Bounty of the hedgerow

In the hedgerow this year are an abundance of autumnal fruits like blackberries - the fruit of the thorny avaricious weed that is the bramble. 

A couple weeks ago, my lad Radek and I went just five hundred yards from our house to pick blackberries. As a part of the essential tool kit, I took my very special (amazing) walking stick made by my very good friend Simon Grant-Jones, U.K.  champion blacksmith, and a milk carton adapted for blackberry-ing ....really all ewe need for a successful day out.;-)

Radek had his own cut of a plastic milk bottle, but his picking technique consisted of mostly “one for the pot, most in his mouth”.

The requirements for blackberry-ing (in addition to the fine walking stick) are, an immunity to nettle stings (as when you find brambles, you inevitably find nettles), and an eagle eye out for the bramble thorns. 

Be prepared for the fact that the best fruit are totally out of reach, hence the need for the stick. You’ll find also, that as you pull that lovely group of perfectly ripe fruit, unless ewe are lucky and can put your adapted milk carton under the ripe fruit to catch them, the best of them will fall on the floor into a really inaccessible place.

Also, as you let the branch spring back into place, the fruit you missed that were obscured by a bunch of leaves, will always look better than the fruit you just picked.

After you’ve spent an hour or two in the middle of a tangled mess of thorny brambles, the rewards of a blackberry and apple pie or crumble are second to none.  Without doubt the most rewarding and enjoyable pudding ever. Sat round the table with the kids eating you’ll find it even better with a bit of custard or fresh cream. 

Those of you in towns and cities will probably find this process just as easy as I did, and if not this year, try it the next as the relentless bramble takes hold of any ground given half a chance.

Sloe Gin

It is my duty to tell ewe that this drink sneaks up behind ewe and pounces!

Sloes, the fruit of the blackthorn, are a small, purple, plum-like fruit found wild in hedge rows up and down the country.

There's no better use for them than for making into sloe gin. As a fruit they are dry, bitter and not very appetising but, made into sloe gin it’s like drinking fruity nectar - deceptively alcoholic and perfect for adding a taste of summer to the winter evenings.

The harvesting process is particularly easy but timing is crucial as it is best to harvest the fruit after a decent frost (this breaks the skin and helps with the infusion)..... soon after this the fruit will fall off on its own.

Here's a way of ensuring the fruit gets the frost treatment - pick them a week earlier and put them in the freezer. Remove them after checking that the skin has broken then, leave the fruit gin and some light Muscovado sugar to infuse in something like a Kilner jar for a few weeks, decant the precious liquid and put into bottles. 

Store in a dark cupboard for consumption later to chase away the winter cold. 

Ewe can even keep the used sloes as a bitter cherry for addition to cocktails. My mate Graeme the chicken man said it was "incredible."