Elderberry Season Has Begun!

If you are new to foraging, mark your calendars for Elderberry season. Start checking the beginning of August. If you picked out bushes/trees this spring while they were flowering, now is the time to collect. Some berries will continue to ripen over the next couple weeks.

Here's a tip. You will frequently find elderberries next to telephone poles. Birds perch on the top and, well, you can guess the rest!

No Knead Rosemary Garlic Peasant Bread

This bread is incredibly easy to make and has the ability to be very versatile depending on what herbs you have.  I could easily see using wild onion, perilla, ground ivy or horseweed as an herb.

No Knead Rosemary Garlic Peasant Bread

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups flour
2 t sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 t dried rosemary
1 t minced garlic (from jar)
1/2 t dried oregano
1 t yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl.  Add garlic and water and mix.  Dough should be sticky. Cover and let sit over night. Time is flexible.

The next day, add a lot of flour to your surface.  Coat your hands with flour.  Pour your dough onto the floured surface.  Mold into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit.

Turn your oven on to 450 degrees.  Add your covered pot.  I use a cast iron dutch oven.  Any sturdy baking pot with a lid will do.  Let heat up for 30 minutes.

Carefully remove pot and put dough in the center.  Return lid to pot and put into oven.  Bake 30 minutes.  Remove lid and continue baking 7 - 10 minutes until golden.

Perilla Drop Biscuits

Here is an easy, pretty recipe to use with stew.  The weather has been so hot here that cooking in the crock pot is a great way to keep the kitchen cool during the day.  These are a quick addition to stew and can be eaten either crumbled on top or dunked!

Perilla grows at the edge of nearly every field in this area and is an easy herb to dehydrate and use.  It is in the mint family but is not minty.  It has it's own unique flavor leaning toward anise.

Perilla Drop Biscuits

Ingredients:

4 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup oil
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons dried, crushed Perilla
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine all ingredients and mix well.  It will be sticky.

Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Makes two pan fulls.  You can cut in half for a smaller result.

Pickled Squash!

This is one of our favorite recipes and great to use when you have an abundance of squash!  While it is not foraging related, chances are, you have a neighbor, family member or even you with too much squash and willing to give it away!  This is an easy recipe and a great side dish all year long.

Pickled Squash

Ingredients:

2 pounds squash, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
2 medium-size red bell peppers, chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
2 teaspoons celery seeds

Preparation:
Place squash, bell peppers, and onion in a colander. Sprinkle with kosher salt; cover and let stand at room temperature 1 hour. (Do not rinse.)

Tightly pack squash mixture in 4 (1-pt.) hot sterilized jars, filling to 1/2 inch from top.

Bring sugar, vinegar, mustard seeds, and celery seeds to a boil in a Dutch oven over high heat; boil, stirring constantly, 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. Pour hot liquid over squash mixture in jars, filling to 1/2 inch from top. Remove air bubbles by gently stirring with a long wooden skewer. Water bath 20 minutes.

Garlic Rosemary Crab Apple Jelly

If you are fortunate to have access to a crab apple tree, here is a great recipe to use.  It is wonderful as a glaze for meat or with cream cheese on crackers.  I've doubled this recipe with out any issues.  The pectin in crab apples, particularly if they are not quite ripe, makes it easy to set up.

Garlic Rosemary Crab Apple Jelly

Ingredients:

4 quarts crab apples (16 cups)
3 large onions
3/4 cup white vinegar

Handful of fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

Sugar equal to liquid

Water

Directions:

Remove stem, flower from end and any blemishes from crab apples.  Chop in half and add to stock pot.  Chop onions into large chunks and mix into crab apples.  Add water to level of fruit.

Bring to boil and simmer until apples are soft (30-45 minutes).  Mash gently just to break open apples but not so much to make mush. 

Strain in a jelly bag or use a fine mesh strainer several times.  Measure and add liquid to clean pot.  Add 3/4 cup vinegar. For every cup of liquid, add a cup of sugar. Bring mixture to a boil.  Add chopped rosemary and garlic.  Boil until jelly begins to sheet/set (about 30 minutes for me).

Ladle into prepared jelly jars.  Water bath 15 minutes. 

Makes 6 - 8 half pints.

Note: To use as a meat glaze just warm in the microwave to make pourable.

Blackberry Pie Filling

This was shared with me by another canner, and I am so thankful that she did. It turned out perfect!

Blackberry Pie Filling

Makes 7 quarts

Ingredients:

6-quarts fresh blackberries
7 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups Clear Jel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
9 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:

Select top quality, firm, ripe berries. Rinse berries and set aside.

Measure lemon juice and set aside.

Combine Clear Jel, sugar and cinnamon in a large saucepan. Add water and mix until smooth. Stirring during the thickening process is critical for a smooth end product. Heat, stirring mixture constantly until it bubbles. Quickly add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and fold in berries.

Fill 7 quart jars, leaving 1 to 1 1/2 inches of headspace.

Process in a boiling water canner for 30 minutes at sea level, 35 minutes at 1001 to 3000 feet and 40 minutes at altitudes 3001 to 6000 feet. Each quart of pie filling will make an 8- or 9-inch pie.

Blackberry Ketchup!

Blackberry ketchup.  Really!  I would eat it on a hot dog.  It's good!  Before the invention of supermarkets and the decline of home canning, fruit ketchups were much more common. 

Blackberry Ketchup

Ingredients:

4 quarts blackberries
2 lbs brown sugar
1 1/2 c vinegar
2 onions, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in large pot.  Cook slowly for 1 1/2 hours.  Use an immersion stick blender to blend berries.  You will see seeds floating in syrup.

Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. You may need to scrape the strainer with spoon to dislodge seeds so liquid can go through.  Strain several cups at a time and rinse off strainer between strains to make it easier. When finished, wash original pot.  Return mixture to pot. Return to stove.  Continue simmering for 1 1/2 hours more, mixing occasionally.

Ladle into prepared jars.  Wipe rims with paper towel dampened with water/vinegar mixture.  Seal.  Water bath 15 minutes.

Makes about 5 pints.