Foraging - Natures Food

lovelife_3

Hello everyone, i have just found this thread, not yet managed to read it all. But thrilled it is here! Had a very successful foraging mission at the weekend, and picked lots of blackberries, mushrooms, apples, water mint and cherry plums. It is the first time i have come across cherry plums and they are delicious, have eaten lots and made jam, but still have a lot left, please can anyone advise me on the best way to freeze them, tempted to stew them first witjh a little sugar, but wondered whether they should be frozen whole, any tips much appreciated:)

stitching_witch

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?

My son lives in Didcot and his local playing field has a number of these trees growing around the perimeter. On Sunday, we picked 21.5 lbs of them from just one tree and left the remaining trees for others to pick.

I know them as Mirabelle plums and this is what the French make Apricot Brandy from. I hadn't realised they were the same as cherry plums. I have labelled the jam and wine as Mirabelle as I think it sounds nicer!

Jevvers

Crikey 21.5lbs?! Well done Stitching Witch and son! Wish we had found that many, I did love them tho, the way they looked made me think of "Golden apples of the sun" - Yeats?

Danni1979

Hiya
I've just discovered foraging and am totally shocked at the amount of free food there is all within a few minutes walk of me!!
So far i have spotted
Wild plums
Wild Cherries
Blackberries
4 different type of apple trees
Sloes
Elderberry's
Damsons
and a hazelnut tree!!!!
Nothings ripe here as yet except the wild plums and cherries,but so excited for my first foraging year.
If anyone lives in Suffolk around woodbridge area,let me know and i'll point you in the right direction

catherinevegh

Yay,
Picked some of the plums from our tree today. About 8lb. still about the same left. We ate loads for pudding this eve and I made some jam... got 8 smallish pots out of them!:j
We are going blackberrying on monday I think. More jam probably.
Waiting for rosehips to ripen...hoping to make some syrup.
Also there are lots of hawthorm trees around. Jelly.
Crab apples when they ripen...jelly.
there are also some rowan trees around...anyone know what I can make out of these...except maybe jam/jelly!

lloydlf

Had a bit of a scout around today and have found some elderberries, Lots of rowan trees and I think some sloes. Also spotted a tree with red apples strangely the apple flesh is red all the way through. Anyone know what kind this is? Sadly the majority of the blackberries have now rotted on the bushes around here

Pooky

The elderberries round here are just about ready to pick so will keep an eye on them during the week.

Found 3 big rosehip bushes yesterday (typically I didn't have anything with me to transport them home), will be going back today to pick...already got 2 kilos in the freezer for wine.

We've got a really good bramble bush growing over the back fence that I chopped back really hard last year, this years fruit has been fantastic and we've got 2 demijohns of wine on the go from those and enough in the freezer to make into boozy rum...as well as a couple of crumbles/pies.

We had 2 bags for life, filled with bramleys given to us so they've been put to good use too, some stewed down in the freezer, some into wine and I've got the last lot straining for apple chilli jelly.

We've made hawthorn wine in the past but it is quite a weak tasting one and it's a huge amount of effort for not great results, so we'll leave those for the birds this year.

Petlamb

I don't think jealous begins to cover my thoughts (hehe) - living in a city means there seems to be nothing round here Which makes me sad indeed

gillian62

It's amazing what can still be foraged around a city. This is the first year I have foraged, and I have found apple and pear trees around our city bypass, even possibly a cherry plum tree. There are elderflower/redcurrant/rowan/blackberry bushes around the area I work in. It's amazing what can be found.

jollymummy

We foraged a pound or so of blackberries today in the hedgerows near our allotment . I made 5 jars of jam for the first time ever and it's scrummy and only cost about 28p per jar. I'm a foraging novice and wondered what could I make with rosehips and quince?
Thanks