Almost everyone has a real hobby. Something that he or she loves and that is also collected with love and passion. This could be a passion for collecting stamps, but also a passion for clocks, watches, figurines, bears, dolls, postcards, and so on. However, many people also collect food, such as forest fruits, chestnuts and nuts. This urge to collect is still an old need, left over from the time when every person had to look for food for himself and his/her family in nature, bring it into the house and also prepare it himself. So collecting is actually a primal urge, an urge to survive. The cause is no longer there, but the urge to collect itself has survived the centuries.

It is often still in the genes to collect food

Already in prehistoric times, people collected food for their own sustenance. Not for pleasure, but out of necessity. After all, without collecting food and wood, they would not have survived the winter in one piece. They went hunting, but also looked for wood and branches in the forests to build their huts and to warm themselves in the winter.

Fruits from the forests

They also gathered fruits in their forests to eat. After all, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries also grow in the wild. Towards autumn they collected these berries to dry and use them in the winter. Nuts, which provided additional fats and oils in the cold winter months, were also sought and collected with dedication.

Collecting is also fun

The urge to collect is therefore innate to us and no one has to be ashamed of it. It is also a fun hobby. Every newly found piece gives a feeling of happiness and the collector then looks for a good place for it. Sometimes a collection costs a lot of money. Especially if every piece has to be purchased.

Flea markets benefit from it

Many collectors therefore visit the flea markets, where pieces are often offered at a much lower price than in the store. Some people have such a view on it that they fill their house with the most unique pieces. Almost everything can be collected. There are collectors of stamps, clocks, porcelain, pottery, Venetian glass, even Smurfs and witches. Nothing is to crazy. Collecting often starts with a single unique piece, after which the collector really gets his hands on it.

Collecting food is an age-old hobby

We still do that too. After all, it is not only fun to harvest what nature gives us, but also healthy. Anyone who has an unsprayed apple tree, grape vines, a berry bush or even a vegetable garden knows how much fun it is to harvest all that stuff. Of course, this is not without effort, because preserving often has to be done after harvesting.

Fall apples cannot be stored for long

You can collect falling apples, but you cannot keep them. It can be used to make applesauce for the whole winter, apple pie or a tasty dessert. The same applies, for example, to grapes, strawberries, raspberries and tomatoes. Some even make wine from their own grape harvest or make gallons of tomato sauce for pasta in glass jars with metal screw lids from their own harvested (and delicious-tasting) tomatoes. Often a better and tastier tomato sauce than the jars from the store.

There is much to be collected in forests

Forests are an ideal gathering place. With a bit of luck you will find blueberries, blackberries, wild raspberries and wild strawberries there in summer. Elderberries are also very healthy. It can be made into a drink, but also into jam. In the autumn you will find sweet chestnuts (which can be used to make a tasty puree with meat), hazelnuts and beechnuts. Chopped or ground hazelnuts in particular (together with grated dark chocolate) can turn a cake into a tasty, but also nutritious pastry with coffee or tea, if they are added to it after preparing the dough and before it goes into the oven. being added.

Picking mushrooms as a hobby is not without danger

Mushroom hunting is not for everyone. Some mushrooms are very poisonous, others less so, but not everyone knows the difference between an edible and a poisonous mushroom. There are booklets that list the different types of mushrooms and their properties, but a course tour with a guide who knows everything about them is not only much more educational and clear, but above all more interesting. A good guide will tell you more about the forest, the trees, plants and fruits than you would get from ten different books or the internet. After all, nothing beats a practical lesson.

Collect walnuts

The tastiest walnuts are the Dutch walnuts. Walnuts from a home-grown tree. Canadian walnuts often have a bitter taste. Dutch walnuts never have that. You can even peel off the skin of fresh walnuts after opening. Fresh walnuts do have less flavor and need to dry for about four weeks after being collected before they can be used in a cake or bread.

Hazelnuts are nutritious

Hazelnuts are very nutritious. These nuts also contain good nutrients. They are used in all kinds of recipes for chocolates, chocolate, bread and the like. By the way, most nuts are healthy. They contain not only oil, but often also vitamin B and other nutrients. They can be used as a substitute for meat in vegetarian and vegan recipes.

Acorns for the pigs

Acorns are not very tasty by humans, but by pigs. In Southern countries, farmers often feed their pigs acorns because they make the meat much tastier.

Gathering on the land

In various regions, people go out into the fields after the harvest to collect the remaining agricultural products. Where potatoes, onions and carrots in particular have been harvested mechanically, residues often remain on the land. It is wise to ask the owner of the land for permission, but in some areas the collection of these products is done with the tacit consent of the farmers. In Zeeland, for example, people often see people cycling home on bicycles with a bag of stolen food in the autumn.

Good for the country

After all, the land usually still has to be plowed and it is better if there are no residual products left, which can later cause mold in the soil or sometimes also new growth if another agricultural product has already been planted or sown. Some families collect their entire winter supply of potatoes, onions and carrots this way. It puts less pressure on income.

An innate hobby

Collecting is innate to us and the urge to collect is therefore very normal. No one has to be ashamed of it. It’s a very natural thing.