Let's go foraging

[Saunders]

I came across a walnut tree when out with the dog this morning. I’ve never seen one before, and it took breaking open one of the windfalls to figure out what it was.

 

[Part 2]

Blackberries out...

 

[gentlegreen]

My workplace has so far yielded mulberies, blackberries, and a few plums.
It's been an unusual year in that I have had to wrestle all this fruit from multiple wasps.

 

[strung out]

My workplace has so far yielded mulberies, blackberries, and a few plums.
It's been an unusual year in that I have had to wrestle all this fruit from multiple wasps.

View attachment 180119

Apple trees up all over the estate too now (I think we work at the same place)

 

[gentlegreen]

Apple trees up all over the estate too now (I think we work at the same place)

 

[nogojones]

Just made 11 pots of blackberry jam. That should do us for the year

 

[Pickman's model]

every time i see this thread i think of the late, great Stanley Edwards

 

[klang]

Just made 11 pots of blackberry jam. That should do us for the year

that's a solid 0.91667 jars/month

 

[nogojones]

that's a solid 0.91667 jars/month

If only. The jars are all sorts of sizes. The maths scares me

 

[klang]

If only. The jars are all sorts of sizes. The maths scares me

it's still 0.91667 jars/month, regardless their size.

 

[nogojones]

it's still 0.91667 jars/month, regardless their size.

I'll get a ruler out and mark increments on the side with a sharpie

 

[friedaweed]

every time i see this thread i think of the late, great Stanley Edwards

Me too and Baldric and turnips

 

[klang]

I'll get a ruler out and mark increments on the side with a sharpie

i fancy blackberry jam now. will go and pick this weekend.
anything special in your recipe or 'just' normal jam making process?

 

[friedaweed]

View attachment 179235 View attachment 179234

I came across a walnut tree when out with the dog this morning. I’ve never seen one before, and it took breaking open one of the windfalls to figure out what it was.

You can pickle them when they're like that.

 

[nogojones]

i fancy blackberry jam now. will go and pick this weekend.
anything special in your recipe or 'just' normal jam making process?

2 kg (I think I had 2.2, but its close) of berries
juice of 2 lemons
2 kg of sugar with pectin (I only had 1 kg of pectin sugar and about 800 g of normal sugar, but it seems to be ok)

Slowly bring to boil and simmer for 12-15 mins. I used a sugar themometer to get to about 103 and tried cold plate tests, but I was a bit battered at the time, so got lazy, said fuck it and jared it all up in sterilized jars before either seemed correct - But it worked.

So the trick, I now believe, is to get really stoned first

 

[klang]

ta!

 

[Saunders]

You can pickle them when they're like that.

Hmm.. but then you’d end up with pickled walnuts, which are utterly disgusting.

 

[friedaweed]

Hmm.. but then you’d end up with pickled walnuts, which are utterly disgusting.

Don't be daft.

How can you have Christmas without pickled walnuts yer fuckin heathen

 

[friedaweed]

First of the season from the back yard.

 

[A. Spies]

Has anyone cooked with Japanese knotweed?

ive made rhubarb crumble with it before its not quite as strong tasting as rhibarb but you can add tons of it. Yr better using the shoots when they first come up (cant remember when maybe april?)

 

[A. Spies]

Variously wild garlic, assorted nuts (hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts), fruit (blackberries, blowberries, strawberries and raspberries), horseradish, mushrooms (when with relatives who I know can identify what is what), hops from the hedge (makes a nice frittata), mustard, samphire, sea cabbage.

what are blowberries? not bilberries?
ive not foraged much but bilberries (jam!), horseradish, wood sorrel recently

 

[nogojones]

A selection of field and horse mushrooms that I got a couple of days ago. Fried up in butter on toast with a big plate of garlic fried runner beans from thde garden.

Can't recomend th e horse mushrooms enough

 

[Mordi]

A selection of field and horse mushrooms that I got a couple of days ago. Fried up in butter on toast with a big plate of garlic fried runner beans from thde garden.

Can't recomend thView attachment 181422 e horse mushrooms enough

Ooh, nice. I spotted some in the playground with my daughter but when I came back with a basket they'd dissapeared. Got a couple of decent sized Chicken of the Woods though which are just fabulous.

 

[sojourner]

So many blackberries... I can't actually fit many more in my freezer now There is a BONANZA on for them int there?! I've now got 4 lots of blackberry brandy on the go, will save a few tubs for crumbles, but I'm gonna make jam soon, once I scavenge enough jars. Am also considering making a jelly with them, cos used to love that as a kid, bramble jelly.

We've got apple trees in the local park too, so will be getting a few of them soon.

 

[Part 2]

So many blackberries... I cant actually fit many more in my freezer now There is a BONANZA on for them int there?! I've now got 4 lots of blackberry brandy on the go, will save a few tubs for crumbles, but I'm gonna make jam soon, once I scavenge enough jars. Am also considering making a jelly with them, cos used to love that as a kid, bramble jelly.

We've got apple trees in the local park too, so will be getting a few of them soon.

I went out earlier got 3 good sized containers in an hour. Been limiting myself to once a week but no-one else seems to go to the same spot.


Seen some sloes by the canal I need to stop and pick before someone else grabs them. Much more foot/cycle traffic there.

 

[Saunders]

I keep squeezing the sloes I walk past but they’re still not quite ready here.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Picked a box of blackberries yesterday, its amazing how early these get these days as they were very much caught just in time. There may be some more in a couple of weeks but they didn't look promising.

Snagged a couple of street plums (the yellow small greengages are what I really wanted but needs a step ladder to reach the bloody things...)

Also spotted a hazelnut tree in one of the fields near the blackberries so I'll be having some of those at some point

 

[SheilaNaGig]

Cycled home past a fallen blackberry this evening.
If the mulberry tree at work is anything to go by, it may be quite a good year.
The mulberries are yummy in their own way, but as I'm avoiding sweet things in my diet for the foreseeable future I'm starting to long for the acidity of blackberries and hopefully it will motivate me to cycle out to the spots that are out of range of pedestrian foragers.

Berries are fine for diabetics. The benefits outweigh any danger.

Not strawberries. All the rest, especially the darker smaller ones. It’s the anthocyanins.

But you only need a handful a day, gentlegreen . Don’t do the hundredweight thing you do with other foods.

Bilberries in particular have proven protective effects for the eyes in diabetics.


Do a search for ... vaccinium myrtilis microcirculation diabetes retinal neuropathy ... and such like. You’ll find loads.

All berries have this benefit. Not strawberries so much though, they’ve been hybridised to maximise the supermarket potential. Wild strawberries are good, the little ones, but not the Wimbledon type strawbs.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

I keep squeezing the sloes I walk past but they’re still not quite ready here.

Sloes aren’t really ready til the frost gets them.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

I got so me Fairy ring champignons today. Had them in an omelette with dandelion greens on the side.