Autumn Foraging
We walked Missy this evening and went and had a look at the crab apples. There are a few and I hope to go for these tomorrow.
There are also cones, teasels and rosehips.
There was also a lovely surprise. The golden load of sloes. I have never seen so many together. I aim to pick these as well as there is so much you can do with them and then pop them into the freezer. That way round I can use some and then save some for a later batch of sloe gin or sloe and crab apple jelly or sloe and apple jelly, sloe whisky, apple and sloe sorbet, slider, (sloes in cider), sloe gin chocolate, sloe port, sloe vodka, sloe gin jelly, sloe gin and chocoloate pudding, sloe chutney, and there are so many more combinations beside including a cranberry and sloe gin sauce.
So it looks as though I am taking my basket with me tomorrow to harvest some of the contents of the wild larder. Always adds an element of surprise to the pantry especially on a cold winter day. But Sloe Gin is a lovely cold day winter warmer.
A neighbour has some Japonica (Japanese Quince) so I am going to ask if I can have a few to make a Japonica and Apple Jelly (that is if I can catch him). I am therefore looking forward to making my Crab Apple Jelly, Spiced Crab Apple Jelly and some Rosehip and Apple Jelly and some Sloe and Crab Apple Jelly. I am going to check out some other recipes later on.
OH is fishing from Wednesday so I am going to make the most of tomorrow night's foraging.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
x
I can't wait to see what you forage Tricia, it's truly wonderful isn't it? You have so many ideas that seem to come naturally to you, a world of information. We don't have as many sloes this year but some is better than none of course x
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy,
ReplyDeleteWhere we go for the Crabs and the hips is a newly planted area came into its own for the first time last year. There were quite a few more crabs last year which I harvested but there are not as many this year. I am just hoping that I get enough as I do as a rule use an awful lot of them. I shall gather what I can here without going OTT but I will have a look around elsewhere as well. I also need Rosehips but whether I will get them tomorrow night is another matter. I shall concentrate on the crab apples and the sloes, and hopefully OH will help me as well. I had read that this year had not been a particularly good year locally for the sloes as I think the blossom got hit. Where the sloe bushes are they are protected but I am wondering if this is what happened to the crab apples as they are not planted quite so closely together. I can always go back for rosehips and the larch cones and teasels at the weekend, but the main fruit I would like to get tomorrow if I can so that I can get it sorted whilst I am off work. Hope you are keeping well and keep practicing. Pattypan xx