A bit of a pickle

[Harvestman]

Taking advantage of a day off (but I have to work the weekend instead ) I went out for a bit of a forage this morning, until rain stopped play.

Found a couple of nice Early Purple Orchids,


and some decorative hops.


The local girls were friendly too


However, this is what I really went out for:

Left to right: Back row: Beech leaves, ramsons, hedge garlic.
Front row: Harts-tongue fern, lime leaves, hogweed, yellow archangel tips, ramson buds.


With the additional of a few ingredients, mainly vinegar, this is what I ended up with:

At the back: Beech leaf gin and beech leaf vodka (the latter with vanilla) - both still in prep.
Plus, pickled ramsons (coarse and fine), pickled hedge garlic (fine only), pickled yellow archangel, pickled harts-tongue, pickled ramson buds, and a chutney made with hogweed, lime leaves, and apple.


Still got a huge bowl of ramsons left over as well.

 

[dwardo]

Never thought of eating yellow arch angel, loads about too.
One of my favourites the early purple orchid.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

I shall assist you in checking the quality of the two larger jars sometime soon... Always best to have a second opinion

Good haul. I was thinking of you as I heard the heavens literally open, from the comfort of my armchair!

 

[resnikov]

Your making my mouth water with all those. Might have to try to make some myself.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Harvestman]

I shall assist you in checking the quality of the two larger jars sometime soon...

Oh, you will, will you?

Oh alright then. But maybe not soon. Needs time you know.


Dwardo, yellow archangel is probably best just picked (the top 2-3inches or so) and used raw in a salad. Nice flavour. I wanted to try pickling because I hope the colour and flavour will last, but most of these are experimental.

That and I found three jars of pickling vinegar at the back of the cupboard this morning...

 

[xylaria]

I have a pretty sizable ramson patch awaiting picking and pickling.

A word of warning robin harford [foraging demigod of eatweeds] put up a warning on his facebook about botulism in garlic based pickles. I have a cupboard full of effectly raw food asain style pickles, they have a high acid and salt level, which aint going in the bin. It doesn't sound like his are either. I will dig out the link. It is common sense thing; botulism lives in soil, a pickle needs enough acid/sugar/salt/heat to cark off bacteria.

http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/wild-garlic-in-oil

 

[Harvestman]

That's worth knowing. Thank you. Mine went straight into raw pickling vinegar, with basically nothing else. If the bacteria can survive that they almost deserve to make me ill!

I didn't heat them up though. Wondering if I should have now.

 

[Harvestman]

Read the article, and mine made today should be ok, but I'm going to bin some onion shoots in oil I made last year. Never been opened anyway, so no loss.

Curious. For the hedge garlic I added a little oil to the vinegar, and now of course it has separated. Better fridge those as the oil layer may be suspect.

 

[sandbender]

Great pics. Thanks for posting.

 

[xylaria]

That's worth knowing. Thank you. Mine went straight into raw pickling vinegar, with basically nothing else. If the bacteria can survive that they almost deserve to make me ill!

I didn't heat them up though. Wondering if I should have now.

I have a few jars of lemon pickle that I have never heated either. He did post the on his own site under the warning just how rare botulism really is, the increased risk is from garlic bulbs and soil around them. Basic food hygiene, like washing containers and the veg throughly, and enough acid, salt or sugar to kill bug-a-lugs, and if goes bubbly or smells funky bin it, is all that is required. I dont store preserves in just oil for for very long, if it requires long term storage I use more salt. Robin harford is just protecting himself from those which cant use common sence, he teachs a lot.

 

[sandbender]

"...However, this is what I really went out for:

Left to right: Back row: Beech leaves, ramsons, hedge garlic.
Front row: Harts-tongue fern, lime leaves, hogweed, yellow archangel tips, ramson buds.
View attachment 10177

With the additional of a few ingredients, mainly vinegar, this is what I ended up with:

At the back: Beech leaf gin and beech leaf vodka (the latter with vanilla) - both still in prep.
Plus, pickled ramsons (coarse and fine), pickled hedge garlic (fine only), pickled yellow archangel, pickled harts-tongue, pickled ramson buds, and a chutney made with hogweed, lime leaves, and apple.
..."

I don't suppose you'd be up for posting a bit more detail on those extra ingredients would you?

Great thread, more like this please.

 

[Harvestman]

Those extra ingredients were literally just vinegar for most of the pickles. The chutney thing had some apple and a dash of sugar added. and a bit of salt. That was it. Most things are just the greens in pickling vinegar.

As I said, pure experimentation, as I don't know how it will turn out. A taster of the chutney suggested it needs some time.

 

[greensurfingbear]

interesting stuff H-man. Dint know about the archangel. Have a huge patch of it on one of my sites. Will give it a sample next time I pass

 

[Colin.W]

Nice horns on your neighbours. I'm looking for something like that to top a stick I've been working on

 

[EatWeeds]

Harvestman - How did you pickle the harts tongue fern? And also the hogweed? Did you cook them before hand because if not you might end up poisoning yourself.

Within the last month I have had 4 reports of people getting asthma attacks after eating hogweed (and that was cooked!). Never eat it raw due to the furocoumarin content.

Harts tongue fern is carcinogenic unless double boiled to remove toxicity before cooking. And its the fiddleheads you eat not the leaves.

Just my 2 cents...

Robin

 

[Harvestman]

No I didn't cook any of it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Nice horns on your neighbours. I'm looking for something like that to top a stick I've been working on

That will make it a bit heavy, but I'd be interested in seeing a stick topped with a soay sheep.

 

[Harvestman]

Ah yes, the good old soya sheep, beloved of vegetarians...

These things have a habit of scattering rather than flocking when faced with a threat. Watching a sheepdog try to round them up can be hilarious.

 

[Androo]

Hogweed chutney sounds very nice. It's a veg I've not tried at all yet but keep hearing so many good things about it. Hopefully going for a forage over the next few days, thanks for the inspiration Harvestman

 

[xylaria]

I found this is, it eastern european. http://www.luczaj.com/ang_jadalne.htm

It has some interesting ideas to do with hogweed and bracken. Anyone preping a wild plant to eat must check the way it is been done it is safe to eat, it is as important as iding them properly. This can with some potental foods take a lot of work. I dont eat ferns, because I decided they were just a bit too toxic for me to eat personally, but each to there own. I have an old fungi book that states under brown roll rims " deadly poisonous eaten in poland". Some cultures has different ideas danger, different ways of cooking foods, and different genitic ways of metabolising poisons. I am going to try the sun dried hogweed shoots in the link I put up, but at my own risk. Just because they are eaten in siberia by people that are probably darker skinner than a pasty faced celt, doesnt mean they are safe for me, but the sun drying process may react out the courmarins, there is a smell test for them if they do. To me it is a calculated risk.

What i am getting at is take everything you read on the net with a pinch of salt and do your own research. Global attitudes to safety range from "it might harm 1/2000 so I had better say it is dangerous" to " my cooking only poisoned one of my family, everyone else got a good meal"