Foraging in the Yorkshire Dales, Dec 2021 - Jan 2022
Mushrooms have sparked my imagination for a long time. There’s something about the huge range of sizes, shapes and colours that give me a lot of joy. Only recently have I taken a real interest in them and started taking myself on foraging trips, drawing my findings and even cooking my first foraged shrooms! Here’s a little insight into what I’ve foraged, cooked and drawn over the past month.
In November 2021, my uni course took a trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I began to notice lots of fungi in the grass around the park when I was documenting and drawing my findings. This was the moment my curiosity really started to take hold and it inspired my final piece for the first semester.
I went home from uni for Christmas in December. We went on a walk to my local woods and it was when my Dad pointed out some Jelly Ears on a tree that I realised that fungi is everywhere! These particular mushrooms are common everywhere at and all times of year in the UK and you can actually eat them (although the texture is very funny and you must cook them properly). As soon as you spot one mushroom, you start seeing them everywhere. I then began to notice Velvet Shanks and Jelly Ears all around the woods and it was truly magical.
The day after, I went back to take more photos and I decided to collect some Jelly Ears to try cook at home. I sliced them up and boiled them up in a soup. I was a little put off by the texture (next time I’ll cook them for longer!) but the taste was nice and mushroomy. I would like to experiment more with this particular mushroom as it is so common all year round.
After seeing all the wonderful mushrooms, I couldn’t resist making them into illustrations. I typically love to illustrate nature using fineliner and watercolour and I was lucky I had brought home some supplies over Christmas to make these drawings. I do love these illustrations and it has inspired me to make more as well as receiving my first mushroom commission! (I’ll share this once it’s done).
Since that first trip, I have taken many foraging walks around the Yorkshire Dales. My Mum and I decided to hunt for fungi at Barden Bridge and Grassington Woods. We were so surprised at the huge variety of species around despite it being Winter. We found Turkey Tails, Yellow Brain Fungus, Jelly Ears and lots of Velvet Shanks. Some mushrooms were a little past their best so we made a mental note to resist these places at different times of year to see what else we can spot.
I’m teaching myself to identify fungi, something that will take some years to get better at but I am now a lot better at spotting common mushrooms that I see on my walks. My parents gifted me an Edible Mushroom Guide at Christmas which I’ve taken on all my walks to help me identify new species. It contains both edible and inedible fungi and in depth explanations about the features to look for when identifying.
I headed back to Leeds for term time. Since arriving back, I’ve taken myself on many trips to hunt for fungi. Woodhouse Ridge is one of my favourite places to visit within walking distance of my house, and I was able to find species including Witches Butter, Glistening Inkcaps, Common Earth Stars and of course, Jelly Ears.
I also spotted some Velvet Shanks and my mushroom guide said that they are one of the most common edible shrooms in Winter so I took some home to try and cook them up. I cooked them up with garlic butter and the result was… slimy? They tasted really mushroomy but I was not a fan of the texture. The tops of these mushrooms are rather slimy and I struggled to wash this off which is something I will research further if I decide to cook them again. They were later thrown into a pasta sauce and actually tasted pretty yummy!
A few days later, I took a day trip to Golden Acre Park on the bus for a breath of fresh air before uni lectures kicked off. It was a frosty Winter day but I’m lucky I did most of my foraging before the rain started. This park has lots of different areas to explore including woodland, fields and a cafe. The birch forest area was full of brackets and polypores (notably Birch Polypores and Tinder Brackets) as well as Witches Butter and more!
I found what looked like Golden Oysters or False Oysters whose lower mushrooms had already been foraged and there were lots more too high up too reach in a huge tree. Perhaps I will return earlier next year to see if I can identify them properly and perhaps, take them home if edible!
Later in my walk, I thought I had found some oyster mushrooms and I collected a few to take home. After consulting various mushroom Facebook groups, they turned out to be Olive Oysterlings which do not taste very good and I decided to avoid them. (I’m part of Mushroom Spotters UK and Mushroom Identification UK - they’ve been really helpful for learning how to identify fungi and share posts with other shroom lovers!)
I’ve learnt a lot over the past month and I cannot wait to see what this year holds for foraging! I’m hoping to draw more and more mushrooms too. I’ve enjoyed using lino to illustrate mushrooms so I’d love to do more of that. Some finds that are on my ‘Foraging Bucket List’ are: Oyster Mushrooms, Beefsteak Fungus, Chicken of the Woods, Chanterelles, Morels, Puffballs and Boletes. Who knows, maybe these humble beginnings will provide the foundation of my Final Major Project when I begin 3rd Year of uni in September! Stay tuned for more foraging trips and I’ll be sharing some of my favourite recipes with my findings.
