Foraging - Natures Food

HariboJunkie

pie-eater wrote: »

DD & I have just spent an hour picking damsons and have about 20lbs+ with more left on the tree, only to find OH has hidden my stash of jam jars :eek: I managed to find 8 jars and about make 5lb of jam but still have loads left.

Is it best to freeze the damsons whole straight off the tree or should I cook them first?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

They'll be fine if you freeze them whole. Lucky you on such a good haul.

pie-eater

Thanks Haribo will get freezing tomorrow and wait for pay day and pick more to make Damson Gin (although I'm still drinking last years).

rachbc

TravellingAbuela wrote: »

Brinham Rocks has loads of bilberries if you fancy a trip out into th countryside and a friend also says Otley Chevin for them but I've not seen them there.

Yes Brimham Rocks is the best place I know for Bilberries. Mid July they were out in absolute profusion and in 3 full days of picking we had got just over 20 lbs! That's an awful lot of little berries! They are now safely stashed away in the freezer but think of all the jam and pies they will make in the winter months. Mmmmmm and it will make all that tedious picking worthwhile![/QUOTE]

They are so very very small and a little tedious to pick yes - but lovely!

D&DD

I've just been looking through a gardening catalogue and they had one of those berry picker things in there..am just sat here wondering if a metal comb would be just as effective?? Not so much the ones with short teeth but the ones with longer prongs??


Annie if you need a cuppa feel free to give me a yell I can always meet you with a flask :rotfl:

OH is off tomorrow so was planning on dragging him out with me and the doglet but forgot DS2 has to pick up his exam results :eek:

floyd

JUst a little tip for those picking sloes for the first time. Give them a soak overnight in some salty water as they can also contain little maggots. Even if I'm making jelly or gin with them I still do it as they can have quite a few 'occupants' ;-)

Churchmouse

Pazu wrote: »

Hi

Its really exciting to see all the interest in this thread. Welcome newbys.

rachbc congratulations on OH's promotion.

All fruit and veg has bugs. Its just that the stuff we get from the supermarket is so doused in chemicals that you wouldn't know it. As kids we ate pounds of the stuff without thinking about the bugs and are still here to tell the tale. Salt water is the way to go.


Mushrooms scare me.

It is lovely how the thread is now progressing into a supportive, informative welcoming place :j

I know the wrigglies won't hurt us, but I do feel a bit _pale__pale_ at the thought of having eaten them Just call me a big wussy girl's blouse :rotfl:

No foraging here today, maybe later in the week. I drained, dried and froze the blackberries I foraged yesterday

I'm scared of mushrooms too. But I plan on being a big girl and learning about them :rotfl:

rachbc

Churchmouse wrote: »

It is lovely how the thread is now progressing into a supportive, informative welcoming place :j


I'm scared of mushrooms too. But I plan on being a big girl and learning about them :rotfl:

Me too - on both counts :j

Timalay

My folks have found loads this year, Apples, Cobnuts, Damson's, even loads of wild mushrooms (which help for my to pay for my dads beers). A few years back we found a cherry tree bursting with cherries at a farm where we store our caravan (it was my Aunt and Uncles farm before people start having a go at me), also we also found some Greengages up there.

Moorhen

I have been blackberry picking 3 times at a spot near my home over the last 3 weeks.

I can't believe how big and abundant the blackberries are this year, the brambles are so loaded that you could pick all day and never run out.

What I can't get over is that no-one else seems to be picking them, it is a huge area of brambles really close to a large number of houses yet whenever I have been there I haven't seen another soul and a lot of the blackberries are rotting on the brambles as no-one is picking them. I have been letting all my friends know that they are there but nobody has been to pick any yet even though blackberries are being sold in a local shop for £1 a punnet and people are buying them.

Short of putting signs up pointing the way I really don't know what to do!:D

Gigervamp

Some people seem to have a problem with food that hasn't come wrapped in plastic from a supermarket. One of the guys hubby works with said he wanted to try our eggs, but his wife had told him that she didn't want to as "you don't know where they've been". Actually, we can tell you exactly where our eggs have been, unlike the ones in the supermarkets. <rolls eyes>