Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves · 13 August at 6:28PM

Interesting info about the rugosa rose variety. The hairy seeds in rosehips are pretty awful, I agree, @kayannie, but I've never removed them because I only use rosehips as one of the minor ingredients in hedgerow jelly, so I know they won't get through my jellybag....the best one ever.....improvised from a (boiled!) white cotton pillowcase!
F

ladyholly · 13 August at 7:46PM

foxgloves said:

@ladyholly- I do have a batch of blackberry & pear gin on the go.
What a shame your local blackberries haven't flourished this year. I wonder if the brambles have maybe been cut back, as it does seem a good year for them in general. They are certainly earlier this year. I remember back in the day, we usually went blackberrying at August BH weekend, but I think our garden blackberries will be finished by then this year.
If you can't get any, I suppose you could look out for yellow-stickered raspberries & make raspberry vodka instead?
F

They havent been cut back as they are in the local park and are just left to grow wild. Some are improving but we will have to be quick or they will disappear.

I will get some strawberries as he also makes some as a Christmas present for a friend. We havent tried raspberries. He has done "The W original" candies version in the past but he wasnt too keen on that.

kayannie · 13 August at 9:48PM

I'm glad you mentioned your improvised jelly bag @foxgloves, as I can't find mine. It's not where I usually store it so I can only think that I threw it away at the end of last year's jelly making. It was very old! You've saved me a few quid as I'd just added a new one to my shopping list. Instead, I'll make one from an old cotton pillowcase instead. Thank you!
KA

weenancyinAmerica · 14 August at 5:39AM

There are a number of recipes that came out in World War II using the rugosa rose variety. It was considered an excellent source of vitamin C.

foxgloves · 14 August at 7:52AM

@weenancyinAmerica - I think it was one of the very few native UK wild crops which was actually harvested commercially back then, maybe the only one. Even as small children growing up in the late 1960s, we were still given a daily dose for the vitamin C. It was MUCH nicer than the other bottles given out to mothers of infant children on the NHS - cod liver oil. Euuuccchhhh! My little sister wouldn't take hers so guess who had to have that bottle too!
I know people did pick wild berries for jam & non-rationed fruit during war time. I have a fab little vintage preserving manual from that time. My Nana (1909 - 1993) mended fishing nets for the local trawler fleet for her volunteer war work.
F

foxgloves · 14 August at 5:22PM

Hello Diary Readers,
I have just sat down on my reading bench after a busy session of kitchen witchery. I do not intend moving (except for essential functions!) until I am called in for dinner. Horrid headache when I awoke at 4.45am & the mild vertigo which started a couple of days ago when I lie down or turn over in bed was still in evidence. Nowhere near as bad as when I had it last summer.....it's an ear thing....it does go away on its own but there'll be plenty more swearing at what it can jolly well go & do with itself between now & then!
*Mr F volunteered to do an early Waitbl00m run with the grocery list while I took some paracetamol & got on with brining veg for making piccalilli tomorrow.
*Garden pickings: 4 aubergines, spring onions, basil, grapes & courgettes.
*Made a batch of brown sauce. I'd intended the apples for some apple & mint jelly but I used all the half-size jars I like for that to bottle this week's hedgerow jelly. Didn't want to waste the bramleys so roped Mr F in (he has a nice long weekend) to do all the sauce-sieving if I chopped everything & made it. Water-bathed the jars afterwards for longer pantry shelf life.
*Mr F's cooking night & he is batch cooking Delia's ratatouille, so that will use up a few courgettes. Good job we like the infernal things!
*Veg & container watering & feeding.
*Booked that previously mentioned mini-break at our fave campsite for my birthday next year. It's an ensuite hostel room - they are in an old converted range of barn buildings with a big communal kitchen, fairy-light festooned courtyard, etc, & we had a lovely time when we tested the experience out last year. We are already committed to paying the balance on the cottage we've booked for our Silver Wedding next year, so decided just to book 3 nights at the campsite instead of 4. As Mr F said, the saving on that 4th night will more than pay for a nice meal out at one of our favourite pubs on my birthday. Will they have 'Oystercatcher' on draft? We can but hope! It will also reduce the price of the cattery fees. Felt we'd made a good compromise from a Holiday Savings Pot point of view.
I'm sure there was some other financial musing I meant to share, but I can't for the life of me think what it was, so I shall wish you a peaceful evening & settle down with my book. At this rate, I'll be drawing my pension before I finish it, as it is a great breezeblock of a thing.
F x

teapot2 · 14 August at 6:01PM

I remember being given a spoonful of both the rosehip syrup and cod liver oil growing up in the late 50s and early 60s. No prizes for guessing which I preferred. We also used to collect hips from the local wild dog rose bushes and sell them to someone [not sure who she was] for making into the syrup.