Young Plums (Go For it!)

Beetroot, Pear and Walnut Salad

My wife made a deliciously zingy and very healthy salad, using Beetroot, Pear and Walnut, she also added thinly sliced Turnip, Avocado, crisp Watercress and leaves of Jack by the hedge (Garlic Mustard), from the garden. I supplied the Walnuts and added some Hazelnuts for fun; these nuts were gathered last year during October and September, they keep very well in cool, dry conditions. Apples will also last throughout the Winter, if you store them well.

Walnuts and Hazelnuts

The recent heatwave has kept me out of the midday sun and I decided it was high time to pick the Elderflowers that I have been planning to make champagne with. I got on my bike before it got too hot and cycled over to the local park, beside the river. I got a heady citrus waft off the flowers, as I approached from downwind. I filled my bag in a matter of minutes, getting covered in yellow pollen in the process.

Elder Tree in Flower

The other simple ingredients are Water, Lemons, Sugar, and a dash of White Wine Vinegar. By the time you have this little lot mixed together in a bucket, the kitchen smells terrific and gives you a strong taste of things to come. It is left (covered) in the bucket for 2 days, then the debris is filtered out and the liquid transferred into demijohns for fermentation.

Ready for Fermentation

After a couple of weeks the fermentation should have slowed down enough for bottling in Pressure Safe Bottles - but a word of caution... If fermentation continues too much under pressure, you might, at best, lose half of your lovely Elderflower Champagne all over the room you open it in. Far more dangerous, would be exploding glass bottles, so please, do keep a regular eye on anything you have bottled and always use suitable Pressure Safe Bottles!

Green Cherries

Ongoing observations include, keeping your eyes pealed for immature fruit. If you have identified a likely tree by its blossom, revisit it later, to see if any young fruits are developing. I have already seen young Plums, green Cherries, and tiny Apples and Pears; regular checking will keep you in tune with seasonal developments and ensure you are ready as fruit ripens. I recently noticed Fennel growing out of pavements in the city.

Fennel

Nasturtium are starting to grow in the garden, these are one of the most likeable garden flowers. The leaves and flowers can be eaten, or added to a salad to liven it up. They taste peppery, a bit like Rocket or Water-Cress. The Latin name, Nasturtium, translates as "Twisted Nose!"

Nasturtium 

Summer Fades to Autumn

Blackberries are currently available all over the place and did yo know that the sweetest fruit will be found on the South side of the bushes, due to the direction of the sun (in the Northern hemisphere). So this means it is, in theory, possible to navigate by taste!

Mulberries are also ripening nicely too.

It looks like it will be a very good year for Apples and Pears and people tell me that they are falling early in their gardens. Personally I like to wait until late September / October because they always get fatter and sweeter as time goes by. Walnuts will be ready around the same time as the Apples and Pears. Plums, in many different colours, are still available now.

However, the end of the school holidays has always meant to me that Hazelnuts are ripe and falling. I have been gathering pockets full during my lunch hour and transporting them home in my sandwich box, to store in a wicker basket for later use. I keep some at work as a snack and smash them open with whatever I find to hand, when I desire a nibble.

Ransom Capers

Although we are often looking out for blossom, as a way of identifying useful fruit trees at this time of year, the first thing we pick is Wild Garlic. Last year we were lucky enough to dine in the Riverford Field Kitchen and, amongst the other delights we were served tasty Wild Garlic Capers with our meal. 

Of course, we decided to have a go at making our own. First we picked plenty of fresh seed heads from Ransoms, in a damp valley of the ancient woods, close to where we live. Wild Garlic is the gift that keeps on giving, you can eat the leaves, then the flowers, then the seeds! 

A week or so before, I had a go at pickling Ransom and Wild Garlic flower buds, I had heard about this process before. I ate a fresh one, still in its sheath, after one of the children dared me. It was very tasty, so we will see what they are like pickled, later.

While picking our Ransom flower/seed heads, we also spotted a vast amount of Skunk Cabbage, which is a strange and interesting swamp loving plant. Apparently it was used by native american Indians for various herbal purposes and to eat, when food was scarce, we left it well alone.

To make the ransom capers, is quite a lengthy process. Initially, we separated the seed heads from the main stalks, then, after getting home we removed the individual seeds from the heads, each one packs a zingy garlic punch and that night, I put a handful into a home-made pasta sauce, as surprise taste bombs.

1. The Capers initially need to be sealed into clean jars with plenty of salt layered amongst the seeds.
2. After a period of about three weeks to a month - you can use a sieve to wash the salt away and then gently dry them on a towel.
3. Once dried you can re-bottle the capers, immersed in vinegar, using small sterilised pickling jars. 
4. Now you will need to wait for a further two to three months until they are ready to eat.

Who knows, they may make nice Christmas gifts for the more patient pickler.

Ransoms & Flapjack

The plum and blackthorn flowers are wilting, and being replaced by cherry blossom, cheerful daffodils are giving way to beautiful bluebells. When walking in local woodland, bright green leaves are beginning to fill the hedges and trees, and the dappled shade is punctuated by the pungent aroma of wild garlic and ransoms.

April showers had persuaded us to work on some long overdue decorating jobs. The house was still in chaos so the kids and I decided to take a break from the mess and put some of our stored nuts to use, by revisiting one of our favourite recipes for delicious flapjack. 

We had baskets of hazelnuts and Walnuts left over from last summer and often had cracking/nibbling sessions but this little lot had me sat down with the nut cracker listening to the radio for a quite a while. I find this quite relaxing.

Other than the shelling, the kids did all the baking, and after a couple of hours weighing, mixing and cooking, they had created a superbly scrumptious result.

We have also been experimenting with various Ransom/Wild Garlic recipes. After a quick trip to the local woods, the kids made some delicious Garlic Butter. This is ingenious and can be stored in the fridge, then spread upon toast to create instant Garlic Bread!

We also tried scrambled eggs with shredded Ransoms, this turned out to be a simple but delicious twist on the traditional healthy snack.  We then combined Ransom leaves with further Walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to make a very tasty Ransom Pesto to have with pasta. Our next project will be to pickle some Ransom Capers.

Meanwhile, the children have found an alternative use for our nut stash, hand-feeding an increasingly tame local squirrel!

Walnuts & Wooden Rain

Who can identify all of the tasty-looking Autumnal treats on the above tray? This is a selection of the items that I took along for my recent talk to the Highfield Women's Institute and, between them, they were able to identify all.

We have been focusing on gathering Walnuts recently, the green hulls have been splitting open and ejecting the nuts, like a delightful wooden rain. The children and I cycle about the neighbourhood harvesting them.

We can gather a surprising amount and add them to our bursting hazelnut hoard. The nuts will keep for a good few months if kept well ventilated and dry and we make all kinds of delicious things from them throughout the Winter/Spring months.

I have also recently gathered my first Chestnuts of the year, from an early shedding tree, near where I work. It is not really time for them to fall yet but seasonal variations are always to be expected.

My Cider has begun fermenting, it seems to be getting pretty over-enthusiastic and erupting through the bubblers in curious volcanic-looking sculptures in the kitchen.

Don't forget to put the Urbane Forager book on your Xmas present lists!

Walnuts & Pears

The saying goes, Walnuts & Pears, you grow for your heirs. This being because both of these trees take a long time to grow before becoming productive. However, this year's Fruit and Nut season is already building momentum. My Elderberry Port is bubbling away nicely and has now been joined by two gallons of very vigorous Perry.

A friend wanted us to pick his Pears, so I popped over with the kids. It did not take too long, all of us armed with pickers, ladders and clambering over the shed roof to harvest 32 Kgs of rock hard fruit.

The next evening, my son and I smashed the pears to a pulp using baulks of timber and the evening after, once I had got home from work, we lugged the cider press out of the shed and processed the lot.

We produced about 3 Gallons of juice and got all the kit washed before sundown. I did save a few of the unbruised fruit to make Pear and Walnut Chutney, later on. Despite baking tons of Flapjack, we still have Walnuts left from last year, although the new season ones are starting to drop already.

I have also got a gallon of Vin De Noix brewing away; this smells wonderful - I have added suitable spices to create a fortified wine in time for cold Christmas/Winter nights in.

Bee Friendly

This month I have mostly been spotting Walnut trees and busy, buzzing Bees! 

Yet Another Walnut Tree

Ordinarily I would be harvesting the vast quantities of wild plums that are currently filling the trees but I have been unusually busy. 

If you have any spare time, I suggest getting down to the cricket ground opposite the Cricketers pub on Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, where they are available by the thousands.

Beeware

I have had the pleasure to meet several colonies of very busy bees. In previous years we have found Bumble Bees making a nest in our lawn and they are back again this year, which makes mowing the lawn more complicated.

Very Busy

I have also found Wild Bees nesting in hollow trees, we located a fantastic one on Danebury Iron Age hill fort, where we had visited for a picnic and to collect Elder and Juniper berries.

More recently, my parents told me that they had a colony of Tree Bees in a nesting box that was normally reserved for a Blue Tit family.

This year, to my delight, a swarm of bees began to build a nest in my work car park, on an industrial estate. The honeycombs are attached partly to a shrub and partly to the perimeter fence. The bees are constantly attending to and extending the combs. The bees do not trouble anyone and I was easily able to approach the nest to photograph it.

Pear and Walnut Chutney

Not the "Supermoon" - Pear Tarte Tartin

We had a surfeit of foraged Walnuts and Pears clogging up my shed and the kitchen. I was aware the Walnuts would keep but knew that the Pears would need to be used up quite soon and, no matter how delicious it is, there's only so much Chocolate Pear Upside-Down Cake, Pear Tarte Tartin & Pear and Mulberry Crumble that can be consumed before bringing on fear of a heart attack! 

Chocolate Pear Upside-Down Cake

I made a winning Chunky Pear and Walnut Chutney back in 2011, but it was a bit too chunky for sandwiches. This time I chopped everything a bit finer and made twice the amount. It looks quite different and spreads nicely and importantly it actually does taste just as good my original attempt.

Peeled Apples, Pears and Onions

Ingredients.

• 1.2 Kg. Pears
• 225g Cooking Apples
• 400g Sugar
• 450ml Cider Vinegar
• 225g Onions
• 120g Walnuts, Chopped
• 1 Orange
• 275g Sultanas
• 1.5 tsp. Cinnamon (ground)

Walnuts

Method

1. Peel and core the pears and apples. Cut them and the onions into small chunks. Put the fruit and the vinegar together into a large preserving pan and stir. Slowly bring the mixture to the boil and then reduce the heat to simmer gently for 30 - 40 mins, stirring it occasionally to prevent any sticking.
2. Meanwhile, thinly grate the zest off the outside of the orange and set this aside. Also, gently toast the walnuts in a non-stick pan over a low heat, until they become slightly paler. 
3. Place the sultanas in a bowl and the squeeze all the juice of the orange over the sultanas and leave to soak. 
4. After the fruit and vinegar has reduced, add the sugar, sultanas, orange juice, and zest into the preserving pan and heat gently while stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Finally, add the toasted walnuts and the cinnamon to the chutney.
5. Simmer gently for a further 30 - 40 mins stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
6. Spoon the chutney into pre-sterilised jars, seal and store in a cool dark place. 

Zesty!

This delicious chutney should be properly ready in about a month and should keep for a year. It will make a uniquely zesty, home-made, Xmas gift and will undoubtedly add a little spice to your food during the Winter months.

Wind in the Walnuts

it has been a funny old Autumn thus far with a very warm September and October, still in shorts and t-shirts temperatures.

We decided to go on the hunt for Walnuts; hoping that the recent rain and blustery wind would have brought some down.

We had been very busy previously, and not had time to check out our favourite trees before-hand, so we didn't know what to expect.

On our arrival, it did not look so good, but we spotted a few broken branches on the grass, signs that the local kids had been trying to knock down nuts.

We soon tuned into the Walnuts and started to find them nestled amongst the tufts of greenery. We quickly filled our pockets, and when we put them all together at home, we ended up with about half a shoebox full.