Foraging Fungi Heaven in Kent, UK 🇬🇧
- Anthony Coppard
- Nov 7, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 10, 2024
What an amazing day out!! This has been a dream of mine to have a day in the woods searching for the fruits of the forest! We met up with a local mushroom forager (Mike), an 83 years old and probably fitter than myself 😂
He was one of the most fascinating people I have ever met and his knowledge of mushrooms in Kent was incredible!
We started off going to his house in mid Kent, and Mike and his wife Joan invited us in for a cuppa and a chat before we went out on our travels. They were both so down to earth and easy to talk to….not one awkward moment.
After the small initiation and understanding the plan of the day, we got our boots on and jumped into Mikes Honda Jazz and off we went to the first location for the beautiful golden chanterelles. At first when we arrived at the location, you wouldn’t think to find them, but Mike was confident that they were around. Just after 5 minutes we were havesting the golden delights, and walked away with about half kilo worth 🤩. Myself and Agnes (My Fiancé) we hooked…and a dream had come true!
We were already in our element and got in foraging bug! We got back in the car and was driven to our next location about 30 minutes away to an ancient woods with plenty of mycelium action going on…exciting times!
We arrived at the next location and we felt like excited children 😝 and just wanted to roam around looking for our fungi prizes!
5 Minutes into our new destination and already found some beautiful hedgehog mushrooms. These mushrooms are amazing in flavour and have a similar vibe to chanterelle's. Check the video below of our find 👇
They were great in size and nice and firm, which is a great sign of freshness. These mushrooms are very easy to identify due to their little spines underneath, and other similar species like this are also edible, so this makes it easier for novices of mushroom foraging. See my next video of me picking up a hedgehog mushroom and see its characteristics 👇
We had a great haul of the hedgehog mushrooms and must of picked at least 3 kilos of them. Once our eyes had adjusted to spot them between the fallen leaves, we couldn’t help ourselves 😂 We kept shouting to one another “look another patch and another!” It was sort of comical the amount! The basket started getting heavy, so we had to resist picking more, otherwise it could of been a struggle to get back to the car.
If your still reading then great! The best part is just coming up. After harvesting so much already, we started to make our way back to the car, but still keeping our eyes 👀 peeled. Agnes had struck gold and Mike was in disbelief on the find! trompette de la mort a.k.a black trumpet or horn of plenty…..a delicacy and chefs dream! Mike hadn’t come across this type of mushroom in years, and even after all the years of foraging started to get excited too! We all jumped to our knees, and harvested this amazing mushroom. Packed full of flavour, these mushrooms pair great with fish, soups (like Ramen) and pasta dishes! They have a nutty, earthy and truffle like flavour and foodies love the gourmet delight!
This just made our day even better, and we had already had an amazing day! We pinned it in the maps hoping to find them again one day!
After 6 hours out foraging, we made our way back to the car, and back to Mike’s place. We took our mushrooms out of the car and Mike’s wife couldn’t believe with her eyes how much we had found! We were invited in again, and i couldn’t leave without knocking up a mushroom risotto for everyone to say thank you for taking us out. With freshly picked mushrooms, and cooked within 2 hours, the flavour was deep and intense and was perfect! With empty plates and full stomachs, we said our goodbyes and thanks to Mike and Joan, and they gifted us with a jar of dried Ceps that he had found previously and was a nostalgic and familiar smell from being a Chef all these years. We put all our mushrooms in our car and took them home for preparation and cleaning.
Cleaning was long and brutal, but well worth the effort! It took myself and Agnes about 3-4 hours, but that time flew by when we’re in our element with one of the best ingredients this planet has to offer!
check out in the video below 👇 our cleaned and prepared mushrooms 🍄🟫
With this amount of mushrooms, we didn’t want to waste them, so we decided to get the dehydrator fired up and preserve them to enjoy throughout the year.
And this is where our story comes to an end! As I’m writing this blog the mushrooms are drying in the dehydrator and we plan to vacuum seal them lightly for freshness! Can’t wait to start cooking with them. 😋
We are hoping as we get more experience with foraging mushrooms and finding more locations, we would love to plan days out foraging and then teaching amazing dishes and techniques to make the best of these ingredients.
If your interested in joining us for a small cookery class at our home in Appledore, Kent we are currently offering 2 classes (Fresh pasta class & knife skills) which last around 3 hours and our classes are more intimate and niche compared to larger cookery classes. Check out our classes and prices on the link below 👇
Or if you have any enquiries or need if there’s anything else we could accommodate with, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email on
Thanks for reading 🙏😉
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