HUNTER-GATHERING: wild & fresh food

Wild Cocktails & Hedgerow Infusions.

I could never understand why my father insisted on picking sloes. Every Autumn the whole family would head for the hedgerows to fill our buckets with the small blueberry-esque tart fruit. My 7-year old self couldn’t grasp the value of such an astringent berry tucked away amongst such viscious thorns, but of course, I was a good few years away from my first sip of sloe gin.

Things have come a long way since then, both in terms of ingredients and methods.  The hedgerows have so much more to offer the booze cabinet than sloes, damsons and elderberries, there are flowers, wild greens and aromatics- even wood has a role to play. At Hunter Gather Cook, we always finish up our seasonal day courses by mixing up some wild cocktails on the top deck of our Tree house HQ. The key ingredient is you: get creative, have fun and by all means, make sure you do plenty of tasting!

Infused spirit or liqueur?

There is a big difference here, sloe gin, for example, is a liqueur. In simple terms any kind of infusion or maceration where sugar is involved in the process is a liqueur. An infused spirit is when you take your fruit, flowers or aromatics and add them to your spirit to infuse without adding any sweetness. It largely depends on what you want to do with the finished product: If you want to make cocktails, its always best to leave sugar out as you can add this later when mixing up drinks in the form of a cordial or simple sugar syrup.

Booze choices:

Choices, choices, choices! There are many hedgerow booze recipes that state you should use the cheapest supermarket own-branded vodka, gin or whisky. To some degree that is true, if you’re making a liqueur, the added sugar will help mask the quality of the final product. If you’re making a simple infusion then go for something a little more upmarket, as there is nowhere to hide! Always bear in mind that your final product is only going to be as good as the quality of the ingredients.

 

Vodka is certainly the best for most infusions or liqueurs. The main reason for this is because it’s a completely neutral spirit, it’s able to take on both light floral or heavy aromatic flavours with ease. For any liqueurs you can go as cheap as you like, but for pure infusions, a good quality grain vodka such as Absolut or Ketel One, will produce excellent end results.

It is possible to use vodka as a base spirit to make your own gin which is essentially a neutral spirit flavoured with a variety of different botanicals- the principal ingredient being Juniper. Other botanicals can include orange or lemon peel, caraway seed, cardamom, coriander seed, star anise, lemongrass, rosemary, bay and so on…

Gin can vary when it comes to which one to use- as its already been flavoured with various botanicals, its best used for fruits rather than delicate floral infusions. Cheap can be cheerful- its worth noting that Aldi’s own brand gin (which costs under £10) came second in the international spirits challenge last year, beating both Bombay sapphire and Hendricks. However, you can’t go wrong with Gordon’s or Beefeater.

Whisky is also best used for fruit such as blackberries, but also wood. Sounds weird? It does. Both whisky and bourbon can be infused with fruity woods such as Apple, cherry or plum. If you whittle down a couple of branches (remove the bark fist!), take the shavings and blowtorch them prior to infusing, the results are a delightfully smoky finish. The shavings, once removed from the infusion and dried out can then be used in the smoker for a whisky finish- thrifty. Again, don’t pull out the Oban or Laphroig for this, Famous grouse is a solid choice.

Infusing methods:

There are three different methods to go about your infusing, whilst traditional maceration will always be a mainstay, you can speed up the process with the other two methods using either heat or pressure:

 

1. Traditional Maceration.

A solid method and one which many of you will be familiar with: Take a kilner jar, half fill it with your ingredients and then top up with your chosen spirit. Seal and stick it in a dark place for anything from 2 weeks to 2 years.

2. Sous vide.

This method uses heat to speed up the extraction process and takes 1 ½ to 2 hours. Don’t feel you need an expensive sous vide machine and waterbath for this- a deep fat fryer filled with water and a thermometer will suffice- you could even keep a close eye on a pan on the hob. You will need some zip lock bags to put all the ingredients in for infusing.

Essentially what sous vide does is A) speeds up the whole process (allowing for plenty of room for experimentation) and B) It simplifies the entire process whilst removing any danger of losing any delicate flavours to the atmosphere. In simple terms, you heat some water to 40˚C, maintain the heat, pour your spirit into a ziplock bag, add whatever you want to infuse it with, suck the air out of the bag, seal and stick it in the 40˚ C water and leave for an hour or two. A great method for berries and botanicals.

3. Cream whippers & Nitrous oxide:

This method uses pressure to aid extraction and dramatically reduces the length of time down to 2 minutes. Basically, it’s a flash infusion: the Nitrous Oxide forces all the air out of the ingredients you’re infusing and the spirit rushes into all the air pockets which then drags all the flavouring with it once the cream whipper is discharged.  This method works best with delicate floral infusions such as elderflower or meadowsweet. Simply half fill the cream whipper with your ingredients, add enough spirit to cover and screw on the lid. Charge once with a NO2 cartridge and leave to stand for one minute. Remove the spent cartridge and reload, repeat the process, only this time, shake it for one minute. Finally, discharge the cream whipper completely, unscrew the top and then pour out the infusion through a sieve lined with muslin into a receptacle.

 

HGC Drinks lab on test day... 

Here are a few recipes to get you started with some different ingredients coming into season in the wild larder over the next few months:

 

Meadowsweet Martini (makes 4 martinis)

Method: Cream whipper.

 

Meadowsweet flowers have a wonderful sweet smell to them with notes of vanilla and almond. Meadowsweet has very high levels of Salicylic acid, which was originally isolated in the plant and produced the first aspirin- so this might not give you a headache if you over indulge!

Take 4 flower heads of meadowsweet and pick off just the flowers, discarding any stalk and place in the cream whipper. Add 250ml of gin or vodka depending on your preference and infuse.

Strain the infusion into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice, add 75ml of dry vermouth and stir, strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a meadowsweet flower. Everyone has their preference as to their desired amount of vermouth, this is based on a 3 parts vodka to one part vermouth.

Best served sat on the riverbank where you picked the meadowsweet and enjoy while you wait for the evening rise to begin.

 

Rack em, Stack em and Pack em: Meadowsweet martinis lined up on the Treehouse HQ Birch Bar.

Bramble Whisky:

Method: Masceration for a liqueur or Sous vide for an infused spirit.

• For the liqueur, you will need:
• 1.4kg of blackberries
• 200g of white granulated sugar
• 1 bottle of whisky.

Simply place all ingredients in a large kilner jar and give a vigorous shake, repeat every couple of days for 2 weeks. Then leave in a dark place for 3 months before straining and bottling. Improves with age if you can resist! 

 

Blackberry & Apple Hot Toddy. (makes 2)

This is a great winter warmer once you have your blackberry whisky.

 

Juice of 2 lemons

100ml of blackberry whisky

300ml of warmed cloudy apple juice

Honey if needed (depends how sweet you like it!)

 

The Bramble: A Gin-based excuse to use blackberries. 

Ground Ivy & wild horseradish vodka for the perfect Bloody Mary:

Method: Sous vide.

Ground Ivy or Ale Hoof is a very common wild green, it has a pungent herbaceous aroma with notes of sage, mint, thyme and rosemary- it was originally used to flavour beer before the introduction of hops. Wild Horseradish is a very fiery root: The volatile oil, sinigrin, is released upon tampering with and capable of making a grown man weep. Both marry extremely well when infused to vodka, mind you, this really is only for use in a bloody mary!

• 2 handfuls of washed Ground ivy leaves.
• 1 large chunk of wild horseradish root chopped into £1 coin size slices.
• 1 Bottle of Vodka.

The Wild bloody mary.  (makes 2)

 

This is a perfect recipe to make use of all those tomatoes from your greenhouse as the tomato juice is made using freshly muddled tomatoes with a pinch of salt.

• 8 fresh tomatoes
• 100ml of Infused Vodka.
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 12 dashes of Worcester sauce
• 6 dashes of Tabasco
• Salt & Pepper to taste.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the infused vodka, lemon juice, Worcester sauce and Tabasco along with a healthy dose of salt & pepper. Place the fresh tomatoes in a bowl, add a pinch of flaked sea salt and using a muddler (a rolling pin will suffice) pummel the hell out of the tomatoes for a good couple of minutes until pulverised. Strain the fresh tomato juice into the cocktail shaker and stir well. Pour into a two glasses and garnish with a horseradish leaf.

  Woody: The HGC smoked applewood whisky sour. Secret.

Other Stuff:

Well it has been a busy summer! Been well and truly kept away from the office with courses- not a bad thing I suppose! Our Treehouse HQ was over funded on kickstarter and has been a joy to work in this summer- Thanks to all those who helped us get there- You're awesome!  a word to the Bushcraft folk that had a thing or two to say about it on their forum (You really have to read this thread!)- It most certainly does have a Wild Cocktail bar! And the Treehouse diaries is onto it's 2nd print run...thanks for the support gents.

HGC Treehouse HQ. Spring 2014.

I'm very proud to announce that Hunter Gather Cook has its very own Truffler! My furry little daughter B, graduated 2 weeks ago from trainee to practising doggy- not bad for a Jack Russell x Norfolk Terrrier pup. We got her 9 months ago, when she was only 10 weeks old and have been training her every day since. Very chuffed with the little ferret- she's had 3 successful outings so far, including digging up this beast: 

Great work B: Tuber Aestivum or Summer Truffle. Sussex 2014.

 

Wild Salsa Verde.

Well, well, well. Been a while, but like many of the wild foods I’ve been in hibernation over winter. Actually both are a massive lie- both the wild food and myself have been fairly active. HGC Private courses have been well underway since mid-January and the wild larder seems under the impression its already spring, so there is plenty around for the keen forager as you are about to see. Although keeping tabs on the early appearance of spring greens, I’ve been more preoccupied with design and planning- our new Tree house HQ which is now  well beyond the design stage and the first components or ‘Hardware’ are currently being forged down the road by the Glynde Blacksmith- Exciting stuff!

Whilst on the subject of tree houses, we will be launching our kickstarter campaign for our new tree house HQ in the next couple of weeks- so watch this space and please get involved- got some pretty fancy rewards lined up as I’m sure you can imagine!

Wild Horseradish: Already on the move...in February!

So, salsa verde…

If you’ve never had the delight of sampling salsa verde, then you should probably change that pretty quick- it is the amalgamation of pure genius for the palate. The direct translation is ‘green sauce’, sounds about as glamorous as ‘gravy’. But then everyone loves gravy.

Salsa Verde does vary from place to place, the classic Italian version includes parsley, capers, garlic, onion, anchovies, olive oil and a dollop of mustard. Other variations on the theme include the Argentinian chimmichurri- a similar grouping of ingredients with the addition of chillis and oregano. In Mexico it includes tomatillos, coriander and jalapenos. Other versions include different varieties of herbage: the frenchies use parsley, tarragon or sage although these days along with the demise of their gastronomic genius, it has become some sort of mayo with tarragon. Béarnaise I think we call it…

Unexpectedly, it is zee Germans that historically have the most ‘wild’ version out there using the following seven herbs: borage, cress, sorrel, chives, chervil, salad burnet and parsley. Even dill, lemon balm and lovage have been used. Well played.

Fresh: (L-R) Alexanders, Three Cornered Leek, Sorrel and Ground Ivy.

Salsa Verde is in essence is a sharp or piquant sauce, green in colour  and designed to accompany meat or fish, it also works well with potatoes. In fact it so good, I’ve even had it on toast and had that ‘secret lemonade drinker’ moment with a spoon before bed. Good shit it most certainly is.

For something that is around 2000 years old, it pleases me a huge amount to be using wild ingredients to re-create an archaic recipe. The issue with many wild food books and the recipes they contain is the lack of adventure found amongst there pages. Don’t get me wrong, both Richard Mabey’s Food for free (1972)and Roger Philips Wild Food (1986) are both very worthy tomes when it comes to getting into wild food, dare I say it they are considered bibles to most hedgerow fondlers. But, as you can see from the original publishing date the 70’s and 80’s were not a culinary high point in the UK…

Many other recent foraging books often with ‘wild’ thrown in to the title somewhere just to reassure you you’re going slightly off the beaten path, sadly don’t vary much on past themes. In order for wild food to really be accepted in the 21^st century and encourage folk to use it in the kitchen on a daily basis, stuff needs to be updated, experimented with and fooled about with. Fortunately there are those out there that are playing around with these flavours and giving them the spin these wonderful ingredients deserve: Hank Shaw in the USA  at Honest-food.net, Mark Williams of Galloway wild foods, Robin Harford of eatweeds.co.uk and our very own head of the kitchen at HGC Dave Fennings of foragesussex.com to name a few.

I have made salsa verde on many occasions, I have even played around with a sorrel verde with my good friend Tom the Hungry Cyclist, but this recipe took a full blown taste test to get it bang on and working just right for the palate.

You would think that because most versions of ‘green sauce’ include parsley, that cow parsley or wild chervil would be on the list. Absolutely not.  Whilst cultivated parsley is very handy, Cow parsley does little to excite the taste buds. In fact nothing. You would be better off eating grass. Also worth taking note- cow parsley is part of the carrot family whose other umbellifered brethren include two nasty lookalikes: Hemlock and Hemlock Water Dropwort which will put you six feet under pretty quickly- the toxic alkaloids respectively Coniine in Hemlock and Oenanthotoxin in Hemlock Water Dropwort are not to be fooled with.

Right, back to the safe wild edibles that you DO want to use. The best thing about this recipe is that the wild components are all very common, plentiful and easy to identify. Taking note from the original ingredients of salsa verde, the following wild plants were selected to take part in accordance with their culinary merit:

Ground ivy:

Also known as Ale Hoof, because it is has a shape resembling a hoof print and used to be used to flavour beer before the introduction of Hops. Needless to say it has a pungent aroma and strong taste- herbaceous in every sense- notes of rosemary, sage, mint and thyme all present when crushed. This is the ultimate wild ‘all herb’ and one of the most useful wild ingredients in the HGC kitchen.

Ground Ivy: Think Horse hoof.

 Sorrel:

Doesn’t need too much of an introduction- this lemony leaf with heavy citrus notes is one of the most versatile of all the wild greens, great with fish, even better with meat. The tang comes from the Oxalic acid present in the plant. Very common in fields and a lover of grassy banks with unmistakable, glossy, shield shape leaves. It has been said the French use it a lot- that’s bollocks, they don’t. Best used raw, as it tends to discolour and lose its punchiness when cooked. Lemon zest really helps to bring out the flavour of sorrel.

  Sorrel: Think Sheild shape.

Three-Cornered Leek:

Wild garlic’s superior cousin. Whilst wild garlic/ramsons/ramps are pretty useful in the kitchen the strength of them means they can often overpower everything else. Three-cornered leek has a slightly more subdued flavour, both garlicky and sweet making it the more desirable option. Often found in the most unlikely of places, the long glossy blades are usually overlooked because at a glance they look a bit like grass or pre-flowered bluebells. So named because if you were to slice one of the 'blades' in half, it has three corners. No mistaking them in flower- very pretty white flowers, perfect for garnishing.

  Three Cornered Leek: Think...well, three corners.

Alexanders:

A non-native, brought over by the Romans as a potherb. Known as ‘the parsley of Alexandria’ due to its Mediterranean origins, Alexanders have settled happily into the UK, mainly near the coast, but I used to harvest a good patch in Battersea Park- see a more in depth post on them from the archives here. Also a member of the carrot family, this one is much more friendly, with a flavour somewhere between parsley and celery with a dose of aromatics which some can find not so pleasant or even ‘soapy’ . When used correctly, such as in this recipe- the combination of the other flavours really make it work perfectly. Over the centuries Alexanders have sadly fallen from favour and been replaced by celery.

  Alexanders: Lining the roadsides round these 'ere parts.

 

Wild Salsa Verde.

(Makes 1 small jam jar- think Maille Dijon mustard size)

 Ingredients:

•  1 handful of Ground ivy
• 1 handful of sorrel
• 1 handful of three cornered leek
• 1 handful of Alexanders
• (All finely chopped)
• 2 TBSP red wine vinegar
• 6 TBSP Olive oil
• 4 Anchovies (finely chopped)
• A few strong twists of black pepper
• ZEST of 1 lemon
• 1 TBSP of Dijon Mustard

Quite straightforward as far as preparation goes on this one, but it depends on whether you are a heathen or not. If you are, then stick everything in a blender and whizz it up on a series of pulses, be careful, as you don’t end up with a pale green baby food. To be quite honest if you’ve taken the time to gather these plants, you can take the time to chop them and mix them by hand- the consistency will be much better and the colour darker. You shouldn’t need to add any salt, as the anchovies will have taken care of that for you.

All of the above plants are out in force at the moment, so well worth going on a wander in between the storms to make a few batches. Should last for up to a week jarred in the fridge if you don’t eat it all in one sitting!

On another note, bookings for all our 2014 courses are coming in thick and fast- there are still a few places left on our first Spring Seasonal Day course on Saturday 26^th April. We are also taking booking for private groups, overnighters and Stag or Hen do’s with a few weekend dates between now and July remaining- please email [email protected] if you want to come and sleep in the trees and eat some seriously fine wild food.

  HGC Staggy: Deer butchery January 2014.

Finally, we have a new member of the HGC team: her name is 'B', she's a bit hairy, currently still in training as a truffle terrier and has a taste for Harveys...

'Sup B.

Wild Infusions, Sous Vide Style: Elderflower Vodka.

I’ve always struggled with Elderflower, it’s good stuff don’t get me wrong- one of the best inductions for many a blossoming forager. The versatility of this deciduous shrub is quite astounding: flowers, berries and even the official host of the Jew’s ear fungi. That’s quite a claim to fame. Here’s my issue, and as pathetic as it may sound, many of you will concur: just like a moody teenager whose favourite band has gone mainstream, the elder has sold out. You only have to ask God (google) for recipes and the results are astounding, but for good reason, and I shouldn’t whinge: It’s damn fine shit.

Over the years, my loyalty has shifted towards Meadowsweet (just coming into season now), something that we have to thank for the birth of aspirin, the flavour is better, but then here I am raving about my favourite band to a small collection of enthusiasts.

So, there are many ways of using Elderflower, especially when it comes to making cordials, infusions and liqueurs. The methods we have are traditional, old school and out dated. No longer do we have to wait two weeks for our homemade version of St.Germain, two hours is sufficient using some of the ‘technology’ we have available to us in this day and age.

At Hunter Gather Cook, Wild cocktails & Wild Brewing are part of the job, so we’re always playing with new methods of getting the best flavours out of wild and getting them into our desired tipples. The age old method of mascerating such things as elderflower, Japanese knotweed and beech leaves is perfectly acceptable and still very relevant, but there is a new method that can be utilized by the wild cocktail afficiendo: sous vide.

Sous vide (meaning literally ‘under vacuum’ en Francais) was first developed in the 1799 by one Sir Benjamin Thompson (although air was the preferred heat transfer medium). It wasn’t utilised again until the 1970’s when it was rediscovered by industrial food preservation experts. Since then the likes of Adria, Heston and Keller have been enjoying its versatility in the Michelin star stakes. This is also damn fine shit. Clearly.

I have been very lucky with my education in mixology: My brother, the same fellow that taught me snaring, fires and shooting (although I always had the upper hand at fishing) now runs Bamboo, a creative drinks strategy agency, based in London and New York, that has got quite the head for such capers. Bartery with wild ingredients have gained me brief access to their drinks lab and wealth of knowledge. Maceration was used as standard in 80% proof to help draw out the flavours naturally as quickly as possible, but sous vide also got a look in.

When you start playing with sous vide and liquids another chapter opens: spirits, cordials, fruit juices and vinegars suddenly become fair game. Essentially what sous vide does is A) speeds up the whole process (allowing for plenty of room for experimentation) and B) It simplifies the entire process whilst removing any danger of losing any delicate flavours to the atmosphere. In simple terms, real simple terms, you simply heat some water to 40˚C, maintain the heat, pour your liquid into a ziplock bag, add whatever you want to infuse it with, suck the air out of the bag, seal and stick it in the 40˚ C water and leave for an hour or two.

What you end up with is a purest product you could hope for in the shortest amount of time. You can go crazy adding different flavours and messing about: Wild horseradish and ground ivy vodka for the perfect bloody mary; Beech leaf and yarrow gin; Sorrel vinegar; haribo cordial (seriously, don’t bother), It becomes quite addictive and no doubt could turn you into a Doc Brown lookalike  with a massive drink problem, its all in the risk assessment. A word on alcohol selection- buy the cheap stuff, your’re going to flavour it anyway.

To accomplish sous vide, the essential component is to be able to heat the water that you put your ziplock of ingredients into and sustain it for a long period of time. You could put it in a pan of water and fiddle around with the hob, but then you would also have to make sure the bag was off the bottom of the pan. Ball ache…big time.

The other option is to fork out up to a grand on a waterbath (expect to pay at least £500 for a bottom end version). Spenny to say the least. Fortunately there is a way around having to stump up the dough: A deep fat fryer, basically a waterbath without a digital temperature adjustment.

A deep fat fryer will cost you no more than £30 the only other things you need are a couple of bamboo skewers, and a cooking thermometer. Fill it with water as opposed to the usual oil, place the thermometer in the water attached to the side of the cage and then fiddle with the heating dial until it keeps a constant 40˚C. Might be worth pointing out, the reason it is 40˚C is because any hotter than that and you run the risk ‘overcooking’ the infusion. The bamboo skewers are used just to lift the cage off the heating coil on the bottom, just in case the bag has any contact.

Pour your chosen spirit into a medium sized ziplock bag (double bag for safety) and chop or tear up your ingredients you want to infuse and add to the bag. At this point you must partially zip up the bag and suck out all the air, be wary: chugging on a bag full of vodka or gin can make you slightly lightheaded! Seal the bag and place into the ‘water bath’.

An hour and a half is, in my experience through a few botched timings, the perfect amount of time to get a solid infusion that isn’t over powering or lacking in scent and flavour (remember 70% of taste is smell). For the perfect wild cocktail, you don’t want to screw up your delicate infusion by chucking in a load of sugar…your not trying to make skittles vodka. Once you have your infusion you can always add a drop or two of sugar syrup when it comes to mixing up your desired drink.

The best way to truly enjoy your infusion is as a martini, straight up over ice or with the customary dash of vermouth.

Get experimenting!

So what else has been going on? I recently went out to Burgundy to see my good friend Mr Tom Kevill-Davies (also known as the Hungry Cyclist) to plot for next year: A week of cycling in the Burgundian vineyards, tasting fine wine, wild plants and fungi and even butchering a wild boar…whilst cruising around on a bicycle, chilling by the pool or plucking cherries straight out of the orchard.

Yes it going to be good. Be sure to check the website in the New Year to book. To see how the Hungry Cyclist lodge is being renovated by Tom and the amazing stuff he’s getting up to, visit http://lodge.thehungrycyclist.com/

Busy few weeks ahead at HGC with 4 weekends of private courses, Glynde food festival and then the big push for our foraging & butchery workshops and wild cocktail lounge at Wilderness festival.

We also have a new specialist course coming online next week: ‘Fish, Forage & Feast’, a day of learning how to fly fish on the gin-clear waters of Chalk Springs in Arundel, followed by a forage around the fishery and a series of taster dishes from all the fish you’re going to catch. Taking place on Saturday 28^th of September, check here for more details.

'Dent-de-lion': Hunting Lions, Salade Pissenlit & the Ultimate pickling liquid.

One of the first questions asked by many a beginner when it comes to their first foray into the wild larder is ‘what easiest to begin with?’ The most obvious would be the stinging nettle, blackberries, elderflower and of course: the dandelion.

Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are a member of the Daisy family along with yarrow, burdock, pineapple weed and chamomile. They are one of the most prolific of wild plants and you’d have to try particularly hard not to find them: gardens, hedgerows, fields, disturbed ground- they’re everywhere. The dandelion holds fond memories for me and is largely responsible for my journey into the world of hunter-gathering, when I was seven and entering into my feral child phase, my mother used to send me out to the garden armed with a pair of scissors to hunt lions for supper: ‘Only take the younger paler leaves’ was the only information given. This was very much the ‘Eureka’ moment when I realized that there were more than just blackberries to be had from the hedgerow.

The name dandelion comes from the French ‘Dent-de-lion’, a reference to the shape of the leaves, a jagged row of viscious teeth. Other names include: Pissenlit or Piss-a-bed which points to the plants diuretic qualities from a medicinal point of view. My personal favourite has to be ‘Fairy Cocks’, although why they are named this is beyond me!

In culinary terms, you can’t get much better than the dandelion, everything from the root up is edible, making it one of the most versatile plants to take out of the wild and into the kitchen. The sheer amount of recipes racked up by the dandelion over the centuries is testament alone. Coffee, wine, beer, salads…the list goes on, other than burdock and the rhizomes of Cat-tails, the root of the dandelion is one of the major carbohydrate resources available to us in the UK.

 

Four good things: Flowers, buds, leaves and roots.

How to use dandelion depends largely on what part of the plant you’re going for, what is a constant throughout is the dandelion’s tendency to bitterness, there are a few tricks to limiting it, such as blanching roots or leaves in changes of boiling water, picking only the youngest leaves or going for the preventative method of placing plant pots over select plants and leaving them for a few weeks until the leaves become pale and yellow. Think chicory. One thing that is for certain is a mixture of sugar, salt and lemon juice will really help bring out the best in dandelions.

To help with you with how to get the most out of dandelions here is a rough breakdown of what to do with what:

Flowers: other than adding a vibrant gold to a salad, the flower heads are also used in making quite a pleasant wine. Also you can pick out the stamens as a peasant’s saffron and add to rice which gives a tinge of yellow.

Buds: Prior to the flowers opening, the plump flower buds have a startling resemblance to caper berries- worth pickling to make a caper substitute as you can with ash keys. Follow the steps below using the ‘ultimate pickling liquid’. They can also be used raw in salads or added to soups.

Leaves: The leaves are very much a salad ingredient, although they can be wilted and served like spinach, I have always found them best in their natural state. Try to pick only younger leaves which wont be as bitter as some of the beasts you will find, if you are going to use bigger leaves- dress accordingly with a sweet dressing using sugar or honey. Works very well with a Lyonnaise-style salad, that goes by the name ‘Salade Pissenlit’ which utilizes bacon and the essential fat rendered from frying (see below).

Roots: The roots, once scrubbed well, can be blanched in a couple of changes of water and pan-fried, they can be roasted in the embers of a fire, peeled dipped in a little salt and nibbled on. To make coffee (again the bitterness is the reason it makes a good substitute), scrub and dry the roots, chop into small pieces and place them in the oven at 190C for a few hours, turning occasionally. These can then be put in a coffee grinder and used accordingly. Pleasant and nutty with one downside- Caffeine not included.

The Root: one of the wild's handy carb providers.

Ultimate Pickling Liquid.

(Makes 2 litres).

Based on a recipe from the book Artisanal Cocktails by Scott Beattie, this pickling liquid is a little on the sweet side, very aromatic and works well with bitter flavours. Particulary good with alexanders, fennel and cucumber, I use this as a standard pickling liquid for ash keys, Alexander buds and dandelion buds. Keeps in the fridge indefinitely.

Ingredients

• 4 tsp Fennel seeds
• 1 ½ TBSP mustard seeds
• 2 TBSP Coriander seeds
• 250g white granulated sugar
• 1.4 litres of white wine vinegar
• 3 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cardomom pods
• 1 inch of cinnamon
• 1 dried birds eye chilli
• 1 dried smoked chipotle chilli

First, heat a stainless steel pan and add the fennel seeds, mustard seeds and coriander seeds and toast for a minute or two to release the aromatic oils, then set aside.

Place the sugar and vinegar in a stainless steel pan and heat gently, until all the sugar has dissolved- DO NOT BOIL! Just as it is getting to the point of boiling, add all the other ingredients along with the toasted spices and take off the heat and put aside to cool.

To use, simply fill your jars with what you want to pickle, pour over the pickling liquid and seal- et voila!

  

 

Salade Pissenlit.

(serves 2)

Based on a Lyonnnaisse salad from Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France, usually served with bitter endives and frisee lettuce. This salad has been served many a time by our less culinary adventurous neighbours using dandelions hence the name- Salad Pissenlit.

Ingredients.

• 2 handful of young dandelion leaves
• A few scrubbed dandelion roots finely chopped and blanched.
• 2 handful of lardons
• 2 poached eggs
• 2 slices of toasted bread- chopped into squares for croutons

Dressing:

• 1 TBSP of olive oil
• 2 TBSP of white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp of Dijon mustard
• 1 TBSP sugar
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt & pepper to taste

Wash the dandelion leaves first, then scrub, chop and blanch the roots in boiling water for 10 minutes. Mix up all the ingredients for the dressing in a jam jar.

Pan fry the lardons, then add the croutons and dandelion roots, poach two eggs and then you are ready to construct.

Plate up the salad and add the lardons, croutons and roots- make sure you get plenty of fat from the pan too- essential! Give it agood mix with your hands.

Add the poached egg on top and serve the dressing alongside. Done.

Dandelions are an essential part of the Spring Menu at Hunter Gather Cook. If you want to come and learn all about what’s at its best in spring, butcher a deer and try some wild brews along with plenty of taster dishes, outdoor cookery methods, trapping and fire making, why not book on one of our spring seasonal courses here!

Happy Lion Hunting!

NEW WEBSITE & 2013 COURSES.

We have a brand spanking new website at: 

www.huntergathercook.com

Please drop by and check out who we are, what we do and our epic courses for 2013!

Dock: Stuffed.

If the first wild plant most of us learn as children is the stinging nettle, then the second one would have to be dock, an equally common plant always found in abundance. It seems unclear whether the dock really does cure a sting…is it the placebo effect? Is it that dock sap contains alkaline that will counteract against the formic acid?  Is it the saliva mixed with the dock after chewing and then applied to the stung area that helps? They grow together, so they must go together?

Dock is part of the dock family and another rumex, Oxalic acid is largely abundant- no sign of alkaloids at all. Apparently they do contain antihistamine, which counteracts the natural histamines found in the nettle…but hey, I’m not a botanist. I’m like…a cook, man. (but I will say plantain beats a dock on a sting hands down). One thing I am sure many of you will agree with me on if you have ever had the pleasure of being caught short in the great outdoors sans loo paper, is that it makes a pretty good substitute. The veins on the underside of the leaves are very good at…actually, I won’t elaborate.

Good Mates: Dock and nettles like to hang out in the same places.

So we all know what dock looks like, but more importantly: can it be eaten?

In short, yes, it can. It does come with a list of warnings that the usual list of plants containing oxalic acid do: do not eat if you have poor kidney function or are in ill health.  The toxic component is calcium oxalate (also found in taro, kiwi fruit , tea and rhubarb), these needle shaped crystals which can cause irritation to the skin, mouth throat and lead to stomach upset.

Still want to eat dock?

The Foraging Diary: invaluable to any hunter-gatherer.

The needle shaped crystals of calcium oxalate is also known as Rhaphides, they can’t normally be destroyed by boiling, but heating them does ‘fix’ the Raphides into a dried starchy matrix, making them less mobile and thus: safer to eat. Phew! As I said, not a botanist, but worth knowing you’re shit if you’re going to put it in your mouth (that came out wrong).

So if that hasn’t scared you off, the key to eating dock is to BOIL IT. If you are in need of further convincing, Andy Hamilton did a recipe for the BBC Food website here.

Although Dock can be used as a spinach substitute, the firm leathery leaves are still robust enough to be used for parceling your food of choice even after boiling.Think of them as vine leaves that grow everywhere. To render them perfectly edible, they need to be boiled twice. Heat two pans of water and add a pinch of salt. Once on a rolling boil, stick your dock leaves in the first pan and boil for 2 minutes. Remove them from the first pan and stick them in to the second pan for a further 2 minutes. Take out the leaves and dry them off on some paper towels. You are now ready to roll…

Filling is completely up to you: Rice, couscous, quinoa, rabbit, venison, horse, mince (preferably horse-free) nettle pesto cakes, the list is endless. I like to do mine with a simple Moroccan spiced couscous: pan fry some diced onion, chilli and garlic, finely chop some tomatoes, parsley and mint, make your couscous and chuck the whole lot together with some sunflower seeds, olive oil, salt, a dash of cumin and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

Origami using vegetation has never been a strong point of mine. After spending weeks on a desert island in the South pacific weaving an entire roof out of palm, my enthusiasm for such activities wore thin. But there is a knack to it with dock leaves and here’s how: 

Lay out your Dock leaves like this- underside facing down.

Then roll up like this and fix with a matchstick if necessary.

So there you have it, dock leaves can be used for more than just placating nettle stings or wiping your backside with. Not many plants have such a plethora of uses attached to their CV.

On another note, the first few Hunter Gather Cook Courses are down in the calendar with many more to follow when our new website goes online at the end of the month:

Spring Fungal Foray & Feast: Saturday 27^th April.

Spring Seasonal Day Course: Saturday 4^th May.

Please email [email protected] for more information.

In the meantime, life is busy. The wife and I are moving back to the UK leaving the sun, sea and surf of SW France behind (booo!) and relocating back to good ole’ Sussex. I am then off to Ethiopia with World Vision in March to hang out with some hunter-gatherers and write about it, what an adventure!

Get docking people!

Hairy Bittercress Pesto.

There’s a surprising amount of stuff out at the moment- especially down here near Biarritz. The mint that has grown so profusely in the meadow outside my front door has braved the winter well and is already begun throw up new patches, the sorrel is just as plentiful as ever and even the red dead nettle is poking out all over the place. Granted we don’t have any snow like the UK at the moment and our winters are not so harsh near the Spanish border, but the weather is perpetually shit, there is very little to do as it rains almost constantly and even worse- Frenchies don’t ‘do’ pubs. Not even in the countryside. The warm beer of my motherland has never been so missed.

Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) is perhaps one of the most adventurous of all wild plants, in the sense that it can be found almost anywhere and is seriously invasive. Often it’s the back garden, flowerbeds and anywhere that man has disturbed the ground that will yield a good crop. You are more likely to find bittercress growing out of a crack in the pavement on the streets of London, than in a field in the countryside.

The plant itself grows in small rosettes that are easy to harvest- simply pinch the plant out of the ground and slice off the muddy root. The leaves have the typical cress-style look and small white flowers that can be seen reaching for the skies between February and September. The flavour has the peppery hit you would expect from rocket, indeed if you wish to up the stakes you can reach for Hairy Bittercress’ cousin: Cardamine pratensis also known as Lady’s Smock or Cuckoo flower (not to be confused with the name cuckoo pint/lords and ladies which is poisonous). Lady’s smock really does pack a punch, indeed it is an acquired taste with the power of horseradish…I have seen more people spit it out on courses than reach for another leaf.

As with many wild foods how we use them makes all the difference, the majority are best in their natural state and quite often don’t need cooking at all. Understanding what they work best with in terms of more common larder ingredients is an important skill for the 21^st century hunter-gatherer.  These days we are so lucky to have amazing ingredients from all around the world readily available to us. The internet is chock full of millions of recipes at our fingertips only a click away. Often the best way to begin when experimenting wild foods is to really taste the plant your dealing with and think of what it tastes similar to, then find a recipe that you think will showcase it well and make the substitution for the wildling.

This is partly why this blog has always featured more than just wild food, I have more cookbooks than is probably necessary and I rarely cook any recipes from them, but they are an invaluable resource for inspiration and ideas. Cookbooks should always have pictures to accompany the recipes- I want to try before I buy, I want to picture the end result and see if I like the look of it. The same cannot be said for restaurants, but then how many of you have had a cursory mooch around the room checking out what other diners are chowing down on? Thought so.

Of course this doesn’t always go to plan, I have had some epic disasters, but that’s all part of the learning curve. One recent exploration was pickling sorrel, I wouldn’t say it was a colossal balls up, more of sensory overload infliction to the palate: the sharpness of the oxalic acid combined with pickling fluid was enough to give you heartburn at 40 paces. However, left to marry and mingle with the Indian spiced pickling fluid for a few weeks and the result was quite a revelation!

 

Badass pickled Sorrel.

Experimentation is key. Playing with your wild food cannot be stressed enough. The most common wild food recipes you will come across will be elderflower cordial (can’t complain) and the quite repugnant wild garlic pesto. Granted wild garlic can be used in pesto, but mellow it out with other wild ingredients, rather than one big hit- all you will taste and smell of for the next few days is garlic! This illustrates the point perfectly, learn to use your wild food correctly and you will be off to a flying start.

Bittercress has always been something I have added to my Wild stinger nettle pesto for pepperiness and in the same way you can make rocket pesto, this is the wild version. Bittercress doesn’t tend to last very well once plucked from the earth and has a tendency to wilt and shrivel up, so this way you can increase its longevity indefinitely.

Hairy Bittercress Pesto.

Please note, the original recipe for Pesto from Genoa never contained pine nuts, so neither does mine…but feel free to add them if you wish.

15 rosettes of Hairy bittercress.

2-3 TBSP good quality Olive oil

1 garlic clove

Small handful of grated Parmesan

A few twists of salt and pepper

1/2 tsp of sugar

A good squeeze of lemon juice

Firstly, clip the bottom of the rosettes off and place the bittercress in a bowl of water, give it a good swish about to remove any dirt/soil/sand. Remove and drain in a colander.

Heat up a small frying pan, take your clove of garlic and bounce it around the pan for a bit- this will help make it less pungent, alternatively if you stick a few bulbs in the freezer this will have the same effect.

Put all ingredients in a blender with half the olive oil and whizz in short bursts, add a bit more olive oil as you go until you have the desired thickness and texture.

I don’t think I need to tell you how to use pesto…

Weekend whittle: you don't always have to shoot an Deer to get a set of antlers, this beast was French and called Hazel. 

 

Please check our COURSES section for HGC 2013 courses or get in touch if you fancy a private course: [email protected]

Ground Ivy: The Wild Herb Rub.

If ever there was a useful wild plant that was overlooked it has to be the humble Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederecea), also known as Alehoof. When it comes to name calling- both are relevant- ground ivy because of the way in which it creeps across the ground and alehoof because the leaves are shaped like that of a horse’s hoof and the plant was used in the past to clarify and flavour beer before the introduction of hops and modern clarifying agents.

Ground Ivy is part of the mint family, incredibly common and found almost everywhere: hedgerows, woodland verges, gardens, fields and meadows. You would have to try quite hard not to find the stuff. One thing that can be confusing is the way in which it can appear in different environments: found in a field or open space where it receives plenty of sunlight, ground ivy will often grow upright with smaller more pointed leaves as opposed to rounded. The leaves themselves will also be a rusty/red/brown colour- this is largely due to over exposure to sunlight. In shaded areas such as woodland or hedgrows, ground ivy will spread itself out and creep across the ground, have broader, rounded leaves that are deep green in colour. One thing they will both have, from March to June is a purple flower at the base of the leaves, slightly orchid in appearance and quite similar to that of Bugle.

This is where multi-sensory foraging is key- Use your nose. The unmistakable strong scent of ground ivy cannot be confused with anything else: with notes of mint, thyme, sage and rosemary it is the ultimate all-herb. You don’t get many people that find the raw taste of ground ivy appealing, but then would you chow down on a sprig of rosemary? Robin Harford of Eatweeds.co.uk, turns them into fritters with a light tempura batter and finds them more than agreeable.

In medieval times, ground ivy was used to stuff and flavour haunches of meat- being plentiful and readily available for most of the year it was a free alternative to cultivated herbs. And that’s largely how we use it down at Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ- Either dried as a wild rub with a few other ingredients or fresh in haunches of Venison for the underground oven. It can also be used to make a pleasant herbal tea known as ‘gill tea’ useful as a diuretic, astringent and to ease indigestion. 

After a bit of inspiration from Liz Knight of Foragefinefoods.co.uk who produces her own wild rub, I thought I would showcase ground ivy as the principle ingredient and use a few old favourites from the wild larder to create my own to use at HGC school- perfect for all our meat and fish. The one thing that you will have to do is dry out most of the greenery, this can be done by simply stringing it up in the kitchen near the stove or radiator for a week or so, alternatively you can spread the greenery in a roasting tin and put it in the oven at a very low temperature overnight (with oven door ajar).

 

Ground Ivy wild herb rub.

(Makes one jar)

Ingredients:

• Ground ivy (dried)
• Ladys smock (dried)
• Mint (dried)
• Oxeye daisy (dried)
• Pine needles (Fresh and finely chopped)
• 2 cloves of Garlic (finely chopped and briefly oven dried)
• Zest of 3 Lemons (briefly oven dried)
• Salt & Pepper
• Sugar

All the wild herbs were gathered bunches, enough to fill your hand in a bouquet. The pine needles must be fresh as they didn’t have as much flavour when dried-pick them off the branch and place them in a bundle before chopping finely- careful, as they have a habit of flying everywhere!

As for the Garlic and the Lemon zest- spread them in a shallow roasting tin and place them in a fan oven at 100C for about 10 minutes- just keep an eye on them to ensure they don’t burn.

Roasted Garlic and Lemon Zest.

The rest is simple, strip the dried leaves of the stalks and place all the ingredients in a blender before whizzing for a minute. Add seasoning and a little sugar, whizz again, adjust seasoning to your liking and place in a jar for immediate use.

  BBQ lamb with Wild Herb Rub...nyum nyum.

Other stuff thats been going on: We still have space in August at HGC school- mostly weekdays and a few spaces left on our Book on Course on Saturday 18th August (£80.00 per person). Also had a fantastic day fishing in the Pyrenees last week- regretably no fish- still trying to break the language barrier! Mind you, they are some of the most incredible places I have been whilst out here and there is still so much to explore. Back to blighty this week for a stag do...mine this time!

Just a few of the rivers you can fish for 15 Euros a day...

The Lower reaches of the Bastan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stinger Pesto Balls: Evolution of the nettle.

Finally…out of the woods, it’s been a jam-packed fun-filled month down at Hunter:Gather:Cook with more courses in May than the whole of last year! Many has been the occasion over the last month that I have bedded down on the foraging school kitchen floor, afterall with back to back course its not worth going home- plenty of tasty leftovers to be eaten up. I wonder how many chefs have kipped on their kitchen floor sober? So Apologies for the lack of updates, but it’s been amazing to be away from the computer for so long and playing with ingredients out in the wild- back in France now so chained to the computer until later on in the week when its time to hit the foothills of the Pyrenees for some fly fishing and wild camping.

To see what’s been going on this month, please visit our facebook page for a bucket load of pictures from last month’s courses.

Some years back, whilst still a city dweller, I made Wild stinger pesto using nettles, wild garlic and a hit of hairy bittercress to add some pepperiness to the proceedings. These days the wild garlic and Bittercress have been substituted for Three cornered Leek and Lady’s smock or young horseradish leaves. Ramsons or Wild garlic is something I tend not to use so often now- I find it too overpowering even in small doses. Three-cornered leek is much less potent and has a pleasant sweetness to it.  This is an ideal recipe for spring when our native wild garlics are out and the nettles are not yet flowering, although it is something that can be made throughout the summer if you find some cut back nettles banks.

St.Georges and Three-cornered Leek. Spring Favourites.

As with most things that change over time, recipes are prone to evolution, the more familiar you get with an ingredient and the more books you read, things are bound to change. A big winner at HGC this spring has been our Stinger Pesto balls. They have on occasion and due to presentation, morphed into cakes- next step probably burgers and a tasty one they would make too…

Lets not mess about with tofu, soya crap and Quorn. If you do happen to be an unfortunate Vegetarian as opposed to a content omnivore- this is a recipe for you both using one of natures superfoods. Meaty as you could get without a drop of blood being spilt (although we tend to serve it with saddle of rabbit).

Pan Fried Saddle of Rabbit with Stinger Pesto cakes and Sorrel Verde. 

Ingredients:

• (Makes 12 balls)
• 200g Nettle tops (full carrier bag)
• Small Bunch of Three cornered Leek (1 bulb of garlic)
• 1 egg
• 50g of breadcrumbs
• 40 g of Parmesan (grated)
• Salt and pepper to season
• Olive oil

Wash the nettles to remove any greenfly etc, Place in a saucepan and cover with boiling water, simmer for 5-10 minutes until soft. Remove from heat, drain in a colander and run cold water through the nettles to cool them. Using your hands, squeeze all the liquid from the nettles. You will end up with a small ball of condensed nettle tops- never fear, they will fluff up nicely. Remove any larger stalks then flatten on a chopping board and chop and chop till they have fluffed up, then place in a mixing bowl.

Finely chop the Three-cornered leek and add to the mixing bowl along with the breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan and finally crack the egg into the mix.  Season generously with Salt and Pepper.

Take a fork and mix the ingredients until combined. Wet your hands with water (prevents mix sticking to your hands) take a small chunk of the mixture and roll it into balls (golf ball size), give it a squeeze to see if it holds, if it cracks then the mix is too dry and you should add a glug of olive oil, or another egg.

Roll all the mixture into balls (around 12). Splash a bit of olive oil in a frying pan and place it on the stove. When hot enough, add the pesto balls and fry on all sides until golden.

Can be served with just about anything- a good squeeze of lemon is a nice touch. But they make a good base for meat or fish to sit upon, especially good with Rabbit…things that grow together go together!

Below are a few pics from HGC Spring courses. We are currently taking bookings for August, so please get in touch if you are interested. We will soon be posting some Mushroom dates for October with our resident Mycologist and Truffle hound Trainer Melissa Waddingham…watch this space.

Catering Students learning how to peel and joint bunnies. (Photo by Dave Fennings).

A bit of Homework to get on with after Plant ID walk...

 HGC Taster Menu.

Proud Hunters after Butchering their first deer under the Expert Guidance of HGC instructor Ash Ross.

Off-Grid Ingenuity: The HGC swedish log candle kebab machine.

A group of young lads getting to grips with the Fig.4 Deadfall trap.

Red Dead-nettle: a Spring Side dish.

The meadow outside the front of the house has certainly become quite the wild larder over the last few weeks, partly down to the biblical downpours that have rolled in over the Bay of Biscay and stuck firmly over Aquitaine. Over two weeks of constant rain and crap surf have kept me in the HGC test kitchen playing around with wild greens in anticipation of a delightfully rammed month of courses back in Blighty. Here in SW France everything is roughly 3-4 weeks ahead of the UK, giving a generous amount of experimental time to develop new and interesting ways to use the wild greens of spring.

My meadow (it’s not actually mine- it belongs to the local French Mafia family ‘Lesbats’ that own this little terroir) is surprisingly well stocked: Sheep’s Sorrel, common sorrel, ribwort plantain, chickweed, dandelions, common vetch, clover, red dead-nettle, nettle, Aarons rod, Round–leaved mint and even a few patches of wild chives- other than that the Allium family don’t seem to have really graced this corner of France. I cannot find any for love nor money. All the more reason to tuck in when I return to the UK in a week, having said that it is all too easy to get bogged down in Ramsons at this time of year- for obvious reasons. Little and often is good enough for me, too much wild garlic will have you crawling in Frenchman in minutes.

Another thing I have found a little odd on my forays is the French reaction to the age-old practice of gleaning the hedgerows. They seem to be completely bewildered by it. Too often whilst engrossed in gathering I hear “Excusez-moi, qu'est-ce que vous ramassez?”  I was always under the impression that the French were the quasi-foragers of Europe and the practice of gathering wild plants was mere child’s play. Fighting off the urge to retort with “ Occupe toi de tes affaires” (which roughly translates as ‘mind your own fucking business’)

Not particularly polite, but when a nation tries to play on the fact that foraging is a national pastime and they do provincial cookery is to it’s bucolic best; I am skeptical to say the least. Although I am generalizing- I am looking at it from a localized point of view, it seems as thought the French attitude to worldwide gastronomy has left them trapped in medieval times. Their rigorous denial that the rest of the world can cook has been the culinary equivalent of wearing blinkers in the kitchen.  It might look as If I don’t like the natives, but let me assure you- its just banter.

Anyway, back to the wild greens. Nettles, a wild super food in their own right have more uses than you could possibly imagine. In fact, that’s what the vast majority of cooking with wild food is all about- substituting common ingredients for suitable wild equivalents. Considering most everyday ingredients are distant cultivated relatives of wildings, its difficult to go wrong, but it does take a bit of experimentation…

The Red Dead-nettle, despite its name is actually part of the mint family, along with mints (obviously), yellow archangel, henbit, wood sage (inedible), wild marjoram and ground ivy to name but a few. It is an easy plant to identify and the only other plant you could confuse it with is henbit (also edible). The leaves of Red dead-nettle start green and gradually turning rusty purple as it comes into flower, the flowers themselves are pinkish/purple and have a delicate sweetness to them. These flowers are one the first foodstuffs for foraging bees in March-April, so make sure you leave some for them. This recipe uses Round-leaved mint too which I found growing in very close proximity. 

 

Red dead-nettle makes an ideal side dish to any meal, but should it be steamed, sautéed or raw?  Time to hit the lab. The best time to pick them is just after they have flowered, contrary to what I have read, they are a bit more flavorsome. Pick now, as they will disappear in the next few weeks!

Raw: Ok, but does feel like you are simply eating a plant- works well as a bulking agent in salads but distinctly unremarkable.

Steamed: Good, a bit of seasoning, but still unable to fix a tasty combo.

Sautéed: Best method- see below.

Red Dead-nettle with mint, smoked garlic and butter.

• 100g red dead-nettle’s
• 1 smoked garlic clove (finely chopped)
• 5 sprigs mint (tops only-first 3 sets of leaves)
• Small knob of butter
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Juice of ½ lime

Wash the nettles and mint and leave to sit in a colander, heat a knob of butter in a saucepan and add the garlic. Sautee gently on a low heat and add the greens and the remaining water that’s clinging to them.

Try not to stir, instead swish them around the saucepan with a flick of the wrist. Season well with S&P, Cook for about 4-5 minutes then serve immediately with a good squeeze of lime juice, its also a nice touch to collect a few of the flowers sprinkle over at the end and add small busrts of sweetness. A particularly a good side dish with Lamb.

Well, what else has been going on? Lots of pickling, preserving and wild brewing, I have been getting quite into fermenting foods ever since making kimchi, Sorrel sauerkraut is currently bubbling away under the sink. Japanese knotweed has been turned into syrups, crumbles and is currently flavouring some vodka  (see Andy Hamilton’s recipe here). We have been trying to have BBQ’s, cooking up fresh Anchovies in Sorrel Verde and grilling Dorade…when it hasn’t been raining.

 

Back to the UK in a week for a month of HGC courses, living loo construction and quite looking forward to getting back into the woods of the Weald! We are fully booked for May but June/July/August still has plenty of dates open. Please do get in touch if you want to book a Hunter:Gather:Cook Course: [email protected]

The Wild Martini: Homemade Hedgerow Vermouth.

 

‘One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough.’

James Thurber

Martini’s are something that has gradually made an appearance over the last few years. A far cry from the foolish consumption of the two spirits involved: attempted and unconquered in teenage years, which often result in lifelong aversion for the many. Gin and Vodka demand respect and should be treated accordingly.

Personally I have always been partial to a hint of Gin, the G&T- a British institution to the Nth degree and something to keep malaria at bay, but Vodka has never had the same appeal until my recent education on exactly what a martini is…and can be. Forget all the James Bondage banter of ‘Shaken not Shtirred’, I won’t go into the refinements of mixology and whether your martini should be stirred in the direction of France/Italy or not. That’s for the anal-ists to discuss. For me, the attraction of the Martini lies in its simplicity: Ice, Vodka or Gin and Vermouth of some kind. An ice cold drink that never fails to hit the spot.

Cocktail hour used to be de rigueur back in the day, but now seems increasingly frowned upon, out here we have been extolling its virtues as a payment for every other day of toil- and rightly so. Far too many folk in the UK whinge and binge about alcohol consumption constantly, anabolic debates from suits, skirts, slaves to the city, bored housewives’, and depressed whining lefties (not to say I’m a righty- they just drink a lot. I consider myself an agnostic when it comes to politics): “Ooo, I might give up drinking for January…”, yes of course, that sounds like a great plan, and then binge-drink for the rest of the year. Moderation is key when enjoying the finer things in life and the Martini is no exception.

 

Obviously, I deal in Wild plants, so I am always keen to use them in new and different ways. I have had plenty of success with my wild brews- my Nettle beer is a constant delight, Meadowsweet champagne also a firm favourite. But, would I be able to stretch my wild botanicals to a vermouth? Hmm, why not?

On the whole, vermouth gets a bad name, I always assumed Noilly Pratt was produced for the sole purpose of cooking fish (excuse the fish pun), but it turns out that its real plaice is in the cocktail cabinet (no more, I promise). A lot of Martini aficionados constantly discuss how much vermouth, if any, should go near a martini. The more hardcore say that you should simply call up a friend and ask them to open and sniff a bottle of vermouth over the phone and that’s enough, others simply wash their glass with a splash and give it a swirl before discarding. I could go on, but I can’t be bothered. Gurnard.

 

When I looked into the construction of vermouth a bit more closely, it actually seemed quite achievable. Quite simply, vermouth is a mixture of aromatics: herbs, roots and bark, added to a base of wine with a touch of sugar, then bottled and sold.

It came as no surprise that someone on this here interweb had produced a homemade version, but with a list of ingredients longer than an Elephant’s love muscle, see here: http://lastcrumb.com/2007/09/06/homemade-vermouth/

When it came to selecting my ingredients from the wild, one thing I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to tickle out of the hedgerows would be wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and Gentian, the two principle ingredients and bittering agents. I wanted to make this a recipe obtainable for most who like to forage without getting too precise on ingredients for a traditional vermouth. This was all about maceration glass containers, scientific mixing and metal spoons with long handles and stuff. So Heston, you could stick it on top of a pudding and call it a Blumenthal (in my head that sounded like blancmange).

Considering I decided to do this little experiment in the midst of November, I was quite surprised what was still available in the wild larder, mind you an extra month tacked on to the end of summer: another perk of La vie de Sud-ouest France, along with 1 ½ hour lunch breaks and half days on Friday, neither of which really apply to me- bugger. Obviously I couldn’t put a vermouth together without reaching for a few store cupboard staples, here’s the list of participants:

 

For the wild bunch:

Wild angelica (aromatic)

Wild Strawberry Tree fruit (Arbutus unedo) (fruity)

Gorse flowers (floral)

Wild Chamomile (floral/fruity)

Maritime pine needles (aromatic)

Rock Samphire (aromatic/floral)

Wild fennel seeds (aromatic)

The Staples:

Rosemary (aromatic)

Cinnamon (aromatic)

Orange zest (bittering)

Cloves (strong aromatic)

When picking your list of botanicals look for a few strong flavours- bitter, aromatic and perhaps something fruity/floral too.

There were thoughts of Yarrow, Meadowsweet, Sorrel and Himalayan Balsam flowers, but seasonality and simplicity got the better of me.  The only other problem was: how the hell do I make it?

Fortune rarely sits on a plate in front of you- this day it did, with big shiny bells on.  A certain cocktail company by the name of 'Bamboo', to which I have absolutely no family connection, came to my rescue. They do a lot of strange and wondrous things when it comes to mixology, like that blancmange bloke with the specs. I was transferred to the vermouth man who makes their in-house version and he talked me through the how, why, what, where and then of the martini’s ally.

Step 1:

Gather together your ingredients, both from the wild and the supermarket. Purchase some white granulated sugar, a bottle of dry white (a bottle from Languedoc was used in this case) and a spirit with the highest ABV possible in which to macerate your ingredients- the higher the percentage the better/faster the alcohol will draw out the flavours from your ingredients.

Step 2:

 Maceration should only take a couple of days- place your ingredients in a small jar, pour over the alcohol, seal and leave in a dark place. The best I could do for the alcohol was 50% and I used a spirit as neutral as possible- vodka.

Step 3:

Get out your measuring jugs- to balance your vermouth correctly the ratio of white wine to the macerated botanicals should be roughly 3:1. When it comes to mixing you should use 150ml of macerated botanicals to 500ml wine.

Step 4:

Gently heat 500ml of white wine in a non-metallic pan bring up to a simmer and add 2 TBSP sugar. The added sugar will help to hold and carry the flavour of your botanicals. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Allow to cool completely.

Step 5:

Now its time to add your botanicals. This is where it is essential to taste as you go. It works to have a bottle of Noilly Prat for tasting as a comparison as you go. Obviously, remove the botanicals themselves and just use the liquid. I added 15ml of each of the 10 botanicals, which makes it up to 150ml in total. I actually had 11- but as cloves tend to be quite overpowering I only used about 7ml of the clove maceration. Orange zest can be doubled up, as it is a good bittering agent.

Step 6:

  Once mixed and your happy with the balance of flavours, bottle the vermouth and leave it for a couple of days to settle. You will then be ready to make your Martini.

Step 7:

  Martini Mixing. Get your self a cocktail shaker (NOT for shaking) and drop 5-6 ice cubes in. Although traditionally Gin is the one to use, I went for Vodka, once again as it is fairly neutral in flavour and should help to let the wild vermouth shine through. Pour 15ml of vermouth and 60ml of vodka over the ice and then stir gently with a chopstick or long spoon for about 1 minute. Once super chilled, pour the martini into the glass and garnish how you wish- olives/ lemon zest/ sorrel leaves. Drink. When Vodka is ice cold it slips down a treat.

So there you have it: the wild vermouth. Very much looking forward to the onslaught of spring and summer to play with a few more wild flavours. If you ‘into’ your Martini’s, I would strongly advise having a go at knocking up your own vermouth. Wild cocktails are definitely the way forward!

 

Plenty more been going on- so much so that I almost feel that i have been neglecting the website...But then who wants to spend more time than they have to in front of a computer? I went back to the UK a couple of weeks ago to set up HGC HQ- she overwintered very well, just in time for a visit from the Telegraph. We also had the first course: a stag do of 17 lads- a good time had by all! I also joined Al Humphreys and The Hungry Cyclist fo their A to Z: London's World of food- P is for Peru. A visit to Soho's 'Ceviche'. Fine nosh indeed. Do get in touch with them if you want to join them on the next one.

We are taking bookings for the summer- so do get in touch if you are keen to book up your very own HGC experience, May is almost full to the brim, with only a few weekdays remaining.

The most recent project is coming to fruition, back to the trees once again for an all natural tree pod. And I think Ihave found the perfect spot:

 

 

Foraging in Sussex: Hunter:Gather:Cook School 2011.

What a year its been- I never expected when I started this website 4 years ago it would go from an online world of posting recipes, experiments and experiences and turn into something, real, interactive and informative. The first year of HGC school has been great fun and a I feel I have learnt almost as much as all those who have attended the courses (I think the best tip I received was from one Alan Paterson who told me to use washing powder to soak and clean burnt eggy pans- works a treat)! I cannot thank those who attended enough for making our first year a great success.

Throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn I was consistently pleased to see that I had really had found the perfect place for the school, the flora & fauna of the surrounding landscape not only provided rabbits, squirrels, pigeon, fallow deer and carp for the HQ kitchen’s meat store (even allowing a few attendees to dispatch them on the day), but the plants and fungi were just as forthcoming: Giant puffballs, bay boletus, parasols and chicken of the woods all put in a timely, yet surprising appearance.

2011 saw HGC doing privately booked bespoke courses as opposed to days you ‘book on to’, this will still be the case for 2012- But fear not! In 2012 we are organising a series of group days, which you CAN book onto. These will have a predetermined structure and a bit cheaper than the private days

 

Private days and overnight courses will still be available- I still feel that the learning experience for the attendees is much better and on a more personal level than having larger groups, this also enables you to choose your desired date and we can design the course around what you wish to learn about. We have started taking bookings already for next year- May and June are gradually filling up so please get in touch if you fancy becoming a 21^st century Hunter-gatherer. There will be more dates to following for June, July and August.

Obviously all our courses are based around foraging and cooking, but that still means you have to know how to source it and how to cook it when you are off the grid and in the woods. This is how the HGC curriculum evolved- we do so much more than plant identification and ensure that you WILL get your hands dirty! As pictures are worth a thousand words, here are a few snapshots of what we have been up to this year on our courses at Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ and what YOU could be experiencing next year!

Humble beginnings- HGC off-grid HQ gets off the ground, all built from natural or recycled matrerials.

The HQ Kitchen- designed in the perfect kitchen triangle, Oak tables constructed from Oak from the very wood in which we reside.

 

Off-Grid Ice Cream- its amazing what you can do with a bit of plastic, a power drill and a couple of buckets. Blackberry & wild mint ice cream.

Staggy- Yes, we do Stag and Hen do's aswell! It only seemed fitting to get them a roebuck for Lunch, do a bush tucker trial and shelter challenge at the end. All washed down with 10 gallons o'cider.

Trapping & Knapping- how to catch your fur with a fig.4 deadfall and of course, you will need something to cut it up with: flint.

Deer in a day- from processing to smoking, underground ovens and slow roasting. Too much meat? Never.

Cooking- Dutch ovens do more than just stews. Muurikka Skillets and good ol'fashioned Smoking tripod always make an appearence.

Hunter:Gather:Shelter Overnighters- If you are spending the night with us, we will take you through how to build a comfy nest for the night.

Clay Oven Cookery- Our clay oven produces the best Rabbit & nettle pesto pizza and the spade we used to make it is excellent for fry-ups.

Rabbits- Once we have taken you through how to remove their furry packaging and joint them, they transform into pan fried saddle of rabbit wrapped in pancetta and sage on a wild salsa with puffball base.

Pigeon- Plucked, Pan fried and relaxed- either with a wild leaf salad and blackberry jus or Carpaccio'ed with baby horseradish leaves, elderberries and wood sorrel.

Mycological Munch: Plenty of fungi found on the farm for a fun-filled afternoon of feeding. Bay boletus, puffballs and chickens.

Man's greatest discovery: Fire, without which we would only eat cold food. At HGC we cover all the basics from wood selection, fire management, fire by friction and the all reliable flint and steel. (Sorry about all the F-ing).

Pots & Pans...and Rabbits too.

Sea beet and Phat Beets: Saag Aloo.

Phat Beets at 'Bunkers', Capbreton.

Few things lift the spirit more than a fine Spring day in Blighty, except perhaps a fine spring day in South-West France, a spring day in Hossegor makes a British Summer pale in comparison. The 1^st April was 30C and hotter than Satan’s bollocks, my pasty complexion was shocked and probably thought it was an April fool…not so. The evening was spent sweating by the beach and drinking some of Bordeaux's finest at the beach in Biarritz.

Still scorching at 8.30pm. Spring indeed!

During my visits to Aquitaine, I always go for a bit of an exploration into the ‘Sauvage’ of the Cote des Landes, despite the volume of sand, maritime pines and cork trees, there are many similarities to our native Britain. Be it on foot, in the car or with the fishing rod, there is plenty to do and so far I have found many of the wild foods we have in the UK in serious abundance.

The French like to give the impression they are serious foragers- you cannot deny they’ve cornered the gastronomic market with their culinary genius, but it strikes me that the French have lost interest in food for free unless it has a pulse or a web of mycelium beneath it. Mushrooms are the Frenchman’s wild food of choice and perhaps that’s all that matters to them. They are old hands at gathering wild greens and the baton of thrift has been passed over the channel and lobbed over the Atlantic to let the Brits and the Yanks rummage through the undergrowth for a change.

Hunter:Gather:Cook- Off-grid HQ begins...

Inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places, looking back I think mine was stumbled upon at the Giant’s Cup in the Southern Drakensburg, South Africa. Granted the place itself could quite easily be inspiration enough: the flat topped, jutting peaks and the grassy plains full of howling baboons echo exploits of Hemingway- especially striking out in a boat in search of Trout, the great white hunter lives on…. 

 The view from the boat house at Giant's Cup. December 2006.

But it was not so much place, but a person. Wolf Avni the proprietor of our breath-taking surroundings was a fisherman foremost and writer second. His eccentricity was only matched by his wit, and it was only after getting a copy of his book “A Mean-Mouthed, Hook-Jawed, Bad-News Son-of-a Fish” that I realized this chap spoke like he wrote- bizarre perhaps, but certainly unique.  His prose was magical- Shakespeare meets Izaak Walton and then goes on a bender with Bill Hicks and a couple of Trout. I liked it a lot- I wanted to write…big time.

My brother and I spent plenty of time flogging the water chasing the fish- from the enormous lake to the pleasant trickle of the Umzimkulawana River; we had three days of wonderful South African landscape, but very little bite. The Trout of the Southern Hemisphere were too cunning for my liking. It wasn’t until sometime afterwards that I noticed Wolf had added a brief inscription in the front of his book that said:

“For Nick. Nil Illigitimi Carborundum.”

Now whether it was a reference to our fishing or a valuable lesson for life, the common Latin phrase translates as “Don’t let the Bastards grind you down”. And I think it was then that my life began to take a more alternative route that I wasn’t entirely prepared for and quite frankly never will be. But such is the rich tapestry of life!

So after living on a desert island, a Tree house and a cow barn, this year is all about two things: Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ and the Frenchies and their food. Bouncing between two countries is perhaps not the most settled of living arrangements, but with a ‘river cottege-esque’ pad in rural Sussex and an apartment and fiancée on the beach in Southern France- I can hardly complain.

Heavy- Serious Cable laying plant.

This weekend saw not only the start of the great British summer, but also a flurry of activity in a small corner of Sussex woodland. Starting a business is not easy- as many will no doubt agree, but in this case a weekend frolicking in the woods building your office is a perk to say the least. Having just finished a rather regal composting Thunder box for a private client it was time to begin work on my own grand design.

Oak pegs for the A-frames. 

Trying to define exactly what Hunter:Gather:Cook is all about ain’t easy. First and foremost it is a foraging and cookery school, dedicated to educating participants in the rich variety of food that exists around us in the wild, but I wanted it to be so much more than that. It’s about lifestyle: wild food isn’t just about plants, fruits and fungi, its about protein and how to catch it, its about cooking it and how to create and utilize fire for more than just a BBQ. It’s about understanding the landscape you are in and how to create a comfortable existence within it in the most simplistic of ways. And that, ladies & gentleman, is what Hunter:Gather:Cook is all about- sometimes its useful to look to the past in order to see where you are going and our Hunter-gatherer ancestors have led the way. This is about learning to live off the land and how to live with it.

Wild Salads: Foraging for Spring hedgerow greens.

 

When looking through any wild food ID book, it comes as no surprise that the majority of wild greens are ‘good in salads’ something you will be all to familiar with if you have thumbed through Ray Ray’s big fat tome on the subject. So it only seems right to construct a salad from the spring greens that are cropping up as the first signs of spring, many of which will be available in some form or other throughout most of the long overdue 

summer (couldn’t be happier to see the arse-end of winter, its pants).

 

 

There was a time when eating salad was strictly for the female of the species, for a male to order a salad, nay to be even seen suckling on a leaf, ridicule would often follow. Quite why such machismo was thrust onto carrot-crunching I don’t know, but thankfully gent’s obsessions with gyms and protein powders have gradually earned a thumbs up for the green stuff.

The origins of the salad and exactly what would define one are hazy, as I understand from scrolling through inches of inane internet babble such as this, a salad is only defined as a salad when it is dressed, otherwise it is simply a plate of raw greenery or ‘rabbit food’. 

 

 

 

It came as no surprise that it was the Greeks and Romans that were the pioneers of salad. The basis for the word ‘salad’ is ‘sal’, meaning salt. Salt was, and still is, a key ingredient in the dressing of the leaves:

 

"Salad, a term derived from the Latin sal (salt), which yielded the form salata, 'salted things' such as the raw vegetables eaen in classical times with a dressing of oil, vinegar or salt. The word turns up in Old French as salade and then in late 14th century English as salad or sallet.They always used a dressing of some sort: oil, vinegar, and often brine. And hence the name salad, which comes from Vulgar Latin Herba salata, literally 'salted herb'." 
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford Univeristy Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 682).

 

It would be madness to assume the Romans were the first to collect a variety of greens, put them altogether and enjoy, certainly this was a practice that was used during the Mesolithic, but the Romans refined it…and, most crucially- recorded it. Many of the herbs and leaves we use today are cultivars of the hedgerow greens that we still see today, except they have been cultivated to the point that their flavour- what made them so desirable in the first place, has all but vanished. Come to think of it there are only two salad varieties on offer in grocers, markets and mupersarkets that retain their original character: Rocket and watercress…and both are peppery. Not much of a choice is it?

With most prepared salads in a bag costing around £1.79 a pop down the supermarket aisle, most of which taste the same (apart from the ‘separate’ bags of rocket or watercress), foraging for a bit of variety can take the humble salad to a whole new level. So which are best for an interesting flavour combination and how do you go about selecting the perfect salad from the wild?

 

Firstly, you have two criteria to fill: Flavour and bulk.

Your essential flavourings (and it pays to bear in mind the five points of taste- bitter, salty, sour, sweet and umami,- some will come from your dressing)  will be found in some of the more charismatic greens, ‘herby’ if you like, these are:

 

 

Flavour:

 

• Common Sorrel and wood sorrel (lemon\citrus)

• Wild Garlic/Ramsons (intense Garlic)

• Jack-by –the-hedge/Hedge Garlic (soft garlic)

• Dandelion leaves (bitter notes- think chicory)

• Hairy Bittercress (Peppery)

• Ladies smock (OTT peppery- edible for insane persons only)

• Primrose flowers (sweetness)

• Chickweed (sweetness- similar to sweetcorn)

• Ox-eye daisy leaves (aromatic- think fennel/ liquorice)

• Ground ivy (herbaceous- slightly aromatic)

• Alexanders (Aromatic)

 

Bulk:

 

These are generally the plainer hedgerow options, perfect for beefing up and adding volume. Try to go for whatever grows in profusion. There are so many more than listed- but here are a few of my favourites.

 

 

 

 

• Lesser Celandine leaves

• Chickweed (not just a flavouring- very common)

• Yarrow

• Goosegrass or cleavers

• Red dead nettle

• Burnt stinging nettle (interesting combo- burn in naked flame to remove stingers- think roast!)

• Navelwort

• Hawthorn leaves (spring)

• Beech Leaves (spring)

• Comfrey

• Ground elder

• Brooklime

• Golden leaved Saxifrage

Vinaigrette is really what makes a salad a salad in the traditional sense. Without dressings, being a vegetarian would be a much harder occupation than it is. In most cases a simple vinaigrette is called for to really let flavour of the leaves shine through, a good guide is to go for a balance of 3:1 on oil: vinegar.

Basic vinaigrette mix:

 

•  

  1 TBS cider vinegar

• 3 TBS  olive oil

• ¼ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp pepper

Now is the perfect time to be out getting out and about- Urban environments are just as productive as rural ones, so don’t be shy! Wild spring greens are traditionally the first salads of the year and, above all, they fill that uncomfortable gap whilst waiting for the first arrivals from the patch, greenhouse or poly tunnel.

Other Stuff- Hunter:Gather:Cook School is hotting up, I have the construction weekend coming up in 2 weeks to get everything set before nipping off to France for spring break and some time with my lady.

 

April/May course dates are available- click here to have a look and email me for any enquiries.

 

My latest post for the Guardian ‘word of mouth’ Blog went up over the weekend on the sustainability of foraging- to have a read and have your say click here.

 

Recently moved house near the rather wonderfully rustic village of Barcombe in East Sussex, looks freakishly like River cottage with crazy yew topiary and...lots and lots of very annoying crows, anyone got any good recipes for the buggers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hunter Gather Cook: Sussex Foraging School.

Here we go! This year Hunter Gather Cook goes from being a blog to a bespoke outdoor experience centered around wild food and cooking. This is not your run-of-the-mill foraging experience: expect off-grid kitchens, underground ovens, hunting & trapping lessons, home brewing and how to use the landscape to your advantage. Not quite bushcraft, not just foraging. After a day spent at the school you will go home laden with goodies you have made yourself from the freshest wild ingredients Sussex has on offer: jarred, potted and bottled and a little closer to being the ultimate 21^st century Hunter-gatherer.

The day course covers a huge range of plant Identification, but the focus is on the how you can use them with everyday standard ingredients and add that little bit extra to every meal. Protein is just as important as plants, so you could be cooking anything from squirrels, rabbits and pigeon to perch, chub and pike. This course is extremely hands-on even down to taking apart the animals yourself!

Many of the regular followers of the blog will know all about my days of Tree house dwelling? Essentially, this is what the school is about: creating a comfortable existence and feeling at home in the great outdoors- this is NOT about survival.

The first dates for Spring are available below and all courses are based in Mid-Sussex:

The cost for the day (9am-6pm) is £75.00 per person (max 12 people per group- discounts on group bookings). I do still run exclusive courses and overnighters for a more personal touch (max 3 people).

April:

Saturday 30^th April

May:

Wednesday 4^th May

Wednesday 11^th May- places available

Saturday 14th May: (Wild food Supper club @ the Underground Restaurant- Londinium)

Wednesday 18^th May- places available

Saturday 21^st May- full

Wednesday 25^th May- full

Many more course dates are to be confirmed for Summer and Autumn, do please get in touch if you are interested- Look forward to seeing you out in the woods soon!

Oyster Mushrooms and Early Spring Greens.

Few things are more delightful on a brisk walk through the woods, on a cold January day, than coming across a cluster of Pleurotus ostreatus fanning out in tiers of slate-blue. The walk becomes instantly more worthwhile than simply getting a bit of fresh air- whatever was meant to be for supper that evening is instantly scrapped, the oysters are immediately plucked and pockets are filled with firm flesh, the intoxicating aroma of mushrooms and perhaps (depending on how far along the oysters are) half a dozen maggots.

 

It has always struck me as rather strange that most mushrooms aficionados will quite happily chow down on a good fungal find even if it does contain a few maggots, such an abhorrent practice wouldn’t even be considered if it were some sort of meat or fish. Of course you do try to avoid as many as possible, but then it is quite satisfying to see a panic-stricken maggot desperately trying to escape a sautéing chunk of fungi only to hit the base of the hot pan, go into a series of crazy spasms and then explode. I quite welcome the added protein boost to the meal, after all the maggots are basically made up of the mushroom they have been eating…just be wary if you come over to mine for supper and foraged ‘shrooms are on the menu.

Jew’s Ear Fungi...or is it Jelly Ear?

The wild larder is not completely bare at this time of year, whilst Mother Nature begins to tease us with the appearance of the first snowdrops and the sprouting of daffodils; spring is still a long way off. But do not despair, she has spared us a few treats from the hedgerow to munch on: Sorrel, Bittercress and chickweed seem to be abundant along with two members of the fungal family: Oyster mushrooms and Jew’s ears.

We find ourselves in a sad little world indeed, when a mushroom has to have a preferential name to avoid anti-Semitism. For some time whilst teaching foraging I couldn’t decide what to introduce this tasty fungi as. Its pseudonym of ‘Jelly Ear’ is all well and good in descriptive terms- it certainly does look like an ear, lobes cartilage the lot, but in a historical context the non-PC version is preferential.

The Latin name Auricularia auricula-judae hints to its past, eventually adapted from ‘Judas Ear’ to ‘Jew’s Ear’ it was so named under the belief that Judas Iscariot hung himself on an elder tree, the principle host on which you will almost always find this fungi growing, others include beech and sycamore infrequently.

The Jew’s ear is not a difficult one to find, as mentioned, Elder trees are the place to look. They often grow on dead parts of the tree devoid of bark, either in a cluster or in a row. When picking, simply take a knife and cut the fungi off as close to the base as possible. There are a number of reasons why this fungi is worth picking more often:

 

Elderflower fritters: Summer pudding made easy…

 

You could rave on about elderflower till the cows come home. Indeed this recipe can go down with the hundreds of other mandatory elderflower recipes that appear every summer in virtually every newspaper supplement…”go wild!” they say, I think it is slightly ironic coming from some staff writer, jumping on the foraging bandwagon, chained to a desk somewhere in the city…but then they are writing something worthwhile at least!

To be Frank as opposed to Susan, they are just too bloody good not to do…

Wild Garlic pods & Hop shoots and some other stuff

 

 

Its always a sad sight to see the wild garlic disappear, the most versatile ingredient of the wild larder never sticks around too long, probably it’s own fault for being too keen jump out at the first inkling of spring. The reason it is so wonderful as a wild ingredient is the way in which it presents garlic in such a different form to the norm: there are at least 5 different parts to make use through out its short time here.

Pine needle vinegar...

 

Just a quicky today, I am bogged down with plans of all kinds, desperately trying to make one come to fruition!

The wild larder offers slim pickings in the winter months, thankfully there is a slight hint that spring is steadily making its way back to Britain: snow drops are in abundance, the first wild garlic shoots are appearing and even the daffodils are erupting from the earth…good stuff! I hate winter.

Cauliflower cheese and Sorrel Verde.

“Whats that structure there?” so came the innocent question from the Reuters news journalist.

“A bench.” I said. What else could it be?

The last week has been full on. Monday to Tuesday I was visited by an extremely talented photographer, Greg Funnell (www.gregfunnell.com) and then Wednesday- Thursday, a young adventure called Kevin who is planning to cycle and sail around the world next year (www.becauseitisthere.co.uk) each were treated to the delights of treehouse living from pheasant to squirrel and even a taste of the somewhat elusive Cauliflower fungus. Friday was left aside for a visit from Reuters News and weirdly, as I later found out, the chairman of Reuters happens to be my next door neighbour and lives the other side of my wood. That would explain the big house and perfectly manicured gardens…

 

The Treehouse diaries: Of Marrows & Meadowsweet…

 

Well, Scotland was grand, but I have returned with an absurd enthusiasm and I find myself trying to do everything at once…not possible! On the first day back down I went out to secure some protein for a slap up supper chez treehouse. Carrying an air rifle the size of this one makes me feel like I should be out sniping the Taliban or knocking flat Charlie in the dense Vietnamese jungle…so naturally to achieve such a look (and for practicality actually- you can’t look through a scope with a flat cap forwards!) I had to go all Samuel L. Jackson with the headgear. After creeping along the hedgerow, I had a nice fat rabbit in the bag for supper and my rabbit skin rug would cover a little more floor space.

 

Battersea Nettle Beer: A wild brew from the urban jungle...

 

To those of you following my escapades, I am supposed to be living up a tree at the moment. And that is correct…sort of! I am as we speak in a homeless limbo of my Mothers place in Sussex (where I do all my blogging) and a sleeping bag in the middle of the wood. You will be pleased to know that it is coming along very well and progress will be updated here in a few days. I did have a particularly fine pint one afternoon, while working on the Treehouse, so here is the result of my final Urban foray in London and it goes a little something like this:

On the one hand, the stinging nettle is one of Mother Nature’s greatest gifts. On the other, it is the possibly one of the most annoying, frustrating plants growing today: It is all in the eye of the beholder.

In my toddling days, I learnt to give stingers a wide berth, I also learnt that the application of a split dock leaf was more than ample treatment to combat the throbbing infliction dealt out by this fairly innocent looking plant. As I have grown I have come to appreciate this plant for all its many uses: as a vegetable, a source of twine, a weapon (especially on country walks with friends) and most recently, as an ingredient for turning water into something a little more grown up…beer.

Alexanders: Urban foraging for Roman Veggies...

 

As the Britannic tribes stood on the coast ogling the arrival of Julius Caesar in 55BC, they probably weren’t under the impression that this band of invaders would be a good thing. Although the first recce was short and sweet it wouldn’t be for another 100 years till the Roman presence was truly felt in Britain.

The Romans did plenty for Britain and the rest of the empire, as pointed out by the People’s front of Judea in Life of Brian. Big pimpin’ Villas sprawled across the South Downs with swanky mosaics, baths and hypocaust systems (that’s under floor heating to you and me). Along with the latest in swanky household installations from I-Claudius (before the Scandinavians renamed it IKEA), the Romans were also responsible for some new culinary sensations that our ancestors would never have seen, let alone tasted, before.

Rules of Engagement.

I received an email last week from one of my readers; it was concerning the picking of wild garlic bulbs and the legality of such activities. The email got me thinking about just what the law does allow Hunter-gatherers to do and just how we should be looking after our chosen foraging environments.

In the email it was mentioned that it is illegal to pick the bulbs of wild garlic. This is not strictly true, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act it is illegal to dig up a plant by the root, however common it is, unless it is on your own land or you have the landowner’s permission. My favoured wild garlic harvesting spot is on a Friend’s farm and there is more of it than you could shake a stick at.

The other point that was raised was how essential it is to set good sustainable standards where our wild foods are concerned. Quite, I couldn’t agree more. So what are the rules of engagement when it comes to foraging?

Wild Stinger Pesto.

 

Whilst I still haven’t given up my urban roots just yet, and still enjoy eating them whenever possible (I couldn’t resist a little Hugh Punly-Whittingstall action- I do apologise), I thought I would take the opportunity, with all this fine weather we are having, to go and see if the London larder had swung open its doors for business.

Often I have found Battersea park to be a mixed bag in terms of wild food: Good for squirrel fishing, bad for mushrooms, good for elderflower, bad for chestnuts etc, etc. But there is one time of year that the park does come into it’s own, and that’s right about now- spring. I always find Sussex has a slight delay on London, whilst the hawthorn leaves are beginning to show themselves up here, the radioactive-free countryside has still to get its first smattering of green.

21st Century Hunter-gathering: The fully foraged meal.

 

It amazes me how quickly one can go from standing on a crowded platform at Clapham Junction to wandering through Sussex countryside, armed with a 12-bore on the lookout for something for supper- it was exactly 1hr and 10 minutes to be precise.

I wouldn’t say it is the best time of year to be grubbing through the hedgerows with the hope of creating a meal solely upon what Mother Nature can provide, but there are, thankfully, a few signs that spring is slowly emerging from hibernation. Wondering about the woods, I noticed on the trees that the buds are slowly fattening up ready to burst and the wild garlic is peeking through the soil down by the river- finally winter is drawing to a close. In fact, according to the diary, British Summertime begins on the 29^th March-just over a month away!

Bittercress: a wild version of rocket.

 

It has been sometime since I delved into the wild larder for something to write about. Having a blog that publicizes the notion that I am a hunter-gatherer and I write mostly about wild food, I have begun to feel like a bit of a fraud. Obviously there has been the odd bit of game on the chopping board, but as far as greens go- zilch. I could blame it on the seasons and say that winter is the cause for all the lack of wild food (a fair statement- there isn’t much), but that is simply not the case.

Over the last few months the cracks in the pavement around Battersea are consistently stuffed with bunches of chickweed. Dandelions sit on the edge of pathways and in those random patches of grass or waste ground that just happen to be there. Although many of these plants are not in their prime in terms of consumption, they are everywhere, patiently waiting to become some of the finest spring greens.

Homebrew: Hops.

 

I suppose it all began over the summer. I went down to visit my mother and noticed her hop plant had begun to gradually worm around the side of the fence and coil itself around it’s annual perch of the lengths of wire I had helped my mother put up the year before. This year I felt different about them. They had to be used for something. I had read about the Romans gorging themselves on hop shoots (an early form of asparagus appreciation no doubt) and I was well aware of the humble hop’s proven abilities in the brewery. By now they were almost halfway across the fence, out came the hammer, nails and wire and up went a further extension in the hope of maximising this years harvest.

 

 

There are certain things every young man should have achieved by the time they are 30, various research on the Internet and suggestions from friends revealed some interesting goals:

 

• Spend a night in a police cell
• Lick the terminals of a 9v battery
• Make a million pounds
• Do something illegal
• Use a whole roll of gaffer tape in a day
• Poo outdoors
• Kill your own food
• Appear on TV
• Jump out of an aeroplane (with parachute)
• Running with the bulls in Pampalona
• Make money on the stock market
• Stop saying “I want to be a…” and start saying “I am a…”
• Learn to surf
• Lose a week’s salary in a casino
• Hotwire a car
• Write a novel
• Live on a desert island for a month
• Drive across a country

Some of these I can happily say I have achieved, others I have little or no interest in. I think we all have our own personal goals as to what we wish to achieve by 30 and one of mine was to make my own booze.