Tastier than Bear's 3: Wild garlic

I bet you thought I wasn't going to do my tastier than Bear's challenge this week. Well I did too.

It has been a busy week because I have been able to get to the allotment and crack on with the many jobs I need to catch up on. For instance I re-felted my shed roof in the bitter cold wind, and discovered that it was leaking because someone had screwed a baton down the centre of it. It's lovely and dry, if very untidy inside now. (Next job is shelves and hooks!)

The plan was to dig/weed a patch and plant some fruit bushes and trees and collect a bucket full of weeds for dinner at the same time. In the end it was quite hard work and poor weather, I was hailed on twice, so I was too busy to sort through any potentially tasty weeds.

The next day I walked the dog past my hazel patch and decided to see if there were still any fallen nuts lying around. There were loads, because the squirrels still haven't found this patch. They looked a bit damp and muddy, but I took a dozen home for inspection.

I also saw this lovely plant growing on the bank. It turns out it is Lesser Celandine, and I keep seeing it everywhere now. It isn't edible as such but is used as an herbal remedy for piles. The roots give you a clue! (Wild Drugs: A Foragers Guide to Healing Plants, by Zoe Hawes)

You never know, there may come a day when that knowledge is useful, although I sincerely hope not ;-)

The first cobnut I cracked open had a perfect little nut inside, and a small nibble confirmed that it wasn't bad but perfectly edible. Dinner was looking positive..........but then the next 11 shells were empty!

Maybe I would give up for this week, as February is such a lean unfriendly month for the forager. If I was hungry, then worms may possibly be on the menu at this point.

What a shame that the lovely looking jelly ears I see when I am walking are so unpalatable. There was no way I was picking them....unless I had something flavourful to cook them with.

Then to my rescue I found the small and muddy shoots of some wild garlic (ramsons) whilst walking the dog. The amazing garlic smell is the sure-fire way to identify them. I only took a few shoots as the aroma was so strong, although the roots are edible too.

There is a fallen tree blocking the path at this point and it is so muddy that climbing over it is slippery and treacherous. So I decided to try and find a route round, going through the brambles instead.

I am so glad I did, because growing on the inside of the remaining tree stump were some clusters of velvet shanks. Visions of a garlicky mushroom medley were swimming through my head.

I collected some white and red deadnettles on my way home to provide the 'spinach' and picked the jelly ears. Close to home I decided to investigate these leaves again.

I had brought a few leaves home to identify previously, but without a flower they could have been anything. However this time as I picked the leaves I found little purple flowers hiding underneath.

Sweet violets - the smell confirmed it. Even the leaves seemed to bear the scent. 'Wild Drugs: a forager's guide to healing plants' by Zoe Hawes says that the dried leaves and flowers in an infusion are good for coughs and sore throats. I tasted a leaf, but it didn't have the taste of violet, so I made a cup of fresh violet tea. It was fine, not violet flavour, but very smooth and pleasant.

This was another very tasty meal, the wild garlic making all the difference.

I chopped up the jelly ears very small, in the hope of improving the texture, and fried them with the velvet shanks and garlic, throwing in the deadnettles at the end.

The taste was lovely, even the jelly ears just took on a garlicky flavour. They still had that crunchy slimy texture, but were much more edible in small pieces. If I had more velvet shanks I would have just left out the jelly ears though. There must be a better way of cooking them to tenderise them, and no doubt I will try again because they are so abundant!

I am looking forward to more wild garlic through March and have planted some cultivated garlic at the allotment as a more reliable garlic source. I wouldn't say growing garlic is a dead cert, mainly because of my dodgy gardening skills, but certainly less of a haphazard business than foraging for food is.

Spring weather

It definitely feels like spring now, and already I am feeling behind in the garden.

The crocuses have been glorious this year and already the first daffodil is ready to open. It has been a mild, though very wet and windy, winter - completely different from last year!

If you look at the projections for how climate change is expected to affect the UK, this winter is the kind of winter that they are predicting more of. In short milder wetter winters, and less occasions of snow.

However there was an interesting article recently on the BBC website about the reduction in solar activity. They believe there is a 20% chance that within 40 years Europe will have entered a period similar to the Maunder Minimum, an event during the late 1600's when the temperature was below average and River Thames froze over every year. They are not predicting global cooling, more that the jet stream over Europe is likely to be affected by the lack of solar activity, plunging it into some very cold winters, a bit like those experienced by the US and Canada this year..... all interesting stuff!

On to more frugal issues. Now what do you think this is?

It is my first ever homemade cider vinegar! All thanks to Wendy Brown's tips in her book Surviving the Apocalypse in the Surburbs. It is so very easy to make. Just fill a jar with apple peelings and cores, cover with water and leave it in a warm cupboard for a month. Cover the top with a cheese cloth or muslin to keep out dust or flies. A layer of scum forms on top, but that's fine. Ok so the cupboard smells of mouldy apples for a little while, but the resulting vinegar is mild and fruity, and will be great for salad dressings. (It could be stronger if I left it for longer.)

I wanted to be more organised with my veg growing this year. I ordered some seeds nice and early and also took advantage of the Transition Loughborough Seed Swap event. These are some of the seeds that I picked up for free, including sweetpeas, squash, kohlrabi, oregano and some beautifully coloured peas/beans. What I liked about the seed swap is you could just pick up a few seeds to try, and given how small my garden is, that is a very good thing!

The Transition team had also been along to the Chesterfield Transition Potato Day and here are 2 of the varieties they brought back to share. I can't for the life of me remember what they were called, but the knobbly ones are salad potatoes. Last year my potatoes were a disaster, so this year I am going to stick to growing just these four spuds in sacks or pots instead.

I had started planning out what to plant, where and when to plant them, the first seeds to be sowed in February. But the last couple of weeks have been very busy with work and now it is already March and still nothing has been started. Do some of you more experienced gardeners feel like spring is a complete race against time too?

The good news is that the little apricot tree that I planted last year has survived the winter and is ready to break out in lovely pink blossoms :-) It doesn't seem to have grown much though.... although it is supposed to be a dwarf variety. I thought the wall would shelter it a bit, but maybe I have planted it too close...hmm. I would love to hear how your garden plans are going?

January thrift

Why is January such a long month? I am so glad it is finally over and spring seems that little bit nearer. I have realised that the supermarket often has reduced price, out-of-date flowers, so I have been treating myself to a bunch for 99p to cheer things up. This bunch I bought a week ago and are still going strong. 

There has been lots of baking going on. Below is the chocolate cake for my good friend's birthday. There were also cakes to bake for school, which meant baking extra batches for home too or else there would be none left for school!

This was all too much for my main oven and the heating element blew. I made Rocky Road instead this week, as there is no baking required. There is also nothing healthy in them either, so a rare treat for the kids.

I am hoping my oven will be repairable because I have vowed not to buy any more electrical appliances. I was given a slow cooker and loaned a de-hydrator, I but haven't bought an electrical appliance for at least a year, maybe even 2 years. I know that doesn't really sound very impressive, but it is good to start somewhere.

 

When my hand-me-down food processor packed up, I made do with my stick blender and a manual whisk where you turn the handle (only the handle seems to have gone missing!), which the kids find a novelty so they do the whisking for me. If I want to be successful at reducing my energy consumption, then more electrical gadgets are not going to help. Of course if my washing machine or fridge break then I will have to get them fixed or replaced right away, but can I manage without a toaster?

I pulled out a top last week that I had bought at the car boot sale. I like it, it fits well, but I haven't really worn it. It is because it has frills around the front, which end up all scrunched up after it is washed and then they need to be ironed out before I can wear it. I try my utmost not to ever do any ironing - obviously just for energy saving reasons, not because it is boring, pointless and piles up in the blink of an eye ;-)

Anyway, I was trying to work out if I could cut the frills off without ruining it, when my hubby cleverly suggested sewing the frills down, so they can't move. Can you see in the picture above that I have sewn down one side? I'm not telling you which side! Now it is perfect, I can wash it and wear it with no ironing necessary.

I need to put my sewing skills to use on making curtains next - I have gathered all the materials I need, I am just procrastinating about getting started. I know that my heat is seeping out of those cold windows in the meantime. Maybe this weekend......