This app just made foraging so much easier

Forage for your supper with ViewRanger’s new collection of walks and routes

The wilds of Britain don’t just offer up stunning scenery and outdoor playgrounds, they are also rife with edible leaves, shoots, funghi and berries that will transform your cooking. ViewRanger’s new Foraging collections are a celebration of that, illustrating some of the UK’s best spots for picking your own food.

Liz Seabrook

The outdoor discovery app has teamed up with International Mountain Leader and expedition chef, Kieran Creevy to launch three collections of walks and route guides to help users find seasonal ingredients across the UK.

The Spring Foraging collection is already out and includes four walks on which people will be able to find wild garlic, marsh samphire, pine buds and gorse flower. The Summer Foraging collection will be launched in June, featuring more seasonal hikes, followed by an Autumn collection.

Liz Seabrook

Craig Wareham, ViewRanger co-founder, said:  “ViewRanger has always been far more than just another navigation app and as public interest in foraging and food ingredients generally continues to grow, this latest collection offers something different for budding backcountry gourmets and real food enthusiasts. By combining ViewRanger’s high-end GPS capabilities with this latest collection of route guides and grouping them in this way, we’re making it easier to find a wider selection of routes that will inspire and help more people to be more active outdoors.” We’ll eat to that!

Forage Right

The legal stuff

Most land is under private ownership or owned by a state body and The Theft Act 1968 outlaws the picking for commercial purposes of mushrooms, flowers, fruit or foliage from any land not owned by the picker. Ask permission before foraging on someone else’s property. Familiarise yourself with the law regarding wild plants as some species are protected due to being rare, fragile, under threat or because they form a vital part of the ecosystem. 

Identification and knowledge:

1. Know which plants, fruits and nuts are edible and how to correctly identify them. Do not consume unless you are 100% sure they are safe.
2. Only harvest if you can correctly identify the plant and the surrounding area is not contaminated.
3. Many plants are highly poisonous and can cause death if consumed. Many have poisonous
   look-a-likes.
4. It’s important to know which parts of each plant
   are edible.
5. Some plants are only edible after careful preparation e.g. cooking, washing, and removal of sections.

Sustainable Foraging: where, when and how

1. Only pick when a plant is abundant.
2. Use sharp scissors as preference, or a sharp knife.
3. Only harvest in patches, as you need to leave plants for regeneration and its continued survival.
4. Try not to remove flower or seed heads unless sourcing these specifically. Plants form a vital part of the eco-system, and many animals, insects and other organisms rely on them for survival.

Read more about foraging in our Outdoor cooking issue, out June 16th. Pre-order it here.