Cherry stem in her mouth she could tie with her tongue*...

You don't need to go yomping off into the great wild yonder to go foraging. Blackberries grow almost everywhere. There are apple trees along many roads thanks to all those cores thrown out of car windows. I still wouldn't pick directly next to a busy road (although I'm less concerned since the advent of lead-free petrol), but in my opinion a few apples from the side of a quiet residential street are not likely to harm you, especially if you wash them before eating. However, always do your own research and most of all, use your common sense.

An often overlooked food resource is gardens. Many gardens, especially in older properties have a few fruit trees, raspberry canes, or gooseberry bushes. Now I'm not suggesting you go scrumping, but if you have a neighbour who seems to not be doing anything with their bounty, why not just ask? The worst they can say is 'no', and you'll still have met your neighbour (apparently, some people out there don't talk to their neighbours)! 

Offering to repay their kindness with some produce is only polite and can build up a lasting friendship. I have one bloke who lets me have cooking apples from his garden every year in return for an apple pie, and someone with an old orchard who gets a bottle or two of plum wine. The fruits of my labour from their fruit! 

My favourite cherry variety- Prunus cerasus v.Freebius

Anyway, what got me on to this blog today was cherries. My sister-in-law recently moved into a house with a lovely garden. With a cherry tree. Best of all...she hates cherries! Win! These are not the small wild cherries like I was foraging last week, but big fat juicy beasts. The tree is small, so all the branches were easy to get get to (no crook required), and really heavily laden. I got 9lb (just over 4kg) off in a short space of time, and now my fridge is groaning. 

The cherries are quite sharp, so they're more for cooking than eating. I have enough to make a batch of wine, some jam, and some cherry vodka. My sister-in-law has some on the go and it smells just like maraschino cherries - divine! 

*yes, yes I can

A Plethora of Plums

I should have started this blog last week when the ridiculous number of cherry trees on one of our walks was pointed out to me. All the years I've been going there and I never noticed them! I made cherry curd with the first lot (ooh that was good on scones with cream), and the remainder are going to be carefully drowned in brandy. Anyway, I didn't start there, so you'll have to make do with plums instead.

Today's amble took me round a local country park with Mum and Gran. I was as they say, 'going equipped'; armed with my trusty crook, several carrier bags, and two of the fastest pickers I know (you should see Gran move when she wants something).

We knew the plums were there from the last walk, and were hoping that they were ripe - we were not disappointed. Hanging like grapes, the weight of the fruit made the branches bend just enough to be tantalisingly out of reach. However, applying the crook and a bit of stretching got the fruit into our grasp and the fun began. It would really help if I put a picture here wouldn't it? I'll try to think about it next time I'm there!

There seem to be a mixture of plum varieties growing alongside and entwined around each other, which makes choosing the ripe ones a bit of a gamble at first. There are a few trees solely covered in the small yellow/orange, incredibly sweet ones (I wondered if they might be related to Mirabelles) then some with multihued fruit I think are Cherry plums Prunus cerasifera. These start off green but can ripen at any colour from that to deep red/purple, and even then can be quite tart. There's another bunch of trees on the other side of the park with currently all green fruit which look more like a traditional plum in size and shape, so will be keeping an eye on those too!
 

We used the squishiness of the plum as our guide to ripeness, and left quite a lot of fruit hanging - whether that be for other people, or our next visit remains to be seen! There's such an abundance of fruit and the trees are so tall there's no danger of stripping them bare.  We came away with a bagful each, and now I have to decide what to do with my share.
Whatever's left after playing cat'sbumface* roulette I suspect is going to be turned into plum jam, possibly with a hint of ginger, and maybe some chutney (which should be perfectly mature by the festive season). This is only because I currently have no need to make any more plum wine as yet, as I have many gallons of that (and damson wine) on the go from a visit to an old orchard last year!

The next trip out  in a few days time is to see if we can find some bilberries. There's a spot fairly close to home that used to have them. It may be a little early for the fruit to be ripe but we can at least find out if they still grow there. Failing that there are loads in the Peaks if you know where to look. I'll let you know!

*the face you make when eating something really sour