Foraging - Natures Food

floyd

Went for a bit of a mooch today, all of the blackberries are still small and green, how long does it take them to ripen as I don't want to miss them altogether.

Also spotted a lone raspberry cane that had been stripped by birds but will keep an eye on it next year. Tomorrow I am getting 3lb of damsons from a work colleague, I suspect they are wild plums as they are more red than purple but will still have a go at making gin and jam!

Claire_Bear

loupoppins wrote: »

Then went walking with the dog tonight, and went a route past a tree I remembered in the spring was covered with lovely blossom(actually took pic of the kids in front of it!)
and discovered it was COVERED in lovely little yellow cherry plums:D:D Gathered some, but think I will go back for more tomorrow, the tree is absolutely laden with them,and they are begining to fall to the floor and get walked into a squishy mess...such a waste...

I walked past one of these trees earlier on the way to my mams and wondered if they could be used in cooking, have you got any recipes for them? They were turning into mush on the pavement too.

floss2

Don't forget that if you make damson gin, the damsons will keep in a jar until you want to make grown-up Black Forest Gateau - Yule log or chocolate cake with alcohol-steeped damsons & cream....scrummy! :drool:

floyd

So what is everyones opinion, wild plums, damsons or neither?

They have orangey flesh like a plum but aren't as sweet as a regular plum and the skin has a tang to it but not bitterness like a sloe. They are about 1 inch in diameter. I had 7 lbs so 4 lbs went to make gin and 3 lbs will be used for jelly. I've also been told there are LOTS more to be had so I might try some jam as well. The only down side is that they are already pretty ripe so I will have to either freeze them or use them straight away

triticale

Pink-winged wrote: »

Blackberry gin or vodka is delicous and easy to make and is good for Christmas gifts if decanted into pretty bottles.

1 x 75 cl bottle gin or vodka (tesco value)
450g raspberries
350g sugar

Add all ingredients to a bottle...I used a large kilner jar. Give it a good stir and then stir daily until all the sugar is dissolved. Leave as long as you like to let the taste mature (I usually leave it for at least three months) then strain through muslin and bottle. You can play about with the sugar quantity if you prefer a sweeter or more tart version.


Pink

Been reading this and other foraging threads with interest, last night I discovered a bonanza of blackberries right in my back garden! :j

Picked just over a pound of them, there is at least two more lots the same waiting to ripen.

Soaked them and got one little grub out (urgh) and think I want to try the blackberry vodka with this batch. :beer:

I just have a couple of (silly?) questions as I've never done anything like this before:

Do the berries go in whole, or do you mush them up?

If whole, can I take them out when it's time to bottle it, and boil them down to make a syrup or anything?

And finally could I use a plastic container like an empty 5 litre water bottle from a supermarket - and should I sterilise it first or does the alcohol/sugar make it unnecesary?

Many thanks in advance.

Gigervamp

Not silly questions at all.

You don't need to mush them up. When I made the cherry vodka last year, after straining the cherries out of the vodka I froze them and used them in chocolate muffins. They were rather nice! So, yes, you can then use the fruit for other things.

The plastic water bottle should be fine to use. I did sterilise the jar that I did my cherries in. That one was a glass jar and I used the oven method, but for a plastic bottle, you'll need to use baby sterilising fluid/tablets. I use Milton on my plastic demi-johns.

annie123

Have now picked what seems like billions of little yellow plums is there an easy way to remove the stone please?

If not they will end up in my compost bin, its taken me ages to do enough for 1 jar of jam.

Cheapskate

I have a monster bramble in my garden that looks like it'll have at least 8lb of fruit this year, plus some bushes near our house look promising (possibly another 10-15lb, without trying!). There are a couple of gone-wild apple trees 10 mins walk away & a pear tree half in, half out of someone's garden - a friend says she's sure they never pick them, so thinking of asking if I can have some, along with the offer of some of them made into something as a thank-you. A friend of DH's has masses of plum trees in his garden, which we've sometimes had first dibs on, so I'm hoping we can do the same again this year - just Victoria plums, but semi-wild so a bit more tasty than supermarket ones!
I've got a good book on preserves from the library that I've had before, a WI one, that's really good - simple, easy-to-follow recipes, all the basic jams etc, plus some more unusual ones - really nice ideas for presents!
A xo

SmlSave

Have now picked what seems like billions of little yellow plums is there an easy way to remove the stone please?

If not they will end up in my compost bin, its taken me ages to do enough for 1 jar of jam.

Apparently they should float to the top when boiling the jam and you can skim them off.

I just sit in front of the TV and stone them while getting DH to suply me with tea.

kerrypn

Hiya, I am brand new to foraging-I was getting off the train today and at the top of the steps off the platform there was a beautiful big blackberry bush and an apple tree!!! It is ???on the train station's property(right at the edge-reachable from the pavement running alongside the pavement)

May I pick this?