Homemade Christmas Gifts - Sloe Cordial

Sloe Gin is very popular, but I've made it in the past and it just lurks in my drinks cabinet and ends up getting thrown out.  So this year I decided to make Sloe Cordial a non-alcoholic cordial that can be topped up either with alcohol i.e. Gin, Vodka, Prosecco, dry white wine or with non-alcholic mixers like tonic water, soda water or lemonade.

I froze my sloes after picking, mainly because I didn't have time to make the cordial, but the freezing also helps break down the sloes and mimics the frost you are supposed to have had before picking them.  I was rather pleased that I had because I was contacted by Pattesons Glass with the offer of some jars or bottles to review.  I decided to go for the bottles and make some gifts for Christmas.

Pattesons have a fantastic range of glass bottles and jars which are ideal for those of us obsessed with keen on preserving in all it's forms, they are also great for styling in food photography and I'm sure you will be seeing more of these bottles in future posts.   Jars are not too difficult to get hold of, but a great range of interesting bottles like the ones in the photograph above are much less widely available.   I have plans for some flavoured vinegar for the larger bottles.  The only drawback with these bottles is that they are only available in fairly large quantities.  You can order a sample set of three different bottles or jars for £10.  If you want to order bottles, then you may wish to get together with a group of friends and share the bottles between you, as 50 is the minimum order.  Pattesons also sell Le Parfait jars in smaller quantities which are ideal for preserving.

Sloe Cordial

1kg Sloes
1 litre water
Juice of 1 lemon
Granulated Sugar (80g per 100ml liquid)

1. Bring the sloes, water and lemon juice to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Break up the cooked sloes with a wooden spoon or potato masher, don't bother about the stones as they will be sieved out later.
3. Simmer for a further 10 minutes.
4. Pour the mixture through a sieve.  If you want your cordial to be clear you should line your sieve with a muslin and don't push the pulp through.  I didn't do that and although the cordial is perfectly fine it isn't clear.
5. Clean the pan and pour the juice back in, add the sugar and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
6. Bring to the boil an simmer for another 10 minutes.  Cool and bottle in sterilised bottles.

To drink, add 10 parts water to one part cordial. 

 I received a range of glass bottles from Patteson's Glass, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Labels: bottles, Christmas, cordial, gifts, glass bottles, glass jars, homemade gifts, jars, non-alcoholic, Pattesons Glass, Sloe Cordial, Sloes

posted by Janice @ 20:41 10 Comments

The Foragers Kitchen - A Review

Wild Garlic growing locally

I suppose that I have been foraging most of my life, although until recently I probably wouldn't have called it that! As a child we collected rose hips which were sent off to make rose hip syrup, I think the school got paid for them. We always picked brambles (blackberries) and wild strawberries and raspberries and I remember one bumper 'field mushroom' year when my father-in-law would come back from the field every morning with his pockets full of mushrooms. Another time there were so many sloes we made sloe wine which was sweet and delicious.

In the Forager's Kitchen by Fiona Bird you will find over 100 easy recipes both savoury and sweet featuring all kinds of foods you can find for free in the countryside, in town and at the seaside.

The introduction is beautifully written, full of lively description and useful advice. There is a section of helpful Ground Rules and a serious piece about misidentification, there is even a list of 'Useful Kit for Foragers'

The Chapters

Flowers and Blossom

Honeysuckle

Fiona starts by introducing us to some common edible flowers with instructions on how and when to harvest them, store them and crystallised. The chapter includes recipes for Wild Elderflower and Gooseberry Curd, Honeysuckle Jelly, Violet Macarons with Primrose Cream, Gorse Water, Wild Cherry Blossom Panna Cotta and Couscous and Chicken infused with Linden.

Woodland and Hedgerow

Nettles in my back garden!

I am very tempted by the recipe for Douglas Fir Chocolate Pots however,I need to find a Douglas Fir first! I will be foraging for nettles, we have no shortage of them, to make Salmon and Nettle Fish Cakes. I have a Hazel tree but it has never provided me with any nuts, if you are lucky enough to find some Wild Hazelnuts you could make the delicious sounding Salted Caramel Wild Hazelnut Shortbread.There are some useful tips about foraging for fungi and recipes for Griddled Field Mushrooms as well as Pan-Fried Puffball with Carrot and Cardamom Purée which includes chickweed! I can't wait to be able to eat chickweed as we have it growing everywhere in summer. Recipes for wild watercress and Sorrel are also included.

Fruits and Berries
 

Brambles

More familiar territory here with a basket full of wild fruits and berries, starting with a classic Wild Venison with Blackberry Sauce. Bilberry (Blaeberry in Scotland) lurk among heather moors but if you find some you can combine them with Hazelnuts in a Crumble Cake which can be served warm for dessert or cold at tea time. I was once lucky enough to find undamaged windfall Quince and wish I had had this recipe for Quince and Wild Thyme Sorbet at the time. Mini Damson Tartes Tatin look stunning in the photograph and I am fascinated to find out what Crab Apple and Wild Honeysuckle Jelly tastes like.

Sloes

Hedgerow jam, Sloe Gin and Wild and Wicked After Dinner Treats complete this chapter.

Herbs

Wild Garlic or Ramps

There are five recipes using Sweet Cicely including Sweet Cicely and Rhubarb Sorbet and Sweet Cicely Cookies.  The Wild Blossom Tempura looks fun too must try and track down some Sweet Cicely.  I've also never seen 'Jack-in-the-Hedge' or Garlic Mustard but will be looking out for it now as the Garlic Mustard and chickweed Buschettas look really tasty. There are also recipes using Wild Thyme, Scots Lovage and Borage.

I have access to plenty of Wild Garlic or Ramps and there are six recipes for this delicious spring leaf, including the New Potatoes in Ramps and Lemon which I made.



New Potatoes in Ramps and Lemon (serves 4)
800g new potatoes
8 ramps (wild garlic) leaves, ashed and dried
25g butter
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
2-3 ramps (wild garlic) flowers, washed, dried and segmented

1. Scrub the potatoes (to remove loose dirt).  Cut any larger potatoes in half.  Cook in a minimum quantity of boiling water for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are just soft.
2. Meanwhile chiffonade the ramps leaves (roll the leaves up tihgtly and cut into thin shreds)
3. Drain and reserve the potatoes, and add the butter and lemon zest to the pan.  Return to the heat briefly to melt the butter, then add the shredded ramps leaves.  Cook for a minute to wilt the leaves, then return the potatoes to the pan.
4. Toss the potatoes in the butter lemon, and ramps and season  with freshly ground pepper.
5. Turn  into a warm serving bowl and scatter the tiny ramps flowers over the top before serving. 

Printable Recipe

Sea And Shore
Foraging at the seashore is not something I'm so familiar with, so this is a really useful chapter with clear descriptions and photographs of the different seaweeds, shellfish and molluscs.  Apparently Hebridean children once ate sugar kelp as candy (sweeties) and Chocolate Sugar Kelpmores are Fiona's answer to the craze for salted caramel!   Sea Lettuce also gets the sweet treatment as Sea Lettuce Madeleines, Lemon and Sea Lettuce Ice Cream or Sea Lettuce and Caramel Sauce. It seems to be a very versatile sea vegetable as there are also recipes for Sea Lettuce fish parcels, Scotch Quail Eggs with Sea Lettuce and Sea Lettuce and Prawn Panna Cotta.  Other dishes include Seaweed and Butternut Squash Cakes, Beach Popcorn, Simply Razor Clams, Samphire with Place in Sweet Pepper Sauce and Wild Mussels in Dandelion and Burdock Beer.

The chapters end with some notes about Foraging and the Law including UK, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, US and Canada.

Labels: Brambles, Cico Books, Cook book review, forage, hedgerow, Sloes, The Forager's Kitchen, Wild Garlic

posted by Janice @ 10:58 7 Comments

Hedgerow Harvest - Sloes

Now, it may not be immediately obvious from the contents of my blog, but I do actually live on a farm! One of the advantages of this is that we have an abundance of hedges and hedges mean hedgerows and hedgerows mean lots of lovely goodies in the autumn.

I usually pick loads of brambles (blackberries) but this year it has rained so much that they are not worth freezing. I might get a few for a crumble or pie, but it has been a disappointing year as far as brambling has been concerned. So I was very pleased when DH came in last night from digging about in the field, trying to find out where all the water was coming from and diverting it away from places he didn't want it to be, to say that he had seen some berries that he thought might be sloes in one of the hedges inside the field.

This morning there were a few little jobs that I had to help with, so as I was outside with my wellies, fleece and woolly hat on already (yes, it is really miserable here today) I went into the field and picked those sloes. This is not an easy job, I was stung by nettles, jagged by thistles and scratched by brambles as well as having to avoid the huge thorns on the Blackthorn bushes themselves.

So, I hear you ask yourself, what are you going to do with them? Good question, I dont' want to make sloe gin, I can't face making jelly, I've done dripping jelly bags before but that was before I had a wooden floor in my kitchen! So I've manage to find a chutney recipe which should be fairly straightforward and we eat more chutney and pickle than we do jam or jelly. I'll post up the results when it's made.

Labels: Sloes

posted by Janice @ 14:57 3 Comments