Foraging in the Cairngorms: Exploring Scotland’s Wild Larder

One of the pleasures of spending so much time walking in the Scottish Highlands is discovering that there is considerably more to the landscape than what you can see from the path.

At different times of year there are wild berries, herbs, leaves and, particularly towards the end of summer and into autumn, an astonishing variety of fungi.

Foraging gives you another reason to slow down and pay attention when you’re out walking. Once you start looking, you see things you might previously have walked straight past: a cluster of chanterelles beneath the trees, bilberries ripening on the hillside or a large cauliflower fungus hiding amongst the woodland floor.

We’ve been lucky enough to collect quite a few different edible fungi over the years, particularly in the Cairngorms. Some years are considerably better than others, depending on the weather, but a good autumn can produce an impressive harvest.

Why autumn is a good time for foraging

The combination of rain, warmth and the gradual change towards cooler autumn weather can produce excellent conditions for fungi.

Some years the woods seem to be full of mushrooms. In others, you can walk for miles and find very little. That’s part of the appeal: there is no guarantee of what you’ll discover.

Autumn also brings berries and other wild foods. Bilberries, raspberries and rowan berries are all part of the seasonal landscape, although we’re certainly not the only ones interested in them. The birds usually get to the rowan berries in impressive numbers.

For anyone who enjoys being outdoors, foraging adds another dimension to a walk. You become more observant and start to recognise the relationship between the plants, trees, weather and landscape around you.

Ceps – one of the great prizes of the woods

Ceps, or Boletus edulis, are among our favourite finds.

In a good year, they can seem to appear everywhere. We’ve had seasons when it was almost impossible to walk through the woods without coming back with several mushrooms.

Ceps have a firm texture and rich flavour and are particularly good for drying. At one point we had accumulated such a quantity of dried ceps that our larder was rather overloaded.

Fortunately, they keep extremely well and can be used throughout the winter in soups, sauces, risottos and casseroles.

If you’re collecting fungi, make sure you know what you are doing before you start. There are poisonous species which can look similar to edible ones, and a mushroom should never be eaten simply because it looks familiar.

Scottish Wildlife Trust – details on how to identify and where to find the Cep

Further details and intro to “Fascinated by Fungi”

Chanterelles

Chanterelles are another favourite and tend to be one of the more reliable edible mushrooms we find.

They have a distinctive yellow colour and can appear in woodland from summer into autumn, depending on conditions. Once you’ve learned to recognise them, finding your first crop can be very satisfying.

We use them fresh in soups and risottos and also freeze them for use later in the year. Freezing makes them a little more watery, but they still work well in cooked dishes and retain much of their texture.

There is also a false chanterelle in the Cairngorms, so this is a good example of why identification matters. We’ve had guests return from a walk with a whole collection of false chanterelles, convinced they had found the real thing!

Learning from someone who knows their fungi is by far the best way to develop your confidence.

Cauliflower fungus

Cauliflower fungus is one of our absolute favourites, although we don’t find it every year.

It is an impressive-looking fungus, forming a large, tangled mass rather like a cauliflower. Unlike many mushrooms, it can be substantial enough to provide several meals.

The flavour is relatively mild but the texture is excellent – firm and quite unlike the mushrooms you buy in a supermarket.

It works particularly well in mushroom soup, risotto and mushroom pie, and is also excellent added to a venison or beef casserole.

The main drawback is cleaning it. All those folds provide plenty of hiding places for insects and bits of woodland debris! It helps to give it a good shake upside down before bringing it home.

Further details

Hedgehog fungus

Hedgehog fungus is another edible species we occasionally find in the Cairngorms.

It’s a firm mushroom with distinctive spines underneath the cap rather than the familiar gills found on many other species. We don’t come across it as often as we’d like, but it is another good one to know.

And, as with all wild fungi, identification is crucial. If you aren’t completely certain what you’ve found, leave it where it is.

Further details and help with identification

Foraging is about more than finding food

The best thing about foraging isn’t necessarily how much you take home.

It changes the way you experience the landscape.

When we’re walking, we’re normally thinking about the route, the weather, the terrain and what’s ahead. Foraging makes you stop and look more closely. Suddenly the woodland floor becomes interesting. You notice which trees the fungi are growing beneath and start recognising plants and berries that you’ve previously ignored.

It’s also a good way of connecting the landscape with food. Finding something growing wild and then using it in dinner is a very satisfying part of being in the Highlands.

Foraging can be particularly good with children too. It turns a walk into a treasure hunt and encourages them to look closely at what is around them.

But safety comes first. Children – and adults – need to understand that not everything growing in the wild is edible. Wild foods should only be eaten when they have been positively identified by someone who knows what they are doing.

Learning to forage in the Scottish Highlands

If you’d like to learn more about foraging, a guided day with someone who knows the local plants and fungi is a good place to start.

You don’t need to become an expert in hundreds of species. Learning to confidently identify a handful of edible species, understanding their habitat and knowing which similar-looking species to avoid is much more useful.

And once you start learning, you’ll find yourself looking for them whenever you’re out walking.

For us, that’s one of the pleasures of spending so much time in the Cairngorms. The landscape keeps offering up new things to discover, whether we’re high on the mountains, walking through ancient woodland or simply following a path we’ve used many times before.

If you’d like to combine walking in the Cairngorms with an introduction to foraging, get in touch with us to discuss what might be possible as part of a Scottish walking holiday.

Please remember that fungi and other wild foods should only be collected and eaten when you are completely confident of their identification. Foraging should also be carried out responsibly, with consideration for wildlife, habitats and other people’s enjoyment of the countryside.