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<channel><generator>iloblog 1.0</generator><title>Hedgerow Harvest Feed</title><link>http://blog.hedgerow-harvest.com/</link><description>An occasional blog of foraging finds and other information&lt;br/&gt;</description><item><title>By George - At last!</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=15</link><description><![CDATA[ Every cloud has a silver lining or so they say. And yes, we've had our more than our fair share of clouds (and rain) over the past month or so but there is positive side to all of the rain - mushrooms! Yes, when most people think about wild mushrooms they would think of the Autumn, there are however a few edible species that are found in the Spring and the mushroom pundits were right, after dry springs for the past few years, it looks like there is a bumper crop to be had out there.One of species to be found in the Spring is the St George's Mushroom. So called because, it appears on or around (yes you've guessed!) St George's Day on the 23rd April. As someone who gets withdrawal symptoms when there are no edible fungi to find, I've been on it's trail for a few years, but without success. The other Spring species of interest (considerable interest) is the Morel. These are the second most valuable fungi after truffles. A quick Google tells me £19.99 for 100g (that's an amazing £199 per kilo!).  Yesterday, I was calling in at a little woodland spot where I have found Morels before. The disappointment of no Morels was immediately cancelled out by a little group of St George's. A while later, whilst driving, I spotted a cluster of white blobs at the side of the road and one emergency stop and two minutes later the basket was getting fuller. Several hours later, on the way home, after a brilliant seashore forage, I spotted two more clumps, one on a roundabout and another on the verge.  The books say St George's mushrooms are quite common in various grassy 
habitats, roadside verges and woodland edges. They are a good edible 
fungus, recognised by the convex, whitish cap, the white, closely-spaced
 gills, and strong mealy (floury) odour.
A bit further on the drive home I called in at a supermarket, not to buy anything but to have a look around the car park whilst trying not to look too suspicious (the mushroom knife in my pocket might have taken a bit of explaining!). The landscaping in the car park comprises various bits of horrible planting and lots of lovely areas of wood chips. I say lovely as Morels are now probably found more on wood chips than in the "wild". I have heard of people coming away from Tesco with a considerable haul of expensive mushrooms and they haven't been shoplifting! Motorway service areas can be rich pickings too. Sadly, none to be found at that particular supermarket - outside at least!Half of my find has been eaten - Shellfish assortment, foraged of course, Cockles, Clams and Mussels, with St George's mushrooms in a home-made tomato sauce on pasta. The others have been sauted and put in the freezer for another meal or two.Time to go out in the rain wood chip spotting! 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 10:22:03 +0100</pubDate><category>Fungi</category></item><item><title>Spring Cheer</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=14</link><description><![CDATA[ When most people think of hedgerow drinks it's Sloe or Damson Gin for the Autumn or Elderflower Cordial or Champagne for the Summer. But there are many, many wild drinks to be made and the spring too has a good range.  Nettle Beer has been a favourite for many years. Those that I have shared it with have been amazed that something so plain and commonplace as the Nettle can create such a flavour. Its sort of in the ginger beer direction and very easy to make. It also has the advantage of being drinkable in ready in a week.  This year nearby fields were bathed in the bright yellow of Dandelions and I felt it would be a shame to let them all go to waste. There are various food dishes that you can make with the flowers but my eye was drawn in the books to Dandelion fizz, a 
sparkling champagne-like drink and to Dandelion Cordial. The fizz appealed but 
needed three weeks and I had a deadline so the cordial it was. I 
followed the recipe in  John Wright's hedgerow book ,
 first putting the flowers in a jug in layers with sugar for 24 hours, 
then adding water, boiling and straining. Very easy and very nice.   This week I've added another book to the collection - Andy Hamilton's  Booze for Free . Its a good, informative read packed with interesting brews to concoct from both the garden and hedgerow. Among the Spring hedgerow recipes are:   Cordials  Alexanders, Pine Needle   Beers  Japanese Knotweed Ale, Nettle Ale   Spirit-based  Beech Leaf Noyu, Horseradish Vodka, Japanese Rose Petal   Champagnes  Dandelion, Elderflower, Gorse   Wines  Birch sap, Broom, Dandelion, Dandelion and Gorse, Gorse, Japanese Knotweed, Golden Lime sap,    Juices  Cleavers  I'm looking forward to trying many of these. Cheers!  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:02:35 +0100</pubDate><category>Plants</category></item><item><title>Holy Mackerel! They&#039;re back!</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=13</link><description><![CDATA[ The annual return of the Mackerel into the coastal waters is not really a miracle but for many a reason to rejoice. I'm no fisherman but do enjoy spending a warm evening trying to catch a mackerel or three. Along with many others I join the annual festival of "feather chuckers" down on Chesil Beach. We line the shore casting out our line, trying to wish the mackerel to go for our "feathers". Some do use real feathers, but more often its bits of white plastic or shiny silver tinsel. The Mackerel think they are young fish and, we hope, get hooked.     One evenings Mackerel fishing can differ so much from another. You might be lucky and they keep coming all evening. I've seen some carry them away by the bucketful. Not me though, if I get to a dozen, I'm more than happy and call it a day. Another night you might go home with none. The not knowing how it will go being part of the attraction. I've had plenty of the "none" evenings and there's been nights where the water "boils" with them. You can see the shoals swimming parallel to the beach. Just the act of casting foul-hooks three or four! When this happens though, they are usually under size (20 cm in Dorset) and get put back for another day.  There's no denying mackerel are fantastic eating. There are so many ways to cook them. Simple can be best. Pan-fried they are superb. At the right time of the year the forager can serve them with sauce made from gooseberries - foraged from the woods and hedgerows of course. A French friend did once tell me that the French for gooseberry was "sauce for mackerel". Sorrel has a much longer season and makes another great sauce to go with your mackerel. In both cases the sharp flavours go so well with this oily fish.  There's lots more ways. We like cooking them in foil parcels - stuffed with herbs, such as fennel (foraged again) or sage, with apple and cider, with white wine, or as Chinese parcels with soy sauce, carrot, leeks and ginger. You can even batter them!  However you like them they are a great tasting, great looking fish and good for you too. Just what you need after that sea air and a memorable evening on the beach.    
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:11:18 +0100</pubDate><category>Seashore</category></item><item><title>Springtime is definitely here</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=12</link><description><![CDATA[ Spring is definitely here - it's official. The equinox was yesterday and now the days are longer than the nights. Nature too knows that it is spring. The Blackthorn is in blossom, advertising its presence for gathering sloes in the Autumn. Along the hedgerows and in the woods green shoots and leaves are everywhere as plants race to flower before new leaves on the trees overhead block out the light. It is a time of rich seasonal pickings for the forager with salad leaves and wild vegetables to be found and great soups and main courses to be made. To drink there are teas, cordials, spirit-based drinks and beer. You do have to be careful though. As well as the friends there are some foes out there. Within a hundred metres of home I can find plenty of an extremely poisonous plant that, sadly, has been responsible for fatalities over the years.   To learn lots more about what you can and cannot eat at this time of year, how to identify and use it; and to have a fantastic wild food-based three course lunch come and join us on one of our Spring Greens courses. See more details at  http://www.hedgerow-harvest.com/scheduled_courses.html  or see our  Flick gallery .  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:44:05 +0100</pubDate><category>Plants</category></item><item><title>Warming the cockles of my heart</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=11</link><description><![CDATA[  Okay, any anticipation of spring was quickly proved wrong
with all the cold weather, snow and ice. The depths of winter generally give
thin pickings for the forager, fresh fungi are but a distant memory. For those
itching to find some great wild food at this time of the year the seashore is
the place to head. I managed to grab a day off to coincide with the spring
tides this week and had a great few hours despite the near freezing
temperatures and penetrating winds. 



 This was a new location for me to try with a big sandy beach
with some rocky headlands backed by fairly low cliffs. Where the rocks came
down to the low tide mark I was hoping for a few mussels, something that you
struggle to find on the Dorset coast. Sadly, only a couple were found. The
rocks proved to be a good place for a range of seaweeds - Carrageen, Gutweed,
Sea Lettuce, Dulse, Pepper Dulse and Bladderwort. However, I was after more
“meaty” things. I’ve tried Limpets in the past and was unimpressed; Winkles are okay but I
was after main course ingredients. Empty shells along the strandline raised my
hopes and, rather surprisingly, there were a number of empty Oyster shells near
the waters edge. 



 Wandering the sand I eventually found some of the things I
was after - Venus Clams ( Palourdes  to the French) and Cockles just
laying on the beach. They are usually found within the sand and have to be raked
out, but there were plenty just “waiting” for me.       I was also looking for little
“keyholes” in the sand - the sign of Razor Clams.       I had my salt pot ready. A
sprinkling around the hole and some magic happens – they rise up out of the
sand.      I’ve done this successfully elsewhere but there were no holes here. The
empty shells meant they were about. Then “magically”, we found the first one
sticking up an inch or so up out of the sand. Carefully extracted it proved to
be a great size and well over the 10 cm minimum. Plenty more followed and as the
tide started to come in we headed off for a defrosting flask of tea with our
bucket filled with fabulous shellfish.    



Back
home, we rinsed any sand off and put them in trays of salted water to purge
themselves. The Razor Clams were grilled until they pop open (about three
minutes); the Cockles and Venus Clams steamed in a saucepan for a few minutes.
They came together in a wonderful home-made tomato sauce on a pile of spaghetti
– a fabulous meal.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:24:11 +0000</pubDate><category>Seashore</category></item><item><title>Spring in the air</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=10</link><description><![CDATA[ Despite the frosts of the last night or two, there are definitely a few signs of spring about - snowdrops, daffodils, primroses - even the odd bee or butterfly.  For the forager a few of the earlier springtime greens are starting to show. Spring is the time of new growth and the countryside offers a wealth of delicious free greens – be they salad leaves, wild vegetables or herbs. There are also some edible flowers, roots and a few fungi to be found. With a little know-how these can all be gathered to give salads, soups, main courses, sauces, desserts and many other dishes. They can also be ingredients in teas, beer and other alcoholic drinks.   To help you reap this spring harvest we are pleased to announce the dates of our Spring Greens foraging courses. These full day courses combine:   * A foraging walk for spring greens.  * An indoor session preparing, cooking and eating a three-course lunch based on our finds.  * An illustrated talk on wild foods.   The dates and locations are currently:  Sat 14th April - Toller Porcorum, Dorset Sat 21st April - Aldbourne, Wiltshire  If you want to find out more or book a place see our  website . A gallery of photos from one of these courses can be seen on  flickr .  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:58:17 +0000</pubDate><category>Plants</category></item><item><title>Our truffles - as seen on TV!</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=9</link><description><![CDATA[ I was excited to see our truffles on TV recently - okay they were shown but not mentioned, but it still makes me proud. They appeared in the first episode of ITV's  Countrywise Kitchen  at Christmas.   "Chef Mike Robinson and Paul Heiney return for a festive Countrywise Kitchen. The team will be celebrating winter in the kitchen, with seasonal food ideas for Christmas and the new year.  In the first episode the team are at London's famous food destination, Borough Market, to discover the best country produce available in the city and specially preserved goods for the festive season. "   They met Noel Fitzjohn ( www.herbspice.co.uk ) who specialises in pates, terrines and other traditional Gallic products, sourced directly from France. Noel also makes a range of artisan products including mustards and salts, some of which include our truffles!        
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:30:59 +0000</pubDate><category>Fungi</category></item><item><title>Truffles</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=8</link><description><![CDATA[ A few weekends ago we ran our first truffle hunting day for  Norburton Hall . The day included an introductory illustrated talk, over two hours of truffle hunting and sampling of the truffles. The truffle hound was in good form finding the first one within three minutes!     The guests had a 
most enjoyable day. There is an album of photos from the day on the Norburton Hall's  Facebook page .
 If you would like to participate in a similar event or buy fresh 
truffles (an unusual Christmas present!) please e-mail 
 info@hedgerow-harvest.com .   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:01:41 +0000</pubDate><category>Fungi</category></item><item><title>The bonanza continues</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=7</link><description><![CDATA[ For those that love to find, gather and eat wild mushrooms you really should be "making hay while the sun shines" or getting out there and finding them while the weather holds. The continuing damp and mild conditions are perfect for fungi and the "bonanza" of recent weeks goes on.  Saturday's fungi fix was in the from of Truffled Scrambled Eggs - more on this in another post. I was so glad I took a basket on our strolls yesterday. The morning gave us good numbers of Autumn Chanterelles and we could have filled a car with Jersey Cow Boletes. No, I am not making the name up, they are so named as they are the colour... (no prizes). They were extremely plentiful in the coniferous woodland we visited near Wareham and having never eaten them before we thought we would give them a go.  The afternoon's basket was filled with masses of Wood Blewitts, a parasol mushroom, a horse mushroom and a couple of field mushrooms. We left behind as many Blewitts as we took and also had no room for a group of Princes.    The culinary part of the day was making Spag Bog with a variety of mushrooms, Jersey Cows on Toast (a phrase you don't hear very often!) and sauteing most of the Blewitts for the freezer. Today, it was the long awaited Chicken and Mushroom Pie - yes well worth the wait.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:58:44 +0000</pubDate><category>Fungi</category></item><item><title>Mushroom bonanza!</title><link>http://iloapp.hedgerow-harvest.com/blog/blog?Home&amp;post=6</link><description><![CDATA[ What a weekend. The mushroom experts predicted a good one and a good one it was. After an extended period of little rain, last week saw a whole month's worth (or so it seemed). This combined with the mild temperatures gave a large flush of fungi. It should continue to next weekend and hopefully beyond if the frosts hold back. "Making hay while the sun shone" it was not an opportunity to be passed by.  Friday gave enough field mushrooms to make some fantastic soup. A few hours on Saturday lead to £70 worth of truffles with my buyer saying "Wow what a smell, they are the strongest English truffles I have ever smelled - very 
pleased". Almost as exciting were the first Blewitts of the year. Blewitts, both Wood or Field, are purpley-blue gilled mushrooms both with an aromatic, almost perfumey smell. At times they have been sold in markets in the Midlands, and are a common sight in markets on the continent. They are one of the last groups of edible mushrooms to be picked appearing in late Autumn and early winter, usually egged on by a frost. They are delicious however you cook them (don't eat them raw), but make the best Chicken and Mushroom Pie I have ever eaten.    Sunday brought blue skies and sunshine. We headed to the New Forest to see the changing leaves (and look for a mushroom or two). The mushroom season definitely moves on. We found lots of Oyster mushrooms in their usual homes on fallen beech trees but every single one was past it - perhaps it had been too wet for them. Hedgehog mushrooms too were found in quantity but only a proportion were still in good shape, though still enough for half a basket. The other half was filled with Autumn Chanterelles. Finding these under conifers and still in good shape was a pleasant surprise after finding them very past it in the deciduous woods. Three regular Chanterelles and an couple of Birch Boletes (one orange, one brown) ended the day.     Back home, it was Chicken Supreme with lots of mushrooms, Mushroom Risotto the next day and lots of portions of sauted mushrooms put in the freezer for the Winter. Definitely a mushroom bonanza.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:38:37 +0000</pubDate><category>Fungi</category></item></channel>
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