January 6, 2010
Wassail and Twelfth Night
Today is the twelfth day of Xmas and Twelfth Night.
This time of the year is associated with wassailing.
The word “wassail” probably derives from the Old English: “hale you well” , ie be of good health.
Wassailing comes in two versions:
Wassailing from house to house – a bit like carolling; singing to householders and receiving presents. The wassailing songs include words like:
Here we come a wassailing, among the leaves so green; Here we come a wandering, so fair to be seen; Now is winter time, we’ve travelled far and near; And we wish you, send you, a happy new year.
The other sort of wassail is in apple orchards like our small orchard at the bushcraft site, where locals would visit the trees early in the new year to sing to them and wake them up ready for a new year of growth and harvest. Making loud noises also scares evil spirits away and encourages the trees to bear great quantities of fruit.
These songs have words such as:
Here’s to thee old apple tree; That blooms well, bears well; Hats full, caps full; Three bushel bags full; And all under one tree.
I shall be wassailing my trees very soon as I prune them!
Cheers all
Huw
October 18, 2009
Shrimping and Cockling Seaside Forage; October 11 2009
Shrimping in shallow waters at low tide means a long walk with some fairly hefty shrimp nets. Even on a neap tide, the water was probably more than half a kilometre out and can retreat as much a 1 kilometre on a good spring tide.
A calm day thankfully, imagine if these were catching the wind.
You dont have to wade out into deep water. Many people managed wearing just wellies. Brave souls had bare legs but not bare feet.
Sandy bays are the favourite haunt of (Lesser) Weever Fish (Echiichthys vipera) so footwear was mandatory. The weever buries itself in the sand with eyes and head protruding. It has a venomous dorsal fin which if stepped on can be as mild as a bee sting or as serious as an Adder bite.
Lesser Weever with dorsal fin raised.
September 13, 2009
Jams, Jellies and Saucy Sauces
So after yesterday’s excellent day’s foraging I ended up with some of the fruit left over.
So I decided to have a day making stuff and seeing what I could produce.
First up was the haws, decided to follow Huw’s recipe he got from the Really Wild food festival.
First step, stew the haws in water and vinegar.
While they were stewing I cut up 3Kg of crab apples I had foraged on the Friday, to make some crab apple jelly.
By this time the haws had stewed down into a nice mush and it was time to force them through a sieve.
to produce a nice thick orangey liquid.
Sugar was added to this as well as various seasonings and boiled down to a thick sauce.
I also boiled up a mixture of the bullaces, sloes, damson, blackberries and elderberries for a hedgerow jam.
Once the apples had stewed down into a mush,
thay were transferred to a muslin bag and allowed to drip for a while.
More to come on the apples later….
The hedgerow fruits were also strained through a colander to remove the pips, skins and stones.
Again sugar was added and the result boiled till the setting point was reached.
So far we have a fabulous haw sauce that reminds me of HP fruity sauce and goes really well in a bacon sarny,
a hedgerow jam of a marvelous colour and that’s sweet but not too sweet…
seen here alongside a glass of last year’s blackberry wine…
and still to come, turning the apple juice into jelly and whatever happened to the damsons….
“Fruits of the Forage”
The Team had an excellent day yesterday ay our first “Fruits, Roots and Cider” day. Lots of regular faces.
The day started out a bit grey and windy with even a few bits of rain. We thought we were in for a damp day but it soon brightened up into a gorgeous day.
Huw started the day off with his customary meet and greet, then Steve took over and started the foray. We had not even reached the gateway before the first fruits were gathered, some hips and damsons. Steve gave us an excellent talk on the differences between sloes, damsons and bullaces. Moving on up the path we soon started picking lots of blackberries, haws and elderberries. Much was remarked on the difference in blackberries, with some have a tart sharp flavour and others having a fuller sweet smooth taste. Again Steve’s excellent knowledge was put to the test with a discourse on the various species.
Some ingenuity had to be used as the modern practice of threshing the hedgerows leaves the fruit at a rather high level.
Then it was across the field to dig up some roots, both hogweed and horseradish were added to the haul.
After that it was back to camp for a well earned cuppa and further discussion on fruits and roots by Steve.
Then it was all steam ahead for the cider! Huw has a small orchard on the farm and we soon gathered a bushel or two of apples, both eating and cooking varieties.
The kids had great fun feeding the apple chopper hoppper.
to produce the aptly named apple “porridge”
Then it was over to the press for the first of many layers.
Soon we had a production line with everyone involved.
And let me tell you the apple juice produced was a taste of heaven!
After that we went on to make a few things with the produce we had gathered. Steve made a summer pudding with the blackberries, followed by some damson and blackberry jam. Then we all had a go making and eating blackberry pancakes.
A few guests had brought along other stuff to show, myself bring blackberry wine, red pepper jam and onion relish. Mike brought along some spicy haw jam and blackberry chutney. There was also blackberry jelly and Huw’s birch sap wine, as well as Ben’s excellent refreshing fresh-made lemonade!
All in all a most fantastic day!
September 9, 2009
The Really Wild Food Festival
Had a great weekend at the show – Pembrokeshire is impressive, although a long way from Kent.
I met Tom Bean (a Gastronomer) and Lara Bernays (a Medical Herbalist), who had a great stall.
They do wild food forays and wild medicine courses in Pembrokeshire and they had a great recipe for Hawthorn berries. Here it is:
Tom and Lara’s Saucy Haw recipe!
Makes 1 300ml bottle;
500g hawthorn berries;
300ml cider vinegar;
170gm sugar;
1/2 tsp salt;
Ground black pepper;
Ground Alexander seeds;
Crushed Jack by the Hedge seeds.
First gather your hawthorn berries – wear gloves if necessary to protect you from the thorns.
Strip the haws from the stalks, rinse and place in a large pan;
Bring vinegar and 300ml water to the boil, add haws – this will help preserve the vitamin C;
Simmer berries until split and soft, about 30 mins;
Pass the mixture through a colander – this takes patience, but it’s worth it;
Add sugar to the liquid and return to the heat. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins. Add the seasoning and bottle.
Sounds good! We may try it on the weekend Fruits’nRoots’Cider course on Saturday
Huw
Toma and Lara often deliver walks, tals and workshops in West Wales.
To get in touch: larabernays@hotmail.com