Foraging recipes

 

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Foraging in March

An early spring foraging favourite has to be the wild garlic (Allium ursinum), which grows in abundance  in moist, semi-shaded conditions in woodland. If you are unsure whether you've found the right plant, its wonderful aroma will let you know for sure.

Wild garlic can give extra flavour to many things, including salads and soups

Wild garlic soup  

                                                                          
Knob of butter                                                            
1 onion, chopped
1 large potato, peeled & chopped
750 ml chicken stock
500 gr wild garlic leaves, washed
100 ml double cream
salt, pepper

Method
1. Melt the butter, and add the onion, cooking on medium heat until the onion is soft but not coloured.

2. Add the potatoes and seasoning, stirring for a few seconds. Pour in the chicken stock and cook until the potatoes are almost cooked through.

3. Add the wild garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Blitz the soup using a blender or hand mixer. Finally, stir in the cream and heat through.

4. Optional extras for flavour variations: add some chopped parsley in along with the wild garlic, or add a pinch of mild curry powder to the seasoning before pouring the stock on, to give the soup added flavour.

Foraging in April

Stuart’s Nettle Soup               

Nettles are available as food just in the middle of the ‘hungry gap’. For about 6 to 8 weeks there is freely available a rich, nutritious and widely available food. Nettles are high in iron and folic acid.

Find a patch of nettles away from roads or where dogs exercise.
Fill a 2 gallon plastic bucket with nettle tops (about 3" only) picked when the nettles are young and fresh – you may choose to wear gloves for this part.
Bring to the boil a large pan of water and emerse the nettle tops in it for 2 minutes only, to blanch. Blanching removes the stinginess. After blanching the nettles, drain in a colander.
Using good quality stock cubes (eg. Kallo or Marigold), make up 1 litre of stock.
Finely chop 1 large onion. Roughly chop the nettles.
Add the onion and nettles to the stock and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and liquidise.

Serve immediately with black pepper, and stir in a little crème fraiche if you like.

The blanching water can be drunk as nettle tea. Personally I think you need to be a fanatic to do that!

Foraging in June

 

Elderflower fritters                                          

100g flour
1 egg
150 ml cold water
Pinch of salt
Elderflower heads (unwashed – but remove the bugs)

 

  1. Make a batter using all but the flowerheads.

  2. Hold the heads by their stalks and dip into the batter until thoroughly coated.

  3. Deep fry in very hot oil or fat until golden brown

  4. Drain and trim

  5. Serve hot, sprinkled with sugar

     

 

 

Foraging in August                    

Hedgerow Elderberry Jelly

Elderberry produces fruit a little earlier than most hedgerow fruit. Very often it is left for the birds, but in most years there is plenty to go round. While the berries are not good to eat raw, when cooked they make an excellent alternative to other fruit. Try this for instance:

900g elderberries
900g crab apples
1.7l water
sugar

this should make around 3kg of jam.

Remove the berries from their stalks using a fork. Pick over, remove any shrivelled fruit or small animals (probably you’ll find a few spiders!). Wash the apples, chop them in quarters, remove any bruised parts.

Add fruit to the water in a large pan and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain the fruit through a jelly bag or muslin sieve. Leaving to drip until all the liquid has sieved through, but not squeezing the bag.

Measure the amount of strained juice, for each litre weigh out 700g sugar. Warm the sugar in the oven.

Put the strained juice back in the pan and heat. Add the warmed sugar slowly until it is all dissolved. Now bring to the boil, and boil rapidly for around 6 minutes or until the ‘setting point’ is reached.

Pour the jelly into warmed jars and seal.

Foraging in September                    

      Westmorland Sloe Gin     

Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn shrub. They are common in hedgerows, particularly on limestone and chalk, and are particularly abundant in Westmorland. In this area many people have their own family recipe for Sloe Gin.

Pick 350g of sloes. They are best in October ideally after the first frost. However you can induce a frost, by putting them in the freezer after picking for a few days.

Weigh out 175g sugar.

Take a 1 litre gin bottle and remove the gin. Add a few sloes, then a layer of sugar, alternating layers of sloes and sugar. Once this is done, pour the gin back in until the bottle is full to the brim. Seal the bottle.

For the next 3 months shake the bottle once a week. Then strain the liquid through a muslin cloth, returning it to the bottle. Store the bottle in a cool dark place for at least 12 months before drinking.

The longer you keep it, the better it gets!