Foraging - Natures Food

TitchTori

I tried to make elderflower champagne this year but i didn't want to add yeast this year because i'm pregnant so wanted to try and keep the alcohol level as low as possible so i could at least try it - disaster, it didn't work

I'd really like to find some Sloeberries and Blackberries this year but it's hard to know where to start looking!! Off out with the dog on adventures today so i'll be keeping my eye out

The_Thrilla

ceridwen wrote: »

Errr...tried to get into YouTube by putting this up as a quote and altering "youtu.be" to YouTube and it didnae work....

That is because youtu.be is correct.

You can also go to the YouTube homepage, and enter Ray Mears Hawthorn

annie-c

This is a brilliant thread - just read it through.

I've just made some bottles of redcurrant gin and vodka, using produce form my garden.

I'd love to make sloe gin later in the year. Would anyone be prepared to share reasonably explicit location details of where I might find sloes anywhere in the Cardiff/Caerphilly/Pontypridd areas, pretty please?

Naide

I forage quite a lot. I've made dandelion fritters, picked wild salads, made bramble crumbles, elderberry and bramble jam, quiche with wild garlic and lots more. This is my second year of foraging and I've had some delicious food from my walks. I made elderberry cordial too but can't quite get the flavour just right.

eooapptj

You can eat the leaves of hawthorn and lime trees.

Flibsey

I forrage! daughter and I got 2.5lbs of blackberries the other day. half is going in a pie, the other half was matched to the same weight of sugar and poked into bottles, then topped up with vodka. xmas hamper fillers along with forraged hip and hawthorn jelly (when the hips are ready) and sloe gin.

missimaxo

I would love to start foraging but have no idea where to start. Can anyone advise on the types of places where blackberries usually grow? Plus I have no idea how to even identify some of the fruits etc. you are talking about (point to self - must get a book from the library!).

I don't have a dog so don't really go walking, and work full time over an hour from where I live, so don't know that much of the local area and don't have loads of time to scout out suitable areas. Would I be better walking down lanes, across fields or in woods? Any other tips on how to find places? I was thinking of talking my son on his bike this weekend but don't know where to start!

Cheers

Confuzzled

jollymummy wrote: »

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

i've never used quince but rosehips are very versatile! i found, much to my pleasure that they have a slight tomato taste to them when unsweetened. in the past i've made my own tomato sauce from them as well as using the puree mixed in with other fruits for fruit leathers, fruit ice lollies and cordials. they are a lot of work to get rid of the fine hairs in them but it's well worth it as they are so high in vitamin c, taste lovely and usually are quite plentiful:T

Gigervamp

missimaxo, you can find blackberries all over the place. Anywhere that's a bit overgrown, at the edges of parks, on commons. They grow like a weed!

Parks and commons often have fruit and nut trees and in woodlands you might find all sorts, nut trees, crab apples, plums etc.

The foragers bible is Richard Mabey's food for free. You can get it in a Collins Gem edition which is £3.20 at Amazon and fits in your pocket.

floyd

Flibsey wrote: »

I forrage! daughter and I got 2.5lbs of blackberries the other day. half is going in a pie, the other half was matched to the same weight of sugar and poked into bottles, then topped up with vodka. xmas hamper fillers along with forraged hip and hawthorn jelly (when the hips are ready) and sloe gin.

Flibsey, can you give me a rough idea of which part of the UK you are in? I've seen a few ripe blackberries but want to gauge whether its worth a picking trip just yet as the place I go isn't somewhere I pass regularly so I can't keep an eye on them