A great afternoons foraging.

[al_yrpal]

4lbs of juicy blackberries
3lbs of Elderberries
5lbs of sweet damsons

Plenty of sloes out there. The blackberries around here are on the small side this year but very sweet.

Our cooking apples and pears will be combined and various mixtures frozen for crumbles and pies. Disposable rubber gloves are very useful in warding off brambles and nettles.

Hoping for some wetness at the end of the month for the mushroom and fungii fest.

Al

[661-Pete]

Yes, we've already picked as many blackberries as we can cope with (and the freezer will hold) - and plenty more out there! There's a legend, isn't there, that you mustn't pick blackberries after 1st October, because Satan will have walked by and spat on them (probably many variants on this). Well, I reckon that Satan will be paying a visit a lot earlier than 1st October, the way they are ripening. We've seen lots of sloes and elderberries, but haven't really any recipe for them, so we've left them for others.

The mushroom season is already on us: we picked a fair number of field mushrooms (and similar) during a walk on the Seven Sisters the other day. I'm hoping to get out some time this month to see what the woods have to offer. Incidentally, there's a thread from last year on this very topic a little way down (mea culpa ).

[bikes4two]

Currently touring in Portugal: a bit naughty I know, but a good few black and white grapes have fou d their way to........

[skicat]

Hoping for some wetness at the end of the month for the mushroom and fungii fest.Al

Can we postpone that until 2nd week of October when I will have finished my JogLE?

[al_yrpal]

Pete, we mix elderberries with blackberries and cooked apples for pies and crumbles. Delicious! I am hoping we can dry some mushrooms and fungii this year. Mushroom risotto is a favourite here.
Al

[CliveyT]

I'm currently working my way through a giant puffball. It was about a ft in diameter and that was one of the small ones in the field

[661-Pete]

It seems there are some 'mushrooms', newly appeared on the scene. I haven't got hold of any yet - so I don't know whether they're any good fried in butter .
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... lian-coast

[Pandaz]

The birds have been at the blackberry round our way, but i don't blame them, theyre big and juicy!

[661-Pete]

We picked a good bag of hedgehog fungi (Pieds-de-Mouton) in the woods this morning, plus assorted other varieties. Came to a bit over 1kg. Just about to be served up in a mushroom-and-potato gratin for supper tonite. Lovely grub!

[pete75]

We've seen lots of sloes and elderberries, but haven't really any recipe for them, so we've left them for others.

Eh? Sloe Gin is one of the best things you can make with wild grown berries. Many recipes on line but don't bother with the pricking that many mention , just freeze the sloes for a day or two.

[661-Pete]

Eh? Sloe Gin is one of the best things you can make with wild grown berries. Many recipes on line but don't bother with the pricking that many mention , just freeze the sloes for a day or two.

Yes, we've made sloe gin in the past, and very good it was too - but we're not really drinkers, we consume only a minuscule amount of alcohol - so the bottle just stays in the cabinet, un-drunk. You can make jam or jelly from sloes but we already have a surfeit of jams!