Foraging forumagers

Yup, seen a lot about already. Will probably need picking well before the frost!

Also blackberries are coming out in abundance, apples and crab apples starting to ripen...

foraged blackberries used in a flat pie. apples not forgaged unfortunately.

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Bit late to comment on this but good work!

I occasionally come across road kill Muntjac and have always been a bit hesitant to take home through not knowing what it tastes like...

I would guess it tastes like Muntjac,
or,
the sauce you cook it in.

That looks like a monster mouth with very bad teeth. :)

Good haul from the Surrey canal path

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@Stonehedge It tastes like venison, but at the stronger end of venison because it's completely wild.

@Kat_Balou it looks like it's going to be good for elderberries around here. I need to collect plenty for wine!

Damsons? Just little plums, right?

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Heretic!
Damsons have a greater depth of flavour than the best plum.

Reminds me to check the local underregarded hedgerow with a couple of damson trees amongst the sloe-bearing blackthorns.

So much elder up by Poynders End on the canal towpath. Was on a "proper" ride so no time to stop unfortunately.

Half a gallon of elderflower wine left and the gallon of elderberry I started last week. I really ought to take advantage of the glut of elderberries this year and put a second gallon on!

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Damson gin > sloe gin

(Do it, do it)

The damsons got stewed. Really good. Yum. Would forage again.

Clive's fruit farm, up the road from here, is selling cultivated ones. Probably pretty lush too.

So. Many. Sloes. Hedge opposite my house is all fruit. Damsons, elder also in the same stretch. Spotted Chicken of the Woods a few weeks back as well.

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Took a stroll to the damson trees in a local hedgerow.
The fruits are plump, from recent heavy rain, ripe enough to eat, but a little watery tasting.
Lets hope few more days of warmth and sunshine allows the depth of flavour to develop.
Worst fear: more rain and the fruits start to split.

Rosehip haul, now syrup, and crab apples, for jelly tomorrow. Blackberries next...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i2ic8ahj5yfyq9v/IMG_4710.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1jo1e7mce4kpo3f/IMG_4712.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2osbfbvamjahhhw/IMG_4711.JPG?dl=0

Sorry for the links, can't upload pics :(

Got an absolute ton of elderberries in the garden. Wife’s been making some lovely spiced syrup with them. Wouldn’t mind giving the wine a go. Got a good link or reference for the process? Otherwise I’ll chance it with google.

That is an excellent specimen! What type of tree is that on?

Is on a big old yew. There’s a few there.

I’ve done a few and this one is worth the extra effort:

Moley’s elderberry wine
3 lbs Elderberries
1 kg Sugar
200g Raisins
500ml Red Grape Juice
Juice of 1 Lemon
Boiled or bottled water to 6 pints
1 tsp Pectolase
Red Wine Yeast or GP Yeast Compound & Nutrient

Mince the raisins and boil everything together with about 2 litres of water. Mash the fruit up but don’t blender it. Add the yeast when cool and let it ferment on the fruit for 2 days to a week. Then pass it through a seive into a demijohn. Once the fermentation has calmed down, add the red grape juice and top up with water to the shoulder of the demijohn. This is a long term wine, so once fermentation has finished and you’ve racked it off the yeast, put it back in the demijohn with an airlock and leave it for a minimum of 6 months and it’ll start to get good after a year!

The recipe is from an old post by Moley on thehomebrewforum.

Now for apple sauce with lime and ginger. House currently smells of apples.

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1kg of haunch of roadkill venison casserole going in for a slow roast today, since it’s a bit cooler and having the oven on doesn’t make the house hot! Beef stock, red wine and seasoning added to that before it went in.

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6:30 for 7:00?

That’s great, thanks. Will give it a go next weekend.

Just went out to grab some blackberries but the recent rain has made them all mouldy. Instead I came back with a surprise haul of damsons and hops, and a bunch of apples from a nearby orchard. Feel a boozy winter coming on...