really old style living?

meanmarie

I regularly use ground elder when salad greens are scarce, the leaves need to be young but they taste ok...I also wilt the older leaves like I would spinach...throw a couple of handfuls in a curry or soup towards the end of cooking time.

Have eaten blanched dandelion leaves in salad, find them rather like chicory, they are also good added to pasta...will try the roots next year, and make some wine with the flowers, have never made it but samples some a friend made and it was very good.

Good hunting

Marie

RAS

meanmarie wrote: »

I regularly use ground elder when salad greens are scarce, the leaves need to be young but they taste ok...I also wilt the older leaves like I would spinach...throw a couple of handfuls in a curry or soup towards the end of cooking time.

I find the taste of anything other than the youngest leaves "fishy". But that was a flavour particularly popular in Roman cuisine.

meanmarie wrote: »

Have eaten blanched dandelion leaves in salad, find them rather like chicory, they are also good added to pasta...will try the roots next year, and make some wine with the flowers, have never made it but samples some a friend made and it was very good.

Just to remind everyone to go gently with dandelion - it is called !!!!enlit in French for a reason.

MSE cannot cope with french dandelions:D.

grannytwice

Help please have been out foraging and picked crab apples and elderberrys boiled them up together and they are now dripping in a pillowcase (dont have a jelly bag so improvising) got a recipe for jelly, wondered if the pulp would be useful for anything or should i just put it on the compost heap any advice welcolme, thanks

stitching_witch

grannytwice wrote: »

Help please have been out foraging and picked crab apples and elderberrys boiled them up together and they are now dripping in a pillowcase (dont have a jelly bag so improvising) got a recipe for jelly, wondered if the pulp would be useful for anything or should i just put it on the compost heap any advice welcolme, thanks

Pop it back in the pan with half as much water as the first time, reboil and strain again. Mix the two lots of juice together to get a bigger yield. I then give mine to the chickens, but also don't feel too guilty about composting it as I know I've had a double go at it!

grannytwice

stitching_witch wrote: »

Pop it back in the pan with half as much water as the first time, reboil and strain again. Mix the two lots of juice together to get a bigger yield. I then give mine to the chickens, but also don't feel too guilty about composting it as I know I've had a double go at it!

Thanks, will let it drip tonight and reboil tomorrow and then compost,looks a lovely colour cant wait to get it finished , never made it before, toast will be at the ready:)

ceridwen

ChocClare wrote: »

If anyone can think of anything (clean) to do with buttercups, please let me know, as I seem to be digging up millions of the little darlings...

Well they're NOT edible - so nope..you cant have them for dinner..:). Just had a quick check of a couple of my herbal medicine books too - and theres no mention at all. So - it doesnt look there are any uses for them AFAIK.

missychrissy

CupOfChai wrote: »

Bottle of red goes in a beef bourgignon type-thingy... which also takes a kilo of stewing beef... Fear not, I have only made it twice in about two years! The recipe does do about 8-10 portions, it's not quite sooo bad as it looks.

Don't cry for the wine! It goes to a good and loving home... in my belly . I couldn't keep it in the freezer, I'd drink the stuff!

I make my own red wine using elderberries and blackberries and it works out at approx 16p per bottle. I've been doing it now for about 3 years but would have started years ago if I had realised how easy it is. I make lots of other varieties but using wine for cooking is now 'on tap'.

annie123

mardatha have you tried nettles? they are good for you and useful in the garden too.
I have a large flower pot for growing them in, only eat young leaves in spring, then I place it in full sun for butterfly larvae

http://www.wildhealthfood.com/the-benefits-of-eating-nettles

http://www.nettles.org.uk/nettles/people.asp

mardatha

Y got them on my wee list annie for next year. Got recipes for nettle soup. They are very rich in vit C and iron I think.

katholicos

My italian (ex) MIL took me nettle picking years ago. I nearly piddled myself laughing....i thought we were going for nice drive into the countryside...but when we got to the country park we were visiting, she whipped out a couple of carrier bags and told me to follow her...bless her heart, she started pulling the nettles out of the ground and putting them in the carrier bags. I asked her what she wanted them for and she said, 'I maka somethin special for you when we get back'...i laughed my head off...no way was i going to eat nettles. Anyhow, later on when we took her home she washed the nettles and then put them into a frying pan with some olive oil...she fried it till it softened and then put it between 2 slices of bread and gave me one of the sandwiches to eat. It wasn't half bad, but i wouldn't be in much of a hurry to eat it again. It tasted a lot like spinach IIRC.