When I was first offered a fish cock in Kuopio, the capital of the eastern Finnish province of Savo, I did not know how to respond. One does not wish to be rude and impolite to the natives, but the prospect did not sound too promising. The look on my face must have betrayed myContinue reading “Blackberry cock – An Irish twist of an east Finnish classic”
Tag Archives: foraging
Blackberry Ketchup Recipe
Blackberries are coming to the end for this year, but you might still be able to pick a kilo for this delicious recipe, Blackberry Ketchup. It is delicious with all sorts of savoury foods, use it instead or tomato ketchup. I love it with organic pork sausages that I buy at the market. It isContinue reading “Blackberry Ketchup Recipe”
Wild Carrot Seed Spice Cake – Recipe
We have collected quite a bunch of wild carrot seeds from along the bog road that leads to our house. It is a quiet road which does not have much traffic travelling along it. The concave seed heads make them easy to identify and they are quick to pick. Harvest them when dry and removeContinue reading “Wild Carrot Seed Spice Cake – Recipe”
A Saturday Night with Black Sabbath Making Rose Hip Jam…
Its coming to that time of year again, blackberries are ripe, elder berries are ripening and the rose hips are nearly there. I “look forward” to some Saturday nights making jam. During the summer I made some rose hip jam from fruits that were in the freezer, it is a delicious jam but it doesContinue reading “A Saturday Night with Black Sabbath Making Rose Hip Jam…”
I fought the root and the root won…. cooking burdock roots
The story goes, George de Mestral took his dog for a walk and then invented Velcro. The Swiss inventor took his canine for a stroll one day sometime in the 1940s and upon arriving home he noticed that his dog has in this fur the spiky seed heads of Actium minus otherwise known as Burdock.Continue reading “I fought the root and the root won…. cooking burdock roots”
Eating hogweed shoots- Heracleum sphodylium, collecting and cooking.
Hogweed, not the giant one grows in our garden, close to where the spruce trees tower and cast shade over the dwarf rhododendrons, dwarf Podocarpus and assorted conifers in what we refer to as the office garden. My view from the computer desk looks out on to this area, well part of it, the hogweedsContinue reading “Eating hogweed shoots- Heracleum sphodylium, collecting and cooking.”
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”
Ciaran The Gardener 