Every year, round about mid July, I start to get twitchy. My driving gets even more erratic, I start to walk with a stoop, and my pulse quickens whenever I catch a glimpse of mossy woodland. This is the onset of Influenza mycologica, or Fungi Fever…

Watercress is a delicious peppery salad vegetable, but unfortunately it is prone to infestation by the cyst stage of a parasite (fasciola hepatica) when growing in land containing livestock…

The 2011 fungi season kicked off for me with four very different forays. Here is a flavour of what we got up to, and what you might expect if you come on one of my organised forays.

Throughout, you can click on pictures to enlarge them.

There are two schools of thought among foragers on the best way to actually “pick” a mushroom. One asserts that fruit bodies should be cut off where they join the ground (or whatever they are growing from) so as not to damage the delicate mycelium below. The other prefers to twist and pull the mushroom from the […]

Lie, lies, lies!
What does “local” really mean on a menu? And are those “Wild mushrooms” really wild?
A rant on mis-selling and dishonesty in the food sector.