The Garden of England could also be kitchen of England – you just need to know what to look for. Learn how to cook as nature intended at a feast and forage day.

When faced with a leisurely stroll in the Kentish countryside or dashing around the supermarket to get your dinner, there’s really no contest.

Plus the thought of no pesticides – and the fact that it’s free, well, why wouldn’t you?

Foraging for food, however, takes an educated nose and hand.

But a day learning to forage, followed off with a feast, rustled up on an open camp fire in the woods by chef Lucia Stuart, will have you looking at hedgerows in a whole new way.

Lucia takes her foraging group out around Betteshanger Country Park, near Deal, where the first stop is a small patch of green weeds with yellow flowers and black seeds, which is alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum).

Lucia said: “It was the precursor to celery and it does taste a bit like celery. The leaves are very nutritious. You can use alexanders to flavour just about anything. I am all about flavour. I love flavour. People might think foraged food is lacking in it, but it really isn’t.

“I recommend smelling to identify things. You can’t learn from the TV. You need to know what you’re looking for.”

Alexanders, the stalks of which need to be peeled, will be used to flavour two of Lucia’s dishes.

For alexanders flat bread it is mixed into bread mix to be cooked over an open fire. In baked alexanders salmon, the salmon is cooked with alexanders in foil over the open fire, which brings out a strong and slightly tangy flavour. The seeds can be ground down to make pepper too.

We’re going to need bigger supplies though and it turns that there’s plenty to pick from, once you know what to look for.

After a leisurely walk into the park, we find a patch of nettles. Fresh, green nettles (Uritca dioica), growing, as you might expect, just about everywhere.

Later on they are trimmed and cut up, before being boiled to make tea. You can also use them in omelette – a dish quite easily rustled up on a small portable stove.

“Don’t worry about the bugs. They are good protein!” adds Lucia who came to foraging at a very young age.

Her enthusiastic parents introduced her and she has never looked back. Her home in Deal is full of ingredients she forages whenever they are in season, along with shop-bought ingredients when needed.

“It has been a lifelong thing for me,” she said.

“The first time I tried nettles I was around 10. The food is fresher and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

One of her bugbears is shop-bought bags of salad. “They are bleached several times. You lose half the nutrients and they cost a ridiculous amount. Hopefully, once you have learnt to forage, you’ll never want to buy another.”

Bright yellow wild primroses are the next harvest. They’re used to flavour and decorate pancakes. We also used the tiny brown buds from fir trees that are mixed into sugar with a mortar and pestle to offer a delicate, surprising alternative to sprinkle over decorated pancakes.

There’s even a dash of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) vodka for the adults which Lucia whipped up at home – but if you’re driving, sip daintily as it will blow your socks off.

After four hours under Lucia’s expert guidance, you may not be an expert, but you will feel like you’ve communed with nature in a whole new way.

Read more food and drink news from across Kent.

DETAILS

Deal chef Lucia Stuart, who runs the Wild Kitchen, will be holding more feast and forage days at Betteshanger this year. They will be on Saturday, July 23 and Saturday, September 24.

They will all start at 10am, meeting at the visitor centre, with a leisurely walk around Betteshanger. The walk takes around one to two hours and the remaining workshop is used to prepare, cook and enjoy the foraged food with a communal lunch.

Lucia also runs a seaweed foraging class. For details go to thewildkitchen.net. To book the feast and forage day at £35 per person, visit BetteshangerCountryPark.co.uk or call 01304 619227.
The 250-acre park runs a range of activities, including courses for children in the school holidays.

TRY IT YOURSELF

Nettle and Sweetcorn Fritters:

Ingredients
Eggs, salt, flour, sweetcorn, nettle leaves, oil.
1. First make the batter, mixing together one egg, a pinch of salt, three tablespoons of flour, five tablespoons of tinned sweetcorn, eight tablespoons of nettle leaves (blanched, drained and chopped up).
2. Put five spoons of oil into a frying pan and heat until smoking hot.
3. Beware of the spluttering oil as you place a spoon of the fritter mixture into the pan.
4. Add two more spoonfuls to the pan. Keep them apart and surrounded by oil. Press down.
5. Cook for about three minutes until crispy golden. Flip them over and cook the other side.
6. Place the fritters on kitchen paper to drain.