50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

Confuzzled

loocyloo wrote: »

exactly what i was going to ask! and say! i have picked blackberries, and nettles, and despite being pretty sure what are rosehips & elderflower, i'm not confident about picking or cokking them! and i'd love to make rosehip/elderflower cordial !

well you could order richard mabey's 'foods for free, the large copy with full colour photos and illustrations ISBN 978-0-00-220159-9 that's what i've done but i wasn't happy with just that so i've also been collecting 'samples' basically a small portion of a branch including leaves and flowers/berries so i can compare them against images and webpages on google at home

i think between the two of these you'd do well. some species are very easy to identify and the nice thing about foods for free is he warns you of anything else you might mix it up with. for example cow parsley looks a lot like hemlock (i'm just avoiding that one all together!) or how dock and horseradish look very similar but when you crush the leaves of horseradish between your fingers it smells like horseradish, dock doesnt (i can attest to this as sadly yesterday i kept finding dock but no horseradish) he warns you and tells you the difference between the two, very useful to have with you 'out in the field' to jog your memory

shaz_mum_of__2

The rose petal jam recipe is in richard mabeys food for free it is basically equal quantities of sugar and rise petals (by volume not weight) with enough water to dissolve the sugar .....i was a bit disappointed that most of the rose flavour disappered and had wondered about adding some rosewater at the end to compensate next time very sweet and fruity though


Got 4 batches of wine started yesterday and i have one ready to bottle too

Potty how much glycerine do you add to wine for body and can i buy at any chemist/supermarket ?

Shaz

Sian_the_Green

Herewegoagain wrote: »

I really want to do some foraging, but so far it's just blackberries as I def recognise them. It's a pity some of you don't live close to me as I need a bit of moral support to give me confidence, don't want to kill anyone do I doh!

Where abouts do you live HWGA? I work in Rotherham and this is taking place all through the year, last year they had a 'Food for Free' type event and it looks as though in Autumn there is one for identifying mushrooms, might be worth seeing if your local council or parks service offers something similar

Elfinwings

Morning everyone,

Wow, this is really interesting! I'd like to get into foraging a bit more, I made bramble jelly last year but thta's it so far. Rosehips sounds promising and I'm sure there are plenty near me - are they all edible, or do you have to pick a certain sort?

Elfin.

Confuzzled

ok well using a combo of foods for free and google i've correctly identified wild cherry and elder from yesterday.

i already knew of nettles and could recognise them (the ever present dock leaves nearby helps too, how handy, dock growing so close to nettle when it takes the sting out the nettles, isn't nature great?!) i also found a huge source of rosehips yesterday, again i already knew how to identify those, and i discovered that clover, is indeed, edible!

so next trip to the park i will take scissors and gloves and collect some nettles for soup, grab some clover for salads and maybe a bit of elderflowers for a wee drinky... i don't want to gather too many elderflowers though as i'd prefer to have the berries later this summer. i shall also test the rosehips and see how close they are to being ready... some are quite red already!

i also have two unidentified items so far. one has small hips that are quite purple and already shriveling so already beyond their prime but i will keep at my identification and hopefully figure out if they are worth collecting for next year.

today i hope to be in my back garden building up my composter and will take the foods for free book out there as i am fairly sure we have a fair few edibles in that mess of stones and weeds... i did try the stick weed already (cleavers) not so great raw but it would be passable in soup and no matter how much i throw away it keeps coming back so plentiful if nothing else!

happy foraging to anyone else out there braving it! :T

Confuzzled

Elfinwings wrote: »

Morning everyone,

Wow, this is really interesting! I'd like to get into foraging a bit more, I made bramble jelly last year but thta's it so far. Rosehips sounds promising and I'm sure there are plenty near me - are they all edible, or do you have to pick a certain sort?

Elfin.

i googled that this morning and they are ALL edible however some taste better than others. generally speaking the posher the rose the worse the taste so good old dog roses are lovely (rosa canina) Rosa Rugosa is the other one that seems to get top marks.

dog roses are of course rampant all over the uk, easily identifiable and were what was used during WWII to make the famous rosehip syrup given to children. i have sooo many of them nearby i think i'll collect a handful of petals during my next foraging trip to add to a salad along with the clover i intend to collect.

bails

Weezl, just to say once again what an inspiration you are (stumbled across your 19p F&V intake comment:T ) and can't wait to really get into all your great ideas for MS eating once we're back from travelling. Thanks again! xx

nopot2pin

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Potty how much glycerine do you add to wine for body and can i buy at any chemist/supermarket ?

Shaz

Shaz... I bought my glycerine at my local chemist. But I believe that it can also be found in the baking isle of supermarkets.
Its much cheaper to buy from the chemist/supermarket, than a home brew place.

I added 15ml per gallon to my elderberry/blackberry wine, and that worked out well.
I have also turned the same wine, into port, which has also only had 15ml per gallon.... but I think I may need to add a touch more glycerine to that. But I will wait a few more months before testing it again

Glycerin can slightly sweeten, so its best not to add to much at the one time iykwim.

Hope this helps
Potty

nopot2pin

Confuzzled wrote: »

well you could order richard mabey's 'foods for free, the large copy with full colour photos and illustrations ISBN 978-0-00-220159-9 that's what i've done

:j:j:j:j

Happy days, off to order this now.

Thanks

Potty

Sian_the_Green

nopot2pin wrote: »

:j:j:j:j

Happy days, off to order this now.

Thanks

Potty

have you tried the library first...