Wild Food Classes

If you have joined us for a tour and are ready to go deeper with wild foods, our Wild Food Classes offer you the chance to focus on specific wildcrafting and foraging skills and learn how to incorporate wild food into your everyday life.

Join us for one or a few, or dive in headfirst with a package to join us for ten half-day classes through the seasons.

Location

We are based in Asheville. Sessions take place at various locations within 45 minutes of the city.

Pricing

At No Taste Like Home, we believe that everyone deserves to be able to feed themselves healthy real food, and our mission is to share this important knowledge with as many as we can, to bring us all a little closer to the world we share.

With this is mind, wild food classes are sliding scale, from $60-$90, and we ask that you pay what you can from the prices listed. Proceeds help fund our youth program, as well as making it possible for us to continue offering low- and no- cost options to those looking to attend our tours and classes. If you need further financial assistance in order to join us, please reach out through the Contact Us link above.

Classes

What does wild food provide us with? We’ll explore the health benefits and magic of wild foods by looking at the unique nutrition offered by these mineral-rich powerhouses. We’ll learn how to identify and harvest some key nutritious plants after which we will make and sample nutrient dense foods, some traditional and some not-so-traditional. If you’d like to learn more about the basics of a nutritious, ancestral diet and how to prepare foods to nourish your body from the land you live on, join us. You will take with you the plants you forage so you can get creative at home.

Springtime is in full swing and green things seem to burst from every corner! What are all these greens and what can you do with them? We’ll forage for wild edible greens and see what salad fixings, pesto makings and cooking accompaniments lie in wait for you this special time of year. We’ll focus on how to ID and prepare the wild edible greens of spring and also learn a little about the history of wild greens eating in the Southern Appalachians. Please bring a small jar to take home some wild greens pesto that we’ll craft together.

The Reishi mushroom has been used as medicine for almost 2000 years of recorded history. What is this fabled Reishi mushroom and how can one safely ID it? We’ll learn to forage this mushroom sustainably and make medicine with these glossy, beautiful polypores. We’ll also meet and learn how to make medicine from the colorful Turkey tail. Participants will go home with a bottle of Reishi extraction.

Foraging for food and medicine is an empowering experience, and doing so in a handmade basket from local abundant materials is even better. We will use the bark of the tulip poplar tree to form a simple and functional berry-basket. These can be made into a carrying container to transport your wild bounty. All students will leave with a bark basket of their own making.

Mead making is an ancient tradition of fermenting beverages made with honey that is thousands of years old and spans many continents. We’ll learn to forage and prepare a mead with the plants and fruits growing all around you. A true taste of the terroir of Appalachia. Leave with a bottle of mead you made with your fellow students to enjoy after it reaches its full potential through the magical process of fermentation.

There are few things that compare to the incredible flavors of homemade jam from fresh fruits, herbs and flowers. We’ll learn about the history of preserving fruits in Appalachia and concoct a jam or two of our own. Each student will leave with a jar of home-canned jam.

How did people preserve food before the refrigerator? Is it safe to preserve food at home? Why are fermented foods good for you? We’ll answer all these questions and more as we experiment and create fermented foraged foods. We’ll start by learning to ID and forage late-summer wild foods for the fermentation crock and end with a lesson on how to process and prepare our freshly foraged finds into fantastic ferments.

Thinking of ways to get ready for the abundant harvests of Fall? Learning to bake with wildcrafted nut flours, fruits and spices is not only fun, it’s a great way to connect with our bioregion. We’ll forage for foods of the season and experiment in the kitchen with a few baking projects that will ensure you leave with that warm and fuzzy feeling that only baked goods can provide.

Is your pantry looking bare? Don’t despair. The forests and fields are full of flavor. Learn to ID and forage a variety of barks, seeds, flowers and leaves to transform into delicious spices for your favorite dishes. We’ll learn about flavor pairings and taste the surprising diversity of seasonings that can be found in your own backyard.

If you took our baking class in September and got the wild food baking bug, join us again to learn the process that gets us to that lovely nut flour. We’ll discuss and handle chestnuts, acorns and hazelnuts as we learn the steps to transform delicious wild nuts into usable baking flours. We’ll also meet plants like dock and plantain to see how wild seeds can be used as well in our winter baking.