Anyone who followed my articles last autumn could be forgiven for wondering why there still aren't any for this year. The reason is that for those of us in the southeast corner of the UK, this has still been an exceptionally dry year, and there is a dearth of edible mushrooms because of this.   The whole UK ecosystem is also slightly out of kilter because the long, cold winter meant Spring arrived several weeks late, which has in turn led some people to predict that the onset of autumn will also be delayed (later flowers means later fruit, etc….) I have in fact only found one species of edible mushroom this season, but this was a mushroom more of mycological than culinary interest, not least because it is illegal to pick them.

This is Amanita echinocephela, otherwise known as "the solitary amanita" because of its habit of growing singly or in small, isolated groups like this one.  Although rare, it is very drought resistant and nearly always appears early in the season, which goes some way to explain why it is the only edible species I've found this year.  As well as being illegal to pick, it is probably best avoided anyway since it is closely related to several deadly species and could conceivably be confused for them.  Still, it is always nice to come across a rare mushroom you've never positively identified before.

With the fungi largely absent, I have been out looking for edible greens instead, with rather more success.   Probably my favourite wild vegetable of the moment is fat hen (Chenopodium album)

This plant actually tastes nutritious.  It's not just there to make up the numbers, but ought to be of interest to chefs.  I prefer it fried in butter with home-grown tomatoes and pinch of nutmeg, but you can do anything with it that you would do with spinach.  It can be found on bare earth all over the UK.  It's a coloniser of disturbed ground, the seeds having often lain in the ground for years waiting for the right moment to claim their place.  If you're going to learn how to identify just one edible wild vegetable, learn this one.

Just next door to the fat hen was a wild cabbage, the ancestor of many of our modern vegetable crops but uncommon outside a few areas where it is well established.  It is a coastal plant, tolerant both to salt and alkaline soil, so it is well at home on the South Downs.  There was only one, so I left it to grow

I then headed down to a beach, in search of edible plants which only grow on sand and shingle next to the sea.  Two plants dominated the otherwise-barren stones.  The first was sea kale:

This plant was traditionally consumed after being given the sort of treatment that we give to rhubarb.  In the early spring, people would bury the shoots emerging from the perennial rootstock.  They would then return a couple of weeks later and clear the shingle away to collect the thin white leaves created as the plant tries to reach up towards the light.  The older leaves aren't so good, but younger leaves of plants like those in the picture are good to eat.   Be aware that it is technically illegal to collect sea kale without permission of the landowner (which is usually the Queen!) 

Sea Kale does need to be salted, and this job can be taken on by the last plant in this collection - sea purslane:

Sea purslane is abundant, and there are no restrictions on picking it.  It has a naturally salty taste and a crunchy texture a bit like bean pods.   It can be used raw in salads, cooked as a pot herb or used instead of salt with other greens. 

Hopefully my next column will be about mushrooms.  At long last, the rain has reached the parched countryside of Sussex, Kent and East Anglia.

Geoff

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