Medlar (Mespilu germanica)

Where: Woodland edges, hedgerows, sunny hillsides. Mainly in south.

What: Fruit

When: October – December

The Medlar, like the Quince, is one of the lesser known fruits due to its relative rarity growing both in the wild and as a cultivar. Once widely consumed by all and considered a delicacy (Shakespeare mentions the fruit), it is now confined to ‘those in the know’… and now you!

Growing either as a tree proper, or more commonly in the UK, rambling shrub, the Medlar can reach the height of 6m, though usually 4m or thereabouts. The leaves grow alternately on thorny branches, measure up to 12cm (occasionally more) in length, and up to 4cm wide, and are a relatively narrow long, spear-shaped, elipse in shape. They have a finely toothed edge and are a light green colour, with greenish brown ribs and veins and a lighter, downy, underside.

The bark is a greyish brown, with erratic vertical fissures and large flakes, not unlike that of the Wild Service Tree. The flowers occur in May and June, measuring up to 3 cm across, and usually shorter than the green sepals underneath, they are made up of 5 white petals with a yellow centre.

The fruit, whilst occurring in August, is edible from October onwards, and is brown to reddish brown in colour with a rough, slightly hairy, skin. It has a flat top with a crown made of the green sepals below the flower. The flesh is not unlike a hard apple, and contains 5 seeds measuring c. 1cm in length. Because they are not a native to this country, though they are naturalised, the fruit does not get a chance to ripen properly, and whilst they can be eaten when they are unripe, they are best picked and consumed once they have started to rot on or off the tree – ‘bletted’ is the correct term – usually after the first frosts in November onwards – keep an eye on them until they become soft and edible

The unripe, or unbletted, Medlar tastes sharp and astringent, and has a distinct sweet apply flavour. However, it is with the fully bletted fruit that you can appreciate the flavours – subtle and certainly unique, it is not unlike a sweet apple mixed with caramel, with hints of spices (cinnamon?) and a sharp taste. Look, just try it will you! People do say it’s an acquired taste, but I love it.

I spend a lot of time working on the island of Crete where the Medlar is a delicacy and is known as μούσμουλο (Musmulo) – the word itself is Turkish and is a hangover from the Ottoman occupation of Greece. And whilst we are on the subject of etymology, it was in cruder times, once known as ‘open arse’ – for obvious reasons – and its welsh name ‘afal tinagored’ means the same, whilst the French name, 'cul de chien', means dog’s arse. So now you know.

Enough arsing about, and onto the recipes. It makes a great jam/jelly, good in a tart (see photograph), and can be eaten raw – apparently the best way is to suck the bletted interior from the fruit like a vampire. It can also be turned into a wine, although this, one assumes, if you are fond of sweet wines.

Apologies... once again!

Well, let's just say that it's been a while since I posted anything!

Alas, real life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of things that you really want to do...

Since our last post I have embarked, properly, on a new career (teaching), I have concentrated on my wood carving and the Green's Woodcraft side of things (website to follow soon), and have been travelling a bit (France), and just consolidating our lives in Glossop. All this at the expense of the Forager's Guide. 

So there, apologies over with - now onto the cool stuff! 

With us hurtling towards Autumn we are about to hit harvest time when everything comes alive with fruit and foodstuffs, so in keeping with this we will be uploading masses of info over the next few days, including recipes and new experiments (cheesemaking anyone? Plum wine?) as well as the usual descriptions and stuff!

Cheers for now

Tim & Kate

BOING!

Well, it's here! Spring has finally sprung!
After a week of beautiful weather, we now seem to be heading back into weather more typical of the time of year, but we are officially into spring time - the blossom is on the trees, the plants are bursting forth, and I smelled the first Wild Garlic of the year. Awesome.
Just a quick one, but over the next few days, I'll be telling you what to look out for, and what is great for foraging right now. 

Dandelion Zing

I named this recipe Dandelion Zing after the explosion of lemon, garlic and chilli that happens in your mouth – feel free to alter and substitute as you see fit. 

Dandelion leaves (the larger the better)

Onion

Garlic 

Chilli (dried or fresh)

Seasoning

Lemon

Parmesan

Take the large Dandelion leaves and blanch in a little water until they are soft and tender, and some of the bitterness has gone – probably about 5 minutes, perhaps a little longer depending on the size. In the meantime, fry a little onion, garlic, chilli (to taste) and seasoning in some oil. Drain the Dandelion, and add the onion, garlic and chilli, and toss together, squeezing a little bit of lemon juice to add some of the zing. Serve topped with grated Parmesan or similar hard cheese, salt and pepper. 

This simple use of Dandelion is particularly good served with a salty bacon or smoked fish such a mackerel – an excellent side dish.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

AKA Wet-the Bed, Piss-a-Bed

Where: Everywhere, especially disturbed soil and waste ground. Throughout the UK.     

What: Leaves, flowers, roots.

When: Anytime, though autumn better for roots, spring for the flowers.

The Dandelion is unmistakeable – the bane of gardeners and colonisers of every corner of every back garden – it grows just about anywhere, and at any time of year (though obviously favouring spring and summer). What we know as a Dandelion is actually over 200 sub-species, but it is not really important that we know the difference between them – by all means go ahead and research if you want to – as they are all edible and all taste the same.

There are 3 crops associated with the Dandelion – the leaves, the flowers, and the large tap root.

The flower, when it appears, is bright golden or orangey yellow and made up of multiple individual petals in a bunch measuring up to 5cm wide and occurring on a single stem. It is possible to find flowers all year round, but they are extremely common in the spring and summer, when they should be picked on a sunny day around midday – they close up at night, even after they have been picked, so use them quickly. That said, the unopened young buds are edible, boiled briefly or pickled in brine. Traditionally, the Dandelion flowers to be used for wine are picked on St George’s Day (23 April), although in reality any time will do. Their flavour is slightly floral and sweet, but also bitter – actually rather pleasant.

The hollow stem upon which the flower sits is a light brownish-green (darker near the top), up to 0.7cm wide and usually up to 20cm tall (though impressively up to 50cm), and exudes a bitter white milky fluid when cut, as do the leaves.

The leaves grow low to the ground in a rosette measuring up to 50cm across, from the centre of which the stem grows. Individually they measure between 10 and 20cm in length (rarely longer) and up tp 5cm in width, and are characterised by their spear shape and sharp-pointed backward facing teeth, hairless surface,  and a well defined central ridge running along the length. The leaves are a fresh, but strong, bitter flavour – not unpleasantly so, but can be overpowering if used on their own – better to add them to other leaves in a salad or blanch them. The older leaves will need to be blanched, steamed or boiled (see below), as they can be tough.

Directly below the stem is the tap root. Though small in smaller plants, it reaches almost carrot-size in the larger well established examples. They are tough to dig out and have a nasty habit of breaking if you pull too hard, but are well worth it. Pale grey/brown in colour, they are long and thin – measuring up to 20cm (perhaps 15cm when ‘topped and tailed’) long and 5cm wide. They have a bitter taste, but also sweet, not unlike the parsnip – scrubbed and prepared, they can also be treated like a parsnip too – roasted or mashed. These are best collected during the end of autumn or into winter, as the tap root is where the nutrients are stored to see the plant through the lean winter period..

The seed of the Dandelion is the well known and perfectly spherical ‘clock’ - white in colour and comprising thousands of dark brown individual seed with fluffy heads.

There is a large amount of “Old Wifery” connected with the Dandelion and its ‘miraculous’ ability to heal. The most commonly cited remedy is that it can cure warts, a ‘cure’ mentioned in several supposedly ‘serious’ books on the subject. Yeah, it cures warts in the same way it can make you fly – it can’t – and anyone who says differently is talking complete rubbish. However, note well, Dandelion is a powerful diuretic – it did not earn its nicknames “Wet-the-Bed” or the more vulgar, “Piss-the-Bed” for nothing. This has a basis in science, as the plant contains large amounts of potassium, but as long as you don’t eat Dandelion and nothing else, you’ll be fine. However, it does contain significant amounts of Vitamins C, A and K, protein, calcium and lots of Iron, so is not only plentiful, but is really good for you… just don’t eat too much!

There are a many different ways in which Dandelion can be used as a food, it really is quite versatile. Obviously the younger leaves are perfect served raw in salad – I personally wouldn’t use them on their own as they are a tad bitter, but add them according to taste instead – as you do with Rocket. The older leaves need wilting in the same way spinach does – rinse, and use the water left on the leaves in the pan. Done this way they are perfect served Greek style (Horta) - with a little olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. Lots of people make fritters from the flowers – dipped in batter and shallow fried – but I have to say I’m not a huge fan. A far better use for the flowers is Dandelion wine – a subject I will be covering, in some detail, later in the spring.

The root has traditionally been used to make a caffeine-free coffee substitute, and I have to say the taste is quite similar – bitter and earthy (although, as a coffee addict, I cannot say I prefer it!). Another interesting way of serving the tap root is in the style of parsnip. Choose the largest Dandelions and excavate the root, remove the leaves and rinse the soil off. Scrub the skin and trim, and then place in a roasting tin with a little oil and seasoning and cook until soft and tender. Honestly, they work – they retain some of their bitterness, and are actually quite edible

I’ll post the Dandelion Coffee recipe at a later date, and the Dandelion wine recipe will go up a little before St George’s Day, when the flowers are traditionally picked.

Above is a recipe for Dandelion leaves cooked as greens that I’ve called Dandelion Zing because of the lemon/chilli explosion. 

Some musings

Just spent a bit of time in the back garden preparing the ground for the planting of vegetables - turning over and trimming the overhanging Ivy. Actually, it was still frozen out there so it was quite hard going. Beautiful sunshine though, and surprisingly warm if you actually stand in the rays - bloody freezing if you are in the shade! All the hills around are snow covered, and it is a perfect day for hiking. The patch of ground for planting is not large - 1.5m x 5m -  but will be used thoroughly! If anyone has any recommendations about what to plant, drop us a line.

The previous owners of the house had pretty much removed all the plants/flowers that were here previously, so there was nothing of interest from a foraging perspective other than a single, small and somewhat bedraggled Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) so today's post will be on that most common and quite tasty weed.

The Forager's Guide - Rebooted!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I last posted!
So much has been going on that the time has just flown by.

We have finally moved from West Yorkshire to the wonderful town of Glossop in Derbyshire, nestled in the Pennines and surrounded by incredible countryside, rolling hills, beautiful valleys, secluded spots, and wonderful forests - a forager's heaven.

In the intervening period I have started up a new venture - Green's Woodcraft. I have always had a love of woodcarving - bowls and especially spoons - and this is the main purpose of the venture, and you can now buy or commission pieces, or simply stop by and chat about woodcarving and associated crafts.

The big news is that The Forager's Guide now has a proper website - www.foragersguide.co.uk. This will be the main hub of the concept behind the Forager's Guide, and will provide a place to stop by and check out wild food, recipes, chat, and share knowledge. At the moment the website is full of Green's Woodcraft stuff and is just a rough outline, Kate is working very hard and rather excellently at building the proper version which should be online very soon. The website, along with the blog, will be the main part of who we are at the Forager's Guide, with the blog posting very regularly (we're aiming for several times a week) about wild food, recipes, and associated stuff that may be of interest... as well as keeping up with what we are doing!

Keep in touch, and expect a new post in the next day or so - the reboot will be a continual barrage of wild food information. Now that we are fast approaching the end of January, things will be picking up in the world of wild food as nature starts to awaken from the Winter. It all starts here folks, so stay tuned.

Tim and Kate