Hawthorn fruit bars

Recipe
Hawthorn Berries (Haws)


Method
Wash thoroughly and remove stalks then place berries in a large bowl.
Wash hands thoroughly as it all hands in time. Squeeze the berries with hands to turn into a conjealing mush of stone and flesh.
Now take a handful of the mush and squeeze so the stones are left in ones palm. Discard them and continue until all stones removed.
Place mush between two grease proof sheets and roll out until thin.
Place onto a baking tray and put in a warm dry place (i put mine on the overnight storage heater).
Leave for 2 to 3 days then remove baking paper and slice into bars.
Dry in the warm place until bars are hard.

Notes
Taken from a Ray Mears Episode. These are best made from late October to December when the fruit is ripe and fleshy.

Update
Tried to make this last week as fruit is ripening early this year but it seems not so with haw berries. Catching them early means the berries lack the ripeness, fleshy quality that time provides.
The result for me was that the stones where almost impossible to sieve out and it only left a rather sour mush behind that dried well but was less palatable.

Nettle Soup

Recipe
1 lb potatoes
½ lb young nettles
2 oz butter
1½ pts chicken or vegetable stock
sea salt & black pepper
4 tablespoons sour cream

MethodCook the peeled, chopped potatoes for 10 mins in salted water. Drain.
Wash & chop coarsely the nettles (Only pick the new, young tops,using gloves!)
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the nettles and stew gently for a few minutes. Add the potatoes and heated stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender.
When all is soft, cool slightly & purée in a blender, adding seasoning and the sour cream.

Notes
The recipe was taken from http://www.nettles.org.uk/nettles/activities/nettlesoup.asp
Its not the original one i used but can't find that right now and anyway this one looks close enough.
This is best made in late winter or spring time when the new nettle shoots are bursting up. The soup can be frozen too.

Honey Lemonade

Recipe
1 Cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Cup Honey
6 Cups Sparkling water
1 Cup ice cubes

Method
Mix the honey and lemon in a large bowl or bucket until they blend.
Gradually add the sparkling water and ice cubes.

Notes
The perfect summer drink.
I've also found it the best drink after a long days walk or cycle ride.

Spiced Wild Fruits Chutney

Recipe

1.5kg wild plums

500g cooking apples

2 oranges

200g Sultanas

200g Blackberries

1tsp ground ginger

1tsp ground cinnamon

300ml red wine vinegar

500g demerara sugar

Method:

Remove stones from plums

Peal, core and dice the apples

Grate the Peel from the oranges and squeeze their juice into a large pan.

Add the rest of the ingredients

Heat and stir until Sugar dissolved

Simmer until thick and syrupy

Place in sterilised preserving jars

Notes
This is a modified recipe from http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/1049/spiced-plum-chutney-recipe/
One reservation i have is that it does generate a rather sloppy chutney.
It may be better to add the bigger ingredients like the plums or Blackberries almost at the end so they hold their shape better.
To remove (pit) the stones from the wild plums i simply used brute force and pressed the fruit until it burst then fished out the stone.
You soon realise that if the fruit is not ripe the stone will take half the fruit with it but when ripe the stone will be dinstinctly separate.

Hawthorn Chutney

Recipe
2 lbs ( 900gms) ( 8 cups) of haw berries
3/4 lb ( 350 gms) (11/2 cups) brown sugar
1 pint ( 1/2 litres) of cider vinegar
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp of salt.
1/4 tsp spoon cloves
Plenty of fresh black pepper.
1/4 lb ( 115 gms) ( 1 cup) of dried fruit

Method
Remove any stalks and black ended berries
Wash berries and place in large saucepan.
Add vinegar and salt.
Bring to Boil and simmer for 1 hour.
Press pulp through sieve into another saucepan.
Add the remaining ingredients
Bring to the boil again stirring continuously.
Turn down heat slightly until mixture thickens.
Pour into jars and seal.

Notes
This is basically a compaction from http://earthlinksall.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/hawthorn-chutney-recipe/
I made this chutney late last year, giving it to my unsuspecting relatives at Christmas. They just rang me up saying they'd loved every drop of it and only just (August) finished it.

Crabapple Chutney

Ingredients
2 lbs crab apples
2/3 cup white vinegar
2 1/2 cups sugar (or Honey)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon ( i had run out , so substituted with Allspice)
juice of an orange
1 cup sultanas.

Method
Chip crab apples, combine all ingredients, just cover with water and simmer for an hour. Pour into hot sterilised jars.

Notes
After completely failing at trying to get jam to set i resigned at using Crab Apples for a spicey sweet chutney last year. I made around 10 kilner jars of the stuff.

This is not my own recipe. It was taken from the Green urban living website.
Its my sort of recipe though. The simplicity of chucking it all in a pot is perfect!

Chipping crabapple is my way of removing the core. I take the crab apple and thoroughly wash it in plain water. I then locate the core and cut off the four sides. You could do something good with the cores but i just chucked them.

Update
I still have loads of the stuff from a year ago so not making anymore just yet.