Fantastic early morning forage!

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Fantastic early morning forage!
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tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45426
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 05 2:25 pm Post subject:
I thought it was the kernels not the pulp that could be potentially a bit dodgy?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 05 3:24 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

I thought it was the kernels not the pulp that could be potentially a bit dodgy?

Well, no. Your bird cherry, Prunus padus, which doesn't look right for a cherry, contains prunolaurasin and amygdalin. Amygdalin is the compound you're thinking of in the kernels that breaks down to cyanide and benzaldehyde.

The amount of berries you'd need to eat as an adult would be more than you're going to eat. They're bloody awful things, bitter and nasty. You might worry for children foolishly eating them and while that's possible, the bitter taste makes it highly unlikely. But, when people have done so to find out how toxic they are (I kid you not, it's been done), you can get cyanogen poisoning from them. I am not aware of any fatalities, and I'm not aware of any cases of animal poisoning.

Guest

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 05 10:09 am Post subject:
Another 7lb later.....was hiding in the tree this morning so the dog walkers wouldn't spot me!!! Still loads of unripe fruit left. I think I've got Christmas sorted.... plum gin here we come!

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 05 10:10 am Post subject:
That was me, obviously still trying to go un-noticed!

Giulia

Joined: 01 Jul 2005
Posts: 21
Location: Urbino - Le Marche - Italy

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 05 12:13 pm Post subject:
plum gin, plum crumble.... could anyone send the recipes of those yummy things that are probably absolutely obvious for british people but absolute mistery for me??? I promise I will send any italian recipe I can!! Please, please....

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 05 12:25 pm Post subject:

Crumble: stone and halve a kilo of plums, put them in a pie dish sprinkled with 200g sugar (and a teaspoon of cinnamon if you like) - the sugar content will need to vary depending on how sweet the plums are to start with.

For the topping, rub 75g butter into 100g plain flour, then add 50g sugar and 50g ground almonds. Sprinkle it on top and put in the oven at 180 deg/mark 4 for 40 mins.

Gin: Wash 2 kilos of plums, either freeze them and defrost to split the skins or stab 'em once with a fork, put in a large screw top bottle (I use the 5l ones you get water in) or demijohn, add 750g sugar and 3 bottles of gin. Leave for about 3 months, shake occasionally to dissolve the sugar and add more if you need it.

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 05 10:35 pm Post subject:

hey ho everyone! sorry i haven't been around much life has been overwhelming here lately but things are (touch wood) getting back on track now

had an excellent accidental forage tonight... i was sitting in the main square of edinburgh university waiting for dh to show up when I noticed that i was sitting beneath a cherry tree FULL of rich deep black cherries!

i knew that the square up off the main road had been full of cherry blossoms earlier this year but i dont' spend a lot of time on campus so i hadn't realised that this square was planted with them too. bristo square has the added avantage of being surrounded by buildings on 3 sides and another line of trees on the fourth thus making it much less likely to have picked up so many toxins from the passing traffic so YAY!

we went on to have our dinner wondering where we were going to find a plastic bag to bring the cherries home in. whilst we were at the elephant house we shared a table with some folks and they just so happened to leave a plastic bag perfect for the job sitting on the chair next to me! kismet/serendipity eh?

so off we went to the square. dave watched the wee one whilst i climbed up on the oh so handy wall to start collecting cherries. occasionally i had to employ his help to hand me the end of a branch hanging down where he could reach but for the most part i was able to get to everything i wanted without too much struggle. in the end i wound up with 1.5kg of cherries!

there are plenty more on this one tree but they aren't ripe enough yet so i'm going to leave them for a few days then go back. most of the other trees don't have much left as it appears the students there have already been picking them and taking them home to enjoy from what we heard from some of them cheering me on

well, tomorrow we'll just enjoy some cherries with breakfast. then i'll be stoning quite a few tomorrow as i want to dry the lighter of the cherries saving the darker ones to eat as is. if i get a good haul in a few days i'll make some jam too!

the dried cherries will make a brilliant snack, i really love dried cranberries so the cherries will be even better. and of course the dried cherries can be added to pancakes or muffins later...

it's not my first wild forage but it's definately my best so far WOOHOO!!! not only is it free but it's my FAVOURITE fruit ever!!!

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45426
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 05 9:25 am Post subject:
Well done Buttery

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 05 10:24 am Post subject: early morning forage

i love this time of the year as not only do you have lot's in your own garden but there is a lot out in the great wide world that's free for the taking..............

there are cherry trees laden at the farm park (millie loves them but will eat the branches as well which makes the fruit hard to get to

last night i noticed the green gages are nearly ready on the trees over the field. soon be sloe time and blackberry time and more mushrooms time and crab apple time, not forgetting the hazel nuts up at the dog walking place ............then summer will be over and it'll be winter again

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