Ship of Fools: hedgerow hunting and apple scrumping

Thread: hedgerow hunting and apple scrumping Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by the long ranger (# 17109) on :

Tis the season for pilfering nature's abundance (well, in some parts anyway). How about we talk about what we've found and what we've done with the crop?

Yesterday we picked several pounds of blackberries, half a bag of crab apples and some haws. The haws have been in the slow cooker over night to soften them up, and I am going to be straining the liquid off to make jelly. I've not made anything with haws before, so will be interested to see what the results are.

I'm then going to put the crab apples and blackberries in, and will be making a cordial when the fruit has all disintegrated. Yesterday I noticed that some make a cheese from the pulp, so I'm going to try that too. Hopefully I will have enough jars to make it all happen.

We also noticed a massive number of rosehips so might well be going out again soon to pick some. I think they also make jelly, any other ideas for rosehips?

What else have you found and what will you be making?

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Rosehip jelly is runny - from previous experience - you'll need crab apples to provide enough pectin to set it. Once was enough for that one.

I've done this feeding from the hedgerows, but when I was living in a more rural location than I am now. Here, finding decent pickings that aren't on busy roads isn't great, so not for a while, other than the odd bit of blackberrying. I used to eat a lot of wild mushrooms, but here you have to have a licence (we have London restaurants picking the place bare and it's a real issue).

One year when I was particularly broke, for Christmas I made hampers of jams, jellies and chutneys, mushroom ketchup and dried mushrooms, sloe gin and anything else I could find and think of - nuts were on the list - crystallised chestnuts and hazelnuts possibly. It was quite fun to do, but very time consuming and not as cheap as I was hoping, just spread out.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Blackberries. I haven't managed to find enough to make a pie, but they're lovely on pancakes, with a little golden syrup and lemon juice.

Elderberries look a bit thin this year but in the past I've made pickle, which is very good with cold meats, and what should have been jam but turned out to be a sauce, which was actually really good on chocolate puddings. I don't think I will be able to get enough to do that this year, everything's looking a bit scarce.

Posted by the long ranger (# 17109) on :

Huh, there are loads of blackberries here. I think I recall that there are hundreds of blackberry species (in the UK, not sure about elsewhere), which is why they ripen at different rates.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Wasn't it a Radio 4 programme on blackberries? The one that discussed the multitudinous varieties ripenoing from August through to September. Talking blackberries, the Devil casting his cloak over them on Michaelmas Day, 29 September, that dates back to before the changes between the Gregorian and Julian calendars and would be the equivalent of 10 October now, but it's more to do with rain and frosts.

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :

Now that I have blackberries on my allotment I forage for rosehips and sloes - the former I make into syrup using a simple recipe like this one , and the latter into Sloe Gin and Sloe Vodka. As I tend not to get enough sloes, either I don't get around to picking early enough or they've gone before I get to them, I freeze over the years until I get a good number - I am wondering about planting a blackthorn bush so I have my own supply (although I have noticed the allotment blackberries being picked by foragers/scrumpers who think that anything they think of as wild is fair game even though they have to work their way through other tended crops, so maybe people think the same of sloes)

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Elderberries are poisonous in quantity - you have to be careful of the amount you consume of anything made of them, including elderberry wine.

Berry wines I grew up picking for too - elderberry, blackberry, sloe - my childhood was punctuated by the gentle pop, pop of the bubbling airlocks on Winchesters. I found the same recipe book in a charity shop but haven't managed to find the rest of the kit, yet. We did also try flowers, but the only one we continued making was elderflower - although that had its hazards. Slight popping noises in the night heralded arriving downstairs to a sticky tide of elderflower wine covering the kitchen - the elderflower champagne had been a bit too fizzy when bottled and had exploded overnight.

Rosehips have more Vitamin C weight for weight than oranges. During WWII children were fed on Rosehip syrup, and it continued being made certainly in the 70s. I remember the primary school I attended raising money from rosehips, and us all arriving in with bags to add to the big collection tub for collection and onward sale.

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :

currently - blueberries, highbush cranberries, lowbush cranberries, red currants, black currants, crowberries, and rosehips. they're everywhere. all over the counter, in the fridge, on the stove, in the freezer. most of the berries I just freeze for cooking throughout the winter. some of them I'll use to make cordial. However, with the highbush cranberries I make a concentrated juice that I then freeze in icecube trays and then store. all winter I'll use those ice cubes like tea - toss one into a cup of boiling water. it's delicious and warming and packed with C.

the rosehips I dry and also use for tea.

I'm also getting a lot of mushrooms, but I don't put them by; just eat them when they're ready.

earlier this summer: cranberry bark, alder leaf, and artemesia (medicinal). fiddleheads for food (put a bunch away but already ate them all 'cause I can't resist them). raspberries and watermelonberries. lots and lots of salmon and salmon eggs in the freezer. it's currently moose season but I don't really hunt anymore, so I'm missing out unless somebody shares with me.

and in about a week - devil's club root for both medicinal purposes and for the wood for carving.

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on :

I've nibbled plenty of blackberries and wild strawberries whilst 'out and about'. I've also had a small basket of hedgehog mushrooms, but I'm hopefully for plenty more over the coming weeks. I just fried them in garlic butter and put them on toast and they were gorgeous...

Posted by the long ranger (# 17109) on :

comet - how do you dry the berries?

Posted by the long ranger (# 17109) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Elderberries are poisonous in quantity - you have to be careful of the amount you consume of anything made of them, including elderberry wine.

Do you have a reference for this? My (admittedly very brief) search suggests the only known mass poisoning was when some people drunk large quantities of pressed elderberry juice (yuk, I can't stand the smell of fresh elderberries) and that the toxins are denatured during cooking.

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the long ranger:
comet - how do you dry the berries?

pop the "tentacles" off, give them a good wash, cut down the middle and spread flattish (this is more art than science. you can do it without the flattening but they dry quicker this way. it is messy. I dont bother trying to remove the seeds.) then lay a wire mesh over a rack above the heater and spread them out to dry. how fast they dry depends on how hot you're cranking the heater - a day or two. when totally dry, store in a tin. drink the tea all winter, especially if you feel a cold coming on.

tastes like spring.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Sorry, it's just one of those things I grew up with along with terrible tales of people being really ill after drinking to much elderberry wine, but according to wikipedia - it's the seeds you eat with the berries apparently

quote:
The leaves, twigs, branches, seeds and roots contain a cyanide-inducing glycoside (a glycoside which gives rise to cyanide as the metabolism processes it). Ingesting any of these parts in sufficient quantity can cause a toxic build up of cyanide in the body.

Posted by the long ranger (# 17109) on :

Fair enough, wise to be wise to old wive's tales, I find.

Interestingly that wikipedia page also says:

quote:
Due to the possibility of cyanide poisoning, children should be discouraged from making whistles, slingshots or other toys from elderberry wood. In addition, "herbal teas" made with elderberry leaves (which contain cyanogenic glycosides) should be treated with high caution. However, ripe berries (pulp and skin) are safe to eat

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :

Maybe elderberry jelly would be OK because the straining would remove the seeds. Not something I'll be trying because no matter what I do with elderberries, I've yet to find a recipe that I find palatable.

On the matter of cyanide in plants, are you aware that apple pips contain cyanide? The Alnwick Castle Poison Garden includes an apple tree, although I don't remember seeing an elderberry one so maybe this needs to be added.

[ 17. September 2012, 11:17: Message edited by: daisydaisy ]

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by daisydaisy:
Maybe elderberry jelly would be OK because the straining would remove the seeds. Not something I'll be trying because no matter what I do with elderberries, I've yet to find a recipe that I find palatable.

Depends what you do with them. Best to strip them carefully from their stems with a fork, and don't mash them: just cook them with water and sugar/honey/whatever to let them disintegrate naturally, strain it to a clear liquid and you have the makings of a cordial which can be diluted with sparkling water for elderflower presse; or a sauce for puddings. As with any recipe I just use the amounts given as guidelines and alter quantities to taste as I go along. If the stems/seeds are left in the end result won't be half as nice.

You can also make fritters with the flowers in spring (though it means fewer berries later, obviously if you do).

And yes, I did know about the cyanide, but I never had any after-effects.

Posted by ExclamationMark (# 14715) on :

Haws and wild plums (damsons) - the latter very prolific in places I've seen them for the last 40 + years. Surprising given that it's a poor year in the same area for cultivated plums - late frosts seem to hit the cultivated varieties but wild ones seems to be hardier.

Blackberries.

Nettles.

Pheasants.

Hops

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :

Apple pips do contain cyanide but you'd have to eat an awful lot of apple pips to poison yourself. Swallowing a few won't have any bad effects at all. I used to eat raw elderberries as a kid and I'm still here to tell the tale but they're very bitter and I only ever ate a few at a time.

We've had an excellent season for blackberries here. I picked about 30lbs during August, stewed them, sieved the stew and bottled the puree. I'll be using a bottle a month in crumbles, pies and blackberry fool all through the winter. I've stopped picking now - our blackberries are past their best and starting to lose their flavour.

At the end of August each year I go down to the common a couple of miles from my house. There are several apple trees there which have grown from apple cores people have thrown out of train windows. I pick a rucksack full and take them home for stewing. The apples derive from dessert varieties (they are NOT crabs) but as they are self-set and growing on their own roots the fruits are small and not very sweet, so I stew them and sieve them to puree, like the blackberries.

There are some plum trees on the same common, and also on another railway embankment close to my house. I've had several plum crumbles from them this year.

Posted by ExclamationMark (# 14715) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
[QUOTE]And yes, I did know about the cyanide, but I never had any after-effects.

Most fruit stones contain cyanide - hence the almond smeel/taste

Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :

I made rosehip syrup last year, which turned out really well. When I had a nasty month-long cold in January, the syrup made an excellent cough mixture, being both soothing and full of vitamin C. Maybe if I had taken my spoonful every day, I wouldn't have got the cold at all! You can also use the syrup on ice cream, or as a cordial. It is a very particular taste, though.

The main issue is that the syrup goes off very quickly once a jar or bottle is opened - you only get about a fortnight. Therefore you need lots of very little jars or bottles so you can open only a small quantity at a time. Not having these, I opted to freeze the syrup instead, in ice cube trays. This worked surprisingly well. The syrup didn't go totally solid, and defrosted quickly and without any apparent damage. And when I had my cold, a spoonful of the frozen syrup was even more soothing than the defrosted variety.

Posted by the long ranger (# 17109) on :

I looks like I'd need a lot more Haw berries to make much jelly - I used around 250g sugar with 250ml strained liquid and made about a jamjar of jelly. It seems very dark, but that might be the odd sloe which accidentally made it into the pan..

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

Are the sloes ripe yet? I've been planning for years to get some to try making sloe gin, but I always end up being too late.

I'd be foraging in the Midlands area, Northamptonshire, if that makes a difference!

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :

I picked around 2kg of blackberries a couple of weeks ago - they are all in the freezer now, as I think crumble-making is best in the winter [Smile]

There were plenty of red ones when I was picking last time, so I reckon if I go out again this weekend I might well be able to pick a similar amount again.

Nothing much else around here to forage, but I did buy and plant a flowering quince in our front garden, expecting nothing this year, but it already has a couple of fruit. I won't do anything with them this year, but next year when the plant is bigger and hopefully more prolific I might try and have a go at quince jam.

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :

I went blackberrying with a friend on Saturday. We only got got about 250gms each, mostly picked from the south side of the bramble patches. Lots more still ripening - so worth another trip. Then we bumped into another friend, who invited us for lunch and I offered my blackberries in exchange.I think I got the best end of that bargain.

I like rowanberry jelly - it's quite bitter, but for that reason very good with meat. However, it's quite a long time since I actually bothered to make any.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

I'm not finding anything right now, but in the end of July I went hunting for cloudberries! Once I knew what to look for, I found the plant easily. Finding the ripe berries was another thing.

We ate them fresh at that time, but added the berries from the previous year (which had been frozen) to everything. Yogurt, oatmeal, warm baked cheese.

The important thing about finding cloudberries- you must never tell others that you actually found any. It's best to have an empty bag to show that you had no luck. Of course, your stash is safely hidden in the bags concealed on your person, or in a backpack.

Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :

We're happy to share blackberries with anyone who wants to come pick them. They are in the process of covering a shed in spite of the fact that I try to mow them off every other year.

One thing we do pick each year is Oblepiha (Hippophae rhamnoides, or "Sea Buckthorn"). The fruits are mostly seed and rather tart, but very high in Vitamin C and commonly used as a folk medicine in Russia. We freeze the juice in ice cube trays and use it as Comet does with the highbush cranberries. Does rather make a prickly thicket, however, if left to its own devices.

Posted by tomsk (# 15370) on :

I think it's probably not too early for sloes. It's possible to drink it at Christmas, for which you'd need a couple of months. I don't drink any more but I liked it with more sugar.

A bottle of elderflower wine would get me pissed, and also a nasty hangover.

I think a lifetime of drinking proper cider causes a build-up of something or other, as the whole apple is squished.

I've had run-over pheasant a couple of times. It's OK to get them if they're warm (and bumped rather than splattered).

I tried fat hen this year. I expected it to be like spinach but it wasn't very nice.

[ 18. September 2012, 05:52: Message edited by: tomsk ]

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Oh well, if we're going for experimental foraging the worst was acorn coffee. I really, really don't recommend that one. A lot of work for something that was truly disgusting.

I've also eaten spring leaves variously - young hawthorn, beech and lime leaves, OK to nibble on, not so great as a whole salad, dandelion salads - flowers and leaves. We grew and ate Good King Henry, which is a variation on fat hen, shoots and leaves - the shoots were better.

A lot of this was my fault, I gave my mother Richard Mabey's Food for Free one birthday and we worked our way through most of the suggestions - I was still living at home, so it must have been late 70s.

Posted by the long ranger (# 17109) on :

I've made acorn coffee and thought it was ok. Not much like coffee, but not entirely unpalatable. I'm going to try making acorn pasta at some point.

Full of tannins, though, so you're supposed to grind and wash with lots of water.

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by tomsk:
I think it's probably not too early for sloes. It's possible to drink it at Christmas, for which you'd need a couple of months. I don't drink any more but I liked it with more sugar.

I was planning to make it this autumn for drinking at Christmas NEXT year - if I can resist temptation that long!

[Eek!]

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Carex:
One thing we do pick each year is Oblepiha (Hippophae rhamnoides, or "Sea Buckthorn"). The fruits are mostly seed and rather tart, but very high in Vitamin C and commonly used as a folk medicine in Russia.

Yes, my Russian sort-of great aunt told me my mother should take them for gall bladder problems. I tried to discuss this with a herbalist but he absolutely refused. As I no longer live near a handy supply, I didn't pursue it further.

Posted by Niminypiminy (# 15489) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:

quote:
Originally posted by tomsk:
I think it's probably not too early for sloes. It's possible to drink it at Christmas, for which you'd need a couple of months. I don't drink any more but I liked it with more sugar.

I was planning to make it this autumn for drinking at Christmas NEXT year - if I can resist temptation that long!

Sloes are at their best if you pick them after the first frost. If you have not yet had your first frost, a good idea is to put your bag of sloes in the freezer for a couple of days before you make your sloe gin. The taste is much improved.

I am looking forward to making medlar liqueur again this year as we have a medlar tree in the vicinity. I don't think they're much worth eating -- you wait until they are bletted, or soft and brown and pulpy inside, when they taste like a mixture of stewed apple and banana. But a wide-necked bottle filled with medlars, a good three or four inches of sugar and topped up with vodka makes a delicious drink. (Quince vodka is even better. But you must first catch your quince, as Jane Grigson says.)

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :

The sloes are ripe here.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

You're supposed to prick all the sloes before putting them in the gin - freezing them instead saves your fingers - another chore from my childhood that one. You'll need an empty bottle and a full bottle of gin, and a bed with nothing underneath. Traditionally, the way to mix it was to roll the bottle from one side to the other under the bed night and morning. Or you can be boring and shake the bottles night and morning.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Managed to fill a small container with blackberries yesterday. Amazing how they vary: I sampled a few as I went and they ranged from the smallish and acidic on one bush to larger and quite sublime - ripe, sweet, luscious with a real rich fruit taste: I don't think I ever had blackberries as nice as the few I picked from that particular bush.

Lots of red and green ones still about so more to come yet. A lot of things are late this year.

Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :

I am jealous of all of you. The first hard frost was 2 nights ago (-4°C) and we're getting ready for winter now. Snow could be anytime. The only garden grown thing to think about is parsnips which are better in the spring, and there's probly 10 days to dig up potatoes.

"I come from a land that is harsh and unforgiving
Winter snows can kill you
And the summer burn you dry
When a change in the weather
Makes a difference to your living
You keep one eye on the banker
And another on the sky." -Connie Kaldor

Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :

I've been trying to pick blackberries whenever I get the chance, but it's slim pickings round our way this year. Still railing against the council who came along with a girt big hedge cutter just as the best bushes were ripening... [Frown]

Got a tip off for a good place today, though, so will try it out.

Has anybody tried picking sumac? There's some on a footpath near us escaped from gardens but I've never ventured to do anything with it.

Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :

Disastrous fruit crop, domestic and "volunteer" alike, this year thanks to a bizarre mid-March warm spell that popped spring blossoms only to have them frozen the next week when winter weather returned. We have been on a couple of countryside forages for apples and pears but found almost none...and the few we did find we didn't have the heart to take from the wildlife. (The local cider mill owner told us that his crop was down 90 percent, and they've been forced to ration their cider-making to one day a week instead of the usual daily operation.)

We did procure a gallon of precious (non-hard) cider, and have been slowly savoring it. And we found some feral black walnuts that we have in a bag but haven't gotten around to doing anything with.

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

I've been reading this thread with envy. I have a friend who gets apples and pears from some very old roadside trees in Southrn Highlands here.

However, unless deep on private property, blackberries are unavailable down here. They are a noxious weed and Pasture Protection Boards and local councils, even Railcorp with blackberries alongside trainlines, are vigilant about spraying with nasty poisons.

We used to have 40 acres in the bush and there were blackberries. Our January long weekend would see us up there, with protective gear, planks to get into the patch and our first aid kit and snake bite kit all available. That was never used, thank goodness.

I would make blackberry jam in the summer heat, usually over 35° C, on our wood stove.

Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :

Each time I pick blackberries I am thankful that we don't have dangerous snakes lurking in the bushes. A fellow shippie told me of the dangers of cottonhead snakes where she used to pick.
I have 4 large blackberry bushes and I reckon that this year I've had half what I have had in previous years. However, that is still enough to see me through the winter - a cup of blackberries or raspberries with my breakfast and sometimes later on too.

Posted by comet (# 10353) on :

quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
I am jealous of all of you. The first hard frost was 2 nights ago (-4°C) and we're getting ready for winter now. Snow could be anytime.

we've had a couple of hard frosts and it's snowing just north of here - but some of our local berries (cranberries and currants, in particular) are best after a hard frost or two. all winter, actually, you can pick the frozen solid berries off the bush and they're like lovely, tiny little popsicles. worth checking on the wild berries in your area.

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