Chutney and jelly

Here's my apple and runner bean chutney. It took 2kgs of runner beans, 1kg of apples and 4 massive onions and all I got was eight jars. Tastes lovely though, I used ginger, cinnamon, mace and cumin, and a mixture of cider vinegar and white wine vinegar.


Here's the hedgerow jelly cooking. Windfalls, rose hips and haws.



I got eight jars of jelly too. It's all set, but I want to wait until I've got nice bread before I try it.

Foraged

I've had a busy day today. Got up at 7:45 (with a hangover, thanks to Justin), installed my parents' new wireless router, did a shop, picked quince and rose hips from my dad's garden, then went foraging in Cwmfferws for two and half hours. I picked hips, haws and sloes.

Here's where I went walking.


I made friends with some calves. They all came to say hello when I stopped to pick haws from a hawthorn hedge.


I found a geocache. My second ever, yay!


Here are the fruits of my labour. From left: Sloes, haws, quince (from my dad's garden), wild hips, garden hips. I'm going to make sloe gin (or maybe vodka, not too keen on gin), hedgerow jelly and spicy haw ketchup. If I have enough haws left I'm going to try haw brandy, and I'm going to keep the one big quince to make quince ratafia. Hope I have enough jars!


I love foraging. It's a proper back to nature, hunter/gatherer feeling when you find a tree laden with purple fruits. It was lovely to be back in Cwmfferws, my Datcu used to take me and my cousins for walks there when I was small. He used to point out the berries and plants to us, and he'd cut small twigs of a certain tree, strip the bark off and give us them to gnaw on. I have no idea what tree it was, but I remember loving the sweet, green taste of the sap. The public footpath runs over what used to be an open cast coal mine, and you can still see things like old gates and a coal shoot that belonged to the mine. I remember when part of it was landscaped and the council dammed a river. There were three tiny bridges spanning the small river, set in the open landscape. I was amazed at how nature is trying her very best to eradicate any sign of what used to be there, healing the scar in her skin. The trees have nearly taken over again, and there are only small paths running in and out of the undergrowth. It's beautiful.

I picked loads of berries, but made sure to leave enough for other people, and the birds of course! There were so many blackberries that had just been left to wither and dry out. People are forgetting what our ancestors had to do to survive. My sister has picked hundreds of blackberries there in the past month or two, so she's not complaining that there are loads left.

I got a bit scrammed because I forgot my gloves. But I figured a few scrams is totally worth all the lovely fruit I found. Can't wait to start preserving it.

Folksy Friday *17th September 2010*

Real life has got in the way of blogging, Folksy Fridays, Facebook, and all the other internet-related ways I waste my time!
I’m off to West Wales on the train at teatime, ready to go foraging in Cwmfferws. I was there a few weeks ago and there were rose hips, haws, blackberries and all sorts of delicious things nearly ready to pick – and I’ve just been given a big bag of apples (does that count as a bushel?) so I want to make some Hedgerow Jelly. Patrick is taking Poppy the dog for a walk up the mountain to pick rowan berries .
The theme this week, quite aptly, is ‘foraging’.

Okay, from top left:
The cutest cross stitch ring. It has a little acorn. The shop has loads of different designs, from mushrooms and acorns to moustaches and space invaders!
An absolutely adorable ‘crab apple’ sculpture. He’s well cute.
A little expensive, I know, but this silver pear is absolutely gorgeous. I’d love this (if anyone fancies buying it for me?)
More acorns – but they’re made of felt this time. Would look lovely in my forest living room, or perched on an alternative Christmas tree. Very folky.
I want everything in this shop. Really. Have a look at this beautiful walnut hedgerow brooch though, it’s lovely. The foxes are my 2nd favourite from this shop.
10 beautiful ceramic leaves, the shades are all different too. Lovely!

Buy 'em quick before they go!

Fruity booze

Today I made apple and blackberry vodka, and blackberry gin using the recipe from Pam Corbin's amazing River Cottage handbook.

The blackberries are from my new next door neighbour's garden. Thanks Beth!

Rose hip syrup

I've made rose hip syrup, the first fruits of my recent obsession with foraging. Patrick and I picked a carrier bagful of big juicy hips from the green on Aberaeron harbour on Saturday, and by Sunday night it had turned into five jars of sweet syrup. I haven't tried any yet (other than the occasional lick of the wooden spoon as I was reducing it), but I have given a jar to my lovely friend Sarah. She's very appreciative of homemade gifts.
I recommend the River Cottage Handbook No. 2 by Pam Corbin, which you can buy here. It has loads of delicious recipes. My next experiment is going to be blackberry gin, and apple and blackberry vodka.