Useful equipment for foragers

Forager's basket

Although not strictly speaking essential, a good stout basket is very useful when picking most wild foods particularly fungi.  Plastic bags can make mushrooms 'sweat' and they often get broken as they get jostled around in the bag. Plastic tubs are more useful when picking berries, particularly smaller ones like hawthorn, bilberries and elderberries.

Forager's knife

A crucial part of the forager's equipment. These foldable knives are legal to carry in the UK for foraging purposes.  They are useful when harvesting edible fungi as you can use them to trim off the end of the stem and brush off any dirt before you place them in your basket.  Unless you do this you will end up with a basket full of dirty mushrooms leading to a big cleaning job when you get home.  These knives are also useful for cutting  the stems of edible plants such as common hogweed and nettle.  Make sure the knife you buy has a blade that folds into the handle though otherwise you will be breaking the law.

Foraging and field guide books

These are crucial, not only to help you develop your foraging knowledge but also to keep you safe.  Always have more than one so that you can cross reference them - not every book contains all the information you will need.  Some of our favourites are shown below.

Our favourite foraging books and field guides 

River Cottage: Hedgerow 

by the wonderful John Wright (ISBN 978 1 4088 0185 7)

This series of books by John is brilliant with key identification point for many wild foods plus information about poisonous species.  The book is crammed with John's dry sense of humour and ends with a number of recipes from the River Cottage kitchen. Don't be without this.
River Cottage: Mushrooms

by John Wright 

(ISBN 978 0 7475 8932 7 10)

Utterly brilliant for fungi foragers, beginners or experienced alike.  Packed full of extremely useful identification points including information about toxic look-a-like species.  A must have book for any fungi forager.
River Cottage: Edible Seashore

by John Wright 

(ISBN 978 0 7475 9531 1)

This book covers most of the edible species of the seashore from seaweed to shrimps and sea arrow grass to mussels.  Crammed full of essential information - a crucial book for the seashore forager.
Collins Complete Guide to British Mushrooms and Toadstools

(ISBN 9780 00 723224 6)

An extremely useful book when learning how to identify fungi as it is full of identifying features.  Species from the same family are laid out together making it easier to compare similar fungi.  The photographs are very clear.  Does not tell you if a species is edible.
Wild Food

by Roger Phillips 

(ISBN 978 1 4472 4996 2)

Considered by many to be the forager's bible, this incredible book is packed with information about wild foods and how to cook with them. It is laid out by wild food type with the recipes mixed in amongst the identification pages.
Food for Free

by Richard Mabey 

(ISBN 978 0 00 718303 6)

A pocket sized book that is very handy to take with you when out foraging.  Its small size means it isn't as comprehensive as some of the larger books but it is extremely useful for those starting a foraging hobby.
Collins Pocket: Guide Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe

by R Fitter, A Fitter and M Blamey (ISBN 0 00 220062 7)

A crucial book for any forager as it contains all of the key identifying features of our plant life.  By being 100% sure you have identified an edible species correctly you can be sure you are keeping yourself safe.
Edible Mushrooms

by Geoff Dann 

(ISBN 978 0 85784 397 5)

A very useful book for the more advanced fungi forager who wants to expand their knowledge.  This book covers all the edible species in the UK (over 300) along with all the poisonous ones.  It contains lots of identification details and clear photos.

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