Dermot is a former senior member of staff at Ulster Wildlife and now shares his years of experience in the varying palatability of wild plants and a few coastal creatures through his business, Forage Ireland. With our assembled foragers (27 in all) safely in Dermot’s hands, we could get to the hard task of tasting zesty common sorrel and salty sea samphire. Never inclined to take the backseat altogether though, we helped participants familiarise themselves with periwinkles and blue mussels – unfortunately Dermot’s reccie indicated that cockles were in short supply!
Coastal Foraging in Dundrum
On 31 July the Living Seas Team was delighted to be once again teaming up with Forage Ireland to deliver an afternoon of coastal foraging in Dundrum. We arrived outside Dundrum village to find Dermot Hughes already at work out on the mud - fork in hand and searching for cockles.
Back up at the picnic area, Dermot got his camping stove fired up and some water on the boil. When cooking mussels, Dermot informed us, you only need them to sit in boiling water until they just begin to open, removing them one at a time when you can see them opening. Add lemon or garlic butter and enjoy! Our seaside snack was rounded off nicely with some blanched samphire – like pre-salted asparagus!
With our raincoats and appetites wetted, we bid farewell to Dermot and our guests until our next Coastal Foraging excursion on Sep 10th in Cushendall.
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