Foraging for edibles in our forests

Bush walking will never be the same. Foraging through the damp undergrowth of the Pirongia Forest Park has opened my eyes to the rich flora and fauna of the edible variety.

I really was stoked to be invited to join a foraging field trip. With the ‘Tino Reka te Kai Matariki Dish Challenge’ within sight, Waikato chefs were keen to arouse their native culinary curiosity, under the experienced guide of Charles Royal of Kinaki Wild Herbs. Their Matariki challenge was to use at least two identified local or native produce on their eatery menu during the Maori New Year, beginning 06 June.

The group included a new Waikato brewer, Three Fat Pigs, keen to uncover a native mushroom to use in a new innovative stout, local media and me. Yip. Yip.

While trending now in restaurants across New Zealand, Charles first began foraging 16 years ago. Much of his own learnings was from his uncle. There were no hard and fast authentic recordings of what was, and was not, edible.  Some information he found was incorrect, so sorting truth from fiction was part of his trial and error process.

We traced the Pirongia Forest floor looking for native edibles.

Fungi to be with

Mushrooms fascinate me. They spring up ominously in my lawn after heavy rain and I generally avoid them like the plague because I just didn’t (until today) have the knowledge to determine a fabulous fungi from a treacherous toadstool.

It had been raining heavily in the Pirongia Forest Park overnight, which was good news for us. Fungi loves this type of weather.

What to, and what not to eat? The absolute rule is to steer away from coloured toadstools (although mesmerisingly picturesque), and turn your attention towards the more modest brown, fungi. Unlike your supermarket variety, native mushrooms have a strong, intense flavour and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

‘Wood ear’, a floppy looking fungi uncannily in the shape of a wobbly caricature ear (but known under a variety of names) are reportedly known for lowering blood pressure and widely used in Chinese medicine. Upon collection (if not used immediately) best to dry naturally then rehydrate with water when you do feel the urge to cook.

Charles tells me many brown mushrooms are ‘all good’.  The absolute exclusion is the one marked above: it has a distinctive helmet head with a frilly skirt.  It can cause serious liver damage so stay well clear.

Unless you are with an experienced guide, or have done your homework, be cautious. There are poisonous varieties too.

From leafy brown mushrooms the size of your hand, white oyster mushrooms found on tree trunks to dainty tall stalked fungi, the variety is incredible.

Fern loving

As Charles explained, there are around 312 varieties of fern in New Zealand, but only seven that are edible. A common fern, ‘hen and chicken’, can be identified by baby ferns growing from the mature foliage (and you’ll see them dime-a-dozen at the garden centre). The edible part of the fern is the curled up frond, pikipiko, found in the centre of the plant.  High in vitamin E pikopiko resembles a tightly coiled koru with a green, slightly hairy stem, tasting of peppery celery raw and delicious steamed.

Piko means ‘to bend’ in Maori, hence pikopiko having a distinctive curl, similar to our koru.

Supplejack surprise

Bush asparagus took me by surprise. You’d never guess it was edible unless you knew. It is the Supplejack, a dark invasive vine which which twists around virtually anything. If you are luckily enough to find the tip amongst the tangled mess (which is a mission in itself) you can snap off the tender top 6-8 inches. It doesn’t look pretty but has a feathery brown tip. Once peeled and steamed, it’s delicious. It has an asparagus allure about it visually, and tastes rather a cross between a pea and a bean.

Other interesting discoveries:

• When Black Punga stems are roasted, the inner flesh is delicious
• Horopito has chilli-like leaves
• Fresh kawakawa pods are delicious with vanilla ice-cream (they have chilli-cinnamon notes)
• Lichen once dried, is often used as a dessert garnish (and as Charles explains, helps lower the risk of prostate cancer)

Huhu Who?

We didn’t find any on our exploration but huhu grubs were on the lunch menu all the same, cooked (which came as some consolation to me as I was dreading a Fear Factor dare of eating them raw). In my opinion they tasted blandly creamy, possibly peanut buttery with some imagination. Palatable ….until the head, which was decisively crunchy and a little reminder that one was eating a grub, not gnocchi.

The huhu lives in fallen pine logs. If the branch is is vertical, then don’t bother looking as  huhu love logs that are touching the ground. Look for holes. Axe-split the softwood and if they are there, they’ll be obvious. They love rotten wood. When collecting huhu put them in a container along with some of the soft wood they were found in. In this state they’ll last 3-4 days in the fridge. Every little while, shake the container to disorientate them – otherwise they will start fighting each other. Eeek.

Grups up

After an hour of foraging in the bush we returned to the forest park lodge to empty our bootie and await a delicious cook up by Charles and his wife Tania. They both met in the forces (he Army cook, she Navy cook) and together run food tours out of Rotorua. This was different foraging ground for Charles and he noted a difference compared to the Bay of Plenty offering.

• pikopiko wrapped in porchetta
• huhu, cooked
• variety of fungi
• Tutaekuri (known as Maori Potatoes), low in GI
• bush asparagus
• damper bread
• pikopiko dip*

*my favourite by a landslide, PikoPiko Dip: wash and chop pikopiko, blanch quickly, add pinenuts or sunflower seeds (toasted then crushed), garlic and olive oil, slather over damper bread

Huge thanks to @waikatofoodinc for an amazing day.

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