Want to get someone an unusual but inexpensive gift this year?
You could try foraging from the landscape around you.
Ok, so many of us might have nothing but tarmac outside our front doors but you can always take a day out of the city to enjoy some slightly fresher air and pick up a few things.
To give you some inspiration, three of the UK’s top foragers have given their tips for things from the great outdoors that you can eat, drink and give as gifts.
Of course, it is winter and there isn’t an abundance of plants around so don’t expect to pick up your whole Christmas dinner and all your presents from foraging.
Rokhsaneh Madeira from Trossachs Wild Apothecary forages rosehips to make a delicious mulled wine
Mulled wine is a Christmas essential. It’s warming and full of festive spice.
But to make something a little different, Rokhsaneh suggests adding rosehip. Rosehip is essentially the fruit of wild roses – as well as flowers, they produce these little buds.
Although it is easier to find rosehips earlier in the year, there are still some around.
Rokhsaneh says: ‘Even though the days are getting shorter with the nights lengthening there are still some lovely clear crisp days where the mellow sun calls you out into the hedgerows.
‘The earth is still as you wander and see that rosehips are still clinging to the bushes and ready to be picked.
‘They are a fabulous source of vitamin C which would have been vital for our ancestors going into the long winter.’
You need to look for the red or orange berries, with feathery wisps on the bottom, on rose bushes. Once you’ve found them, you’ll need gloves to protect your hands but you can just pick them from the bush.
Rokhsaneh adds her rosehips, two cinnamon sticks, a star anise, 10 cloves and five grams of dried orange peel to red wine in a pan. She cooks it on a low heat and allows it to infuse gently for about an hour.
Once your wine is ready, strain it through a muslin cloth to remove any rosehip hairs as they can irritate your throat.
You can use drink the wine throughout the festive season or bottle it up to give as a lovely homemade gift.
Lauren Lochrie from Herbal Homestead says you can make bath salts with foraged flowers to give as gifts
Lauren makes bath products from things she forages and says that you can try some plants that are still around this time of year but it’s also a good idea to dry flowers throughout the year to make your salts.
The salts can be packaged up and given as gifts to friends and family.
Lauren suggests trying to find some lavender or calendula (marigolds) at this time of year to fragrance your salts. Once you have your scent, leave the flowers to dry and then you can add them to Epsom or Dead Sea salts with a few drops of essential oil.
Lauren adds: ‘The salts will be edible too (they are nice on a salad when they are freshly made). Wild rose petals and wood violet flowers dry well and make a lovely addition to bath salts.’
Put the salts in jars or small cotton bags. Lauren even suggests using wild plants like ferns to print on the bags or on wrapping paper at Christmas time.
Jayson Byles from East Neuk Seaweed in Fife recommends using seaweed to add flavour at Christmas time
Jayson focuses on foraging seaweed and using it in a range of different dishes. Eating seaweed might seem unusual but it can add a delicious salty flavour to your food.
Obviously, the best place to find seaweed is at the seaside and you can pick it up all year round but Jayson says two varieties, in particular, are good at this time of year – Irish moss and pepper dulse.
Irish moss is black or dark chocolate brown. It can be found in the mid to lower intertidal. It grows in small clumps of about 5 to 15 cm.
It has a distinctive look with channelling at the tips and the female seaweed often has small bumps or nipples.
Once harvested, it will last in the fridge for five days or you can dry it in mesh bags with good airflow.
It adds flavour but it can also be used as a thickener and stabilising agent, for example, in a gravy.
Jayson suggests mixing dry Irish moss with one litre of water to create a warming drink. Place it in a pan and allow it to soak for 10 minutes before bringing to the boil and simmering for 20-30 minutes.
Once cooked, strain it through a sieve and add lemon and honey to taste.
The other seaweed Jayson suggests looking out for is pepper dulse (osmundea pinnatifida), which is also black or dark chocolate.
It has small fern-like leave with flat tips and grows in small clumps of 1cm to 8cm. It’s usually found in the mid tidal zone.
In terms of taste, it has garlic and pepper notes and is called ‘the truffle of the sea’ because it is likened to the rich flavouring.
You can keep it in the fridge for two to three days but again it can be dried.
For this one, Jayson suggests adding it to pesto or mixing butter, with the dulse (dried seaweed) and parsley to create a delicious garlic butter that can be used to add flavour to your Christmas meals.
Once made, you can leave it in the fridge for three to five days or freeze it for up to six months.
The foragers will be taking place in Foraging Fortnight next year from 2 until 17 May and on Orkney from 31 August until 13 September, where you can learn more about things to look for throughout the year.
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