The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Foraging new roots
Michael Alexander discovers how a renewed interest in foraging is helping people reconnect with nature, improve their wellbeing and learn about medicinal plants
It’s that time of year when glistening brambles, hanging heavy with their autumn fullness, tantalise the taste buds of ramblers and wild animals alike. From the bushes that cling effortlessly to wild clifftops, to those juicy clusters of berries that remain ever so slightly out of reach down country lanes, there’s something timeless about the sweet sensation of wild berry picking – so long as autumnal pickings are plucked higher than the potential dog wee zone, of course.
But while the traditions of foraging for local wild produce to supplement diet would once have been a much greater part of everyday life in our rural communities, the year 2019 is seeing a growing interest in the joys of foraging that’s allowing people to explore Scotland’s natural places and increase their knowledge of wild food and medicinal plants.
Scrambling onto the rocky shoreline near St Monans in Fife, New Zealandraised seaweed forager and selfconfessed hippy Jayson Byles is in his element as he leads a small group down to his “office” – the beach.
The dreadlocked former chef, who moved to the East Neuk four years ago after being offered a management position for a commercial seaweed company, set up his own sustainable seaweed company, East Neuk Seaweed, this year.
“My favourite seaweed is sea spaghetti,” explains Jayson, who has been foraging since he was a child. “What I like about it most is that you can eat it straight off the rocks. It’s got a really nice texture. You can have a little nibble.”
Jayson emphasises that people need to keep safe at the beach and know that what they are picking is edible. But if you know what to look for, there are some “wonderful seaweeds”. He particularly likes the flavour of the pepper dulse and is also attracted to some of the more elusive seaweeds – particularly if he finds one out of season.
“For me it’s not just about the seaweed, it’s about the whole thing,” he explains. “Seaweed plays an important role in the coastal ecosystem down here.
“Seaweed really links lots of stuff together. It’s a link between the ocean and the land, hence one of my catchphrases is: ‘Where Earth, Sea and Sky Meet’.
“If you are standing down here on the low water mark at 7pm with the sunset, your feet in the sea, it’s very magical.
“For me it’s important that people keep safe, but what I really want is for people to reconnect with the amazing environment that’s out there, and if we can all do that, then hopefully we can all have a greater understanding of nature and make those changes in life that need to be made right now.”
Scottish Food Guide director Wendy Barrie, who lives in Aberdour, is also a strong advocate of improving human wellbeing through engagement with open-air activities and a reconnection with local foods.
Wendy recently managed Foraging Fortnight, which was designed to encourage people of all ages to
If you are standing here on the low water mark at 7pm with the sunset, your feet in the sea, it’s very magical.
participate safely and responsibly in different foraging activities. She started off brambling as a child and now specialises in cooking with locally-sourced delights such as wild mushrooms and wild marjorams.
“I don’t think we can widen interest overnight, but I think Foraging Fortnight is a fantastic opportunity to make a start,” says Wendy, who is married to a Swede with foraging “in his DNA”, and enjoys having “readily available” access to wild produce in the Fife countryside.
“It’s not just about what mushrooms are edible, but to actually get out there, breathe the air, enjoy the freshness, to spot really recognisable things like brambles and rosehips.”
Wendy recalled how her granny would cook rosehips. In the past, rosehips and brambles gave added vitamins at times of year when other produce wasn’t perhaps growing well.
“There was always something that could add a little bit of life and interest to what can be a slightly dull palate sometimes,” she adds.
“But today there’s a whole generation that doesn’t cook rosehips.
“What I want people to realise is that they can pick to their level, whether you are down on the seashore foraging or you are doing brambling with the family. It’s free food and it’s delicious!”
In Highland Perthshire, husband and wife team Rob and Gabrielle Clamp have used their backgrounds as a forester and a healer to revive centuries-old folk knowledge surrounding the use of birch trees.
Highland folklore refers to birch sap being used as a revitalising drink and purifier. The leaves were used for anti-inflammatory purposes and urinary tract healing, while the bark has anticancer properties.
However, while the practice of “tapping” birch trees used to be common in springtime, the Highland Clearances and the Industrial Revolution brought about a “disconnect”, when people came off the land and generally stopped working in the woods.
Now, through their Birken Tree company, Ron and Gabrielle are bottling “Pure Highland Birchwater”, while promoting the sustainability of Scotland’s 91,000 hectares of birch woodland.
Caithness-raised Rob, 51, who has worked in forestry all his working life, explained how a small hole is drilled into a tree and a tap is put in with a bag underneath. A single birch tree can give five litres of sap per day for about three weeks before being rested until the following season.
“As a forester, this knowledge was not part of your education,” he says. “You’d learn how to grow trees.
“I was always aware of the old folk in the Highlands who would ‘tap’ birch trees mainly to make wine. But what I wasn’t aware of was all the health benefits you had from birch sap.
“About a year ago, we bought a bottle of birch water and discovered that it was made in Finland. That’s what triggered our idea because Scotland’s full of birch trees.”
With a big emphasis on health and being local, Rob said the closest comparison to birch sap would be coconut water – however, that travels