Foraging forumagers

Garden next door have a massive blackberry bush growing behind/over their fence. Need to somehow get over mine to nab them.

Did someone say sloes??? Anyone have a supply in SE?

Never looked for any round here, have always grabbed them from around my parents' way. But I reckon you may find some in Nunhead cemetery. Or pop out to kent on your bike...

Our sloes are looking proper juicy this year, big fat fuckers....this is dorset mind you

6 kilos of the little beauties picked - 20 litres of mainly gin but also some vodka in the Kilners

loads of sloes out on the coast path the other day, pickings great, bottlings great, problem is when you crack a bottle, it goes within days.....mwahahahahaha

Am also looking for sloes...

Anyone ever made Pontack sauce? Quite excited to see how it turns out....
http://andhereweare.net/2014/09/making-pontack-sauce-elderberry-ketchup.html/

There is a mahoosive elder tree just outside my garden in the common access alley that doesn't seem to belong to anyone, a lot of it overhangs the bottom of my garden. I can't reach any of the fucking berries. So much frustrated rage.

^Trampoline? Video of any such attempt would be fun....

Serious scrumping coming this weekend: an entire orchard of unpicked cooking apples, two rows of overlooked sweetcorn, a hedgefull of ripe blackberries and sloes the size of damsons. Sussex uber alles!

Yes blackthorn trees without any overhanging mature trees seem to have very plump sloes this year, a couple used as intruder deterrent around a nearby golf course car park are like small sour plums with 3 or 4mm of 'flesh', where as those which were water stressed are the typical 'all stone in a skin'.

I'm doing a sussex scrump this weekend, will see what I can find. It's chalk downland though, so might be a bit dry for the plum ones. Maybe on the Cuckmere flood plain though...

Found a seriously large amount of wild garlic yesterday.

Suggestions for recipes to allow it to be preserved? I know that pesto will keep for a while in the fridge but any others?

Wonder when the elderflowers will come out - I'm guessing they'll be a bit delayed what with the cold spring so far.
Made a lot of elderflower gin last year which was lovely - but remaining gin is pretty discoloured now. Dark, almost brown. Is there a good way to keep it that green/yellow colour?

As for the garlic - I reckon you might be able to do what I sometimes do with leftover herbs - chop it all up, freeze it. Keeps for a few months. Or you could chop it, bung in a jar, cover with oil maybe? Might work.

I don't think you should freeze wild garlic on its own. A quick web sources check suggests that freezing is only recommended as part of some oily concoction, either just flavoured oil, or, since you have a lot of it, wild garlic pesto. (I've never made either.)

Hmm. The flavored oil didn't occur to me. Cheers.

Make flavoured oil, put in ice cube trays

Salt them :
http://www.gallowaywildfoods.com/fermentation-of-wild-plants/

Wild garlic pesto. In litre bottles. Yeah!

You can freeze it use like spinach . Fuck the Internet advice

I've been finding loads of Jack-by-the-hedge recently. There are some paths in Staines that are swathed in it. Probably also sprayed liberally in dog piss, though.

When the leaves are lily-pad shaped, I find the mild garlic flavour great and it would make a great pesto. Apparently when it bolts, the leaves that develop then are more nettle-shaped, and the garlic flavour is stronger and more bitter (more mustard-like, perhaps).

Blackberries are ripening early! Got a 2l jar of blackberry gin on the go over the weekend, spare berries went into blackberry and apple crumble. It looks like it's going to be a good year for blackberries so thinking of getting some brandy going too.

Also stumbled across a cherry tree and meribel tree on the weekend. Any ideas for what to do with an abundance of any/all fof the above? There is only so much fruit infused spirit one can consume without upsetting ones family...

Meribel?
Myrobalan/cherry plum, maybe?

If we get a glut, chutney, to liven up autumn carbohydrate.

I guess Mirabelle, little yellow plum, good for jam, compote or tarte. Or distilled spirit if you live somewhere you can do it legally and not blow yourself up :)

as a matter of fact i have a couple of those little plum things in my mouth right now, collected a few along hackney marshes just now
they lack a bit of flavour but good for a little pick me up while out on a ride