A Unique Foraging Experience in Tuscany
Enjoy a delightful stroll through the Tuscan landscape in this one-of-a-kind foraging experience with Tuscany’s top forager. You’ll learn about the plethora of amazing plants growing in the wild and how to gather them direct from the earth to eat and season your food with.
Tuscany’s Top Foraging Expert
Our expert forager, who is called upon by the top chefs in Florence to provide wild vegetables and herbs, will guide you through his chosen trail stopping to share with you the secrets of each plant.
You’ll gather in your own basket a collection of foraged foods and will be given instructions on how to prepare them.
Enjoy Tuscany Outdoors!
We’ll meet in a secret spot in the countryside designated for our walk that day, you’ll share a cool refreshment while you learn the basic principles of foraging and what we’ll do.
Wandering through the Italian olive groves or past rivers, you’ll stop along the way for many of the wild herbs, vegetables, fruits and roots you find among the hedges and pathways. You’ll learn all about plants you’ve never heard of or never thought to eat, their various names, their uses and benefits, and of course, which ones to avoid!
Foraging and Vegan Cooking Class Option
If you’re looking to put your gathering skills into use in the kitchen this experience can be booked in conjunction with our Vegan Cooking Class where you will forage in the hills near Settignano before joining our expert vegan chef in the kitchen to make a flan or similar dish using what you collected! Please get in touch and enquire directly for prices and availability!
FAQS
What is Foraging?
Foraging is searching for wild food resources, principally plants. It can be a refreshing and enjoyable way to pass a day outdoors in nature, while learning about the world around us. When foraging in Tuscany with us, you will enjoy a relaxing walk through nature, learning about different plants, how to spot them, their unique features and how the berries, leaves, roots or flowers can be used in the kitchen for different, flavors, aesthetic touches or benefits.
Why go foraging in Tuscany?
For many people, especially in Italy, strolling through wooded paths and sunny meadows collecting wild herbs and plants from the bushes and verges has been a part of life since childhood. For others, it’s a new activity, part of a trend of growing awareness about our food, where it comes from, our place in nature and the world around us.
Can anyone forage?
Foraging can be suitable and safe for anyone as the level of exertion can be easily adapted for everyone. The really adventurous can choose rocky, wild locations and those with more difficulty walking or looking for something more relaxing can find herbs just strolling in a certain field or olive grove. It is important you let whoever you’re with know your needs and preferences.
Our Foraging in Tuscany experience can be adapted to all needs so long as we know in advance. Baby strollers and wheelchair users will naturally have some restriction but upon special request we can help you participate in a fun foraging experience.
Is foraging in Tuscany safe?
Foraging is perfectly safe but it is important that you are with an expert if you plan to eat the plants you collect. Foraging in Tuscany is especially safe, but certain wild herbs or mushrooms can be harmful and those with knowledge are easily able to distinguish between them. However, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it is important not to try eating plants or mushrooms that you find without checking with an expert!
Our foraging in Tuscany experience is with an expert who has scoured the entirety of the Italian region by foot and knows the plants inside out, has written a book on its flora and fauna and provides on a regular basis the wild salads and foods for the top restaurants in Florence. You can rest assured you are in good hands!
Where can you forage?
You can forage almost anywhere, but some locations are much more rich in edible plants than others. But whether you find a kilo of wild fennel or just a few sprigs of Thyme, it is the experience which can be rewarding and fun. With our foraging experience in Tuscany, our expert knows exactly which places are most suitable for different types of plants depending on the time of year and will teach you how to spot plants you can gather where you live too!
Lara –
This was a great chance to discover a piece of Tuscany in a fascinating and relaxing way. We strolled through the woods and in every corner we were told interesting stories and facts about the various plants we found.