It's foraging weekend!!!

[Aleman]

how does one go about using rosehips easily? are there any tricks to remove the itchy stuff?

rose hips are best hsrvested after the first frost

 

[KevinH]

Will someone kindly post a pic of a rosehip, *purrr-leeeeeze*?

I'm worried I might pick the wrong sort!

 

[Moley]

Well there's this cultivated type, which can be very soft and squishy, very susceptible to attack and often full of maggots, and needed picking a month or two ago ....

... and there's this wild type which are much tougher and are ready around now.

 

[RobWalker]

they are quite distinctive once you find a pic. you can use both the big and small ones. ask family and friends, someone is bound to have one!

 

[KevinH]

Thanks, Moley and Rob.

I'll go a-hunting... :thumb:

thanks for the pic. appreciated.

 

[artyb]

i was out walking the river ,
prior to a bit of fishing last week and noticed it was alive with signal crayfish...

any one catch and eat them..i think im going to give it a try... :hmm:

 

[calumscott]

Just make sure they are Signals...

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/st ... entify.pdf

..then eat as many of the little buggers as you can!

Apparently very good eating and you're doing your bit for the native ones. :thumb:

 

[Wasabi]

i was out walking the river ,
prior to a bit of fishing last week and noticed it was alive with signal crayfish...

any one catch and eat them..i think im going to give it a try... :hmm:

Crayfish wine? Ughh :sick:

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Just make sure they are Signals...

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/st ... entify.pdf

..then eat as many of the little buggers as you can!

Apparently very good eating and you're doing your bit for the native ones. :thumb:

The crayfish you get along the Nene and Grand Union Canal in Northamptonshire are Signals. You never find native species in the same area.

 

[AZZKIKR]

I was given a large amount of damsons near the end of Aug they were good to go a bit earlier than expected. Also last year wasps got hold of that tree and munched the lot of it before we got a chance to harvest it. I also went out about the same time and picked out loads of brambles but from the recipe I had I didn’t have enough of these so I have mixed that with raspberries and black currants. I must admit that this is the first time I have ever tried foraged wine I normally just go for cider or beer.

The damson one went fine and has fermented out nicely and I have raked it and sat it in the dark. It’s a nice light red colour and fairly cloudy but it smells fantastic. As it’s my first time trying this I only went for a 5ltr batch and I have lost a fair bit through raking but so be it.

The mixed berry one I hit problems with and got a stuck fermentation. I don’t know what I did wrong to be honest but I got a restart yeast and that looks to have done the job. It’s also now maturing in the dark and it also smells fantastic.

I added tannin to both on the advice of a friend but this being the first wine I have made I am not sure how drastic a difference that will make.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I just went up to my favourite foraging patch to get some sloes. It's a large wood with a mixture of old-growth hedges, ancient woodland, open grass and new plantings, and it's a great source of elderflowers, elderberries, sloes, haws, blackberries, rosehips, oak leaves and acorns.

Last year I got about 15Lbs of sloes from there, and it took about half a dozen trips to get them, usually spending ninety minutes to two hours each time. Today I got 10Lbs in two hours from about five or six yards of hedge. Talk about feast and famine!

There's also a crabapple tree about a third of a mile outside the wood that I intend to plunder tomorrow. If I can also get 6Lbs of blackberries, I'll start off a batch of hedgerow port tomorrow evening and it will be ready to go into the DJs this time next week :thumb: