Ingredients:
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
Quarter cup of beer
Large handful of wild garlic
4 spring onions
Method:
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, eggs and beer.
Roughly chop the garlic and onions and add to the batter. Mix well.
Heat some butter in a frying pan and, once hot, add the batter in large tablespoons, leaving space between each one.
Once the underside is golden, flip and cook the other side. Serve while still warm.
Ingredients:
1/2 a cup nettle seeds
1/4 cup salt
Method:
Pick the seeds when they are drooping from the plant. Leave the seeds for a few days to fully dry, before sieving.
Mix the salt and nettle seeds together and store somewhere dry.
Ingredients:
4 cups fresh rose-hips
8 cups water
2 cups honey
Method:
Clean and roughly chop the rose- hips and put them into a pot. Add eight cups of water and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for around 15 minutes.
Strain the liquid through a muslin or cheese cloth, reserving the liquid, but discarding the rose-hips.
Transfer the liquid to a clean pot and add the honey. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the honey. Simmer until reduced to a syrupy consistency.
Pour into clean, sterile containers and store in a cool place. Proceed cautiously, as I have known this to start fermenting, which can lead to exploding containers.
I love stocking the cupboard with crab apple jelly, it’s great spread on toast or served with pork. It's a fantastic pinky orange colour. High in pectin, there is no need to use jam sugar with these apples.
Try adding other wild fruits, such as blackberries, to the mix.
Ingredients:
• 1kg crab apples
• Up to 1kg granulated sugar
• Water
Method:
Put the fruit into a large pan and add just enough water to cover the apples. Bring to a boil and simmer until the fruit starts to fall apart.
Strain through a muslin or cheese cloth. Leave to drip for several hours or overnight, but whatever you do avoid squeezing or you’ll end up with cloudy jelly.
Measure the resulting liquid and for every 600ml of juice, you’ll need 450 kg of sugar. Put the juice into a pan and bring to the boil.
Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Slowly bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly, without stirring, until setting point is reached. I find this varies
Pour into warm, sterilised jars.
Ingredients:
2 cups elderberries
1 cup water
1 cup honey
Method:
Put the elderberries and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Strain through a sieve.
Measure the liquid and put it back into the pot with equal parts honey. For example - 500ml liquid will need 500g honey. Heat for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the honey has dissolved.
Pour into clean, sterile containers and store in a cool place.
Proceed cautiously, as I have known this to start fermenting, which can lead to exploding containers.
This syrup is said to be great for colds. Either way it tastes great on porridge, or mixed with hot water to make a tea.
Ingredients:
Salt
Wild garlic
Method:
In a large mixing bowl or trough, layer garlic leaves and flowers with a small amount of salt.
Leave for several hours.
Massage and squash the leaves, working the salt into the leaves and leave for a couple more hours.
Transfer to a bowl or suitable container and weigh the leaves down with something heavy. Leave overnight.
Tightly pack the garlic into a jar and weigh the contents down using a bottle filled with water, squeezing the juice from the garlic and ensuring all the leaves are fully submersed in the extracted liquid. If there isn’t enough liquid top up with spring water, not tap.
Leave to ferment for a minimum of one week before consuming
Considered by some to be superior to sloe gin, this is a must make for me every summer. Keep the blackberries to use in a pudding, or eat with Ice cream or use to make Jam.
Ingredients:
350g blackberries
175g granulated Sugar
700ml whiskey (Scotch or Bourbon - depending on your preference. I think Scotch is better)
Method:
Wash your fruit and pick out any leaves or twigs.
Put them into a kilner jar and cover with the sugar. Pour over the whiskey and put the lid on. Shake the jar to mix in the sugar. Shake once a day, for a few days, until the sugar remains dissolved.
After 3 months decant into bottles through a funnel lined with a muslin cloth.
Whilst you can drink this straight away, it does benefit from ageing for a year or more - if you can wait that long!
Ingredients:
500g/5 cups hawthorn berries
350ml/1 cup cider apple vinegar
350ml/1 cup water
200g/1/2 cup honey
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp pepper
Method:
Heat the berries with the vinegar and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain through a sieve, pushing the berries through with a spoon, discarding the seeds and skin. Return to the heat with the rest of the ingredients and simmer until the thickness of ketchup.
Strain through a sieve into clean, sterile bottles or jars. This should keep for around a year and makes a great accompaniment to dark meats, like venison or gamey birds like Pigeon.
Ingredients:
Butter
400g beef
2 small onions
2 sticks of celery
2 carrots (white or purple – not orange!)
Small bunch of fermented wild Garlic
12 Damsons
Splash of red wine
2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tsp Salt
Water
Method:
Melt the butter in a pan or cauldron. Add the beef and fry for 5 – 10 minutes.
Roughly chop the onions, celery, carrots and garlic and add to the pan. Fry for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stone and quarter the damsons and add to the pan, along with the red wine and salt & pepper.
Add enough water to just about cover everything. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, until the meat is tender.
Ash comes from the Old English ‘æsc’ which means spear.
The tree has often been believed to have healing power and carrying the keys would protect the user against witchcraft.
Ingredients:
4 cups/200g ash keys
2 cup vinegar
Splash of water
2 tsp black pepper
3 bay leaves
Tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp salt
Tablespoon honey
Method:
Boil the keys for 10 minutes. Drain the water and boil again for a further 10 minutes.
Drain, Pack into warm, sterile jars or another suitable container and set aside.
Meanwhile simmer the rest of the ingredients together for 10 minutes.
Pour the vinegar mix over the keys, seal the jar or container immediately and store for a minimum of 2-3 months before eating.
Be sure to pick your berries before Michaelmas (Sept 29st), after this date it is said the devil pisses on them.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup vinegar
500g/3 cups blackberries
Method:
Heat the honey and vinegar, until the honey is dissolved.
Add the blackberries and simmer for 10 minutes.
Strain the berries into warm, sterile jars or another suitable container. Continue to simmer the vinegar solution until it thickens a little.
Pour the vinegar solution over the berries, seal the jar or container immediately and store for at least a few weeks before eating.
Great served with bread and cheese.
Ingredients:
200g/1 cup flour
A pinch of salt
4 tablespoons of olive oil
150ml warm water
1 egg white
Butter
2 heads of elderflower (stalks removed)
Honey (to serve)
Method:
Mix together the flour and salt.
Stir in the oil and slowly add the water, whisking until it looks like think cream.
Whisk the egg white until light and bubbly, and fold into the batter, with the elderflower.
Heat some butter in a pan and, once hot, add the batter in large tablespoons, leaving space between each one. Once the underside is golden, flip and cook the other side.
Serve while still warm, drizzled with a little honey.
Ingredients:
A knob of Butter
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 sticks of celery (finely chopped)
2 white or purple carrots (finely chopped)
2 large handfuls of young nettle tops (finely chopped)
1 large handful of wild garlic leaves (finely chopped)
1L stock
3 tablespoons of full fat milk or cream
Salt & pepper (to taste)
Method:
Heat the butter in a pan. Add the onion and cook for several minutes, until softening.
Add the celery, carrots, nettles, wild garlic and stock.
Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Stir in the milk and serve with crusty sourdough bread.
Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon
Method:
Pick only the young, fresh looking new leaves.
Wash and then bruise the leaves with a rolling pin.
Store in an airtight container for 3-6 weeks to ‘ferment’
Lay the leaves out in a single layer to dry somewhere warm until crunchy.
Crumble the leaves into small pieces and store somewhere dry.
To make a tea, add 1 teaspoon per cup of hot water. Strain before drinking.
Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon
