A stroll in the autumnal Wicklow woods starts out with one mycologist (mushroom expert), and we bump into another giving us two out of 12 members of the Irish Mycological Society to guide us on a fun forage. Louis Smith is co- author of the guide to Irish forest fungi, and his fellow Chef Pat McClarnan joins in the hunt for the highly prized Cep or Porcini. The mushrooms end up in the kitchen of Manifesto restaurant in Rathmines being given the Italian treatment by chef/owner Lucio Pedruto.

A tradition stretching back to the Celtic past is recreated for this programme, which features a hike to the top of Ard Erin, Co. Laois, for Fraughan Sunday which was part of Lunasa celebrations. The man guiding us, Mick Dowling (above), is old enough to remember thousands gathering to celebrate, and fit enough to set a cracking pace. In fact he can climb and comment on all we pass through on our way to the highest point in the midlands.

Traditional black pudding or putog is a recipe so truly lost to us that when it is made the old fashioned, bloody way, it can no longer be sold to Irish consumers. Master butcher Sean Kelly (above) takes us through the process at the back of his butcher’s shop in Newport, Co. Mayo. Sean is internationally acclaimed for his black pudding. He finds it hard to understand why EU law allows these old fashioned recipes to be used on the continent, but not here in Ireland. Sean shares his favourite black pudding recipe with us

A recipe, but not for eating this time as medical herbalist Christine McQuillan shows us how to harvest meadowsweet and make a salve to sooth joint aches and pains. We’re in the heart of Dublin for these recordings, which take us Islandbridge and to Trinity College’s Physic Garden to get a fully rounded view of current thinking on the value of medicinal plants.

On the Sligo coast tradition had it that one dangerous sea rock, and the dillisk that grows on it, held the cure to life threatening worms. In this programme the country’s leading seaweed expert, Dr. Prannie Rhatigan (above) confirms this is no piseog or superstition. We recreate the dash to the Worm rock, harvest some dillisk, take it back to Prannie’s kitchen and make some dillisk crisps, a big favourite of ten-year-old Kate Waters. Find out more about Prannie at www.prannie.com. Download a guide to seaweeds and seaweed harvest at the Heritage Council’s here.

Jorg Muller is fully qualified, practicing Medical Herbalist and master tea blender. He says that in ten minutes he can find wild herbs to replace all the calcium and mineral supplements many people take. He makes good on that claim on an unpromising urban landscape on the outskirts of Galway city. Jorg is a native of Germany, and there he was one of the first professional food foragers for the wild ingredients that have now become so trendy in food. There are taste revelations, like wild celery and of course the smoothie.

Producer Clare Cronin brews some powerful Elderflower champagne, which threatens to blow the roof off Tony Adam’s cottage at Tiraveen, Co. Cork. Tony lives self-sufficiently there on a highly productive acre, which includes an elder tree. Among other things, he is an expert wine maker and shows just how easy it is to make a sparkling elderflower presse or champagne. This non-alcoholic drink should be left for just a few weeks, after that it builds up more than a gentle pop……but we find even Clare’s champagne can be detonated and enjoyed after a few months brewing.

Expert Fisherman and Coastwatch Ireland member, Dave Tilly, is both expert guide and chef on Dublin Bay as we collect and cook razor clams. There is a knack to coaxing the clam from its deep sandy burrow and Dave talks us through it, step by step. The final step is whipping the promus stove from his car and cooking up Tilly’s Ringsend Razors on the seafront. You can read Dave’s blog and learn a lot about the sea at: http://www.blogger.com/profile/12315039800034896706Recipes from the Lost and Found is produced and presented by Clare Cronin and funded through the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Sound and Vision scheme.