If you go down to the park today...

The lovely ladies (and accompanying gentleman) of Buns & Roses WI

Last Thursday I ventured up to darkest Leeds, put on my trusty foraging hat, and led a few members of Buns and Roses WI around Roundhay Park for guided walk and talk about wild food.

After a grey day, the sun made an appearance just in time for our evening stroll around Roundhay Park, a gorgeous site which is one of the largest municipal parks in Europe (as my legs pointed out afterwards)! We started at the Tropical World entrance, then made our way down to and around the lake and back (my pedometer assures me the round trip is more than the minimum recommended 10,000 steps a day).

 Photo credit Emma Briggs

The crew soon got used to my verbal shorthand - 'an acquired taste' usually means I've tried it and don't like it. It didn't take long before another theme emerged. You see, I learned most of my foraging because I like making (and drinking) what are referred to as 'country' wines. So yes, most of the edibles I pointed out can also be used to make a very decent wine;  I'm not so sure Wild Garlic flower wine is a good idea, but may give a small batch a go anyway - for SCIENCE!

I was originally worried that a managed parkland location might not have much for the forager, but I needn't have worried - there were plenty of goodies to point out and talk about. Although many of the hedgerow species I am used to down here were missing, this was more than made up for by some magnificent mature trees, including a pair of walnut trees which I expect the ladies to make the most of! Other useful tree species in the park include lime, cherry, beech and oak; if you've never tasted oak leaf wine then I urge you to do so. 

Wine and wild garlic in the woods. Photo credit Emma Briggs.

We also found the ever present nettles, brambles, chickweed, cleavers and dandelions, but also garlic mustard, wild garlic, common sorrel,  and raspberries (flowering but not yet fruiting) - the park definitely holds the makings of a decent meal. We paused a couple of times for examples of the fruits of foraging; one stop to taste wild garlic pesto, which went down quite nicely, and another to taste last year's blackberry wine. It's lovely, with a fruity bouquet and a kick like a donkey good depth of flavour. I gave everyone a couple of wild garlic recipes to try and promised to hand over my recipe for the blackberry wine, so although it's a bit early in the winemaking year, it's at the end of today's blog.

Finally I'd like to thank Buns and Roses for being so welcoming, and asking such interesting questions! It was a real pleasure to be able to pass on some of what I've learned, and I hope that you will all continue to keep an eye out for wild food; remember, what has been seen cannot be unseen!

Recipe:  Blackberry Wine

Ingredients

4lb blackberries
3lb Sugar
Optional - cup of strong black tea, raisins and juice of half a lemon.
6 pints of water (just boiled)
Yeast (you can buy a sachet of wine yeast from many chemists, I often just use bread yeast)

Method

1. Put berries in a bucket, and crush them (a potato masher is ideal for this). Add the optional ingredients if you like at this stage.
2. Pour on the hot water. (If you want to add the yeast at this stage you can, but wait until the liquid has cooled to blood temperature).
3. Keep covered to prevent flies getting in. I use a clean tea towel if I don't have a lid.
4. Stir up once every day for 4-5 days 
5. Strain off juice and add the sugar (and yeast if not done in step 2).
6. Pour mix into a demijohn or jar with an airlock, top up to base of neck with cool boiled water if necessary.  Put somewhere dark, and warm if possible  - airing cupboard is ideal but you may want to wait until the fermentation has slowed down as it can bubble over!
7. Within a day or two it should be bubbling away. Ignore it until it stops bubbling. This can be anywhere from weeks to months. Patience is a virtue!
8. Siphon off into another demijohn to leave the sediment in the bottom of the fermenting vessel. You can taste at this stage if it's ready for drinking yet, and see if it's clear. If not, put an airlock on and leave it for another few months. If it is, bottle it into clean sterilised bottles and label - unless you want wine surprise!

Spring smells funny...

Huzzah! Spring has sprung (despite the snow) and foraging is creeping back to the forefront of my mind.

I'm off to Leeds today to see what may be available to point out to the lovely ladies of Buns and Roses WI when I give them a walk and talk next month, and I'm really hoping to find some wild garlic (ransoms).

With that in mind, here's something I wrote on the subject (first published in my column for Sheffield Wildlife Trust in the Sheffield Star), along with a rough guide (it's really not organised enough to call it a recipe) to making your own wild garlic pesto.

Enjoy!

‘Spring smells funny...’

I love foraging. Partially because of blackberry crumble, but mostly as a frugal opportunist who hates waste.

I can’t help myself. I started as a child picking berries, but grew to include anything I could make alcohol with (sloes, crab apples, plums). The thing about looking for fruit trees is that you soon want to find more; I was once told you only pass on the location of a damson tree in your will! This means you walk through the countryside craning your neck, checking branches for telltale spikes indicating sharp sloes to come, or blossom that may mean hidden fruit later on.

So for half the year it’s easy to get in your recommended exercise quotient, as you peek through hedgerows and wander round parks. You can’t help but notice the nature on your doorstep as you become familiar with the foliage around you. The problem for foragers is that most fruit comes into season around the same time of year – late summer. What are you supposed to do for the rest of the year? Well this is the best time of year to go and find some of the early greens for soup and salads, like young nettle tips or my favourite, wild garlic. 

Wild Garlic. Photo copyright Don Sutherland

Walk along any wooded river bank, and you may start to notice a pungent smell emanating from underfoot. Looking down, you might see clusters of long green leaves with a pompom of white flowers delicately balanced on a single stem. Early in the season, there might not be any flowers to help identify the plant (also known as ransoms), and the leaves could be confused for those of the bluebell, but crush a piece of leaf between your fingers and you will be left in no doubt. 

The taste is mild; leaves and flowers can both be eaten raw in a salad. My favourite way to use this spring bounty is in a pesto. Simply take a handful of wild garlic leaves, a pinch of rock salt, a handful each of walnuts and parmesan, then crush (or blend) into a paste and add enough olive oil to loosen the mixture. It obviously goes well with pasta, but try mixing it with mayonnaise to liven up a sandwich; a great excuse to eat your lunch outdoors!

And remember; forage responsibly; take only a small amount, leave plenty for the wildlife that depends on it, and never eat something you are not certain of!

• This is a version of an article first published in the Sheffield Star, which can be found online at http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/today-s-columnist-claire-hanley-opik-nature-s-bounty-is-delicious-and-free-1-7869460

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you

I neglected to mention that last week we found a couple of damson trees. They were hiding in plain sight along the main road in Gran's village. Apparently you should never tell anyone where your damson trees are!

Damsons are such a good fruit, they were known as the housewives friend - apparently for their magical setting qualities. I thought this couldn't be right, given that they are effectively just small plums, but making a jam with them on Tuesday proved me wrong and my old books right! Just a few minutes boiling and the setting point was reached, without adding any lemon juice or pectin.

Damson jam (not quite ready)

I only made three jars of jam because I really fancied using the rest of the damsons for wine. It comes out such a lovely colour, and I was still smarting about the loss of a gallon of last years damson wine to the vinegar fly. If I'd been thinking straight at the time I'd have bottled it as posh vinegar! I didn't have the full 4lb of damsons (because of the jam) but I topped it up with some of the plums that were handily growing a few shrubs down, and a few bullace I found along the route. I reckon it won't make much difference, but I look forward to the testing next year!

Tunnel Vision

Last week we went on one of our regular routes, and it occurred to me that if I wasn't careful I could spend all my time looking closely at the shrubs and ground cover instead of the bigger picture. So in favour of balance, have a lovely picture of part of our walk.
I don't always forage on my walks. Sometimes the walk is enough, although usually I do have a bag in my pocket 'just in case'. I find it difficult to walk past without picking. The thought of something going to waste 'bothers my nose' as Mum would say!

Fat sloes

 Even when not actively picking, I've always got my eye on what's coming up. Further along this path, at the end of the tunnel where there is more light, the blackthorn bushes are smothered - or as we'd say 'snided'- in sloes.

Ideally we'd wait to pick them until after the first frost, but my fingers are twitching - and I do have a freezer. I must resist - there is a lot of other fruit in need of picking first!

It's been a bit busy in the FF household over the last couple of weeks. What with that and the weather the foraging went a little quiet. It did give me time to start producing goodies from the bounty though!

Cherries may be my new favourite thing to make things from. I've been determined to make the most of the lovely flavour and try to save it for a hit of summer in the depths of winter. So, cherry jam for starters. I did make five jars but only have one left as it's ever so popular with my friends! I used the wrong sugar (preserving rather than jam if you're interested), so it didn't set hard, but ooh it is good on a scone.

I used 4lb of the lovely fruit to start a cherry wine. I really hope the flavour comes through in the finished product, but I'll just have to wait and see. I don't use artificial methods of stopping my fermentation (as I'm allergic to sulphites), so it will probably be next year before I find out! As I'm impatient though, there are a couple of bottles of cherry liqueur on the go (one vodka, one brandy) which will be ready by the festive season. I'm picturing a good book, a roaring fire, and me getting gently sozzled thinking of summer!

I do have a few cherries left in the freezer (both wild and morello) so I can extend my cherry-fest a little longer. I also bought a new toy, so had to try dehydrating some cherries. I may have taken them a bit far as they are now rock hard, but I reckon that will just make them able to soak up more of the brandy I plan to rehydrate them in!

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