Oh how time has flown… it has been quite a while since I last posted a blog on this site. Its not that I have lost interest in gardening, foraging and cooking, I still vey much have a passion for blooms and food. Over the last months I have been taking my foraging activities toContinue reading “Back in Blog… still foraging, still cooking, still gardening…”
Category Archives: flowers
Winter beauty smells so good – Winter Flowering Shrubs
Sweetness and spice… inhale! Ah yes… sniffing the delicious scent of witch hazel flowers is good for the soul. The fuzzy yellow flowers, or orange or red, depending on the cultivar, are borne with delicacy along barren stems as the darkest days start to stretch towards a brighter spring.The sweet spicy scent of Hamamelis xContinue reading “Winter beauty smells so good – Winter Flowering Shrubs”
Nasturtium Oatotto (risotto made from oats) -Recipe
“Oatotto” – low food miles version of Risotto This is a low food mile version of Risotto using nasturtium leaves. We replace the arborio rice which is used for risotto with pinhead oats, this reduces our food miles. We can’t call it risotto if we don’t use rice so we call it Oatotto! This isContinue reading “Nasturtium Oatotto (risotto made from oats) -Recipe”
Rose Petal Cordial – Recipe
Roses, there is no other plant with so much symbolism attached to it, war of the roses, symbol of love and Shakespeare quotes… Roses in the garden can be a pain, not just the literal ache when a prickle, not a thorn,gets stuck in your flesh. Roses have prickles not thorns, thorns are modified shoots whileContinue reading “Rose Petal Cordial – Recipe”
Elder Flower Champagne -Recipe
Elder Flower “Champagne” Sparkling elder flower has a low alcohol content, it is delicious. It is easy to make and it is the only alcoholic drink that my wife Hanna makes an exception for. Ingredients: 12 elder flower heads 8l water 2 lemon, grate the zest and juice 60ml of cider vinegar 5 x 250gContinue reading “Elder Flower Champagne -Recipe”
Pickled Elder Flower Buds – Recipe
Pickled Elder Flower Buds Elder flowers open in succession, so even now while there are flowers in full bloom there are further flowers still to open. The flower heads when harvested at the green bud stage are delicious pickled, a bit like a substitute for capers. Collecting the flower heads Snap off unopened flower heads.Continue reading “Pickled Elder Flower Buds – Recipe”
Respect Your Elders – Elderflower Cordial Recipe
It’s wild. Its everywhere. Its elder flower –Sambucus nigra. In the month of June its flat flower heads whiten hedgerows and fields around Ireland. Outside my office window I can see the branches bob and sway with the breeze. Seedlings all too often appear in the garden, unwanted, in abundance. But I don’t mind, theContinue reading “Respect Your Elders – Elderflower Cordial Recipe”
Ciaran The Gardener 