Over the last few days, we've been on a bit of a countryside fruit and nut trail. There's lots to see at the moment. Foraging is an interesting activity if you know what you are doing.
It's not often I see Medlar trees but they tend to be seen in large estates usually owned by the National Trust. You can eat the fruits but I've heard they are an acquired taste so I might give them a miss.
Conkers are from the horse chestnut tree. Inside their green, spiky cases the nuts inside are brown and shiny. We used to play the game of conkers when we were kids. We'd stand facing a friend, each holding a conker dangling from a piece of string. We'd then take turns to try and hit your opponents conker with your conker. The aim was to smash your opponent's conker off the piece of string.
I think they've now banned it in schools because of health and safety issues. It's all silly, it makes you stronger getting hit on the knuckles with a conker!
Rose hips, fruit from the rose plant. I have eaten one or two as a child but I wouldn't recommend them.
Last year, we could hardly find any acorns but this year there's been lots.
We spotted a couple with an oak apple gall. The gall is a type of growth on the acorn that is caused by a wasp. The female lays eggs on the leaf bud and when the larvae grows the leaf also grows with it. You can just see the hole on the top of the gall where the wasp exits. Pretty cool really.
From a recent visit to the orchards at Clumber Park, the apples and pears and other fruit, will be used by the onsite cafe, enabling customers to have fresh food from the trees to the plate.
I'm no expert at what I can and can't eat. Unless it's growing in an orchard, I think I will leave it up to the experts. It was interesting to see what is out there though.
