Foraging

[Alison]

Gentle prod Alison, I think you promised me a recipe for haw Ketchup.

Oh did I, sorry, the one I use is from the River Cottage Preserve book and is as follows:

500g haws
300ml white wine or cider vinegar
170g sugar
Pinch of salt
Black pepper to taste

1 - strip haws from stalks and rinse in cold water
2 - put haws, vinegar and 300ml water in pan and simmer for half an hour
3 - cook until flesh is soft and berries have become muted re / brown
4 - remove from heat and rub though sieve or pass through food mill to remove the stones and skins (this takes forever with a sieve but is much easier with a mill)
5 - put fruity mix back in pan with sugar and heat until dissolved
6 - boil for 5 mins
7 - season with salt and pepper
8 - store in steralised bottles

The recipe says use within a year but I've found some about 3 years old which was lovely and not off at all - am guessing it doesn't last as well if opened and stored though.

[Alison]

No-ones mentioned nettles - yummy soup!

They make nice pesto too or you can use them instead of spinach - made a lovely mushroom and nettle lasagne in the past.

[veggiechicken]

I'm a forager! Count me in!! I've done a fungi identification weekend and there are a few types that I'm confident enough to eat. I eat too many wild things to list here

[Peas'n'Kews]

They make nice pesto too or you can use them instead of spinach - made a lovely mushroom and nettle lasagne in the past.

Can I have the recipe for the lasgne please? Is it too late to collect the nettles now, as they are going to seed??

[veggiechicken]

Cut the nettles down, they'll sprout again and you'll have nice young shoots for your feast!

[Peas'n'Kews]

Hmm, yes, but I was going to collect wild nettles - suppose I could cut 'em down (hopefully without anyone noticing and thinking I'm bonkers!)

Is it legal to cut down nettles in the wild????

[veggiechicken]

I have so many in the garden I don't have to travel far - think of all the food/foot miles I save!

[Alison]

Don't suppose anybody would mind you cutting them down, it's only really the same as if you were picking them

Not really a recipe for the lasagne, just put some pasata in the bottom of a dish, lasagne on top followed by cooked and chopped up nettles (think I put some mozzarella cheese over the top and some more pasata, more lasagne then sliced mushrooms with cheese sauce on top. Think I once had a recipe like this using spinach but have lost it over the years so it's probably changed somewhat.

[dominic10]

I'm all for free stuff as well but would add a word of caution to follow the following advice.
Health and safety for walkers | Home | Ramblers, Britain's Walking Charity
Animals too can pick up ticks and this site gives info about tick removal http://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.u...Bsum07_p47.pdf

[Mikey]

I don't have any ticks, its just the way I hold my head.

[taff]

Don't forget all the fruit too, the cherry plums
I found the best recipe for haws was to use them to make a jelly that didn't set, then to just add a certain amount of that to vodka. Hey presto! hedgerow vodka. It's sweet enough to make the vodka a treat going down, and you don't have to fiddle about with straining the vodka and waiting for the sugar to dissolve
Oh, and quince vodka was excellent...if you have neighbours with bushes or trees that they don't pick from...

[SarzWix]

We'll refer the request to Admin and see what they say. Can't promise anything though; we don't have final say and have no idea how much archive space an extra board needs, plus they'll have to weigh up any risks from potential bad advice/ accidental poisoning etc. But we'll definitely ask

[veggiechicken]

Maybe it could be Stickied into Season to Taste or Making the Most of... they seem to be the homes for elderflower and blackberry recipes and they are foraged, in the main.

[Farmer_Gyles]

We'll refer the request to Admin and see what they say. Can't promise anything though; we don't have final say and have no idea how much archive space an extra board needs, plus they'll have to weigh up any risks from potential bad advice/ accidental poisoning etc. But we'll definitely ask

thanks for asking - fingers crossed they'll say yes

[Rhona]

I'd be interested in a foraging sticky/board. I only forage the 'usual' as in elderflowers, wild garlic, nettle tips etc; but have been studying the River Cottage mushroom book I got as a gift last year, and would like to learn more.

For anyone local, a couple of streets away from us is the Sawmill in Ecclesall woods, which does a ranger led mushroom-and-crayfish walk through part of the woods (takes about 2 hours).