HUNTER-GATHERING: wild & fresh food

Red Onion, Port & Chilli Chutney.

For me, the start of December is synonymous with chutney making, for many it is much earlier- an ideal way to make the most of the oversized courgettes and other such legumes left over from the summer glut. I always make red onion chutney, the perfect accompliment to all that left over turkey, goose, squirrel or badger served up on Christmas day (I know, my house is a little ‘eclectic’).

Quinces: Membrillo-ing the Medieval fruit.

When I think of a Quince, I picture it being dressed up in Armour, wielding a mace and being patted on the back by Henry XIII for adding a little ‘je ne sais quoi’ to his epic feasts. Far fetched perhaps, but this fruit has regal properties about it…a seat at the round table perhaps?

The Quince is one of those forgotten medieval fruits slowly clawing a comeback in Britain, you know, like the Medlar. It’s a fruit of still life paintings, jellies and delightful blossom. Fortunately for us, the Spaniards have taken it and turned into something a little better than a preserve. In Britain, we have a terrible habit of imprisoning hedgerow fruit in a jam jar with sugar…I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I am guilty of jarring up more members of the wild larder than most, but perhaps it is time indulge in more continental practices: take the raw inedible, and force it to be desirable on the palate, asap.