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PUCK’S PLENTY FORAGING TOURS

SEASON: Spring, Summer, Fall

LOCATION: 96 Birmingham Street, Stratford

WEBSITE: www.pucksplenty.com

HIGHLIGHT: Foraging in the forests near Stratford

Named for Shakespeare’s character in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Puck’s Plenty tours, which began in 2010, have been rated as one of the top foraging adventures in the world.

Lace up your boots and join author Peter Blush and his dogs on walking tours, lasting two to three hours, along lush woodland trails. Hear the birds and breathe in the scent of new forest growth. Learn to identify wild edibles, both the expected and the unexpected, because every year new ones appear. In the spring, fill your basket with wild leeks, trout lily, rhubarb-like Japanese knotweed, garlic mustard, and marsh marigold. Later in the spring, harvest fiddleheads and nettles. Varying shapes and sizes of mushrooms of varying degrees of meatiness appear throughout the summer into the fall season. Giant, mushroom-like puffballs are always easy to spot. You’ll be surprised at the number of weeds that are edible. The recognizable pineapple weed that lurks in cement cracks and driveways emits a pineapple scent when found on a forest’s grassy floor and crushed—like chamomile, it turns into a delicious tea. Learn to properly harvest these delicacies to appreciate their nutritional values and to use them in recipes.

To round out the foraging experience, Blush’s Forage and Feast events provide a four-course lunch created with foraged finds—a good way to experience the textures and flavours of the wild edibles as they are accompanied by locally produced breads, cheeses, teas, and craft beers.