Hedgerow Harvest

Good to see that people still gather blackberries, but there is so much more that can be harvested from the hedgerows.

Bramble bushes are very heavy with fruit this year.


The fruit of the Blackthorns are sloes used to flavour gin, but they can make a tasty jelly and were a valuable dye. Sharper than any lemon -dare you to eat a raw sloe!


Sloes have cropped very heavily this year following the unusually hot summer that made everything bloom so well


Damsons or wild plums can be found in the wild and make excellent jam


Elderberries have also cropped exceptionally well. Used for wine, but they can also be added to blackberry and apple pies. Perfectly safe, but if eaten raw, they can cause nausea.


Crab apples are the originsof our domestic apples, but too sour to eat raw. They make excellent jelly and cider, but the most famous recipe is for Lamb's Wool made from hot ale, spices and crab apples.

 

Wonderful photo's Hornbeam.
Do you know anything about "BULLACE"...not sure of the spelling,as we have about three small trees of them on our allotment.
We have never tried to grow them, they just appeared near to where we had planted our plum trees.
The fruit is slightly larger than the sloe,and is a dull black colour.
They usually taste bitter,but I heard somewhere that they get sweeter if left long enough on the trees.
I am not even sure how we can use them in the kitchen.
Any help would be most appreciated.

Kandyfloss

 

You can use the Bullace to make a Jelly like Sloe or Damson.
The Sloe jelly was one of the most mouth puckering jams I have ever tasted. It would go beautifully with something like lamb or goose, where you need a sharp antidote to the grease.
Be glad if you live where the hedgerows are not cut. The farmer here is cutting the road side hedges back now, long before any of the fruit in them is ripe. The hazelnuts this year would have been a really good crop.

 

Thanks Palustris,,but does anyone know how to make a jelly using the Bullace fruit.
A recipe from someone would be nice,If anyone can help.

Kandy

 

Bullace is Prunus domestica and was the domestic plum before the modern, more succulent cultivars came along. Its fruit is not as sharp as the sloe, but should be left on the branch until the first frosts reduce its acidity

 

I have never heard of Bullace KANDYFLOSS I hope you get your recipe soon :D

 

Recipe here in fourth post from Rebecca Riots - if in doubt Google
http://forum.rivercottage.net/viewtopic.php?t=5048&sid=06181894a8b18cd3c9e6e1025f7d6d9a

 

Thanks Hornbeam.Will take a look.

Kandyfloss

 

Hawthorn is the one indispensable shrub for a wildlife garden. The blossom is alive with bees and the haws feed the birds. You can eat the haws straight from the tree and they taste like sweet potatos.


Hazels are our only native nuts and were a staple diet in prehistoric times.


Inside the spiky cases are the sweet chestnuts that we used to roast on an open fire. There are still a few Hot Chestnut sellers on the streets of London


Guelder Rose is a viburnum and will make you sick if eaten raw. They are safe when cooked and sometimes used as a substitute for cranberries in sauces. Lovely flowers and excellent for birds.


The berries of the Wayfaring Tree ripen at different rates and so provide a long feeding period for birds.


A different kind of harvest! The berries of the Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)are poisonous, but the long straight twigs were harvested to make spindles and skewers.

 

Hi Hornbeam, lovely pictures as usual. I had tentatively identified a tree in the park as Guelder Rose, so pretty in spring, your photo confirms, thanks
2 days ago the hazel were covered with nuts... now stripped- however did people get any?

I have just been feeling the sloes for ripeness- not only nice and purply blue but starting to soften, very early like the blackberries. I am waiting for my 3 little bushes to produce flowers- perhaps next spring....

 

Good series of pics Hornbeam.

 

fab pics H & very informative too

 

Fantastic pics Hornbeam - make me feel quite peckish

 

Fruit that you musn't eat. The only native member of the gourd family (cucumbers, melons, marrows etc)

White Bryony