Foraging

[Farmer_Gyles]

good move vc!

[veggiechicken]

Glad you agree, FarmerG !! Having picked some plums, I just had to tell someone........

[Farmer_Gyles]

well i know where to find red plums, blackberries and sloes .... hoping i'll find loads more things to forage ....

[Farmer_Gyles]

any update on having a foraging forum?

there are lots of threads about foraging, seems to be a lot of support for a foraging forum

and GYO magazine even has pages about foraging

[MyLifeWithAndrew]

I'm going to start a new thread - http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...day_67434.html to remind us all what we could be looking for out there at different times of the year. I'll put it in Vegging Out until there is a better place for it.

Thanks, Veggie...

[julesapple]

I'm going to miss jam making this year. Not point when my jam eater is diabetic and we aren't running the fairs.

Not half a mile from me are two varieties of pears, about 6 varieties of apple, brambles, sloes, plums, elderberries and there were medlars until some ratbag chopped the tree down.

[Farmer_Gyles]

jules - pick the fruit, make the jam, it'll keep!
or just pick the fruit and send it to me because there isn't much to find round here ... i had one plum on my plum tree, one pear on my pear tree, 2 cookers on my cooking apple tree, nearly one bucket of small apples from my ordinary apple tree, hardly any blackberries or elderberries around here ....

[Mikey]

Well the early frosts on Sunday, and my bad back from digging on Saturday meant I was out for a purposeful walk Sunday morning. I picked a 1lb of sloes, 1/2lb of rosehips and 1/2lb of hawthorn berries. Now I have a recipe for sloe gin, and rosehip syrup and hawthorn jelly. Does anyone have any other recipes for this bounty, I could gather plenty more if needed.

[veggiechicken]

Try this site, Mikey Celtnet Wild Food Recipes Home Page, Cooking with Wild Foods You can search it by ingredient.
How about Hips and Haws jelly?

[Mikey]

Not sure about you VC, but the rowan and elderberries came and went around here some time ago, I might have to adapt that recipe a bit.

[veggiechicken]

Much the same here Mikey. I blinked and missed them both in the garden - they're my indicator trees Plenty of hawthorn around.
With your recipes I guess you need to think about what you want to make generally - like wine or jelly or pickle. Then lob it all together and invent something new

[Mikey]

Well I was thinking about the kind of things that will go well, with the new found mushrooms knowledge shortly to be gained, only 9 more days.

[veggiechicken]

I'm getting quite excited I'm almost ready to try the Jew's ears in the garden.
Just wish they didn't feel so much like flesh

[mrswadders]

made this a few weeks back - haw sin sauce (river cottage recipe) really,really nice, Mr W has even suggested picking more haws to make more - now thats a turn up for the books!!!!!
500g haw berries.
250ml organic cider vinegar.
250ml water.
250g organic, unrefined caster sugar.
Salt.
Freshly ground black pepper....METHOD
How to make haw-sin sauce
1. Clean and de-stalk the haw berries then rinse in cold water.

2. Place in large pan with the vinegar and water and bring to boil. Simmer for approximately 30-45 minutes until the skins start to split.

3. Remove from the heat and rub the mixture through a sieve, leaving largish stones and the skins behind.

4. Return the mixture to a clean pan, add the sugar and heat gently, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves.

5. Bring to the boil and cook for a further 5 -10 minutes, until the sauce reduces and becomes slightly syrupy

[Mikey]

In was reading about that yesterday in my 'richard mably' book. I didn't like the jelly texture it referred to either. I'm looking forward to hopefully finding a puffball, or some oyster, or morel.

The thing I'm looking forward to most is learning what not to pick, I might be on a diet, but I don't want to lose weight by poisoning myself.