Beautiful Backberries

The Head Chef has been working her magic again. Using the stockpile of Tayberries from our allotment, Strawberries and a load of Redcurrants from my Mum's garden, she created the quintessential Summer Pudding... Yum!

Fortunately, I managed to persuade her to omit the Blackcurrants that we also picked, but which I cannot abide and these were summarily transformed into several jars of jam.

By the time you have finished picking your plump plums, eaten your pies and stashed the jam, and chutney safely away in the larder, you will soon notice that there is a positive glut of beautiful Blackberries in the hedgerows near you.

Suddenly those prickly invasive briars and knobbly green fruit have become the source of everyone’s favourite seasonal fruit. The nation’s mind turns fondly toward towards picnics and Blackberry picking. During the Summer holidays, almost everyone becomes a forager, if only a short while.

At the same time, if you look closely, you will notice the emerald green Hazelnuts ripening in the Hazel bushes. They are well camouflaged, but if you lift the leaves, you will see them nestling amongst the foliage.

When you observe the squirrel nibbled shells on the pavement, you know that the time is nearing for harvesting these delicious - nutritious nuts. They should ripen toward the end of August - beginning of September. 

It is easy to gather vast amounts of ripe brown Hazelnuts, as long as you pay attention, identify the trees and remember where they are; they will keep well and can be used in many different ways.

Elderberries will be ripening around this time too. I normally make wine from them but there are many more recipes to be utilised and there is never a shortage of these shiny purple black beauties, as long as you get there before the blackbirds.

Elderflowers

It's that time of the year again. As Spring seamlessly segues into Summer, the Elder trees are brightening the hedges with their jaunty ivory white floral clouds. At the Urbane Forager project Elderflowers are the first thing we pick in the year. Elder is followed closely by Cherries and then Plums.

We use these citrusy blooms to produce thirst quenching cordial, a perennial favourite with the children and effervescent Champagne which definitely excites the adult pallet.

Both recipes are simple, as long as you pay sufficient attention to two important points.

• Firstly, the blooms of the Elder smell of bright summer sun in the morning but tend to smell a bit like cat's wee in the evening, so pick them in the morning and process them while still fresh!
• Secondly, when making fizzy drinks, always use pressure safe bottles! Sparking wine is safely surrounded by 1 Kilogram of glass for a very good reason. We save and sterilize Cava bottles from Christmas and birthday celebrations. We then buy fresh corks and cages to secure our own brew, even then I have to keep a close eye on the proceedings to prevent pressure-washing the kitchen with a Champagne fountain.
  

Elderflower Cordial - an easy to make summer classic.

• 3 lemons, sliced 
• 10 Elderflower heads 
• 500g sugar 
• 3L water 
• 1 Large bowl or saucepan
• Filter paper or muslin 

1. Put the sugar in the container and pour over a pint of boiling water. Stir until all the sugar has dissolved. 
2. Then add the remaining 2 litres of cold water and a leave until cold. 
3. Add the sliced lemons, giving each a good squeeze and then add the elderflower heads. 
4. Leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Pour through the muslin or filter paper into bottles.

Refrigerated it will keep for a few weeks. Frozen (in plastic bottles) it will last a lot longer.

Delicious Elderflower Champagne (English Fizz for pedants)

• 2 lemons, sliced
• 7 Large Elderflower heads
• 500g sugar
• 6L water
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 Large container
• Filter paper or muslin (I use a sieve and jelly bag)

1. First fully dissolve the sugar in a pint of boiling water. 
2. Then pour the solution into your container and add 5 litres of cold water, followed by the lemon slices (squeezed as you go), Elderflower heads and vinegar.
3. Cover the mixture and leave for 48 hours, stirring occasionally. 
4. When ready, filter the mixture (I used a sieve, jelly bag & funnel) into strong bottles (plastic or glass, but able to withstand high pressure), close firmly, and leave.
5. It is a good idea to release some of the air occasionally to prevent explosions. 

The champagne will be ready in about two weeks. It is alleged to improve with time, but nobody has managed to leave it that long yet...

It's totally delicious!

Young Fruit and Elderflower

Cherries

I have been very busy during my lunch hour trips around Segensworth, and fortunately the weather has been welcoming. I have been keeping tabs on where the various fruit trees are located, tagging them as they blossomed on the Falling Fruit map. Here, you can see that I have surrounded the grim grey industrial estate with an abundance of fabulous fruit trees.

Plums

When you use this method during the Spring, you always need to revisit the sites to be sure that young fruits are following the flowers. It can be difficult to spot immature fruit initially, because it is camouflaged very effectively by the green leaves.

Apple Blossom

It's a little early yet to tell whether the army of Apple trees that I have spotted will eventually produce good fruit. many of them may turn out to be Crab Apples, which can also be used in many interesting ways.

Elder Flower

At the Urbane Forager, the first things we pick each year are Elder-flowers. We make cool Cordial and chaotic Champagne from these delicately scented ivory blooms.

Cherries

Elderflower drinks are soon followed by waves of sweet, dark Cherries, and then bucket loads of multi-coloured wild plums. Hopefully, Summer will be in full swing by this time. 

Plums

It always pays to be as well prepared and you can do this too by utilising our free Seasonal id Cheat Sheets. These handy aids have also been redesigned and included in the forthcoming Urbane Forager book.

Get Busy with the Fizzy

Last Saturday the weather was boiling, my son and I had an hour or two to spare, so we decided to get busy with the fizzy. We set about making Elderflower Champagne - Yum! Oh, and some sweet cordial for the kids too.

Folklore states, that if you stand beneath the Elder tree during midsummer, you might see fairies; this is much more likely if you have already been at the Elderflower champagne! With this in mind, we equipped ourselves with a large carrier bag and walked off down the road to pick a bag-full of blooms from these ubiquitous guardians of the hedgerows. 

The citrusy Elderflowers are one of the quintessential aromas of Summer, along with freshly mowed lawns and thundery rain on hot tarmac. A good friend of mine says that you should always pick your Elderflowers in the morning because they can smell more like cat’s wee in the evening (nice!) – so take heed.

It only took us about half an hour to pick 50 or so heads, then we headed back, buying the other ingredients on the way home. We saw bushes with at least 200 flowers on, so there's plenty left for Elderberry Port later in the year.

 

While I cleaned all the buckets, pans, sieves and recycled bottles my son was counting and stripping the flowerheads from the stalks and leaves, which should not be included.

In a fairly short time, everything was done, then we just had to wait two days, although my helpers always get a glassful before it’s properly ready. Needless to say, both buckets needed testing and both got the thumbs up from the kids. We made several pints of Cordial and about two gallons of Champagne (it was a big hit last year and we ran out too soon).

The champagne takes two weeks to ferment, till then the kids are making do, on a diet of delicious Wild Strawberries and the Elderflower cordial, which was ready in two days.

Elder, Elder Everywhere

Elderflowers are easy to identify and are said to herald in the Summer. Well, you could have fooled me - it was the coldest, wettest, windiest and foggiest half term holiday since records began!

Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No, It's an Elder Bush!

However, we remained undaunted and were soon out gathering a bagfull of the best Elderflower heads. We left plenty to develop into berries, not that this is really significant - Elderflowers are just about everywhere at the moment.

Our first expedition was to make Elderflower Cordial, my daughter’s favourite drink. We were in Devon at the time on a short break but the first bushes were spotted after only a short walk.

Mmmmm, Fragrant!

It only took us a moment to collect enough and then rush back to begin preparation and within a short time we were all guzzling away at this sweet, delicate summertime drink.

The next foray was back on Southampton Common; it was raining this day, so the children chose to wear sensible shoes in the form of roller-skates!

And They're Off

There are Elderflower bushes all over the common and they are currently in flower; the kids started spotting them as soon as they arrived. Consequently, it took no time at all to gather enough (you only need a few flower heads), so there was plenty of time to zoom about on wheels in the wet.

Clare Joined Us On Two Wheels

With this batch we are making Elderflower Champagne, a delicious and simple to make summer evening drink. Just be sure to store it in suitable (pressure safe) bottles, otherwise you might get some unwelcome explosions.

All Over The Common

Recipes for both drinks can be found here…

Currently Fermenting Away Nicely

Where we were staying, we couldn’t find any Citric Acid for our cordial (used as a preservative - obtained from chemist), nor did we measure out the other ingredient’s very accurately but it tasted lovely anyway.

Elderflower for Everyone

Elder trees grow in the hedgerows and fields, the young branches are hollow and pithy (the older wood is very hard). The young branches can be used to make blow-pipes, or flutes/whistles perhaps for the more peacefully minded. The bark is rough and cork-like with deep ridges.

Around May time Elder trees comes into flower. Elderflower is known in some quarters as the first sign of summer and spending a warm sunny day collecting the flowers and turning them into Elderflower cordial or Elderflower champagne, will only enhance that summery feeling.

I think it’s nice to collect the flowers with the children and they will enjoy helping you make the different brews. The kids can then have the cooling cordial and the adults can enjoy the fizzy stuff later on.

The white flowers start as tight green buds that tend to grow upwards, although they may droop if they are heavy; they smell subtly of citrus. Elderberries come after the flowers, they start green and then hang down in bright purple/black bunches, they are very popular with blackbirds and thrushes.

When picking Elderflowers, always try to avoid any flowers with small insects on them. Do leave plenty of flowers on the tree because when they develop into Elderberries, these can then be turned into other tasty treats later in the year.

 

Despite the cold and relentless rain, I saw my first Swift of the year on Monday, and, although he did look slightly stunned; the Signs of Summer are definately lining up...