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Let's go foraging

I’m just picking a load of rosa rugosa hips, which I’ll be freezing as I don’t have time or space to do anything with them just now. Does anyone have an opinion on whether I should top/tail and deseed them before I freeze them?
 
Yesterday's foray yielded another 2kg of blackberries. There was so much fruit on them that the picking was limited to how long I was able to stand in one particular place/position and clear-pick each branch of them. I'm quite tempted to go back for another sesh sometime soon...
 
Started getting calls from my regular Apple donors last week so this morning I picked up about a Cwt of big juicy bastards, plus another stone of William pears and some late season rhubarb. The blackberry season has been fantastic so far with wine tally for the same standing at about 80 gallons but optimistic that there’ll be at least another 25-30 gallons to be made before the season finishes. I’m going to rack it all off into 30 pint wine boxes in order to free up fermentation buckets. Don’t think there’s been a season like it for quite some years with superb quality fruit everywhere. Just trying to make time to process it all. I got up at 6am today to get through my backlog of fruit - first 15 gallons of scrumpy squeezed today alone. Let’s hope there isn’t a fire in my booze shed… 😀
 
I think I fucked up my jelly. :facepalm: In retrospect, I think I probably had a good consistency at one point, but cooked on because I wasn't sure. The problem now isn't so much the jammy texture, but the slightly burnt sugar aftertaste. :oops: It might just be about okay with meat, but probably not cheese. I did squeeze the remains of the fruits through a sieve and got a decent pulp, which I've made an okay freestyle ketchup with. Had some of that with chicken tonight.

Not sure I'll be arsed making jelly again. :rolleyes:
 
I found a few crab apples in the park today.
Much as it makes me feel a bit guilty, I may chew on one at some point - and I don't fancy the windfalls because of the dogs ...
I don't anticipate them ever being sufficiently bletted to actually taste particularly pleasant ...

crabtastic.jpg
 
existentialist said:
Yesterday's foray yielded another 2kg of blackberries. There was so much fruit on them that the picking was limited to how long I was able to stand in one particular place/position and clear-pick each branch of them. I'm quite tempted to go back for another sesh sometime soon...
Click to expand...
I was starting to think yours would never ripen tbh.

Yeh, I'd get as many as poss, but I'm a bit fanatical about free stuff :D

I made my first batch of bramble jelly yesterday - 9 jars. Still got fucktons left for brandy, crumbles, and more jelly :cool:

Need to go the park this weekend to check on the progress of the sloes.
 
Johnny Vodka said:
I think I fucked up my jelly. :facepalm: In retrospect, I think I probably had a good consistency at one point, but cooked on because I wasn't sure. The problem now isn't so much the jammy texture, but the slightly burnt sugar aftertaste. :oops: It might just be about okay with meat, but probably not cheese. I did squeeze the remains of the fruits through a sieve and got a decent pulp, which I've made an okay freestyle ketchup with. Had some of that with chicken tonight.

Not sure I'll be arsed making jelly again. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
You need to keep it on the lowest light until the sugar dissolves completely, for future reference. Also, I get setting anxiety every time. Last year's was a bit too wobbly for my liking, although it just about held shape. This year's is perfecto. First time, it was like a fucking brick :D
 
No topping or tailing needed, Saunders. That is bad enough but removing seeds is a nightnare. Just boil the shit out of them (when defrosted) in a syrup of sugar and rosewater, then do 2 strainings - one through a metal sieve to remove seeds and calyx parts and then a slow straining through cloth.
 
sojourner said:
You need to keep it on the lowest light until the sugar dissolves completely, for future reference. Also, I get setting anxiety every time. Last year's was a bit too wobbly for my liking, although it just about held shape. This year's is perfecto. First time, it was like a fucking brick :D
Click to expand...

I did keep it low in the initial stages and the taste was fine. Must have got burnt later.
 
campanula said:
No topping or tailing needed, Saunders. That is bad enough but removing seeds is a nightnare. Just boil the shit out of them (when defrosted) in a syrup of sugar and rosewater, then do 2 strainings - one through a metal sieve to remove seeds and calyx parts and then a slow straining through cloth.
Click to expand...
Thanks campanula . I did top and tail them even though I’d had advice from someone on here last year not to bother, as the calyxs (calyces?) on rugosa are quite big. I reserved 1Lb to de-seed, for chutney, but gave up after 5 mins.
 
Dunno yet what I’m going to do with them. Last year I combined rosehips with apple for jelly, and did some Vodka. Few years ago my daughter made an amazing hedgerow chutney that she spent hours picking out seeds from.
 
I am not really keen on fruity seeds or skins so have tended to only make jellies and syrups. Otoh, anything which has vegetables is definitely recquiring recognisable bits and a certain level of crunch (although toothy considerations have done away with pickled onions). When I had younger offspring, most of the allotment was given over to fruit or nuts. I made large amounts of cordial which was easily stored and accessible...but I do not miss picking berries from 20odd currants for hours and hours. I filled literally hundredsI of jars and bottles from the allotment, every year, which was the most tremendous faff. Since 2010 or so, my fruit harvests diminished enormously and is mostly eaten as it is picked (strawberries, plums, cherries). I have jars of redcurrant jelly from 2018/19/20 in my cupboard but I still do a few lbs of preserves to give away.
I do have a lot of apples (and a corresponding amount of guilt when most end up in the compost).
 
Oh yes ... I stopped for a decent blackberry graze yesterday and noticed a lot of rosehips - I wonder if they could be used without adding crazy amounts of sugar :hmm:
 
First nut was empty :p

I found a Youtube video that said that the Turkish Hazelnut is only used as a rootstock :p
 
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