Four fruits.

No, not the supermarket shopping list, but my choice for this week out of that 52 Ways to Walk book, Take a foraging walk. Another one ticked off.

I have another book, The Forager’s Calendar, a month-by-month guide to wild foods. I dip into it from time to time; I should do so more often.

We are on the cusp between August and September, and each month’s entry in the book gives a long list of edible possibilities. The seasons are changing weather-wise, so that things can become a little out of step. A short walk not far from home provides four obvious fruits for picking – blackberries, rowan, hawthorn and bullace. All are relatively easy to gather from a short stretch of hedge, and in a short time I have ample.

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The obvious one at this time of year is the Blackberry. It seems plentiful, yet some fruits are shrivelled, probably from lack of water, but I find a decent patch.

I soon have enough.

I plan to combine them with some apples and cook a crumble. That is the easy one out of the way.

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Along the hedge is a Rowan, the Mountain Ash, bursting with fruit.

I have not picked these before and have to look up a recipe for them. It doesn’t sound promising for these bitter berries; the only one really is rowan and apple jelly. To counteract the bitterness somewhat, it is best to pick the berries after hard frosts. My answer to that will be to place the berries in the freezer for a few days, bletting, before stewing with the apples.

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Last year I made some sloe gin for Christmas and intend to repeat the successful treat again this year. The bush in the hedge is actually a Bullace, similar to the sloe, a member of the plum family but without the barbs. 

Again, they are best picked after a hard frost, but they will receive the freezer treatment before being bottled with the gin. 

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The hedge itself is primarily Hawthorn, the most common hedging in Britain. Again this year there is an abundance of red berries, Haws.

The seeds of the hawthorn contain cyanide and should not be eaten. Most recipes for jams and jellies involve tedious straining, so I choose Hawthorn Schnapps instead. The berries just need steeping in vodka for a few weeks. I think I need to pick some more and may freeze them first. 

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Whilst I’m out getting more haws, I could look for crab apples, elderberries, rose hips and juniper; and of course the mushroom season is coming on. Happy foraging.