2022 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

I just call the jam-as-concrete version "fruit cheese", to make it sound posh.

There's a thread around here somewhere, where I asked for advice making jam.  Turns out that, despite using a jam thermometer, you need to boil it for 10 minutes before checking for set.  Never had a liquid version since.

- Pip  (currently contemplating whether to make a batch of rosehip jelly, given the amount of hips on my roses.  Do we need any more in the cupboard?)

Laura_Elsewhere

I shall look at you over the top of my specs, @PipneyJane, if you call strawberry concrete 'fruit cheese' round me - different things, made in different ways with different starting-points.... Unless you're happy for me to call you a Kiwi or Canadian, on the grounds that you;'re basically the same  

I started my week with a lovely 400+ metres swimming in 'my' quarry, walked home via various errands and shops, and am now having lunch after a good couple of hours of housework. 'Our' buzzard is mewing from somewhere a thousand miles up, so we hope it means he'll stick around and be beautiful for us this winter. We see him sometimes from our sitting room sitting in the gigantic conifer just 35 foot or so away... 

I'm cobbling this week - going over all my autumn/winter footwear, shoes and boots, and cleaning them, polishing them, nailing on Blakery's non-metal segs to the heels where needed, ordering and glueing rubber soles where wanted, checking for insoles and getting replacements where needed... 

It's still t-shirt and bare legs weather, but it's distinctly starting to feel much more autumnal, which I love...! 

Cherryfudge

Gem-gem said:

It does make me wonder about how much free food is out there. We have saved so much money over the years. In times of rationing and with inflation/price of food only going one way, I hope more people enjoy what nature has to offer. 

Oh me too! It grieves me that so many fruit trees are just left to shed their fruit. That's not even wild fruit, it's in gardens and nobody bothers to pick it.

@CAFCGirl, I can't think offhand where's a good source of elderberries round here but I'll PM you if I remember. I'll also tell you where to find sloes galore if you want to use some - and I've picked rosehips from the back of the train station a while ago.

I know ground elder was used as a source of greenery in spring when fresh food was scare - I've never dared try either that or young dandelions which are also supposed to be nutrient-rich. The other thing we get plentifully in the spring - and which I think has been discussed on here - is hedge garlic: someone persuaded me to try a bit and it was delicious but is a springtime forage, there won't be much about now. I'm currently sorting out my freezer and finding stacks of blackberries going back several years! The brambles are laden again this year so I will have to do some active planning rather than just stockpile. We are doing very nicely for greengages too.

Wraithlady

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Re hips and haws, as always make sure you know what you've got is what you think you've got Cut open a rosehip to check, but make sure you stand upwind of it as the inside has, as well as the little seeds, tons of tiny tiny hairs which are so irritant that kids used to collect them and put a big pinch down a pal's neck to act as itching-powder for a laugh Another reason to ignore the internet recipes involving whizzing rosehips in a food processor or blender - you lose masses of the Vit-C that was, and you gain tiny tiny hairs that will have you constantly clearing your throat for hours afterwards... 

Thanks for the advice, I will remember that - I hate whizzing up hot rosehips in my food processor, it was still orange years later!

Liverpool_Anne

@Laura_Elsewhere, do you freeze your elderberry syrup? I thought it only lasted 3 months in the fridge, unless you are using a different method to what I have seen.

Laura_Elsewhere

@Liverpool_Anne, no, we don’t freeze it.

we re-use old Ikea cordial bottles from years ago, with screw-tops; I just pour the syrup, hot, into hot bottles from the oven and put the lids on immediately as tight as I can, and we’ve never had one go bad on us in years now.

Once opened, we keep the current bottle in the fridge because I once had a 3/4-empty bottle go mouldy in hot weather some years back, but the unopened ones are fine all year…

Laura_Elsewhere

The method is just standard syrup- pound of sugar to a pint of liquid and boil it til it’s syrupy!

TwibbleDee

PipneyJane said:

TwibbleDee said:

There is now water in our "moat" (the ditch running across the front of our property again.

The last time I remember there being rain that actually left standing water was at the end of July/beginning of August LAST YEAR.  I was at an outdoor concert that got flooded in about 5 minutes for that one.  It was glorious!

@TwibbleDee how much rainfall have you had?  That sounds most unexpected.

- Pip

I think we had about 2.5".  If it tells you anything, we'd only had 2.8" so far for the entire year prior to this current storm.

CAFCGirl

Cherryfudge said:

@CAFCGirl, I can't think offhand where's a good source of elderberries round here but I'll PM you if I remember. I'll also tell you where to find sloes galore if you want to use some - and I've picked rosehips from the back of the train station a while ago.

Oh I've spotted a fair few - the cut through from AppleGarth to Springwell Lane has plenty... for a town based forage.
I've seen lots when out in the car on the way to Thirsk, but I need to find a good 'wild' spot that doesn't involve parking on a verge LOL

Cherryfudge

CAFCGirl said:

Cherryfudge said:

@CAFCGirl, I can't think offhand where's a good source of elderberries round here but I'll PM you if I remember. I'll also tell you where to find sloes galore if you want to use some - and I've picked rosehips from the back of the train station a while ago.

Oh I've spotted a fair few - the cut through from AppleGarth to Springwell Lane has plenty... for a town based forage.
I've seen lots when out in the car on the way to Thirsk, but I need to find a good 'wild' spot that doesn't involve parking on a verge LOL

I saw hedgerows laden with them today - about half way to Harrogate though, so not all that local. My favourite sloe source can be reached either across the fields or by parking on a verge. I only use them for sloe gin, but I think Laura has a way of adding them to yogurt if I remember rightly.

Well, I bought a pair of socks today as a gift for someone so there goes one coupon.

We also spotted a box of cooking apples free for the taking today (on the wall of a car park near Harrogate town centre, if anyone wants some) so DH has made a big pan of stewed apples and blackberries which will take a few days to eat. This has removed the older blackberries from the freezer (and the flavour was okay despite their age).