs something that it can climb up on.

the hops flowers can be dried and used as a herbal tea that has calming effects and is good for the bladder and the digestive system.or if you're into brewing your own beer, why not pick your own hops?

and of course, you can do what my mom did:when she came visiting me, she was amazed how much hops was just growing everywhere and she really liked the f lowers, so she took some of them home and putthem in her dehydrator to make them last while keeping the nice green color and then she used them to decorate her home.


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Step 11: Rose hipsrose hips are the fruits of roses, not the garden roses but the rose bushes.since they are pretty to look at, they are grown in lots of places and also grow on their own even in bigger cities. this makes them a good target for the urban gatherer,especially since they anounce their presence quite well with their bright ruby red color that shines through the green and brown of the late summer or autumn foliage.

since the rose hip gets better as the year advances, you can even pick them when it i s already winter time and the temperatures are below zero. they get sweeter thelonger the sit on the bush.

when picking them, be carefull, since every rose has it's thorns....

the rose hips can be eaten raw or used to make jam, fruit wine or dried and used to make a fruity tea. but for all of these uses, it is important to get rid of the seeds (andthe little hairs on them) in some way or another, since the little hairs make the skin itch when touched and should not be eaten.

rose hips freeze well, so if you don't have time to make something with them when you find them, just put them in the freezer and wait until you do.


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Step 12: Rose hip & red onion chutneythe rose hip make a very tasty jam, but i already made jelly from the elderberries, so chutney it is.

first the rose hips have to be prepared: cut of the black ends, cut them in two and then scrape out the seeds and as much of the tiny hairs as possible, this works bestwith the tip of a butter knife or the end of a teaspoon. this is no fun and takes quite long, but don't let that keep you from preparing the chutney, it will be worth the work inthe end.

to get rid of most of the rest of the hairs, put the cleaned rose hips in a sieve and wash thoroughly under running water.

then cut around the same weight as the rose hips of red onion into thin strips, chop some ginger and garlic finely.

put all in a pot, add a bit of water and a handfull of raisins, half the weight of the rose hips in brown sugar and some vinegar (amount is up to you, depending on how souryou want the chutney to be), don't add to much in the beginning, you can always put more later. in an open pot over medium to low heat let it simmer for about one hourto 90 minutes, until everything is very soft. add some spices (ground cloves, cinammon, alspice, coriander and maybe mustard seeds), season with a little salt and fill hot

into clean glasses (see jelly-making).

Image Notes1. even after scraping out the insides some hairs remain on the fruit and have tobe washed off


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Step 13: Nettlesgrowing like a weed in many places make nettles an easy to find plant. don't l et the stinging part keep you from this amazing plant of many uses...

in the spring, you can pick the young nettles (using protective gloves to not get stung by the plant) and use them like spinach or even like salad. although when the nettlesaren't cookes or boiled, the stingy hairs of the leaves have to be made ineffective by one of several existing methods.

if it isn't spring, picking nettles can still be worthwhile: a "brew" of nettles (nettles put in cold water an left to sit for a day or two) is beneficial to other plants, it helps themagainst some pests, makes them stronger and fertilizes them. especially potted plants (that are often found in city homes of urban gatherers) are happy about thistreatment!

as with many other leafy plants, you can also dry the leaves and make herbal tea, it is good for the bladder and the metabolism.


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Step 14: Mushroomseven mushrooms can be gathered in the city!

most often, you will have to go into some kind of forest to find them, but most bigger cities have a city forest or big parks where you might be successfull. all thesemushrooms where found inside the city limits of berlin. and i also found edible mushrooms in parks and once in a cemetery in the city center.if you keep your eyes open (and to the ground) you might find some in places you'd not suspect. once you found a spot, come back and maybe you'll find more,mushrooms can grow quite fast so a week later there could already be more.

but again a warning : you should only gather mushrooms of any kind if you know what you are doing. eating the wrong mushroom can not only lead to an upset stomachbut can be deadly. and some of the more common deadly toxins from mushrooms will only show effect some days after eating the mushrooms, at which time the mighthave already destroyed your liver and you are beyond help.if you have neve gathered mushrooms before, ask a fr iend that has experience to come with you and teach you.also, if you don't have a good sense of direction, try not to get lost (even in a city forest that can happen - a smartphone with gps does help)!

so let's get gathering!

mushrooms fall basically into three groups: the ones that have gills under the cap, the ones that have pores and all the others (for the sake of easieness). most of thetoxic and very toxic ones are found in the gills group, they can also often very easily be mistaken with other types of gilled mushrooms. the ones with pores, also calledboletes are almost all edible (and lots of them very tasty) or at least non toxic, so for beginners and more experienced mushroom hunters alike, they make a good target.

one of the most commonly found boletes is the bay bolete (in german it is called Marone), that is the kind i found when i went looking for mushrooms the other day. itmainly grows near pinale trees. it has a brown cap, yellow pores and a light brown stem with white spots. when the flesh or the pores are bruised, they turn blue, this isweird at first but doesn't affect the taste in any kind. they often hide under fallen leaves or dead wood, so watch closely or you might miss them.

when you find a mushroom, don't rip it out of the ground or you will damage the underground part (the mycelium). cut it with a knife. the best way to transport them is in awoven basket, a cotton tote will do as well but never put them in a plastic bag.

some of the bolete mushrooms are edible in principle but are very bitter and could spoil any meal. if you are not sure about a bolete you found, break a little part off and

touch it with your tongue, if it is bitter, you'll taste it right away. never eat raw mushrooms though, most kinds will upset the stomach.


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Step 15: Clean & prepare the mushrooms to make.. .let's turn these mushrooms into a nice meal!

first they have to be cleanen. since the pores soak up water it's best not to wash them, but rather scrape dirt of them with knife or rub them with a cloth.even mushrooms that don't like like it at first might have some worm infestation, that's why is always a good idea to cut them into chunks. if there are some worms, don't

throw the whole mushroom away, just cut out the infested parts, the rest is perfectly fine.i usually remove the pores of boletus mushrooms because they will make the dish made from them quite slimy, others don't do it. another reason to remove the porouslayer apart from the slime is that often there are little flies and worms in that part (rather than in the cap) and so you get rid of them. it is very easy to remove the porouslayer, it will "peel" of whitout problem from the rest of the mushroom.if you would dry the mushrooms the sliminess would'nt be a problem later when using the dried mushrooms for cooking.


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Step 16: Fillet of pork with a bay bolete ragoutfor two persons you'll need a small pork fillet (about 250 g), some bacon or speck, juniper berries, some red wine, about 150 ml of cream and about 300 g cleaned bayboletes, cut into chunks.

preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.

season the fillet with salt, pepper and some rosemary. heat a bit of butter and olive oil in a pan and seal the fillet from all sides. put the fillet in the preheated oven. thefillet will need about 30 minutes in the oven.

in the meantime cut the bacon or speck into dice, crush some juniper berries and transfer to the pan you fried the fillet in. fry the bacon for some minutes, then add theboletes. after some more minutes of frying deglaze with about one glass of wine. turn down the heat, add the cream and if you have, a heaped teaspoon of lingonberryjam. let the ragout simmer for ten to 15 minutes, if it gets too thick add some water. season with salt and pepper.

when the fillet is ready (still pink but not bloody) take it out of the oven and wrap in aluminium foil for five minutes.

cut the fillets into medallions and serve withe the ragout and some rice and salad.


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Step 17: Now go out and find some things yourself!i hope this instructable put you in the mood of going out there yourself and finding out what your city can offer you! and soon you might just have an equally well stackedshelf of homemade preserves and other goodies just like me.

happy hunting!


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Comments

29 comments Add Comment

bryseis says: Oct 1, 2014. 3:55 AM REPVery interesting. I've seen a lot of fruits while walking around Berlin but I'm not sure which ones I can take.

One you missed though... Dandelion! (Lwenzahn). Pick the smaller, young leaves to put into salads or the larger leaves to cook, just like you would withspinach. I think you can also use the flowers but I'm not sure how, maybe for tea.

sursula says: Oct 1, 2014. 10:04 PM REPyes, dandelions are great! with the flowers you can make "dandelion honey", a thick golden syrup that has the color and consistency of honey (but is notmade of honey). a vegan friend of mine used to make that as a vegan honey alternative, it is very tasty! maybe once the spring is here i'll make aninstructable for that.

maxman says: Sep 29, 2014. 5:31 AM REPAnd mushrooms. I've been a big time mushroom hunter all my life. My mother got me started as a kid.

kliu8 says: Sep 28, 2014. 11:19 AM REPI'm guessing that Europe has better pesticide regulations. In America, urban foraging is best done with extreme caution because landscapers use pesticidesand fertilizers that are not approved for spraying on food(even the ones that are are not so good). Plants found near roads and ditches can absorb all sorts oftoxic chemicals from rain runoff. Wild mushrooms are especially good abosrbing toxic chemicals and radiaoactive substances. Thankfully there are ways to getaround these but it takes quite a bit of work, contacting companies and offices, good scouting, and asking permission from people.

sursula says: Sep 28, 2014. 11:12 PM REPactually the parks and green areas here are seldom if at all fertilized or sprayed with pesticides. they only do this on crops.the only things i have ever seen gardeners and landscapers do here in berlin is cut of dead branches that could endanger someone and sometimeswater young trees. so most of the plants that you can find here shouldn't be a problem to eat.

some types of mushrooms on the other hand have, in certain areas, still a quite high radioactive content due to the chernobyl incindent in the 80s. butyou can find maps that tell you if it is a problem in your area or not.
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kliu8 says: Sep 29, 2014. 2:26 AM REPHmm yeah. Just warning that a large chunk of readers here might try foraging in pesticide-laden areas. Also the Chernobyl mushroom thing is somethingI wondered about.

diy_bloke says: Sep 25, 2014. 3:41 AM REPMushrooms are indeed very dangerous if u dont know what u are doing.Yet the same goes for plants. Many many toxic plants in our surroundings, it is just that the edibles are a bit easier yo recognize... although I have seenpeople mix up blackberries with black nightschade

Wroger-Wroger says: Sep 28, 2014. 4:11 PM REPYeah the LACK of education, an expert field guide - with color pictures and informative text, and or it "looks like" has enabled many people to kill and orcripple themselves or others...

There is a common oyster mushroom grown in Asia - and Lucky, Luck Australia has ones that look just like it... sort of....

Some chinese resturaunt cook goes wandering and finds them and cooks them up and serves them to their fr iends...

And a few die and the rest are in need of liver transplants.

They are not inherently dangerous... it's the assumption and failure to research that does it .

diy_bloke says: Sep 29, 2014. 12:38 AM REPI agree, but let me start by saying I am not criticizing this ibble, not at all. I think it is pretty good.But on the subject of mushrooms... i just do not take the risk and even if i buy them in a supermarket I only get the one kind i recognize (thechampignon, aka Agaricus bisporus) many commercially collected mushrooms, are picked from the wild by Polish and Thai season workers who getpaid by the pound so if in doubt... in the basket it goes.

One or two years ago, where i live, a self professed mushroom expert picked not a champignon but a death cap (Amanita phalloides) and cooked itup. eventhough he admitted it 'tasted funny' he kept on eating, realizing too late what he had. He lived for another 5 days, even undergoing livertransplant.

Surely, there are poisonous plants... but it is just easier to recognize the edibles.Having said that..... I like the ibble coz it points out that there is food all around. If for whatever reasons the supermarkets would be empty for sometime... I can survive for at least a while (also coz i have a well stocked garden)

sursula says: Sep 25, 2014. 5:55 AM REPyeah, but if you have some basic knowledge of plants you know how to spot nightshades and that you should avoid most of them (except the vegetablebearing ones of course). i think most poisonings happen when people with no knowledge at all wander around and go "hey, a mushroom, it looks sodeliciuos, let's eat it, or hey, a berry, looking so good, how could i t be dangerous!"

diy_bloke says: Sep 26, 2014. 3:35 AM REPyep, fully agree... but sure. You may recognize nightshade and I do... but many people see black berries and theink 'Hey, blackberries':-)I dare pick plants... but I stay away from mushrooms... simply coz i do nt know to differentiate them :-).Story goes that a cook once tried to murder president lincoln with a tomato... presuming it was poisenous :-)

infantemary says: Sep 28, 2014. 2:13 PM REPWonderful Instructable!!!! The only wild mushroom that I know for sure is the morel, but elderberries are a favorite of mine from the time I was a small child!! Ihad heard of using rosehips, but now I have your wonderful recipe to follow so I know what to do with them. Thank you so much and good luck in thecompetition!!!

Ninzerbean says: Sep 28, 2014. 5:23 AM REPI picked two pounds of Chanterelles last night and I was thinking to myself how cool it was that these mushrooms that I have found all along the eastcoastcost $28 a pound at farmer's markets, and I can get them for free. I pickled the ones I found yesterday. I used two different recipes to see which one I will likebetter. This is a great 'ible, thank you for taking the time to post it.

sursula says: Sep 28, 2014. 9:07 AM REPthank you for the nice feedback and congratulations on your mushroom find!

maxman says: Sep 28, 2014. 6:36 AM REPThis is an excellent Instructable. I already do this sort of thing, only I call it "rooting", as in "Rooting around like a hog". Ha ha. I keep a collapsible backpackon each of my bicycles in order to carry home my "targets of opportunity". But yes, you do need to make i t an avocation to learn what is safe, especiallymushrooms.

Excellent Instructable! Very inspiring.
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gardenwitch says: Sep 28, 2014. 6:11 AM REPGreat pictures, excellent information! What a pleasure to see! Thank you!!

fooooorrest says: Sep 25, 2014. 12:41 PM REPI have an Opinel and love it! Great knife.

jjthephotoguy says: Sep 25, 2014. 8:56 AM REPLove urban foraging- When I visited Berlin last year, I was amazed at how many edibles are available everywhere- you live in a great place!

sursula says: Sep 25, 2014. 12:13 PM REPthanks for sharing the photo! hopefully you also find stuff in your hometown wherever that may be.

seamster says: Sep 24, 2014. 7:21 AM REPVery nicely done. Any one of the included recipes could have stood as it's own instructable, and you included several!

Excellent photos and documentation, too. Thanks for sharing this.

sursula says: Sep 24, 2014. 7:44 AM REPthank you for the nice comment! i thought at first to make one instructable on what to find and then another on what to do with it, but then i thought it'sbetter all in one. i'm glad you like it.

Izzypup says: Sep 24, 2014. 7:31 AM REPAn amazing amount of information! This is one of the best food-related instructibles I've ever read! Bravo!

DaBootO says: Sep 24, 2014. 7:29 AM REPHoly Cow!Awesome Instructable! I knew that there are unused edible things around town, but I didn't know how to prepare food with them!

A big Thank You!

egladwell says: Sep 24, 2014. 4:23 AM REPThis is a great little guide. I ammaking a foragers handbook up for myself as I love making liquers,chutneys, jams and wine from wild fruits and berries. I will definatelyadd some of these, especially since I just found a secret cache ofrosehips! I do wish I wasn't so worried about picking mushrooms though.

You should enter this into the hunter-gatherer contest. Great stuff.

sursula says: Sep 24, 2014. 4:39 AM REPthank you! i already entered it in the contest but it always takes a while until they accept it . and with the mushrooms, maybe some fr iend of yours is moreexperienced and you can take them with you so they can teach you. and in time you'll be confindent to go on your own.
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VentureScout says: Sep 24, 2014. 3:19 AM REPGood job, very interesting. Keep up the good work

Ti4 says: Sep 24, 2014. 2:22 AM REPIn Italy (or, as far as I know, at least in northern Italy) we pick up hops branch tips in early spring to use them in soups, risotto, frittata (a sort of thickeromelette) or just cooked with a little of butter in a pan. They are bitter and very tasty!

sursula says: Sep 24, 2014. 3:00 AM REPgreat idea, i will try that in spring, it sounds very delicious. but sadly, spring is now 6 months away....

dr_peru says: Sep 24, 2014. 2:40 AM REPThe zombie-apocalypse (or, more likely, total governmental failure) can come. Thanks to this instructable, scarcity of delicious food wont be a problem :)
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Urban Gathering Fruits of the City