Good day for mushrooms.

[Snufkin]

Couldn't go on my course today because it lashed it down this morning .
So, having the day off I decided to go for a wander around and see what I could forage. I found:
Charcoal burners
Summer ceps
Bay boletes
Jews ear
puff balls
Fairy ring champignon
Also picked a load of sloes and found a new wilding apple, though the fruit isn't quite ripe yet.
Next week should see the blackberries really coming on so it'll be out with the preserving pan and starting on the bramble and apple jelly

 

[gregorach]

Looks like a bumper bramble crop this year too... I've already had a couple of pounds of jam so far, but that was off a cultivar gone wild in an abandoned allotment site.

 

[Snufkin]

Looks like a bumper bramble crop this year too... I've already had a couple of pounds of jam so far, but that was off a cultivar gone wild in an abandoned allotment site.

There are quite a lot of ripe wild ones out around here already but I don't find those as flavourful. And until the plants are really heavy with ripe fruit it's too time consuming to pick a decent batch.

 

[EdS]

sloe already! They need a frost onm them for the best sloe gin.

 

[Snufkin]

sloe already! They need a frost onm them for the best sloe gin.

I popped them in the freezer for an hour or two. I'm just trying to salvage some beech leaf liquor I made last year. I followed the recipe but it was so disgustingly sweet it was undrinkable. Hopefully the sloes will sour it up a lot.

 

[Tony]

I'm off out in a bit to get some fungi, I think there's some chicken of the woods down by the river (from the description I was given a few days ago!) It looks like there's a good amount of stuff out there

 

[Snufkin]

I'm off out in a bit to get some fungi, I think there's some chicken of the woods down by the river (from the description I was given a few days ago!) It looks like there's a good amount of stuff out there

That's one I've never found, too busy looking at the ground I suppose

 

[benjamin.oneill]

i'm just off to the shop to buy some eggs to have with my chicken of the woods. i found a tender little one today.

the other day i found a mamouth one, a little too old for an omlette but i'll dry it and add it to a stew when i have the chance.

today i also found a lot of earthballs (inedible) so on the drive there and back i had my eyes peeled for big puffballs in feilds.

the brambles do look good, i like the early season ones (those in the sun) but i agree, a week or two until the rich pickings start. Have you thought about doing something boozy with those? I make a bramble liquer with vodka instead of gin, blackberrys instead of sloes and much less sugar. I love it, it really preserves that flavour of earthy late summer. A friend of mine does the same with brandy, have a play, its fun and very rewarding.

also looking good this year are the hazelnuts, lots more i think than last year. hopefully an equally bumper crop of acorns and beechmasts will keep the squirrels busy

 

[Klenchblaize]

Reckon I would be comfortable with positively ID of Tony’s Chicken Of The Wood but not much else so I’m really keen to get Fenlander’s re-scheduled October fungi workshop (with an “in-the-woods” element) well and truly under my belt.

I was just about to say “happy hunting” for this free food but then recalled I’ve had some unfortunate encounters with a number trespassing collectors who descend upon a certain estate in Sevenoaks each autumn, and with more than their own stomach in mind. They get really good money from London restaurants for what they collect but not from my squirrel hunting grounds if I’m around at the time!

Cheers

 

[Snufkin]

i'm just off to the shop to buy some eggs to have with my chicken of the woods. i found a tender little one today.

the other day i found a mamouth one, a little too old for an omlette but i'll dry it and add it to a stew when i have the chance.

today i also found a lot of earthballs (inedible) so on the drive there and back i had my eyes peeled for big puffballs in feilds.

the brambles do look good, i like the early season ones (those in the sun) but i agree, a week or two until the rich pickings start. Have you thought about doing something boozy with those? I make a bramble liquer with vodka instead of gin, blackberrys instead of sloes and much less sugar. I love it, it really preserves that flavour of earthy late summer. A friend of mine does the same with brandy, have a play, its fun and very rewarding.

also looking good this year are the hazelnuts, lots more i think than last year. hopefully an equally bumper crop of acorns and beechmasts will keep the squirrels busy

I picked a load of blackberries that I found in a really sunny spot and I've made some bramble whisky
I also found two separate lots of chicken in the woods, talked that up didn't I? They are in a stew with some pigeon breasts, farmers market lamb, some dried St Georges mushrooms and pearl barley. It's bubbling away as I type.
I also spotted a few puff balls growing on my Fairy Ring Champignon spot but when I got back from the shops the council had mowed the lot Won't be long until they sprout again though.

 

[queeg9000]

Snufkin, the bramble whiskey sounds superb, any chance of a recipe and a clue on how to make it??

 

[Snufkin]

Snufkin, the bramble whiskey sounds superb, any chance of a recipe and a clue on how to make it??

This is my first attempt so I don't know how it'll work out. I got the recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls book A cook on the wildside, which I highly recommend to anyone who likes stuffing their faces with wild fodder.
It's dead simple, 4lbs of blackberrys, one bottle of whisky and 8oz of sugar (or less according to taste). Stick the lot in a screw topped jar shake every few days until the sugar has dissolved, place in a dark cupboard for three months turning slowly every few weeks. Then strain and bottle it. You can drink it straight away but apparently it will continue to improve if you leave it (for up to two years, though I doubt mine will last that long).
I think I'll do some bramble vodka too

 

[benjamin.oneill]

that sounds roughly like the recipe for bramble vodka (replacing whiskey for vodka obviously) although I lay off the sugar personally and go for about four or five heaped tablespoons to the bottle. the vodka has little or no flavour of its own so it really brings out the fruit, although whiskey sounds like it would add a nice warmth which i think i'll have to try!

thanks for the idea, Ben

 

[locum76]

hmmm. i wonder which whisky would work best. i fancy maybe a highland park, because its fairly mild and easy on the phenol.

 

[Snufkin]

that sounds roughly like the recipe for bramble vodka (replacing whiskey for vodka obviously) although I lay off the sugar personally and go for about four or five heaped tablespoons to the bottle. the vodka has little or no flavour of its own so it really brings out the fruit, although whiskey sounds like it would add a nice warmth which i think i'll have to try!

thanks for the idea, Ben

I should say I didn't follow this recipe in regard to the sugar after my noyau fiasco. I put in probably four heaped dessert spoons of sugar. I can add more if I need it.

 

[benjamin.oneill]

I should say I didn't follow this recipe in regard to the sugar after my noyau fiasco. I put in probably four heaped dessert spoons of sugar. I can add more if I need it.

yeah, you can add more..

going back to the mushrooms though, I went out again today and picked up some chanterelle/girolle and another chicken of the woods! I also saw loads of rotten boletus, which i couldn't identified and were way past it but still had a glimmer of that rich meaty smell, shame i didn't get them in time but i'll know where to look again. I did fine some yellow bolletus but i didn't know exactly what they were. having looked at rogers mushrooms looks like that was a good move.

Ben

 

[queeg9000]

Snufkin, many thanks for the recipe for the blackberry whiskey, now all I need is 4lbs of blackberries.......can't wait.
The vodka version sounds very good too, looks like the next few months may just become a blur! :You_Rock_

 

[Snufkin]

Went out today and got another 2lbs of ceps got them drying now.

Also visited my favourite wilding. The path to it has been completely overgrown so I had to fight my way through very soggy undergrowth to get to it but it was worth it.

It's a very crabby wilding, makes superb jelly.

There were lots of blushers about but they look too much like panthercaps for me to feel comfortable picking.

 

[gregorach]

My god there's a lot of apples on that tree! Time to make cider, methinks!

Noticed a lot of field mushrooms showing up in the last couple of days here - all too near the road, but it's good to know they're out there. I'll have to try and get out for a foray.

Looks like a bumper crop of everything this year!

 

[Snufkin]

Spotted another chicken of the woods today but it was about 15' up a tree . Also a fairly manky looking giant puffball.
I did notice what I think are princes, I'll go back later and pick them.