| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| gil |
I had no idea sea buckthorn (or anything, come to that) fruited at this time of year. Anyone ever tried making sea buckthorn wine ? |
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| cab |
I've seen them in December, never this late though. Never made a wine from them. Would be 'interesting' I think. Oh, Gil, incedentally, your Rowan wine, good stuff, but could do with the tiniest bit of extra body in it. Very tasty, a great social wine, could do with some more meat in it to make it a great all round wine though. Much impressed with it. |
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| dougal |
Mr Mears' last series suggested that they were an important historic winter vitamin C source, the fruit staying on the bare branches through the winter. Most of the branches were completely bare. Just a few tightly covered with fruit. Photo on the next decent day! |
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| gil |
Thanks, Cab. Extra body as in sultanas (and that grapiness), or bananas (as in a certain unctuousness and weight) ? |
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| cab |
Nanas I think. |
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| gil |
Will have to experiment after next harvest then, as I've already made all the Rowan 2007. |
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| dougal |
So this one needs to go into that Foraging Calendar, then! These photos taken today, 8th February. Its a biggish bush. This one is on a bank behind the seat, so it looks taller... It is close to the shore (about 50 yards/metres from the high tide mark), there's another in town, a half mile or more from the sea, but by a busy road, unfortunately. Much of the fruit has gone, but hey, its almost the end of winter... 
The fruits line the branches, protected by floppy thorns... 
The fruits are small, squisy and well protected by those thorns! 
Compared to fingers, the fruits are small. (And they have quite a big pip, too. 
As remarked earlier, they have a very strong, strange, and slightly exotic taste. The way to gather them is to strip the branch (working outwards) squashing the berries into a bucket. Hence you get a mash of semi-crushed berries, pips, thorns and mess (needing a good sieving) with no chance to wash them - hence my concern about those growing alongside the road... |
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| Cho-ku-ri |
I posted a couple of weeks ago a link to a radio program about the plan to grow Sea Buckthorn commercially, it is supposed to be very good for us and has simmilar qualities to Cranberries. It is seemingly native from Eastern Russia right through Northern Europe right over to Britain. To haverst it commercially they snip off the fruiting branches and freeze them to release the berries. | ||||||
| gil |
Good, useful photos, Dougal. Thanks for that; I'll have to keep my eyes open for them up here. | ||||||
| Jamanda |
So what do people actually do with it? Make juice? There's plenty along the coast path here.
Is it indigenous? I'd always loosely regarded it as a bad thing |
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| Slim |
Wonder how hard it is on the plants (& the growers) to lose their fruiting wood each harvest? Perhaps they only take a certain percentage each year? Interesting that they release the berries when frozen, as they stay on the plant for so long! |
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| cab |
I keep changing my mind about sea buckthorn. Generally, I think its a pointless fruit, needs too much sweetening and faffing with to make it edible, then I remember that it isn't so bad tasting. Too much faff to pick it though; I believe that a stout pair of clean gloves, a bucket, and squeezing the fruit off as a mush is favoured by some. Then sweeten it, cook it if thats to your taste... I can't say I've come across anything very interesting to do with it, but I haven't particularly tried either. |
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| Cho-ku-ri |
http://www.findtheneedle.co.uk/products/88704-sea-buckthorn-fruit-powder-capsules-4060-capsules41.asp | ||||||
| PeteS |
Nothing new. It has been grown commercially in Russia, and probably in other parts of Eastern Europe, since at least 1950 something. |
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| Jamanda |
And what do they do with it? | ||||||
| PeteS |
I am not 100% sure but traditionally the berries were used as a food, the juice made into a drink for centuries and it has many medicinal purposes. This site has some useful stuff... http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/seabuckthorn.htm |
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| Jamanda |
Very informative. Thank you. | ||||||
| PeteS |
Never tried but in Russia they have made sea buckthorn wine for a long, long time. In other parts of Europe too. I found this on the web... http://www.uwe-rolf.de/sanddorn_gb.php gives a good idea of its uses. They do a wine too. |
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| gil |
Thanks for that Pete S. From Dougal's description it sounded as though the wine had to be worth a try to make.
Now I just need to find some bushes... |
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| PeteS |
I am interested in what other countries do with wild food. In the Uk much of the literature is based on traditional UK uses. Not a bad thing as in general we seem to be loosing some of this knowledge. I had a good look on the Web for sea buckthorn wine recipes but could not find anything - there must be something out there - however while searching I did come across this...
http://www.danish-schnapps-recipes.com/schnapps-recipes.html there are some good ideas in there. |
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| hedgehogpie |
Do a search for Russian recipes, but be aware that it's also sometimes called Russian Grape. The Estonian name is 'astelpaju', the Finnish name is 'tyrni'.
Sea-buckthorn and Apple Tart (Õunapirukas astelpajumarjade ja astelpajujahuga) Crust: 100 g butter 150 g plain/all-purpose flour 1 Tbsp sugar 2 Tbsp cold water Filling: 4-5 smaller apples, cored and sliced a handful of sea-buckthorn berries 7 Tbsp soft brown sugar 1 Tbsp potato starch 1 Tbsp dried sea-buckthorn berry powder extra butter, for topping Start by making the crust. Mix flour and sugar in a bowl, add cold cubed butter and rub between your fingers until you've got fine crumbs. Add the water (start with 1 Tbsp, as that may just be enough) to bring the pastry together. Form into a flat disc and place into the fridge for 30 minutes to cool. Roll out the pastry on a slightly floured surface (or between two sheets of clingfilm) until 3-4 mm thick. Press into a 24 cm pie dish. Blind bake for 10 minutes in a 200 C oven. Remove the tart crust from the oven, cover with apples and sprinkle with sea-buckthorn berries (no need to defreeze them). Mix sugar, potato starch and berry powder in a small bowl, then sprinkle over the apples. Dot with some butter. Bake in a 200 C oven for another 15-20 minutes, until the apples are softened and the sugar mixture has melted into a delicious toffee. Cool a little, then transfer to a cake stand. Dust with icing sugar before serving. * Dried sea-buckthorn powder is exactly what it says on the packet - dried berries (incl seeds and skins), ground into a fine powder. They're full of vitamins and minerals. You can sprinkle these into your breakfast yogurt, add into fruit and berry smoothies, stir into hot cereal etc. Note: This last ingredient is unlikely to be available in the UK, but you could try asking for it in health food stores. SEA BUCKTHORN JELLY WITH KAMA AND MARSCAPONE MOUSSE For sea-buckthorn jelly 125 grams sea-buckthorn berries, pureed and strained water (enough to make up 300 ml sea buckthorn liquid) sugar to taste 3 gelatine sheets For kama-mascarpone mousse 250 grams mascarpone 2 Tbsp kama mixture sugar to taste For the jelly, you need 300 ml sea buckthorn juice. You can either use shop-bought good-quality sea-buckthorn juice, or make your own. To make your own, wash the berries (put few berries aside for garnishing) and puree in a blender. Press through a fine sieve. Then take some boiling water and pour over the sea-buckthorn pulp on the sieve to extract more juice. Continue, until you've got 300 ml liquid. (Using boiling water helps to extract more 'juice matter' from the pulp). Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes. Meanwhile, heat about 100 ml of the sea buckthorn juice to about 70 C, then drain and press soaked gelatine leaves and add to the heated juice. Stir, until dissolved, then add to the rest of the juice, stir, and pour into four dessert glasses/bowls. Place into the fridge for a few hours to set. For kama-mascarpone mousse, cream mascarpone with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until fluffy, adding sugar to taste. Add a spoonful or two of kama mixture, depending on your taste again. You may also add some single or whipping cream to the mixture, to make it lighter. To serve, spoon some kama mousse onto set jellies, top with whole sea-buckthorn berries. Sea Buckthorn Sorbet (Astelpajusorbee) 200 ml water 200 ml sugar 400 ml sea-buckthorn juice, preferably freshly extracted You can either use shop-bought good-quality sea-buckthorn juice, or make your own. To make your own, wash about a cup of sea-buckthorn berries and puree in a blender. Press through a fine sieve. Then take some boiling water and pour over the sea-buckthorn pulp on the sieve to extract more juice. Continue, until you've got 400 ml liquid. (Using boiling water helps to extract more 'juice matter' from the pulp). Pour water and sugar into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes to make a syrup. Cool. Mix sea-buckthorn juice and syrup and churn in your ice cream maker according to the instructions. (We gave it 25 minutes in a Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment). Put in the freezer to harden a little before serving. (with thanks to nami-nami blogspot.com) |
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| Jamanda |
Thanks for those.
I'll transfer them over to the data base so they don't get buried and lost later. (Someone remind me). |
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| Jamanda |
what's kama? | ||||||
| dougal |
A spice mixture ??? from a tagine recipe
Put that with Sea Buckthorn and you'd have a seriously strange flavour! 
Just to note that SB gets a couple of pages in Mr Mears' Wild Food. He understands it to be *very* rich in vitamins and other micro-nutrients. About 1/2 a gram of pulp could give you your RDA of Vitamin A... 
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| sean |
Maybe worth controlling your intake then. Or at least not using it to make a sauce for polar bear liver. |
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| dougal |
Indeed. It doesn't sound like something to even try and binge on! Specifically, Mears says that 100g of mashed fruit of 'early season berries' (September) contain beta carotene equivalent to 200x the RDA of Vit A. |
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| Jamanda |
Thanks Dougal. I did try googling it for myself, but the results weren't appropriate for a lady like myself to sift though. (All links to the Kama Sutra  )
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| Jamanda |
Hedgehogpie. Have you tried these recipes? Maybe mixed spice would be a good UK substitute? | ||||||
| hedgehogpie |
I onlly recently collected those recipes myself so haven't had a chance to road test them yet, but the raw berries we tried last year were very strongly and distinctively tart so my first thoughts were to blend them with orange or some other fruit juice.
(I figured on omitting some of the more obscure ingredients from the recipes, but substituting would probably work. I guess it's a case for experimenting.  )
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| PeteS |
Good stuff Hedgehogpie, I'm impressed 
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| hedgehogpie |
Just read Dougal's remark about a sea buckthorn bush he's just found (on the alexander's thread) made me wonder if they're a bit like sloes - sweeter once they've had a chance to get frosted or maybe even slightly fermented (or 'bletted'?).
Got another recipe for you, it's a bit labour intensive but looked great in the photographs and is reportedly well worth the trouble it takes to make (warning, the recipe's from a Finnish site so the measurements may need conversion): Chocolate-buckthorn mousse cake 1/2 cup or 1,25 dl cocoa (natural) 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder 1.25 cups or 3 dl all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon table salt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional) 1 cup or 2,5 dl whole milk, room temperature 1.5 sticks or 170g unsalted butter, softened 1.25 cups or 3 dl sugar 2 large eggs, room temperature buckthorn mousse 200g or 7oz philadelphia cream cheese or other tuorejuusto (softened) 1 1/3 dl or 1/2 cup tyrni/buckthorn jelly 3 tablespoons tyrni/buckthorn liquor (optional) 2 dl or 3/4 cup whipping cream 3 2g gelatin sheets or about 1 .25oz gelatin packet 1/2 dl or 1/4 cup sweetened pure tyrni/buckthorn juice buckthorn gelée 3 2g gelatin sheets or about 1 .25oz gelatin packet 1 dl or 1/2 cup sweetened pure tyrni/buckthorn juice 2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 dl or 1/2 cup water For the cake: Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 350F/175C degrees. Grease two 8-9.5 in/20-24 cm round baking pans or one springform pan. Line pan bottoms with waxed or parchment paper; grease well. Whisk the cocoa, instant coffee, flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl and set aside. Add vanilla to the milk and set aside. Beat butter in bowl of electric mixer set at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in sugar; beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 full minute after each addition. With mixer on lowest speed, add about 1/3 of dry ingredients to batter, followed immediately by the milk/vanilla mixture; mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into batter. Repeat process twice more. When batter appears blended, stop mixer and scrape bowl sides with rubber spatula. Return mixer to low speed; beat until batter looks satiny, about 15 seconds longer. Divide batter evenly between pans. With rubber spatula, run batter to pan sides and smooth top. Bake cakes until they feel firm in center when lightly pressed and skewer comes out clean or with just a crumb or two adhering, 23 to 30 minutes or about 45-50 minutes if using single pan. Tranfer pans to wire racks; cool for 20 minutes. Run knife around perimeter of each pan, invert cakes onto racks, and peel off paper liners. For the mousse: Place gelatin sheets in a bowl of cool water for a few minutes. Heat the juice in the microwave until hot. Squeeze water from the gelatin sheets and dissolve in the hot juice. Set aside to cool. Whip the chilled cream to stiff peaks and place in the refrigerator until needed. Whip softened cream cheese, jelly and liquor together until fluffy. Beat in the fully cooled gelatin-juice mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and whip again until smooth. Place into the refrigerator for about an hour while the cake cools. Don't leave the gelatin-juice mixture in the cold for too long as you only want it to thicken, not gel. After the cake has cooled and the layers are ready, remove the whipped cream and the cream cheese mixture from the refrigerator and whip them together until smooth and fluffy. Wash the springform pan ring, if using a springform pan, and position it on the pan with the bottom cake layer in place. Pour half of the mousse over the bottom layer and make even with an offset spatula. Gently place the second layer of chocolate cake on top and repeat with the other half of the mousse, taking special care to make the top even and smooth. Cover top with plastic wrap and place flat on a shelf in the refrigerator for an hour or two. For the Gelee: Microwave the gelée juice, sugar and water until hot and dissolve gelatin. Set aside to cool while the mousse is firming up in the refrigerator. Remove the cake from the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap and slowly pour the cooled gelée mixture into a spoon held just above the mousse. Replace the plastic wrap and refrigerate the cake for another few hours or overnight. NOTE: The mousse is easy to make though I decided to whip the cream first since it requires that the bowl and beaters are clean, dry and cold and getting that out of the way is more efficient. I also added the cooled gelatin-fruit juice mix to the cream cheese mixture without the whipped cream and chilled it while the cake was baking and cooling since it is too runny to whip with the cream and expect it to be fluffy. Chilling it a bit makes it firmer and easier to whip. If you can't get or don't want the added liquor, you can simply add an equivalent amount of juice and extra sugar. It's a beautiful cake and one must enjoy the bright orange qualities of it as well. Allow the cake to warm up a wee bit before serving and decorate with dark chocolate swirls and possibly some tyrni purée or berries. This cake is so good that only one of the three I made got taken to work and my taste testers loved it. If you don't have tyrni juice or jelly available, you might substitute cranberry or raspberry successfully, too. (with thanks to Axis of AEvil (no really!) http://www.axis-of-aevil.net/archives/2005/09/little_orange_t.html ) |
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| gil |
Well worth clicking on the link above to see just how luridly orange the jelly and fruits are !
Thanks, hedgehogpie ! Clearly the fruit is eaten and cooked with in other countries, despite the VitA content. |