The white flowers of wild garlic look very delicate and can form masses of white over the forest floor but the one thing you will notice will be the smell of garlic or mild onion in the air. The leaves and flowers smell quite strongly of garlic.

Using Wild Garlic
The leaves and flowers of wild garlic are the edible parts, having a similar taste to commercial garlic but milder and more delicate.  Do not pull the plants up for their bulbs.

The leaves are delicious raw in salads or can be  cooked by adding to soups and other dishes for a mild garlic flavour.

More information

The Good Food Channel – How to cook with Wild Garlic.

About Wild Garlic – Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland

Frugal Living UK – Recipe for Wild Garlic Pesto

Jamie Oliver – Wild Garlic Soda Bread.

Finding and identifying wild berries, plants and fungi can be a daunting task, so a number of people around the UK have arranged foraging weekends and courses, so that you can learn how to find, identify, pick and cook with wild food.

We have put together a list of some of the course providers but if you know of any more then please let us know using the comments section at the end of this article.

Foraging courses in the UK

Selfsufficientish.com – Wild food foraging courses for spring 2010 calendar.

Fat Hen – Wild food foraging, cooking & feasting courses & events set in West Cornwall.

Tudor Farnhouse – Foraging and Tutored Walks in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley.

Hedgerow Harvest – Foraging and willd food courses. Scheduled courses are based near Marlborough in Wiltshire and near Dorchester in Dorset.

Taste the Wild - Fun and informative courses based in North Yorkshire.

Wild Food School - Wild Food School courses are essentually ‘fluid’ offering introductory half-day, day, 2-day and week-long sessions where students can gain hands-on experience in identifying and using Britain’s edible wild plants, and do so in an informal learning environment. A Distance Learning programme is also available which may be of more benefit to folks who don’t have the time to visit.

Some of the topics covered include;

• Learn how to find, identify and pick wild mushrooms.
• Recipes for wild mushrooms.
• How to grow your own mushrooms.
• Information on buying dried mushrooms

The aim is to populate the site with fungi information from all over the world but a with a focus on mushrooms of the UK, it is an excellent resource for British Foragers.

A new Meet other Foragers section allows you can meet and communicate with other people who want to have a forgaing companion. It is always a very good idea to team up as you find more and can share the fun of identification. It also make a great day out with new friends.

Wild Mushrooms Online website

A Japanese meal

Most people think of Chinese food when you say Oriental but the range is diverse, spanning the countries of China, Indonesia, Indian Sub Continent, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Each of these countries also has diversity in it’s cooking from region to region.

Thai food provides some wonderful fragrant curries.

Fresh and sometimes raw fish is used a great deal in Japanese cooking.

Ingredients in oriental dishes are traditionally natural, using spices and vinegars to flavour food instead of sugars and fats.  Traditionally, sugars and fats were luxuries in Asia and food was flavoured using natural ingredients.

Rice is cheap and good for you.
One of the staples common to most Asian regions is rice, this is mixed with a little meat, a lot of vegetables, sauces and vinegars.  This combination enables many of the recipes to be economical and extremely nutritious.

Comes in a varied range, it is not just the long grain, quick cook horror that is found in most Western supermarkets.
The queen of rice is the delicately flavoured Thai Jasmine Rice and many people are familiar with Basmati rice, used widely in Indian cooking.  Also look out for the short grained, more sticky, Sushi rice.

Always try to purchase rice in as large a quantity as you can store, as this is more economical, resulting in a few pence per person per meal.  Specialist rices are cheaper if bought from oriental markets and stores.

There are only about 170 calories of per meal in Jasmine rice and it is made up of carbohydrates with good dietry fibre and a low glycemic index.

Many western people are unsure of how to cook rice correctly. Rice should be well prepared to get rid of excess starch.  This also improves the texture when cooked.

Always wash the rice thoroughly about 3 times and leave to stand in cold water for about half an hour which is then strained before fresh water is added before cooking. Follow the link further down this page to discover how to make perfect rice every time.

Less is more
Although oriental cookery uses meat, this is always in much less quantity than we would consider.  Chicken features in many recipes, again, high in protein and very little fat.

Soya replaces meat in many dishes.  It is derived from pureed and pressed soya beans (bean curd) and is quite bland but it does absorb the flavours of spices and sauces easily. Tofu is the cheapest form of soya protein around.

Do more with your veg
Vegetables feature strongly in oriental cooking, they are not just used as side dishes but form a major component of many recipes and can are often highly flavoured using spices and sauces.

In oriental cookery, vegetables are steamed or cooked very quickly, allowing them to retain as much of their natural nutrient and texture as possible.

Use local markets
Many oriental markets provide food at almost half the price of the supermarket. This is due mainly to the fact that they do not spend a lot of money on marketing and presentation.  Food is packaged simply and you will find things that just simply would never be found on a Western supermarket shelf.

A few utensils
You do not need cupboards full of expensive equipment to cook oriental food. However,  a steamer and a good wok are a necessity.

A wok is very similar to a frying pan but has steep, gently sloping sides which allows the pan to heat rapidly and evenly. A good sized, deep wok can be used for deep and shallow frying, steaming, stir frying and braising.

A steamer allows food to be stacked, usually over a pan of boiling water.  Vegetables cook more quickly and retain their flavour better this way.  Fish is generally steamed in the same manner.

Further information

Oriental cookery - Learn to produce authentic oriental dishes at home.

How to steam rice

Authentic Japanese Cooking – Discover a whole new world of flavours with highly nutritious dishes.

Frugal Living in the UK - Soya mince is cheaper than meat mince.

Full Melon £1.00 (Aldi),   One Plum 10 pence (Aldi),   Five Grapes Four pence (Aldi),  Quarter Granny Smith Apple five pence (Aldi),  Kiwi fruit five pence (Aldi),  Apple Juice from Carton Two pence.

But always remember the presentation…… Priceless!

The melon is prepared by cutting around the diameter, pointing the knife at a slight angle, in toward the centre of the melon.  Work your way around the fruit creating a zig zag pattern, to meet up with where you started.

A simple twist will be all that is needed to separate the two halves, then you just need to scoop out the seeds from the centres.

Prepare the other fruits (you can use anything you like) and place in a bowl with the apple (or other fruit) juice.  Leave to stand until the dish is ready to be served, then spoon the fruit salad into the centre of the melon halves.

presentation is the key

This simple melon fruit salad is ideal as a starter or even a snack and certainly puts you well on your way to five a day.