- Sorrel – (lemony flavour) add to a cocktail skewer of hard boiled egg, and olives. Use as you would lemon!
- Plaintain – add seeds to biscuits, stir fries, bread
- Reedmace- Dig up the rhizome in autumn –winter, roast, good source of carbs.
- Ash – seeds, peel then pickle when green
- Fairy Ring Champignon mushroom – dry them and add to soups and stews
- Dandelion – (bitter flavour) Cut rounds of boiled corn on the cob sweetcorn and spread with cheese/cheeselike spread, garnish with plenty of dandelion leaves.
- Hogweed Pannacotta
- (dessert spice) Use the seed to infuse in milk based desserts.
- For a simple dessert for 2, add 3 tblsp lightly crushed dried Hogweed seeds to 260ml soya milk (or other milk),
- Simmer for 5 mins.
- Strain out the seeds and add 50g sugar.
- Mix half a sachet of Vegi Gel in 50ml cold water then add to infused milk.
- Pour into moulds, cups or shot glasses.
- Leave in a cool room or fridge for at least an hour to set.
- Garnish if desired with a little sugar, hot blackberry sauce and water mint leaves J
- Nettle Falafels
- Gather half a carrier bag of fresh nettle tops and add dried nettle seed if you have it, half a cup will do 😉
- Boil in just enough water to cover, then pulp til a puree.
- Add ground oatmeal until the mixture thickens to a dough like consistency.
- Meanwhile fry a large clove of garlic, a large chili if wanted or some onion. Add this to the mixture.
- Roll mix into falafel sized balls, coat in flour
- Depending on where you are, fry in a pan til golden brown on each side and crispy to the touch, or bake in oven for 30 mins Gas Mark 6 – probably less if your oven is better than mine, which is quite likely!
Horseradish Sauce (Ve)
- Dig up a piece of horseradish root. Wash.
- Grate 2 -3 tblsp off the root with a fine grater. Leave in 2tblsp hot water to allow the powerful flavor to release.
- Meanwhile mix 150ml vegan milk with 1 tblsp corn flour to thicken (do this cold at first), add 1tblsp white wine vinegar, a pinch of caster sugar and a pich of mustard powder plus salt and pepper to taste.
- Heat til it thickens, add more cornflour if necessary, but a little goes a long way!
- Add the horseradish root. Enjoy!
- Keeps for around a week in the fridge.
Wild Fruit Leather
- 400g hawthorn berries, 500g crab apples, 200g blackberries and/or elderberries, 150g sugar
- Chop crab apples, add all the fruit together in a big saucepan with enough water to cover. Boil, then simmer for 20min or until fruit softens and breaks up.
- Mash, then push through sieve to remove large pips.
- Add sugar, heat and stir til sugar dissolves.
- When mixture is like syrup, pour into baking trays lined with baking paper (NOT foil as this will stick!)
- Smooth out into a thin layer
- Put in oven at very low heat (60c) for around 7 hours. Check halfway through as if it goes too hard it will be burnt. The leather should feel rubbery to the touch.
- Allow to cool, then gently cut into strips or squares and peel off baking paper.
- Store in a sealed box for up to a year!
Teas – Pine needle tea, Ground Ivy, Mugwort, and Blackberry & Water Mint
Infuse in boiling water for 5-10 mins. Pine needle contains 5 times more Vitamin c than citrus fruit! Enjoy!