Sloe gin and other foraging antics - Dylan's Ride Blog

Just like everyone else, I like food. I especially like fresh food that hasn't gone through the whole supply chain. Partially, as it's free, and fresh, and partially just a sense of satisfaction at cutting out the middleman. I guess it's the hunter-gather in me coming out.

This is the season when the hedge rows and moors are just full of food free for the taking. Blackberries have pretty much gone now, but bilberries can still be found on the moors. Although they are really fiddly to pick, they taste lovely. Mixing them with vanilla icecream stretches them out a bit and is something I'd recommend. You can use them in baking, as a substute for blueberries (yum: bilberry muffins!) This year looks to be a great apple season and every apple tree is just loaded with rippening fruit. Apple crumble with fresh apples is one of the highlights of the season, although sadly it's too late to make blackberry and apple pie, unless you froze some blackberries in August or September.

I've also picked parasol mushrooms when out walking in Nidderdale, and they are lovely, when fried in olive oil. With the delightful taste, comes a little fear, as some mushrooms are very poisonous. Mushrooms are a something where you really need to have an identification guide to hand, and be absolutely sure you can positively identify which mushroom it is before you eat them. I'm not sure how many people die from mushroom poisioning, but why take the chance?

And last ,but not least, are sloes. Most hedgerows are full of the little, bitter, black coloured berries. They are not very edible on their own, but stick them in gin for several months and the gin takes on a rich burgundy colour, and a taste which is like a very rich old wine, but with a kick. You can use vodka rather than gin, and the end result is much the same. I guess any strong, flavourless spirt would work. As regards the sloes, folk lore has it that you should wait until after the first frosts, but anytime in October seems to work in my experience, as in these days of climate change you could be waiting a long time for for jack frost. Just make sure the berries are plump and ripe. 

Here's my lazy recipe for sloe gin: Pick lots of sloes. Gloves make this a less painful process, as the bushes they grow on are thorny! Get a bottle of gin, it doesn't have to be a particularly good gin, as the flavour is going to come from the sloes, not the gin. Decant the gin into a container. Fill the empty bottle with as many sloes as you can get in. If a few leaves end up in the bottle as well, so be it. Add in a hundred grams or so of sugar to take a wee bit of the bitterness out, and fill the bottle with the remaining gin. Repeat the same with another empty bottle (screwtop wine bottles work pretty well). Shake the bottles and then leave them. You can give the bottle a shake every few weeks or so if you remember to, but don't worth if you don't. Around Christmas, decant the now dark coloured gin into another bottle and enjoy it after a cold winter's day. If you are as lazy as I am, you can leave the sloes in the bottle, and just pour off the gin as you need to. Although once they have been in the bottle a few months, the sloes have done their job, there's no harm in leaving them longer. In fact, if you have any left, it should keep for years. If you have picked more sloes than you need, and have some cooking apples, you can have a go at sloe and apple jelly, but that's a whole lot more work.

Of course, you can buy sloe gin ready made, but where's the fun in that? Just like buying blackberries in a supermarket, when the hedgerows are full of the same fruit for free, it just seems to be a parable of how detached from nature we have become.