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Foraging

135

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  • PeteW
    PeteW Posts: 1,213 Forumite
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    I've heard that garlic grows wild, does anybody know what type of conditions it likes or if its common in certain regions?

    You might be thinking of 'wild garlic', which isn't actually garlic at all, but a small plant that tastes/smells garlicky. I wouldn't have thought proper garlic grows wild but I'd love to be proved wrong!
  • emiff6 wrote: »
    In my book..... no.

    And it's surprising how boring sloe gin gets when you've gallons of the stuff.

    Want any help getting rid of it? :beer::beer::rotfl:
  • Barneysmom
    Barneysmom Posts: 10,136 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    boultdj wrote: »
    My book has got wine as well as gin, is that any use?


    Thanks boultdj, we don't drink any alcohol so I don't want to make any this year.
    Still got most of the gallon of blackerry that I made last year, apart from a bottle's worth I gace to the plasterer.

    It's ok though, I'll just pick my usual blackberries and elders and make lots of jam and some elders syrup :)
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  • Valli
    Valli Posts: 25,563 Forumite
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    edited 14 August 2011 at 8:47PM
    Does anybody forage sweet chestnuts?

    (which grow in abundance in the grounds of Sudbury Hall)

    In the country park near me

    hazelnuts, sweet chestnuts, elderberries, sloes and blackberries.

    Round a cricket club pitch a bit further away cherries.

    Ransomes (wild garlic) along the banks of the brook and by the Cromford Canal

    and (where I come from) we call them whinberries - they grow on the moors
    Don't put it DOWN; put it AWAY
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  • nephilim
    nephilim Posts: 251 Forumite
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    Think I found a nectarine tree, will need to bring a few home to sample to make sure. Will be picking them tomorrow :)

    If they are, nectarine cobler is on the menu as well as a nectarine schnapps
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  • emiff6
    emiff6 Posts: 794 Forumite
    500 Posts
    Gracious, nephilim, you must be foraging in the ruins of some ancient stately pile's kitchen garden to find such an abundance of different fruit trees! :D
    If I'm over the hill, where was the top?
  • I forage but don't get anything like your variety nephilim. Currently we get elderberries / flowers, blackberries, apples, plums, sweet chestnuts and sloes.

    I have used sloes with apples to make jelly, it can be very tart so don't need many sloes to apples. I give the sloe gin as Christmas presents, along with things like jellies, jams & chutneys so all foraged food helps.

    There are quite a few oaks around my way so I'm trying to pluck up the courage to try acorn coffee......
  • oldtractor
    oldtractor Posts: 2,262 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    I forage for sloes.bullaces,raspberries,hazelnuts,cherries,blackberries,mushrooms,elderberries,elderflowers,rosehips. There are various fruit trees locally,quince,plum,apple,pear,cherry,but they all belong to somebody.
  • i forage throughout the year - mostly for ingredients for my homebrew including:

    dandelions
    young oak leaves
    bramble tips
    vine leaves
    hops
    junipers
    sloes
    blackberries and dewberries
    wild cherry plums (myrobalan)
    damsons
    rose hips
    crab apples

    might try agrimony - honeysuckle - birch sap - rose petal wines next year

    i could also pick plenty of greens etc to eat, as there is an abundance in my area - but also loads of dog & walkers - so i prefer to grow my own stuff for eating but will collect hazel and chestnuts later

    i used to fungi forage - but haven't done it for a few years
    saving money by growing my own - much of which gets drunk
    made loads last year :beer:
  • radiohelen
    radiohelen Posts: 373 Forumite
    I've got elderberry, blackberry, rosehip and crab apple near me. I went to my usual spot for the Mirabelles and there were hardly any there. I suspect someone got there first and left nothing behind them :mad: I always try not to be greedy and make sure there is some left for others. The apple trees around are not looking too promising either. Very little fruit. Evil weather.
    Well behaved women rarely make history.
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