Provided your local hedges haven't fallen victim to inconveniently timed flailings then Autumn is a rather bounteous time for gathering. Each year we try to expand our use of what's available to us, to both experiment and stock up our larder. Plus it's fun too, to see what can be made. First off, I've already written about blackberry and apple crumbles but you can also use blackberries in jam or jellies. I've never felt that inclined to make bramble jam but that be because I have around 27 different flavours of sweet preserve* in my cupboard and know blackberry would be the last flavour I'd reach for. The success story from last year was the blackberry and crab apple jelly so I definitely wanted to make another year's worth. Crab apples are such a gift, growing in abundance for free and you can take more than you can carry and the tree won't look much less empty. There are loads of different styles of crab apple, most are bogus but apparently you can just pick from the trees you get along better with. I've not been able to differentiate and they all seem fine. 

 

Autumn feels like the right season in which to crumble. I suppose the classic is apple and blackberry but coming from a dynasty of crumblers, I can say I've had a fair few courtesy of my grandmother - not all of which I would call a treat. Canned strawberries are not the one. Last year I finally found the recipe, the 'one', the perfect crumble topping which both C and I agree is the pinnacle of crumble toppings. None of the others I have made over the years have quite been perfect, with the very worst being those so-called healthier ones with oats.  The butter has to be cold, cubed straight from the fridge and cannot be substituted with spread. I leave my topping as breadcrumbs but with larger buttery blobs because these melt wonderfully in to the topping. Also, the sugar has to be demerara to give the proper crunch. 

Fruit wise, I stuck to the quantities of fruit but in terms of apples just work with what you have got. I used just windfall cooking apples we picked up locally mostly and once added some unwanted eating apples. To stop them going brown and manky after slicing I mixed a little citric acid and water to mix them through as we didn't have any lemons. I drained off any excess. The addition of sugar and cornflour to the fruit gave it a lovely thick and syrupy quality after cooking and didn't allow for the watery wishywashy bottom that can otherwise result. 
This is before it went in the oven. It took around 45 minutes to cook. Topping must not be pressed down, just gently tipped on, no matter how precariously over-filled it looks.

It's no secret that I love anything rose scented. For the last few years I have used dog roses from the hedgerows to make rose petal jam which has become a gem of our store cupboard. Having read up more on roses, it's interesting that all rose petals are edible, providing they ARE genuine rose family. Some plants have rose in the name and most definitely aren't so do not be fooled. 

On my list of plans for Autumn I specifically remember noting that we wanted to forage sweet chestnuts. Two weeks ago we took a little trug bucket and set off for a spot we had previously found some nuts. It became immediately apparent that we were too late; nothing on the tree and only empty, spent husks on the ground. It looked like we had missed it by a mile, which made me feel immensely guilty as this is one of C's favourite treats. Last year we found some good trees on a walk but it was a long way from home and the thought of heading off for a long drive only to find we had missed those as well sounded like a poor use of time. I resigned myself to the fact we would have to buy them this time and remain more vigilant next year.
However, on Sunday we set off for a new walking destination and found plenty of sweet chestnut trees with nuts to collect! It was unexpected and we took home a couple of handfuls. Sweet chestnuts can vary in size and its only the medium and large sizes which are any use. If you're not already 100% sure then make sure you take a reference when foraging so you don't muddle them up with conkers which are NOT EDIBLE. Caution should be used and always look up to check you've not got a sweet chestnut and horse chestnut tree side by side.


Have you been gathering sweet chestnuts? Ours were roasted and nibbled that same evening.
Take care,
Sophie

It's become tradition to make rose hip syrup each autumn, I wrote a rough method last year. While out and about each year we try to earmark particular locations for the future gathering of fruits. Our go-to hedge for foraging has a marvellous quantity of several bounties, one of which being roses. Back in spring we gathered rose petals and in early autumn it became time to harvest rose hips. There doesn't seem to be a 'right time' to pick them; they're either solid bullets or already a pulp so just gather any red ones that haven't started to go rotten and be glad there's enough to make a meaningful batch.
I use my hedgerow cookbook recipe as always which this time made 3 bottles' worth; my winter cold avoidance ritual wouldn't be complete without it.

Take care,
Sophie

It wouldn't be autumn without going blackberry picking - the annual foraging tradition loved by so many. An apple and blackberry crumble is the classic way to use them and I admit to having neglected this some years, more through missing the boat rather than not feeling like it. I come from a dynasty of crumble makers. Us women have produced hundreds of these over the years and yet most have fallen short of their full glory. There's nothing worse than a crumble which disappoints. With my complete lack of instinct when it comes to cooking, baking and anything to do with food assembly, I always rely on a recipe to guide me through choppy waters. I wince when I say that my previous go-to recipe was a 'healthy' option which not only failed in texture and taste but really offered little in the way of healthy benefits either. It was time to try something else. Google offered me a recipe from delicious magazine which looked suitably different and I gave it a try. Actually I'm going to be searching there for lots of recipes in future as they have a lot of mouthwatering dishes over there - plus they are easy to print off.

Is it ok to make it three weeks on the trot? Because that's what your girl did. Did I mention I love desserts? Here's my slightly tweaked recipe from the original:

Ingredients:
Approx 1100g bramley apples
250g or thereabouts carefully rinsed and sorted to ensure no stems, cobwebs or creepy crawlies have joined the party
3 teaspoons of cornflour
70g caster sugar
240g plain flour
150g unsalted butter cut into cubes. I prefer to use this from the fridge as if it gets too warm you make paste.
120g demerara sugar

Method:
Pop the flour in a large mixing bowl along with a pinch of salt and rub in the butter a few cubes at a time. Keeping this cool will help. Once it's fairly fine, don't worry about the odd buttery lump, mix in the demerara sugar and set aside. Pop the oven on to about 160 oC for a fan oven.
Stir together the cornflower and caster sugar in a bowl.
You'll need to work through the apples quickly as they start to turn brown very quickly. I use a vegetable peeler and a small knife to peel and remove the core, and keep them chunky before slicing them at the last moment and adding the blackberries. Sprinkle over the cornflour and sugar mix and stir around the fruit. Grease a chosen baking dish, I prefer a deeper one than too shallow as the fruit always cooks down and if too thinly placed you hardly end up with anything.
Stir round the fruit again then lay it out in the dish, even it up roughly then gently spoon the topping over. Pop on a tray with a teflon sheet as the fruit can bubble up and escape during cooking.

I check mine after around 25 minutes at which point you can tell if it's looking 'perfect' ie golden-ish with a few blobs of oozy fruit round the edge - which would be done or if it still looks much like when you put it in - in which case try again in 10 minutes.

They stay hot for ages so no rush to eat but ours was demolished with a shocking volume of custard.
Even C agreed this crumble recipe was an absolute triumph. Super buttery with the sugary crunch and the syrupy fruit wasn't overly sweet. The original recipe called for more caster but we preferred it with less.

This is one I'll be returning to over and over again. It's hard to say how many official portions it makes but I'd suggest 6 for gluttons like myself. Plus it's pretty much a breakfast dish too, so make a weekend of it.

The blackberries are past their best now, we did gather a small handful for a pie but there were slim pickings indeed.

Have you been crumbling?

Take,
Sophie

After the spring and summer madness there's the autumn hubbub. With time limited opportunities to harvest and forage it means that dry weekends are spent gathering and making to preserve the available produce for months to come. It's been a year which has felt even more hectic than ever so far and I wonder whether things will start to loosen up over the coming weeks or if it will just be trading one hurry for another. There are so many changes that could or perhaps should happen in the coming few years yet I can only feel despondent about change. As with most things which come to pass 'be careful what you wish for' as it very much feels like the world around us casually trades the frying pan for the inferno itself.

Take care on these crabby autumn days,
Sophie

Crab apples look decidedly ugly and unappetizing. As someone who operates a blanket policy of hating small fruit, I would automatically have ignored crab apples even if they did look like perfect little examples. There's something good you can make with these unloved fruits, crab apple jelly!
There's a bountiful supply of them in hedgerows and just alongside roads (presumably where drivers have lobbed apple cores and a gnarly tree has grown) although of course, there's ever so many more out of reach than you can collect. On our second trip out to forage some we found the wind had taken most out of the trees and left them on the floor like giant perilous marbles - I nearly went base over apex to my horror.


We vowed to make use of some this year. Our first haul was decent, alongside our blackberry haul so C decided to make a crab apple and blackberry batch as well as a spiced crab apple batch.
Both have set perfectly and I find myself seeking it out to eat with chicken (sadly our redcurrants didn't materialise this year). They are much sweeter than expected and for that reason I think C will give it a wide berth by I don't mind. To be honest they would work as a sweet treat too, like little jellies as part of a dessert or on toast. Yum.
They both taste delicious and very different. So cheap to make too, just the price of sugar and a few store cupboard spices. We save jars and bottles furiously and acquire them from others too and have a decent preserving kit now.

On our second trip out to forage some we found the wind had taken most out of the trees and left them on the floor like giant perilous marbles - I nearly went base over apex to my horror.

There are so many varieties to make with crab apple as the base. Ones with herbs in, rowan, haw, blackberries... It does seem to be quite adaptable. It's not something you hear much about now but we're firmly set on foraging for treats. I'll be sharing some more of our makes in posts to come.

Take care,
Sophie

Don't sneer until you've TRIED nettle beer.
We've embarked on a journey of home brewing, foraging and generally making the best of what the countryside has to offer on a seasonal basis. Nettle beer was one of the beverages on our agenda.
I know what you're thinking - that sounds disgusting/ what kind of desperado would want to make and drink that.
Well, let me tell you this, nettle beer is the best drink you've never tasted.
Forget the word beer - it throws a tangy fust that doesn't represent this product. Think more of a lemonade based beverage. Maybe a citrus based elderflower-esque light and refreshing drink with a little alcohol and that's a closer picture.


Here's vaguely what we do (though I recommend you find a proper recipe):

Gathering nettles is a doddle, the swines grow everywhere. Just pick clean ones which are growing juicily and nip the heads off - I take around 6 inches off. Wear gloves and use snips. Get a bucketful or carrier bag full.

Big pan, boil water 15 litres ish and add nettles for around 20 minutes, strain through muslin into sterilised brewing bucket add more water to round it up to 20 litres. Add your 100g cream of tartar (don't hold me to this - I need to double check) and 2kg sugar but slowly, stirring to ensure it doesn't just sink to a lump at the bottom.
The next day when it's warm but not hot add the yeast.

Our brewing bucket has a lid and you fit one of those airlocks to allow the gases out but not in. It plops away for days fermenting.

One day it'll be ready and can be pumped into sterilised bottles with carbonation drops. The bottles must be fine for pressure or you will have a mess. Some of ours have been a little over excitable should we say.

Best served chilled.

I defy you not to love this refreshing summer drink.

Have you ever tried it?

Take care,
Sophie

My love of roses continues to grow. Last year I tried to make rose petal jam and the results were technically edible though required some fine tuning.
This year I tried again. My first go was ok. A small batch which I was determined not to over reduce.
I wanted more so gathered another lot of petal. Sadly, I messed up the batch by overlooking the addition of water, hence making some distinctly burned caramel which was even too solid to get a spoon to dent in the jars. What a terrible waste, I feel guilty for having to throw it out, jars and all but nothing would budge it.
I tried a third time and took great care to ensure I read through everything thoroughly and kept checking for set.
The third batch was a success of which I'm very pleased. It has a lovely consistency and taste. Think rose and lemon Turkish delight in one bite. The recipe I used was in the Hedgerow Cookbook I bought from a National Trust place. It does have some lovely recipes inside.



I believe that all rose petals are fine to use, but the dog roses in hedgerows are a shortlived seasonal treat and it's that window of opportunity and excitement I enjoy. Seize the moment and jam it for months to come.
I would like to share more foraging exploits over the year. There's more and more we're dabbling in now which is exciting. Of course, not everything is a success but that's to be expected.

 Here's some images from the other week.













And just like that we found a whole family of mini butterflies. They are small copper butterflies. I'd like to see more butterflies next year.






 A red admiral.

Oh! Interesting.
Take care,
Sophie