Forage Frolics - Richard Mawby foraging instructor

05/08/2025

A WILD TAKE: On a bibimbap dish! It's been a while since I've cooked properly after the wild biome project ended. I've been travelling alot and went back to raw milk as my main food staple. I relaxed my diet more than I thought I would, however the majority of sources of things I buy are from good places.

I've wanted to do this mainly because it caused me a little stress since wild biome 2023, sticking strictly to wild game and other things until wild biome 2025. I missed out on enjoying some of life's other tasty treats and my flavour palate shrunk considerably as I refused to explore normal dishes for inspiration.

I think a balance is important and whilst I was in Devon I was foraging where I could, but also buying from local farmshops with traceable sources of produce.

With a second growth of wild greens coming sooner than expected, I felt the urge to use dandelions again and what better way than a wild venison bibimbap! I fried the mince with wild garlic salt, garlic mustard seed powder, a pinch of normal garlic and some mixed herbs. I used birch sap syrup for a delicious dark sweet molasses flavour and fried everything in a generous helping of butter from the same place I buy my raw jersey milk from. Served on a bed of organic rice, it is just what I needed after a week or so of eating very little carbohydrates at all.

A little chilli or hotness might add that little extra Korean hit to this dish.

06/07/2025

BIBIMBAP: With a healthy portion of wild things... A friend is here to visit for a few days and I've been making dishes to suit both our palates. What better thing than a wild tweaked Korean style lunch! 😋

I made a simple bibimbap with an organic rice base, salmon, dandelions, common sorrel, nettle seed and of course a fried egg in venison tallow and drizzled with spicy mayo. We also added a few drops of birch syrup too!

The salmon was seasoned with dried golden samphire, common hogweed seed powder, garlic mustard seed powder, sea salt and wild garlic salt before baking covered in the oven at 180c for 20 minutes and uncovered for 5 minutes at 200c.

03/07/2025

ACORN & CHESTNUT FLOUR SHORTBREAD: Yes please!!! 😍😍😍

Without limitations on rations now that the is over I decided to experiment more with these flours so that I can use them more than returning to normal cultivated flour we often use for recipes.

Since I had some butter from local Jersey cows for the first time in three months I thought to myself, why not bake some all butter shortbread!

I followed a simple 3 ingredients recipe online but substituted sugar with honey instead and of course wheat for acorn and chestnut.

Recipe:

100g salted local butter
40g of local honey
80g acorn flour
40g sweet chestnut flour

Simply melt honey and butter in a pan then stir I to the flour.

Mould into biscuits and bake at 180c (fan) for 18 minutes or until done.

Let cool and enjoy!

01/07/2025

FRUIT CRUMBLE SEASON: Is upon us now that the blackcurrants and goose berries and other delicious fruits are ripe!

To mark the 2nd day post I though it was time to forget rationing my chestnut and acorn flour and enjoy it without worrying about where I have enough foraged stores left.

For this I used organic chestnut flour and a polish brand of acorn flour as an experiment because when I'm in a pinch and don't have time to spend 3 weeks leaching my own acorns, this could work as a substitute instead of buying normal cultivated flour to use.

It's so delicious and hits that summer fruit craving that comes this time of year when greens have gone to seed and fruits are abundant.

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Ingredients

For the crumble
200g acorn flour
100g sweet chestnut flour
60g butter
50g honey
1 tbsp hogweed seed
1 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients with fingers until crumbly and well combined.

Boil any fruit of choice. Roughly 2 litres max of ingredients. I used blackcurrants and gooseberries plus 300g of strawberry jam that needed using up. Add 30-40g of venison tallow and a pinch or two of salt. Boil and simmer until soft and mixed up.

Pour into a baking dish and layer the crumble. Bake at 180c for about 30 minutes or until the crumble browns.

Enjoy!

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30/06/2025

WHAT A CONCLUSION: To three months of eating wild food for the ... I spent a week in Kent between two meetups, one at 's amazing home and the other at field. In-between I spent time along the Kent coast foraging and feeling at home with all the wild coastal foods to thrive on.

Today marks the end of the wild biome project for 2025 and I feel a sense of satisfaction, content but also a little sadness and melancholy that it has finished. I loved how many gatherings we had this time that brought connection, grounding and a huge diversity of wild foods that mimicked the whole spectrum of how our hunter gatherer ancestors would have interacted with one another.

These meetups are the thing I will miss the most and in-between them I found myself feeling a little low and looking forward to the next one. I think these gathererings were my main motivation for sticking out for 3 months during this diet as I already know how wild food benefits my health from the previous wild biome in 2023.

I don't crave anything other than enjoying raw milk for the first time in 90 days. Everything else would be a nice to have but not a crave to have. I would quite happily continue eating wild but I find that that can be quite isolating in the modern world, something I'm very aware of since I abstain from most social norms.

I'll leave you with these beautiful photos from the previous week and sit with a happy tummy and fulfilled body mind and soul from this whole experience. If everyone can experience this at least once in their life I highly recommend it. 🥰

12/05/2025

FISH CAKES: Fit for the are a game changer. Seafood is one element I have not enjoyed as much as I'd like to because I have yet to visit the coast during the project. I'm craving it, especially towards summer when the greens all go to flower and seed. That will change when I go to Cornwall next week, I'm counting the days! 😍

I decided to treat myself to some discounted cod and hake the other day since I've mainly been eating venison and pigeon as my meat source. I've been wanting to play with a wild biome friendly fishcake recipe ever since made some crabcakes during our work day at nomadic the other week.

This version avoids using an egg for binding, something which we are allowed a ration of since taking wild eggs in the UK is illegal but I have avoided using the full allowance and keep them to a minimum.

INGREDIENTS:

350g of any white fish
15g common sorrel, chopped fine
15g ground elder, chopped fine
20g wild garlic, chopped fine
30g sweet chestnut flour
2g sea salt
2g garlic mustard seed powder
15g venison tallow

Heat the tallow in a pan and mix the rest of the ingredients together until well combined and mashed up. Make small flat cakes and coat each side in a fine layer of chestnut flour. Fry until browned on either side.

21/09/2024

TODAY WAS THE FIRST: Wild pizza making workshop that I ran under the shelter by the lake. I've done very small private ones before or used other facilities, but today we finally put the shelter to full use.

I spent most of this week working on logistics and carrying down heavy stainless steel benches and other props that complete my plans for this outdoor kitchen space.

I was so pleased to see it come together and to watch everyone gather ingredients and create their own wild pizzas is what this job is truly about. I hope to run more full feast workshops here in the future so watch this space.

The first two pizzas we made had a hawthorn ketchup base that I made myself and were topped with maitake that I found a couple of days before. The toppings we foraged included common sorrel, dandelions and himilayan balsam flowers. I also rehydrated some fairy ring champignons for the other pizzas.

There is nothing better than feeling connected to wild food through our plates. 😊💚🌱🍕

11/09/2024

WILD BIOME 2.0 | FUNDING FOR BLOOD AND GUT TESTS

My name is Richard Mawby and I am a forager who took part in the Wild Biome project in 2023. We started with only 26 foragers who lived only on wild food for three months to mimick what our hunter gatherer ancestors ate to see how it would impact our modern day gut and overall health.

It was a fascinating experience and in 2025 we are coming back bigger with over 150 potential participants. We will be doing more extensive testing at multiple periods as seasons change. This is a fantastic opportunity to gather valuable data for citizen science to see how our hunter gatherer ancestors diets could help us in the modern world.

We hope to generate some university funding, but we have been advised to get some personal funding to put towards testing so that in the event we are short of any funds we are able to continue with the project without issue.

The fund thresholds and what they would go towards is as follows:

£700 - Personal tests covered.

£700 - £2000 - Funds to help with travelling to the coast to forage, visit other people on the project and get more video footage and help with other logistical cost as I will be working minimally during the project.

> £2000 - More opportunities to delve deeper into the experience, more footage, travelling for diversity of wild foods, donate any extra towards anyone else who did not raise enough funding themselves.

I thank you in advance for donating to this project.

You can stay in touch next year by following my socials:

Instagram:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/
Website: www.richardmawby.com

https://gofund.me/a008fee0

My name is Richard Mawby and I am a forager who took part in the Wi… Richard Mawby needs your support for WILD BIOME 2.0 - FUND RAISER FOR BLOOD AND GUT TESTS

03/09/2024

DID YOU KNOW: That you can also bake cakes in a frying pan?!

It may not look as scenic as a cake baked properly in an oven, but when you are on the road with nothing but an induction hob you have to improvise.

I first tried this method during the when I made a sweet chestnut flour cake. Or perhaps it was after the project as I did not transition fully back to eating what I ate before the diet. I forget, but either way it was around that time.

Today I found some einkorn flour in a farmshop where I bought some venison mince during my travels by the coast and I decided to play around with it. Einkorn is the very first wheat we domesticated and it has not changed genetically since we first used it as a crop. You can also harvest einkorn in the wild so it is certainly a crop our hunter gatherer ancestors would have utilized, but certainly in lesser amounts than we use today.

This recipe was fairly simple. Approx. 150g-200g flour, 7 tbsp venison tallow, 5-6 tbsp honey or sweeten to taste, pinch of salt and a handfull of blueberries. Oh this time I also added one egg. Add a little water to create a moist consistency but not too runny.

I lay some greaseproof in my pan, spread the mixture, put the lid on and cooked it on setting 3 for about 18 minutes.

23/08/2024

ELDERBERRY CORDIAL: Is soooooo much tastier than I ever imagined. The deep blood red healing colour is mesmerising in its undiluted form. Thick and filled with so much medicinal greatness, this is a fantastic way to preserve and store this berry for winter use against colds and flu. I have been gathering lots of elderberries this year but I have mostly dried them in preparation for the to avoid too many sugar preserves.

I will be serving this during my forage and nibble this weekend, but this is the last day to book tickets for tomorrow! See the link in my bio if you would like to come along. Don't worry if you miss this date, I have two more in September and one of them is a wild pizza making workshop!

Here is the recipe:

800ml filtered water
200ml cider vinegar
800g demerara sugar
45g citric acid
400g fresh elderberries stripped from stalks

Simply bring the solution to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Leave for 24 hours or longer for the flavour to intensify.

Strain, bottle and enjoy.

12/08/2024

WHAT AN AMAZING: Evening spent at 's home last Friday. We made wood fired pizzas and relaxed around the fire under a clear starry night with no light pollution. It was bliss. I had to leave on Saturday for another engagement but everyone else spent the whole weekend in the wilderness of the forest of bowland. Great company and good food with: .pickle

10/07/2024

I WAS CRAVING: Something wild and cheesy and this was the result! An experimental blend of sweet chestnut flour, rice flour, spices, nettles and cheese. I am staring at these savory scones as I type this post, with mouth watering, eager to sink my teeth into these wonderful smelling cheesy delights. But first! I must write the recipe before I forget, so here it is below to the best of my memory:

1 cup sweet chestnut flour
1 cup rice flour
3 pinches sea salt
Few pinches pepper
Few pinches mixed dried herbs
Few handfuls nettle leaves
150g grated cheddar

I think this was all there was!

Mix enough water to create a pliable moist mixture that you can mould into basic balls. Place on a baking tray at 165c fan oven for 25 minutes or until starting to brown.

I love how experimental recipes turn out but the race to write everything down if they actually taste amazing is the real challenge!