Wild Foods. Nettles, Mushrooms, Music & More with Fiona Falconer of Wild About and musician and forager Peter Broderick

The NeighbourFood Podcast

“You could eat your dinner out of the ditch” that’s what Fiona Falconer of Wild About tells us in this

week’s podcast which is all about Wild Food.

It’s abundant, free, full of adventure, resourceful and sustainable and celebrates the beauty and bounty of our landscape. So we discuss why it’s important to eat from our natural surroundings and what are the benefits of eating wild foods for our health.

Fiona also tells us about the value of running a small business, as she and her husband Malcolm upped sticks from London, moved to a 5-acre farm in Co. Wexford and now run an environmentally sustainable food business, appropriate called Wild About, which along with countless awards has presented them with many creative opportunities.

In December 2021, we first chatted to her, and this here podcast is a re-play of that conversation. So we touched based with Fiona this wee to get an update on things on the farm. And as it turns it out they are getting on great! They are still living their mantra of “small is beautiful”, they are developing a food tourism side to the business and along with VisitWexford are hosting farm tours for visitors. Dreams and plans are afoot for a custard apple farm in Maderia with a tourism offering. Sounds exciting. And if you want to meet this vivacious woman in person, you will be able to catch them at Bloom in the Park this coming June 2023.

Further more, we decided to re-play this episode as Spring is a particularly great time to get out and about in search of wild goodies and Fiona gives us a delicious and tempting recipe and now is the perfect time to give it a shot.

And what’s more, that song you hear at the start of the podcast, well that’s an original piece of music - made specifically for the NeighbourFood podcast. From blackberries to mushrooms, wild food is also a huge passion for musician Peter Broderick.

Peter, a Maine man, now living in Galway loves to forage for wild, edible plants. Though we may be so bold as to suggest writing the theme music for our NeighbourFood podcast was one of his greatest musical feats, what may interest you more is his song “Wild Food” from his album Blackberry, which is all about gathering, foraging, hunting, and munching! It's catchy (see what we did there?). So later you will hear from Peter and what he finds inspiring about “Wild Food”.

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Wild About’s Nettle Beer Recipe

Ideal for brewing around St Patrick's Day (17 March) when the nettles are young

2 carrier bags of nettles (approx 500grams)

12 liters of water

1.5 kg sugar

60 grams cream of tartar

Yeast

Optional - 2 oranges, 2 lemons, Ginger

Boil the water. Once it comes to the boil, take off the heat. Add the nettles. Cover and leave it to infuse for a minimum one hour, but preferably overnight.

Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth. Heat this mixture only enough to dissolve the sugar and the cream of tartar.

Add the juice of the orange, lemon, and ginger spice (these are optional)

Leave cool at room temperature and then add yeast. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a dark, warm place for four to five days.

After this time, remove the scum from the brew bucket and siphon it into plastic bottles. Leave to settle in a cool place such as a fridge.

Ready to drink after seven days and we are told it tastes like a Breton cider!.

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