Edible and Medicinal Mushroom Foraging with Jesper Launder

Discover, identify, prepare and preserve wild mushrooms in an enthralling day of foraging in the Lake District. Medical herbalist, Jesper Launder, will give you the keys to identifying edible, medicinal, poisonous, psycho-active and bio-remedial mushrooms.

This two-day forage will be a perfect combination of walking and exploring the autumnal forests of the Duddon Valley whilst being expertly guided through the diverse functions of the fungi kingdom. Mushroom foraging is one of the great joys of Autumn for young and old! The taste of mushrooms vary from heartier, meat-like textures to delicate, floral and aromatic ones. They are also surprisingly under-utilised for their many health-giving properties.
This is an ideal opportunity to gain confidence with mushrooms in a relaxed and beautiful setting.
What you will learn:

How to positively identify and differentiate between the different species, in terms of their medicinal, edible, poisonous, psychoactive, bioremediation and cultivation potential.
Understand the many relationships between fungi and the forests, including the species that can be used for bioremediation (cleaning water supplies, managing virulent bacterial populations and breaking down toxins and heavy metals).
How to prepare some of the medicinal species we have in the UK, running through initial preparation techniques as well as distinct extraction methods for the main species.
The best ways to cook and eat some of the delicious wild mushrooms that we find.