10 holiday gifts for the wild food enthusiast in your life

This holiday season, give the forager in your life something special to find under the tree. Here are 10 gifts sure to make them go wild.

How to Forage for Mushrooms Without Dying: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Identifying 29 Wild, Edible Mushrooms by Frank Hyman

Most mushroom identification books are stodgy and sleep-inducing. Hyman’s irreverent, indispensable, guide is digestible and highly engaging, packed full of useful information that can help even newbies figure out which forest fungi are safe and delicious to eat. The book is sprinkled with info on equipment, foraging philosophy, deadly doppelgangers to avoid, cooking suggestions, preservation techniques, and further reading for wild food enthusiasts. Sure to inspire countless trips into the forest for chanterelles, porcini, morels, and more.

Available in a variety of sizes and colors, these easy-to-transport bags can be tucked into a pack, worn on the back, slung over a shoulder, hung off a branch, or perched on the ground. Made of durable, easy-to-wash mesh and featuring a snap to close the bag, they keep mushrooms and other wild edibles at peak freshness while being conveyed back to the kitchen.

There are few moments more frustrating than consulting one’s foraging journal–a record of secret spots, harvest times, yield amounts, and plant observations–only to find the text smeared or the pages torn due to water damage. These pocket-sized waterproof notebooks from Field Notes are an excellent solution, ensuring no hard-fought knowledge is ever lost. Since the paper is synthetic and non-porous, it doesn’t absorb ink like conventional paper, so it’s best to use ballpoint pens, pencils, or fine-tip Sharpies to take notes, then allow the ink time to dry to avoid smudging.

The creators of the hit Netflix documentary Fantastic Fungi offer quarterly seasonal boxes featuring an ever-changing array of shroomtastic delights, including gourmet goodies, wellness supplements, and whimsical tchotchkes. Recently, recipients opened their wild treasure chests to find Tamin Tea boosted with chaga and reishi mushrooms, chocolate bars studded with Bing cherries and laced with nutrient rich mushrooms, a non-alcoholic canned espresso martini elevated with reishi, skin balm featuring lion’s mane mushrooms, and a bag of Mush Love coffee made in collaboration with London Nootropics. It’s like a foraging expedition delivered to your doorstep.

Lindera Farms is renowned for their wild creations, including ramp vinegar, pawpaw hot sauce, and magnolio, a sweet syrup made from Southern magnolia blossoms and pinecones. One of their latest offerings is an exciting collaboration with foraging influencer Whitney Johnson, better known as @appalachian_forager on Instagram. Her deliciously drinkable vinegar is built on a foundation of pawpaws and spiced with a flurry of warming spices, including ginger, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and green cardamom. Combine one part vinegar with four parts seltzer to create a fall-style sparkling soda that delights any time of year.

Known colloquially as a ‘brife,’ this ingeniously designed brush-knife is perfect for mushroom hunters. The curved stainless-steel blade is ideal for slicing stems, while the serrated edge on its topside and the boar hair bristle brush at the end of its oak handle work well for getting dirt and debris off fungi. It stays protected in a leather-like synthetic sheath, which conveniently loops onto a belt. With its nostalgic look, it’s perfect for posing in photos of foraging finds to add a flourish of timeless whimsy.

When ramps burst forth in verdant green patches, the scallion-like wild onions herald the start of another year of foraging. However, they are like shooting stars, gone too quickly. Luckily, these dried flakes allow cooks to enjoy their leek-meets-garlic flavor all year long. Sprinkle them over rice, pasta, or eggs; stir them into sauces, marinades, or dressings; toss them with vegetables before roasting; or incorporate them into dips for a bold allium punch.

After a long day trekking through forests, across streams, and up hills, a treat is in order. While you’re kicking back at home, savor these beautifully crafted John & Kira’s dark chocolate mushrooms. The box of nine is a choose your own adventure: a bite into a purple one reveals salted caramel; a nibble of a yellow yields rum caramel; and a taste of a red unveils chili-fired caramel.

Consider this the forager’s Swiss Army knife. The handy gadget is packed with helpful tools to address myriad situations out on in the field, including a trowel, weeder, saw, root remover, and pruning knife. It’s helpful for digging up ramps, harvesting dandelion greens, cutting down cattails, trimming mushroom stems, and neatening up wild ginger. It folds up nicely, making it easy to slip into a backpack, so it’s always there for whatever foraging opportunities might arise. [Editor’s note: orders are not currently being fulfilled until January 2025]

To help learn about the fungi you might be finding, there are these beautifully designed cards with stirringly realistic art from Russian born painter Alexander Viazmensky. Each card includes interesting factoids, such as alternate names for a chanterelle (pfifferling, girolle, and gallinacco) and that fly agarics are often strung onto garlands with popcorn and cranberries as a Christmastime decoration–who knew?