I am a squirrel in September – gathering the wild harvest and stowing everything away for the winter - and not just nuts either. This nesting behaviour is deep rooted in me and maybe is triggered by the shortening days. When the leaves begin to turn, my mind always goes to prepping for the dark, cold days ahead. And nature provides for us in abundance in our hedgerow larders. At this time of year hedgerows are bursting with their glorious bounty. Hazelnuts are gathered – admittedly, getting to them before the squirrels can be a challenge. Those amazing threes or, if you are lucky, quadruples of nuts all beautifully packaged by nature just waiting to be picked and dried.
Then there are the rosehips – shiny, glowing red parcels – packed full of vitamin C and antioxidants to keep you healthy through the winter months, staving off sniffs and coughs. A wild syrup made from these is both tasty and useful (see recipe below). There are crab apples too - hard as stones and sour as lemons but tasty in a jelly for a “jielly piece” or with cheese or roasts. And brambles too, beautiful black orbs of goodness, wielding their thorns, making picking a challenge of avoidance. Hawthorns are also a thorny challenge but worth the effort for their red haws to add into a hedgerow jelly or syrup. Don’t worry if you can’t find all of these fruits – just use what you can get hold of and mix them together. And remember to forage sustainably – taking only what you will use, from lots of different trees and leaving lots for the birds that need them for the winter too. My childhood memories of this time of year, when our small flat in Leith was turned into a jam factory, are some of my most cherished. I grew up foraging with my family, seeing it as completely normal thing to do on a Sunday. Going for a walk in the countryside and gathering whatever there was to be gathered is both relaxing, healthy and good exercise. It was only when I went to school on Monday and I was the only child in the class with red-stained fingers full of thorns from bramble picking that I was looked upon with some curiosity.
The loss of the foraging culture in Scotland has multiple historical roots and urbanisation during the industrial revolution is one of them. I’m planning a book (but not sure if I will ever get around to writing it) that tracks the inflection points in Scotland’s history that has led us to this sorry state where we have lost so much of our wild food culture. It is our mission at Highland Boundary to restore some of this – and this series of articles is part of that work. I hope you are inspired to get out this autumn and collect.
I’ll leave you with one of my paternal grandmother’s favourite sayings: “You never go into the countryside and come back with nothing” and she was right. There is always some snack to forage, flowers or seeds to gather, insects to wonder upon or birds to learn about. All we need to do is slow down from our busy lives and take the time to look. Below are a hedgerow cocktail and mocktail recipe to enjoy after your country foraging walk. The enjoyment of tasting what you pick on your return is all part of the pleasure of the outing.
Hedgerow Fruit Puree or Syrup
Ingredients
- 0.5-1kg of mixed fruit you can use any combination of the following: bramble, rosehip, crab apple, hawthorn, rowan
Steps
- Wash the fruit gently in a sieve and remove any leaves, stems or stalks.
- Place the fruit in a pan, cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for at least 20 minutes or 1 hour if possible, with the lid on to keep the fruit mixture moist – add more water if it gets too dry (this boiling is important to make some of the ingredients safe and also to break down the hard fruit).
- Leave to cool overnight with pot lid on
- Use a potato masher to mash the fruit and then squish the liquid and puree though a fine sieve, leaving all the seeds in the sieve. You can freeze this pulp in an ice cube tray to last months and easily make this cocktail whenever you fancy.
To make a syrup instead of a puree, put the fruit liquid and puree and back into a pot – if your puree is a bit dry add a little water to ensure you have enough liquid. Add an equal weight to volume of sugar (e.g. 500mls of fruit juice/puree with 400g of sugar. Heat the mixture, stirring continuously, until the sugar has melted and then simmer gently for 15 minutes with the lid on. Pour into clean sterilized glass bottles and seal immediately. The syrup will keep for 6 months at room temperature. Be sure to store in the dark to retain the colour of the syrup. You can also freeze the syrup in a n ice cube tray instead for storing for up to a year.
Hedgerow Mocktail / Cocktail
Ingredients
- 10mls fruit puree or syrup
- 25mls Honeysuckle Wild Botanical Syrup (also found entwined in our hedgerows)
- 10mls fresh lime juice
- 50mls apple juice
- 30mls soda water
- Sprig of mint
Steps
- Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker in the order listed, except soda water
- Shake vigourously
- Pour into chilled serving glass
- Top with soda water
- Garnish with mint and serve
To transform this hedgerow mocktail to a cocktail replace the 50mls of apple juice with 50mls of white spirit of your choice – we have used Highland Boundary Birch and Elderflower Spirit as this remarkable cocktail ingredient with its flavour enhancing wintergreen, elevates the flavours in the fruit puree, syrup and lime juice making everything come alive across your palate. We’ve added more soda to the cocktail to make a lovely long drink.
Remember to practice sustainable foraging: be sure you have identified the plant correctly, pick only what you need and take a little from many different plants and places
https://foragers-association.org/principles This article is written by a real person, without the assistance of AI.