Foraged / Unusual food recipes

Found some more this evening

 

Looks like a bumper Blackberry crop this year.

Think I'm going to need some help picking these. It's a patch I have sole access to, might manage enough for 150 galls of Blackberry Wine (450 lbs), some fermented this year and the rest of the juice pasteurised in bottles for later use.

Plus loads to eat.









The frontage is about 150 feet and they go back nearly 100 feet (where there's wild Apples and Damsons). I have to cut pathways into them every year.

 

First pick of Blackberries today, only 1 lb (could have got more). Time to get Yoghurt making using our bargain 75% off 6L packs of carton UHT milk, more expensive than our free Kelly's ice cream, but healthier.

When I can get up to 15 lbs/day I'll start mass picking, steam juice extracting and pasteurising in bottles. Three 750ml bottles of juice are ample for making 2 galls of wine, 15 lbs will fill my steamer basket and be started at 5:00 am on Economy 7 whist I go and pick enough for a 2nd batch.

The juice then gets sulphited to keep it OK for 24 hours so it can be pasteurised the following morning immediately after steam juice extracting some more blackberries and so on and so on. Juice from 2 lbs will fill a 750ml bottle, 8 bottles fit in my pasteuriser, so 2 batches totalling 15 bottles takes care of the juice extracted from 30 lbs of berries.

 

And only 4 days later we picked 10 lbs in 30 minutes this morning. As our first apples are now ready to be pressed, I'll be steam extracting blackberry juice (30lbs ?) and apple pressing on Sunday morning (which will all be sulphited to prevent them from fermenting for 24 hours), then steam extracting more juice (10 lbs ?) on Mondaý morning followed by pasteurising everything in bottles.

Then another session later in the week, and so on until the season finishes.

 

We picked 15lbs 8ozs in half an hour this morning. Steam extracted juice from 45lbs on Thursday and pasteurised on Friday. Now have another 27lbs frozen, taking total so far to 72lbs, looks like it's going to be a bumper year.

 

Another 16lbs 2oz in around half an hour this morning, total up to 88lbs, tempting to go back this evening and get it over 100lbs before the end of July, but out dog walking this morning saw that the wild yellow Cherry Plums are ripe and falling to the ground so ought to be gathering a load of those instead.

 

Another 16lbs 8ozs this morning, taking our total to 100lbs 8ozs ànd it's not even August yet.

EDIT Only 6lbs today as had an airport run.
EDIT: 15lbs 8ozs today. Total = 122lbs
Etc.
Etc.

 

EDIT:

Picked nearly 18lbs this afternoon, total now 185lbs.

With all the rain we've been getting here recently I thought I'd be finding Puffballs by now, unfortunately the field where I pick them hasn't been used for grazing this year and it still hasn't been cut for hay, so there might be Puffballs lurking amongst the long grass, but I can't see them. And I reckon it'll be cut next week and that will destroy them for this year.

The local wild Cherry Plums have done well this year, I've picked nearly 70lbs of them, 13lbs at a time using a 10L tub in my rucksac every time we take Dog for a walk. They get sorted, washed, and left in trays until some start going squishy, then I'm steam extracting the juice from them. Without freezing/defrosting prior to steaming I'm only getting half the extraction of other fruits, but our freezers are full so I'll simply gather twice as many plums.

Yellow Plums for white wine:



Pasteurised yellow Plum juice:



Adding sulphite and pectolase drops the sediment overnight leaving clear juice to be pasteurised in bottles the following day, all to be used for winemaking. I know all winemaking advice is to avoid boiling plums as it releases pectin, but that predates availability of Pectolase and it'll be heavily dosed to ensure it clears (the stuff added initially to drop sediment will be destroyed by the heat of pasteurisation).

Cherry plums are also good for jam and chutney, red ones have more flavour.

I've now steam extracted the juice from 130lbs of Blackberries, got another 36lbs in a freezer, plus 1lb 8ozs in the fridge, total picked now 167lbs 8ozs. Should end up with enough for a 3 year supply of juice for winemaking, a 750ml bottle = equvalent of 2lbs of whole fruit, 1 pint bottle = 1lb 8ozs (I use 3lbs /gall).

Picked my first Elderberries this afternoon, only about 8ozs but I want some before the birds get them all. Need about 6lbs and they will be mixed with 18lbs of Blackberries and 9 - 12lbs of red Plums for 6 galls of heavy red wine.

The wild apples in a local woodland look like they're going to produce a bumper harvest, better than my own trees.

Don't think I'll need to bother picking Damsons this year.

 

Not been out picking much in pouring rain, gathered 21lbs this afternoon, taking our Blackberries total to 218lbs 8ozs.

EDIT1: Picked another bucketfull, now up to 227lbs.
EDIT2: Another 9lbs, total = 236lbs.
EDIT3: Another 12lbs, total = 248lbs.

What is noticable is that a bucket full of Blackberries that normally weighs 8lbs, is now weighing over 9lbs, they are so squishy and full of water after 2 days of heavy rain.

That's why I mark the bottles from every batch of juicing, so I can mix them up and get an average flavour/acidity/colour/extraction/etc.

 

My usual Puffball picking site is still covered with cut hay, and they may then be covered with bales, stuffing my foraging this year



But I have found a new site! And it's only a couple of minutes from where I'm gathering Elderberries

 

Have now picked 251lbs of Blackberries for juicing (+ others for eating). Not bad considering I only picked my first pound on 14th July.

EDIT1: Picked another 4lbs, total now 256lbs.
EDIT2: Another 18lbs today, total now 274lbs. (Want another 27lbs of Backberries and another 11lbs of Elderberries)

I'm now also picking Elderberries to juice (together with Blackberries and Bannanas) for heavy red wine. As the Elderberries are low in acid I don't pasteurise their juice by itself.

Gathered the last few pounds of yellow Cherry Plums still hanging on the bushes earlier today.

Nuts are swelling up nicely ...




When ripe they should ensure another load of Walnut Cookies for Xmas. All I need now is a couple of successful Chesil fishing trips to fill one of our freezers with Mackerel fillets, and hope to net a load of prawns when off to West Somerset in September.

 

Amazed to discover ripe Sloes yesterday and it's only mid-August! Off to get some cheap gin from Aldi today, should be ready by Xmas.

Also saw ripe Hawthorn berries, and whilst out walking Dog this morning saw evidence that th e Foxes are already eating them (perhaps I should have posted this on the Fox Poo thread ?)

 

I'm guessing you are not really picking bananas

 

He might have Kew Gardens membership

 

More likely Waitrose