Foraging - Natures Food

Saban

Could anyone help me? I found a tree that I thought was a crab apple tree but the fruit is sweet and delicious?!? I thought crab apples were sour?

The fruits look like mini apples but do not go 'in' at the bottom, and are green and red. They are definitly not just small unripe normal apples as they are ripe and falling off the tree!:p

Does anyone know what these are? (I hope they arn't poisonous as ive eaten several!:D) Or am I being dim and they are just apples? :rotfl:

Jevvers

nykied wrote: »

1. My Dad's seen a tree with fruit on it. The fruits are yellow and small, about the size of a grape. They have a stone in them and they're okay to eat (my parents tried one). What are these? Damsons, plums?

As Giger has said these sound like cherry plums. We found a tree of them on the Ridgeway in Oxfordshire at the weekend and they were delish. Boiled them up with some blackberries and just had them for pud this eve although they were sweet enough to eat without cooking too.

Beautiful colour as they cooked with the brambles - foraging equivalent of a tequila sunrise!

floyd

Saban wrote: »

Could anyone help me? I found a tree that I thought was a crab apple tree but the fruit is sweet and delicious?!? I thought crab apples were sour?

The fruits look like mini apples but do not go 'in' at the bottom, and are green and red. They are definitly not just small unripe normal apples as they are ripe and falling off the tree!:p

Does anyone know what these are? (I hope they arn't poisonous as ive eaten several!:D) Or am I being dim and they are just apples? :rotfl:

Only thing I could come up with is chestnut crab apples, they are the only type of crab apple that aren't tart or sharp to eat. If you google it, the pics look like mini apples

Saban

Does anyone have any uses/recipes for mahonia berries?

kymbogs

Saban wrote: »

Does anyone have any uses/recipes for mahonia berries?

Hiya,
I was asking about mahonia myself a few weeks ago. I found a recipe for mahonia jam which is apparently quite sharp/bitter but the same recipe suggestedthat a mixture of blackberries and mahonia berries made a very nice jam.

http://s158336089.onlinehome.us/OregonGrapeJam/OregonGrapeJam.html

The guy does seem to be rather, err, passionate and verbose on the subject!

catherinevegh

Hello,
Bit of a lurker here. I was hoping to get some of the nuts from my garden but squirrels got them! One minute they are full of nuts next minute nothing.
Just been out to pick most of rest of peaches because I have seen a squirrel nicking them now too!!!!
Wanted to know though if anyone knows about Hawthorn. Can you eat all hawthorn berries or make things out of them. I have a Pauls Scarlet tree (nothing on it) and there seem to be loads of hawthorns in the area around us. Seems like a waste.... mmm.... if only I could eat them!!!

davidwelch158

catherinevegh wrote: »

Wanted to know though if anyone knows about Hawthorn. Can you eat all hawthorn berries or make things out of them. I have a Pauls Scarlet tree (nothing on it) and there seem to be loads of hawthorns in the area around us. Seems like a waste.... mmm.... if only I could eat them!!!

You can eat the flesh or make Hawthorn jelly. Although I tried the latter last year and the results were a little disappointing. A lot of berries turned into a small amount of weakly flavoured jelly.

catherinevegh

thanks davidwelsh.
I think I may try the jelly, sounds similar to crab apple jelly...very light flavour.
:beer:
this forum is great...have just been reading a little more and it is so useful. Nice to have lots of knowledgeable people.

katholicos

Managed to forage almost 4lbs each of blackberries and apples. There are trees/bushes still full of them so I hope others will take advantage of natures free food supplies.

catherinevegh

I have a neighbour with an old apple tree....it is full but they still need a while to ripen. She says I can just pop into the garden and help myself to all if I want whenever!:j:j:j
I am going to try making dried apple rings for my sons lunchbox. That would be quite an mse use! Will also puree some up and freeze as another 3 months and baby will start wanting to try things.Saves on the expense of baby foods. Ithink a small jar of apple puree is about 56p at least!:eek:
YAY for lovely neighbours.