Free food from hedgerows & countryside

[Zetetic]

I'd like to start preserving local blackberries in kilner jars for myself and for presents.

What other free food is easy to preserve?

I have no idea tbh! I got it from a HE selling site. I am at work at the moment but when I get home I will look on the back of it to see if there are any details.

The are a whole load available through Pinterest.

• There

Sorry.

Lots of hedgerow recipes here - red clover wine and kelp vodka, anyone?

I now have cloudberry and lingonberry liquor arriving in a day or two. (And also some cloudberry jam.) It should be interesting.

Zebra plenty of bilberries this year in my corner of the SE. Quite common on west Surrey heathland if you know where to look, and this year was a great year for them.

We forage mushrooms. If done sensibly then I think it's a fairly safe bet. I've got two good books, I only eat species that are not confusable with poisonous ones, and I only eat them if I am positive that I have correctly identified them.

This year we've enjoyed parasol mushrooms, chanterelles, bay boletes and ceps.

Tinctures are a good way of preserving medicinal herbs, Zetetic.

Elderberries are a great one for that - brilliant immune system booster and good source of vitamin c. Great to have in the cupboard over winter for coughs and colds. Elderflowers are great for anything to do with the mucus membranes, so very good for colds. The berries are an effective laxative, too.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium); great all round useful herb, but especially good anti-inflammatory and good for colds and fevers. Often combined with elderflower.

Hawthorn berries; good for the heart and circulation.

Meadowsweet flower (Filipendula ulmaria) is a useful anti-inflammatory herb for the digestive tract (amongst other things) and great for heartburn/indigestion.

Ooh there are so many that easy to gather and make! All you need is vodka to make the ticture with.

Sounds like my sort of tincture!

Ooh see that's something I'd really like to get into, Crabby. One of the things that makes me want to be more self sufficient is that id like to keep the knowledge going that we seem to be forgetting. Knowledge that used to be passed down, but is now being lost.

I would love to make potions tinctures. Quite fancy being a herbalist.

I'm starting small with some ripe pears to see what havoc I wreak when preserving them for winter. As for growing things I shall start with one raised bed and build it up from there.

It was a good year for bilberries/blaeberries in the peaks too There's a few acres of moor around 20 mins on foot from where I live that's usually pretty good, but this year was completely packed. I'm not much of a pudding person so I usually make them into mucky mouth jam.

Not found cloudberries around here yet, but have stumbled upon crowberries a few times. They're a bit shit to be honest- there's only a few per patch and they're nothing special taste or nutrient wise so I leave them for the birds.

Herbs is an area I would like to learn more about as well. I have a copy of Bartram's Encyclopedia but I've never made much use of it, or read more widely on the subject.

I recall raising the topic of plentiful berry crops as a foretaste of winter weather with an insurance company executive once. (Our corporate cover was being re-negotiated.)

He thought I was joking. Big mistake.

Pears in brandy, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. A first effort.

Well done you! How many jars did you manage?

LOVE TEOTWAWKI jaunty bow!

I have about 30 jars in my pantry which need filling...

Could I pickle herring?

Only had enough pears left for one. Told you it was a small start!

Hey - that's no problem. It's just that if you only made the one, it won't last until the festive season because you'll be too anxious to try it. Once you're an old hand at these, you'll knock them out like shelling peas.

Besides which, I'm full of awe at it - I'm a soup maker of some repute but I have no instinct or skill for preserves.

PS - of course you could pickle herring, tony - it's a traditional way of preserving it.

Oo that's very fancy. Does your entire stockpile have lovely bows on it?

Has anyone else got a dehydrater? I use mine a lot, particularly when I go to the supermarket and fruit is being sold off cheaply. Wild raspberries and blackberries from the woods work well and are good for eating with cereal.

That is the stockpile.

I've wondered about a dehydrater. Is it a quick easy process to dehydrate fruit?

I hope you live near a shop that has lots of 'Wholesome Prouce Eat Today' before closing. (Or some fruit trees in a nearby garden or orchard.) You could have a field day.

I don't know much about dehydrating, I'm afraid. I come from a tradition where you pretty well ate what was fresh - apart from jams and jellies. (Not even enough apples for a storage barrel I'm afraid.)

*Produce

Sorry

Its very easy. Its not quick but you literally just chop most things, put them on the racks and turn it on. Most things take about 8 hours but it depends on how small you chop things.

I have jars of the following:

mushrooms (various types)
onions
peppers
tomatoes
aubergines
courgettes
butternut squash
potatoes
carrots
strawberries
raspberries
pineapple
mango
apples (various types)
banana

They will last for years if the jar is clean and properly sealed (although the pineapple never lasts since I eat it all).

Is it an electric device, atticus?

I have this one.

dehydrator