Flavour Fred Events

Flavour Fred Events Showcasing wild flavours and their history across the UK. Events (London/Sussex) Wild Food & Drink Please see https://www.flavourfred.com/private-hire/

Other than my own events and drinks available at www.flavourfred.com. I also really enjoy bespoke sessions and provide private booking via the contact form below. So, if you are looking for a special and memorable experience incorporating foraging for flavour, preservation techniques, fermentation, wild booze and the history surrounding them then I have plenty of options and ideas to make a memora

ble event. Whether its a get together, dinner party, corporate event, team-building or even bartender & chef staff training sessions I’d love to hear from you.

30/08/2026

CHICKEN OF THE WOODS aka sulphur shelf
(Laetiporus sulphureus)

It’s that time to look out for yellow brains exploding from trees. It’s the meatiest fungi you’ll find out there right now.

It’s a parasitic and saprophytic fungus, so look out for damaged, decaying and dead trees. I generally look out for willow and cherry around late spring and then, towards the end of summer, I look all over the place. Larger substrates can often mean much larger fruiting bodies, and some have been reported to get up to 20kg.

Known for its meatiness and relatively high protein content, along with a huge amount of benefits. As with most wild fungi, it must be cooked, and there is always a risk as some people do get gastric upset from it. In my experience it’s more like 1 in 100+, but many sources say 1 in 10. If you want to try something you haven’t had before, cook a small piece well once you’ve done all the appropriate ID checks.

I have made it into anything you can think of in place of chicken. Chicken nuggets, schnitzel and even formed into the shape of a chicken that got basted and roasted.

It’s a fantastic fungus to find, just make sure it’s squidgy and fresh. Otherwise, it’ll be like a woody, potentially dusty number.

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27/08/2026

Blackberry
“Rubus fruticosus”

You’ll have noticed that we’ve had blackberries since late June, with different spots producing fruit of different shapes and sizes, as well as varying levels of sweetness and sourness. That’s because there are around 300 micro-species of blackberry in the British Isles — which is the reason for the quotation marks around the scientific name above.

On top of this, the long pollination period and very mild spring have led to an explosion of fruit. Many people are saying they feel the season will be over very soon. I certainly haven’t been picking from the bushes as heavily over the last couple of weeks.

Recipe-wise, there’s plenty on my website if you look through the latest blackberry blog posts, including: Pickled Blackberries, Blackberry Brandy, Damson & Blackberry Chutney with Fire Cider Vinegar, Cordial, Apple & Blackberry Crumble/Tart, Wine, Vinegar and a Bramble Cocktail, just to name a few.

The end of the blackberry season is often associated with Michaelmas — the Feast of St Michael and All Angels — celebrated on the 29th of September, very close to the autumn equinox. It became associated with shorter days, autumn and the end of the blackberry season. It’s also known as “Devil’s Spit Day”.

The folklore goes that Lucifer was cast out of heaven on this day and landed on a blackberry bush, cursing the fruit by spitting on it, breathing fire over it and urinating on it. And if you look at the fruit by this point, much of it can be looking pretty bad or full of maggots anyway.

I have a feeling that point will come a lot earlier this year given the drought. So sad age old stories are being unravelled by climate change.

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26/08/2026

RUSSULA SPOTTING
BRITTLEGILLS - The Beechwood Sickener

The Russula genus is incredibly diverse, boasting over 250 types in the UK and 750+ globally. They come in a wide array of colours, thanks to their round cell structure, which gives them brittle gills. Russulas thrive in deciduous and coniferous woodlands, depending on the type.

Learning about Russulas is enjoyable, especially considering their variety. Using all your senses to guide your identification is a great way to get started. Understanding the environment and the relationships between Russulas and trees is a crucial first step.

In a mixed woodland of mainly beech, oak, and birch, I spotted a Russula. I quickly snapped to the stipe (stem), which reminded me of a stick of chalk. The cap membrane peeled away easily, and had very brittle gills.

While some Russulas can be poisonous even when cooked, none in the UK are deadly or organ-damaging. However, there are some recorded in China and Japan, such as Russula subnigricans, which is known to be extremely dangerous.

There’s a unique test called the “nibble spit test” that you can do only once you’re certain you have a Russula. Quite literally be sure of the family and take a nibble and you’ll find there’s as hot spicy heat on some that shouldn’t be eaten - spit it out now regardless as we must cook wild mushrooms. For this video, I demonstrated the hot spiciness of the Beechwood sickener (Russula nobilis), which is unsurprising is not edible (causes vomiting). Many Russulas have a heat to them when doing the test, some of which you can eat. However it is useful to know this for a family of so many and you get some real treats. I’ve seen this practice used on my travels in Eastern Europe and also salting and preserving them like preserved lemon.

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🌳FUNGI FOCUSED WALKS IN SUPPORT OF THE WOODLAND TRUST 🍄‍🟫📍 Brede High Woods (near Rye), East Sussex📅 13th September & 31...
25/08/2026

🌳FUNGI FOCUSED WALKS IN SUPPORT OF THE WOODLAND TRUST 🍄‍🟫
📍 Brede High Woods (near Rye), East Sussex
📅 13th September & 31st October
(Ticketed Event)
www.flavourfred.com/walks or link in BIO

Join me for a beautiful 2.5 hour walk through the beautiful, ancient & protected Brede High Wood, East Sussex.  This guided 2.5 hour walk to learn about plant & fungi identification, history, folklore, responsibility, soil heath & much more. This location & session is authorised by the Woodland Trust in order to demonstrate the importance of the site and to teach respectfulness and responsibility to the diverse & complex relationships happening in nature all around us. Snacks and Flavour Fred tasters also provided along the way.

Brede means ‘broad’ in Old English and probably describes the lower reaches of the river valley while ‘High’ refers to a ‘hay’ or grassy enclosure, probably a pasture.

Once part of the Weald’s iron smelting industry, Brede High Woods’ historical influence is present throughout the site today.  There are saucer-shaped bell pits from iron ore extraction, boundary banks and ditches, sunken lanes and the sites three farms – Brede High Woods holds fascinating evidence of centuries of human activity.

Full instructions for the day are provided a few days prior. I also provide in-depth follow up with of what we have seen, links to resources online, book recommendations and more.  This is NOT a gathering course but purely identification where many rules exist in public places about foraging.  All of these legalities  will be explained on the course itself.

Concessions upon request.

25/08/2026

BEESWAX BRACKET? (Ganoderma sp.)

I think I’ve found a Beeswax Bracket, but this is one of those fungi where identification can be genuinely tricky. So please don’t take a single feature as confirmation — Ganoderma can be a difficult genus.

A few things I’d look for with a possible Beeswax Bracket:
• A chunky, tough bracket growing from wood
• A distinctive reddish-brown to waxy or lacquered-looking surface
• When cut it exudes a sticky substance - especially in autumn or winter
• Often a pale, creamy growing margin when actively growing
• Fine pores underneath rather than gills
• The surface can sometimes be marked or scratched when fresh
• Host tree and habitat are important clues
• Spore print is typically brown

Things I look for when identifying Ganoderma more generally:
• A bracket growing from wood
• A tough, woody texture
• Pores underneath rather than gills
• Often a brown, reddish or lacquered-looking upper surface
• The bracket’s shape, host tree and growth habit can all be important

There are several similar-looking Ganoderma species, and some can only be confidently separated by looking closely at microscopic features, spores and the way the fungus is growing.

Why are Ganoderma so interesting?
This genus contains fungi rich in compounds including beta-glucans and other polysaccharides, as well as triterpenes. These compounds are being studied for their potential effects on the immune system and inflammation, although that doesn’t mean every Ganoderma mushroom is automatically a proven medicine.

For me, they’re fascinating fungi — but the identification comes first.

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24/08/2026

“NOT OLIVES” Using unripe wild plums

* This video is a little late to try it with plums but you can do it with sloes which are at the perfect time now

This is a lacto fermentation method to create an olive alternative using wild plums. I do this just before they ripen so they remain firm. Boil 1 litre of water and add 50g of sea salt, dissolving it. Clean the plums and remove the stems, similar to the Umeboahsi process. Score an X on the bottom of each plum and place them in a sterilised jar. Once full, cover with the cooled brine and add a couple of bay leaves. Ferment for 7 days, burping occasionally, and you’ll notice the solution goes cloudy. At this point, refrigerate to slow the fermentation. To use them, you can add a step where you make a herby oil by heating hard herbs in oil until 70 degrees Celsius. Leave some of the “not olives” in the oil to infuse for two days in the fridge.

Enjoy

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21/08/2026

Pickled Blackberry Solution: Second Uses

If you’ve made your pickled blackberries, the solution is now a delicious blackberry flavour GOLD. It’s packed with flavour from the wine, vinegar, spices and blackberries. This wonderful pickling solution offers even more benefits after you’ve finished the blackberries.

I often reduce it with sugar and once cooled, pour it over other fruit. For example, in this video, I used it to make a sticky sweet plum pickle. A sauce gastrique is a classic French process involving caramelising sugar and deglazing with vinegar. It’s a powerful flavour enhancer that I’ve used with meadowsweet as well. It’s great for desserts, savoury dishes and even as a base for other sauces. You could also make a simple shrub with the pickling solution or even pickle back using it after a shot. Don’t forget dressings and more!

I’m sure there are loads more uses, so please comment below if you have any fun ideas to share.

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17/08/2026

MUSHROOM KEBAB
Featuring excellent shrooms

EVENT DATE
August 23rd
(Ticketed Event)
43-53 Markfield Road, London, N15 4QA

LINK IN BIO / www.flavourfred.com/meet-your-ingredients

In preparation for an upcoming workshop I wanted to create a layered mixed cultivated mushroom kebab as an example of the mushroom cookery I’ll be demonstrating.

The workshops start with a flavour-led walk followed by a session on my favourite recipes for cooking fungi cultivated and wild.

After being provided with delightfully floral & sweet scented tarragon oyster mushroom (Pleurotus euosmus), and many others I wanted to prepare something that worked with all the different textures of various fungi.

This is a process you can apply to all lovely clustered fruiting fungi & lions mane where you get a good sear using a hot pan and adding pressure via a heavy weight to press down and make the mushroom denser & steak-like. During this time I got a pot and added 200ml of rapeseed oil with 2 tbsp of smoked paprika, 1.5 tbsp cumin and 1 tbsp of salt and drenched the pressed fried fungus in the marinate before smoking it overnight. (I do think this should be doner kebab option at an event sometime soon - stay tuned)

The next day I skewered it up and finished it on the fire stove with some char before putting it in a pita with hummus, freshly made tahini and some pul biber.

16/08/2026

Red Wine Pickled Blackberries

Blackberries or bramble to most (“Rubus fruticosus”) is ripening for me which people seem surprised by on my walks and sessions of late.

To a certain extent we should be as I always think mid-August as my picking time. Truth is the blackberry - “Rubus fruticosus” has over 300 micro-species which means a significant variety in ripening time, plumpness and general variances across the UK.

This foraging classic we all know as a thorny shrub-like bushy scrambler where no item of clothing is safe from getting torn. The fruit is so very worth it though and for me I love making all the classics cordials, jams, wines, blackberry brandy (!), crumbles, pies, ketchup, in savoury dishes and so many more. But….

Being obsessed with preservation and as part of this pickling series here is a quick and easy pickling solution that works very well when I make up a cous cous or freekah cold side dish with these beautiful pickled blackberries along with coriander, lemon & olive oil. Also with desserts and many others. Done forget the pickling solution too that’s a wondering item that I’ll make another video for.

PICKLING SOLUTION
1 part red wine (shiraz for me)
1 part red wine vinegar
1 part water*

*you can use 2 parts vinegar for a shelf stable version but I like to keep this not too vinegary and keep in the fridge.

AROMATICS
Star anise
Cinnamon
Peppercorns
Garlic
Wholespice
Salt
Sugar

Bring to the boil and add aromatics then turn off the hob and leave to cool. We now have a pickling solution ready to pour onto your foraged blackberries. 2 weeks in the pickle is great and can sit at room temperature.

Although be aware not to pick blackberries after Michaelmas (29th September) as Tradition tells us that on Michaelmas, the archangel Michael kicked Satan out of Heaven and he landed on a blackberry bush so annoyed he hit back and decided to prevent them being of use. Many sources online state he spat on them others say urination but either way at that point I don’t find they are at their best.

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