EXTRACTS FROM HEDGEROW COOKBOOK

INTRODUCTION

Hedgerow cookery is an experience, an experiment, and a delight for all those interested in our native plants, country-lore, history, herbal medicines, and above all, food. I use ‘hedgerow’ as a loose term, to include plants found in meadows and woodlands, and garden escapes which may be found wherever humans have inhabited in the past or present.
If you have a garden, let a bit of the wilderness in, and put aside areas
where edible wild plants can grow. Many of these will thrive in shady
places and in poor soils, along the hedgerows of your garden, and can be
harvested as and when needed. No garden is without weeds, but if you eat
them as well, then ‘weeding’ becomes ‘harvesting’. Horticulture has
encouraged us to undervalue our native wild flowers, but by introducing
native edible plants into your garden, you can always find something to add
to salads, soups and stir-fries. Importantly, those freshly picked leaves,
shoots and flowers will be bursting with fresh vitamins and minerals, long
gone from vegetables which have sat for days in shops. I have also included
some garden plants which are worth growing for their food value.
Knowing which plants are edible, where to find them and when to find them,
brings a deeper connection to our natural world, and brings you full circle
to the knowledge of our ancestors.
Derbyshire 2002

SPRING PLANTS

Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria). Also known as Bishopsweed, Gout Weed
and Herb Gerard. Cook as spinach.

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna). Also May Tree or Bread and Cheese Tree.
Add young shoots to salads for a nice nutty flavour.

Hop (Humulus lupulus). Steam the young leaf shoots.

Ladys mantle (Alchemilla filicaulis). Found on grassland and open woods.
Use the young fresh leaves in salad.

Ladys Smock (Cardamine pratensis). Also known as Cuckoo Flower or
Bittercress. Rich in vitamins and minerals. An old cultivated salad herb
with a flavour similar to Watercress. Found beside streams, in damp meadows
and in woodlands. Pale lilac flowers. An attractive garden plant which
will self-seed once established.

Mallow (Malva sylvestris). Widespread on hedgebanks and waysides. Purple
flowers July to September. The leaves are used in making a popular middle
eastern soup called mouloukhia.

Nettle (Stinging) (Urtica dioica). Use the young spring tops in nettle
soup, nettle beer, and nettle pudding. A powerful tonic.

Orache (Atriplex patula). ‘Iron root’. Delicious leaves.

Ramsoms or Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum). With its white flowers it grows in
woods and damp shady places. There is a strong smell of garlic wherever it
grows. The long juicy leaves can be used in large quantities raw in salads
and sandwiches, or cooked.

Rock Samphire (Crithmum maritimum). Best from midsum-mer until September.
Common along the coast. Pick the whole plant. Wash in running water before
boiling. Serve with butter.

AUTUMN FRUIT RECIPES

Basic Stewed Fruit or Fruit Puree Recipe: Wash the fruit and simmer gently
in a little water, sugar or honey to taste. Keep the lid on the pan to keep
the flavours in. A bunch of sweet cicely will reduce the amount of sugar
needed. To make a fruit purée, sieve to remove seeds and skins. Beat to a
smooth paste. Alternatively, fruit can be stewed in a covered pan with a
little butter.

Fruit Fool: Mix cold sweet purée and whipped double cream (or cream and
yoghurt). Serve chilled with a flower or fruit garnish.

Fruit Flan: Line a pie dish with sweet pastry (add 2 oz sugar to basic
recipe on page 12). Bake for 15 mins in a medium oven. Chop fruit into
thin slices and lay in the crust. Make a honey and water syrup, thickened
with arrowroot, agar agar or fruit purée. Bring to the boil and pour over
the fruit. Serve with cream.

Crab Apple Jelly: Chop 2 lbs of crab apples. Just cover with cold water,
adding ginger slices and half a lemon to taste. Simmer until the fruit is
pulped. Pour the pulp into a jelly bag or sieve lined with muslin to drip
overnight (do not squeeze or your jelly will be cloudy). Measure and add 1
lb of sugar for each pint of juice. Stir over a low heat and then rapid
boil until the mixture shows signs of setting when dribbled onto a cold
plate. Pour into sterilised jam jars. Leave to set. Cover with
greaseproof paper rounds and seal.

Blackberry and Apple Jelly: Made by the same method, using equal amounts of
cooking apples and blackberries.

Hedgerow Jelly: Combine an assortment of hedgerow fruits with half the
amount of crab or cooking apples to help it set.

Rowanberry Jelly: Use a mixture of 2 parts rowan berries to 1 part crab or
cooking apples. Make in the usual way (see page 36).

Fruit Cheese: Wash and rough cut crab apples and other fruit (medlars,
quinces, elderberries or damsons). Add water to a third of the way up the
fruit. Boil until soft. Rub through a sieve and weigh the pulp. Return to
a clean pan with an equal weight of sugar. Bring slowly to the boil,
stirring in the sugar, then hard boil for at least an hour. Setting point
is reached when the mixture forms soft balls when dropped into cold water.
Spread into an oiled baking tin and leave to set. Cut into chunks and wrap
in waxed paper. Store in a cool place. Serve with cheese or diced and
dusted with icing sugar.

Elderberry and Apple Jam: Quick and easy and a firm favourite. Make a pulp
by boiling 2 lbs of rough chopped apples in some water, and pass through a
sieve to remove seeds, core and skin. Do the same with 2 lbs of
elderberries (just a little water needed). Combine the two pulps, adding 4
lbs of sugar, and boil for about ten minutes until it thickens. Makes seven
jars of jam.

Sloe Gin: Prick one pint of sloes and put them into a wide-necked jar.
Sprinkle in 2 oz of sugar and top up with gin or vodka. Cork and shake
daily for three months. Strain off the fruit and rebottle. Leave for a
year if you can resist the temptation! Trim the gin-soaked sloes from the
stones and add to melted chocolate or fruit cake. Make other fruit liqueurs
in the same way with damsons, bullace, crab apples or juniper berries.

Haw brandy: A traditional liqueur made by the same method as sloe gin with
hawthorn berries and brandy.

Blackberry Cordial: Pour one pint of wine vinegar over 2 lbs blackberries.
Cover with a tea towel and let it stand for a week, stirring often. Strain
and bring to a strong boil, adding 1 lb of sugar and lb of honey. When
cool bottle and keep in the dark.

Rosehip Syrup: Add 2 lbs of rough chopped rosehips to 4 pints of boiling
water. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Cover and let stand for
30 minutes. Strain through muslin. Keep the liquid and return the pulp to
the pan with another 4 pints of boiling water. Repeat. Combine the liquids
in a clean pan and boil, reducing by half. Remove from heat and dissolve 2
lb sugar. Return to heat and hard boil for 5 mins. Pour into warmed
sterilised bottles.

Blackberry Syrup: Stew 3 lbs with a quarter pint of water. Strain. For
every pint of juice add 6 oz of sugar. Boil for 15 minutes and bottle.
You can also combine blackberries and elderberries.

Elderberry Chutney: Stalk and wash 2 lbs of elderberries. Put them in a
pan and bruise them with a wooden spoon. Add a large chopped onion, 1 pint
of vinegar and 2 tablespoon of sugar. Add 1 teaspoon each of salt, ground
ginger and mustard seeds, and half a teaspoon each of cayenne pepper and
mixed spice. Bring to the boil and simmer until it becomes thick. Put into
warmed jars when cool.

Pickled Damsons: Tie in a muslin bag: 1 small cinnamon stick, 1 blade of
mace, oz allspice, a small ginger root, chopped rind of half a lemon.
Gently boil with half a pint of white vinegar, 1 lb demerara sugar, and 2
lbs firm slightly underripe damsons. When the fruit is just tender
carefully pile into jars. Fierce boil the liquid until it thickens and pour
over the fruit. Close tightly.

REVIEWS OF A HEDGEROW COOKBOOK:

“This pretty little book would fit any anorak pocket whose wearer scrabbled about in woods and fields hunting wild food. It is a bible for ramblers who might otherwise wonder what to do with hairy bittercress, yarrow or shepherd’s purse as they wander the meadows of England. The woodcuts give some help in identification, although the apprehensive, (who might fear a dish of hemlock instead of alexanders) may feel the need for a more voluminous back- up in their camper van near by. But the real achievement is to pack in such an infinity of recipes. Some are so telescoped as to make the tyro blink, but there are plenty of grand ideas, such as chocolate hazelnut spread, rose petal jelly, Moroccan mint tea and wild garlic relish. Don’t forget that most of these plants have a season: miss it and they’ll be horrid; catch it and they are fine. Time to put the boots on." - Tom Jaine - Saturday Guardian.

 

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