A Beginner’s Guide to Foraging in Norfolk

Foraging is the practice of gathering wild food, from coastal greens to mushrooms and berries. But it’s also a way of slowing down, reconnecting with nature, and appreciating the landscapes around us. Foraging offers the chance to discover incredible seasonal flavours, many of which you'll never find in a supermarket.

We spoke to Raf from Norwich Forage to learn about getting started, seasonal insights and why foraging has transformed the way he experiences local food.

Seasonal foraging with Raf from Norwich Forage

How did you get into foraging?

I was first gifted a little book called Food for Free by Richard Mabey. The possibility of "free food", combined with time in nature, fascinated me and marked a shift in how I chose to spend my time from then on.

After that, I got a few more books, read them, and started paying closer attention to the plants and mushrooms I encountered in my everyday life. Eventually, I tried some, bought more books, and it all took off from there.

The first plant I ever tried was hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) leaves, and the first mushroom was field blewit (Collybia personata).

Could you take us through foraging by season? Many people think it’s limited to a few months a year.

There are things to forage all year round! Although, it varies depending on weather conditions like humidity, sunlight and temperature. Changing seasons due to global warming also make patterns less predictable.

For me, there is the “mushroom season” in autumn, where a lot of great edible mushrooms overlap and there is so much choice. For example, you can find penny buns (Boletus edulis), chanterelles (Cantharellus sp.), winter chanterelles (Craterellus tubaeformis), cauliflower fungus (Sparassis crispa), pine boletes (Boletus pinophilus) and hedgehog fungus (Hydnum repandum) in one day. It’s so good!

Winter brings fewer mushrooms, but there are still great edibles to find, including blewits (Collybia personata, Nuda, Sordida), winter chanterelles and oysters (Pleurotus sp.). It can feel quiet, but there is always something to discover, even if it’s not edible, like fascinating slime moulds. From February onwards, “morel fever” begins, with the excitement (and anxiety!) of scouting for spots before morels (Morchella species) arrive in spring.

Spring also brings a huge variety of edible plants, each with different harvestable stages. Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) and common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), for example, can be used from shoots to leaves and seeds. Morels are followed by St George’s mushrooms (Calocybe gambosa) and an abundance of plants such as meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), goosefoot (Chenopodium species) and pineapple weed (Matricaria discoidea).

Early summer can feel quieter for edible mushrooms, especially in dry weather, but there is still plenty to forage. Soon chanterelles and chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) appear, alongside coastal finds such as samphire (Salicornia sp.), sea arrowgrass (Triglochin maritima) and sea blite (Suaeda maritima). In a wet summer, chanterelles can continue right through to the autumn “mushroom season”, when it all begins again.

People often seem to think about foraging as finding mushrooms, wild garlic, or three-cornered leek - what else is out there?

How much time do you have? There are so, so many things you can pick. I don’t even know if there’s much point naming any, because where do you start? Depending on your taste, mobility and interests, you can forage endless plants and mushrooms to pickle, ferment, dehydrate, freeze, cook with, make medicine from, gift to friends, snack on, feast on, turn into desserts, use as seasoning, make drinks, or even create cordage and fabric. The possibilities are endless.

I mostly focus on enriching my own and my loved ones’ diets, as well as preserving things for later in the year. I’m particularly into fermenting, dehydrating and pickling. I also like to forage as a way of avoiding buying things from supermarkets, but there are so many possibilities for what you can do with what you find.

What’s your favourite thing to forage?

Chanterelles! For me, it’s mostly Cantharellus cibarius here in Norfolk. I’ve had some amazing experiences picking them for hours on end, usually spending a minimum of five hours searching and harvesting them on a quiet, sunny day with a flask of iced coffee and a healthy lunch. Then it’s home to do my mushroom admin, sorting and cleaning them, before cooking something amazing. They’re not necessarily my favourite mushroom to eat, but they’re my favourite to pick.

What’s the most surprisingly tasting foraged thing you’ve encountered?

Sea arrowgrass – tastes like coriander.

The prince mushroom (Agaricus Augustus) – smells like marzipan and bitter almond.

Water pepper (Persicaria hydropiper) – has an intense heat.

Hogweed seeds – cardamom and citrus flavour.

Meadowsweet- Smells like root beer, tastes sweet with notes of honey. And a little bit medicinal too, in a nice way.

Is Norfolk particularly special for any types of foraging?

I’d have to mention the salt marshes for samphire and other sea vegetables. Otherwise, the woodlands of Norfolk are not dissimilar to many other woodlands around the UK and, I imagine, have a similar amount of forageable plants and mushrooms. That said, I haven’t foraged much in many other places across the UK, so who knows!

Do you see any common pairings when it comes to foraging - things coexisting?

Many mushrooms are mycorrhizal, meaning they form mutualistic relationships with trees. For example, chanterelles are commonly found alongside broadleaf trees such as oak, birch and chestnut, while penny buns grow with oak, beech and birch.

Even some saprotrophic mushrooms, which feed on and decompose wood, have preferences. Cauliflower fungus grows exclusively on pines, while beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica) is found on oak and chestnut.

The coolest relationships, though, are the ones mushrooms have with each other. For example, you might find peppery bolete (Chalciporus piperatus) parasitising fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), or rosy spike (Gomphidius roseus) parasitising the mycelium of bovine bolete (Suillus bovinus).

One particularly useful relationship for edible mushrooms is the one between the miller (Clitopilus prunulus) and penny buns.

What are some tell-tale signs or clues about what might be around to forage before you see it?

Spotting some relationships between plants and fungi can be very useful. Finding the miller is always exciting, as it means there may well be penny buns around, or they are likely to be coming up in the next few weeks. Otherwise, I have learned to notice microhabitats within habitats that experientially have shown me there is the presence of X mushroom. They’re difficult to put into words – I know them when I see them! But also, when foraging, it’s helpful to learn your trees, soil types and so on. For example, in morel season, if I find chalky soil with ash and elm trees nearby, I get very excited!

Without blowing up any spots with hyper specifics, where do you like to go most?

Broadleaf woodlands.

What might you find on the Norfolk coast vs the Norfolk woodland?

There are some very, very cool mushrooms on the Norfolk coast if you know where and when to look, but otherwise, for me, the coast is for plants, mostly in spring and summer (samphire, sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), sea beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima), etc., etc.), and the woodland is for mushrooms and plants. Different types of woodland and different seasons play a role in what you might find and where.

What are some sustainable foraging practises to follow?

Personally, I am mindful of my impact on nature, try to leave as little a trace as I can, not pick small specimens (if there is abundance of something, sometimes I will pick some, say, small chanterelles to pickle) but generally leave smaller mushrooms to grow and sporulate, and make sure you leave some for animals that might be using them for food, especially in winter where there may not be much else about. Especially if I can see that an animal has already fed on mushrooms, I am about to pick, I make sure I leave some, as it indicates I am picking off someone else’s plate.

Also, minimise how much you disturb the leaf litter, and make sure you replace any logs you pick up, as they will be housing woodlice and other critters. Cover any areas you have disturbed with leaf litter, so they don't dry out.

Uprooting plants is another one. It’s generally illegal to do so unless it’s on your land, and in many cases, I would argue it’s bordering on being unethical. But with things like invasive alliums (e.g. three-cornered leek), or other invasive plants like Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) and Himalayan balsam, (Impatiens glandulifera) I would argue it’s unethical not to uproot them. There are nuances in it all.

Also, don’t leave your rubbish out in nature!

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve foraged?

Finding my first wild morels (Morchella Importuna) was a mind-blowing experience. I was overwhelmed with elation. I still haven’t found any as big as those ones.

Could you say a little bit about how foraging connects to slow living and traditional practises of gathering?

Personally, it enriches me and my relationship with nature so much. It urges you to slow down, be more mindful when engaging with nature, and notice so many details you otherwise would have missed. Additionally, taking time to process your food is so invaluable and something I did not realise was missing from my life until I had it. Now I love it. Taking the time to identify your food, pick it, carry it around in the woods and then home, clean it, store it, cook it, preserve it, eat it and share it. It’s so good.

Also, it promotes an overall healthier lifestyle, with a lot of walking and forest bathing, and connects you to the seasonality of food, something we have largely lost when everything is constantly available.

I always get mildly fed up with eating fresh chanterelles and penny buns at the end of their season, but then I have another year to miss them, and when they’re back, it’s as exciting as ever.

Another thing is that it has pushed me to explore different dishes and ways of cooking and preserving - my fridge is 80% full of various jars with various fungal and floral matter in them. It gives me great joy.

Finally, I love the idea that I am enjoying food I never would be able to afford, throughout the year and for free.

Conclusion

Whether you're interested in discovering new flavours, spending more time outdoors or slowing the pace of everyday life, foraging offers a rewarding way to experience our region.

As Raf shares, it's not just about what you bring home, but the time spent noticing the landscape, understanding the seasons, and building a closer relationship with the natural world and the food on your plate.

If you go on a foraging adventure, we’d love for you to share your findings with the Nor-Folk community.

Raf runs guided foraging walks with Norwich Forage, as well as bespoke and private walks. Head to his Instagram @Norwich_Forage or email [email protected] to get in touch and start exploring - Raf would love to help you get out there and experience it for yourself.

*All photographs taken by Rafail Kokkinos.