It's difficult to define a decade when it's still so recent. We can already see the fashions, music and attitudes of the 80's and 90's, but try to define the 2000's. It's still hazy, except for one thing. The 2000's for me will always be the decade that we began to seriously realise what we have done to the environment.
There were definite ripples of this attitude as far back as the 60's or 70's, and I remember college friends back in the early 90's, telling me that we would all be underwater by now, but the actual seeds of change did not start to germinate properly until the new millennium began.
One thing that has been a result of this is the new fascination for growing vegetables. For some people, it goes further: finding food for free. Foraging has become fashionable again with a gap that stretches back centuries to when it was necessary. I have jumped on the bandwagon and acquired several books to help me, rambling through the British countryside with a wandering eye, much to the amusement of anyone with me.
This is the advantage of foraging, not many people are aware, brave or interested enough to do it, so there are rich pickings for all. On my recent visit to the UK, I noticed three plants that grew everywhere: elder flowers, wild roses and dandelions. One of my books suggests that these plants can assist you in the creation of your own coffee, alcoholic champagne and an intensely flavoured jam widely used in the Middle East. Checking a British Columbia free food website, I noticed that I should be able to find these 3 plants here also.
This is now my mission. First, to make coffee out of dandelion roots. According to the book 'Food for Free' by Richard Mabey, the roots can be first dried in the sun, roasted until brittle in the oven and then ground to use as ordinary coffee. It's a very intriguing idea. For this, though, I will have to wait for the Autumn, for now, I am determined to find some wild roses in order to make a pot of the intensely sweet jam used extensively as a sweetener for yogurt and in tagines and lamb dishes in both the Middle East and India.
Part 1 - Wild Rose Jam or jelly
I estimated that I had around 1/2 cup, one quarter of what the recipe for jam suggested, therefore I figured that by scaling down the proportions, I should be OK. 1/2 cup of Berry (Castor) sugar was reduced in 1/8 cup of water with 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, until dissolved and clear.
After 15 minutes of fairly frequent stirring, the petals were not melted....
The next morning after a night sitting in the fridge, I found a jam as hard as boiled candy. Not just a little hard, but actually rock solid. The only way to prise it from the jar was to pour boiling water on it and leave it for a good 10 minutes to soften. I had a little taste as it was softening and could definitely taste rose, but threw the whole sorry mess away as a disastrous experiment. Neil, being an amateur jam maker when he was younger, suggested I probably boiled it too much. Whatever, I will go back later this week and try again. It seems we have to work for the freebies nature kindly provides and make some errors along the way.
There were definite ripples of this attitude as far back as the 60's or 70's, and I remember college friends back in the early 90's, telling me that we would all be underwater by now, but the actual seeds of change did not start to germinate properly until the new millennium began.
One thing that has been a result of this is the new fascination for growing vegetables. For some people, it goes further: finding food for free. Foraging has become fashionable again with a gap that stretches back centuries to when it was necessary. I have jumped on the bandwagon and acquired several books to help me, rambling through the British countryside with a wandering eye, much to the amusement of anyone with me.
This is the advantage of foraging, not many people are aware, brave or interested enough to do it, so there are rich pickings for all. On my recent visit to the UK, I noticed three plants that grew everywhere: elder flowers, wild roses and dandelions. One of my books suggests that these plants can assist you in the creation of your own coffee, alcoholic champagne and an intensely flavoured jam widely used in the Middle East. Checking a British Columbia free food website, I noticed that I should be able to find these 3 plants here also.
This is now my mission. First, to make coffee out of dandelion roots. According to the book 'Food for Free' by Richard Mabey, the roots can be first dried in the sun, roasted until brittle in the oven and then ground to use as ordinary coffee. It's a very intriguing idea. For this, though, I will have to wait for the Autumn, for now, I am determined to find some wild roses in order to make a pot of the intensely sweet jam used extensively as a sweetener for yogurt and in tagines and lamb dishes in both the Middle East and India.
Part 1 - Wild Rose Jam or jelly
Finally, after weeks of searching, a walk through our local park yields results. Wild roses, growing like wildfire, were everywhere, the delicate pink petals just starting to droop and fall, perfect for picking. Not having a bag, I grabbed handfuls and clutched them tightly for the rest of the walk.
I estimated that I had around 1/2 cup, one quarter of what the recipe for jam suggested, therefore I figured that by scaling down the proportions, I should be OK. 1/2 cup of Berry (Castor) sugar was reduced in 1/8 cup of water with 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, until dissolved and clear.
The petals were added (along with optional greenfly, as in the photo) and stirred continuously for 30 minutes until 'melted' into the sugar.
After 15 minutes of fairly frequent stirring, the petals were not melted....
After 1 hour, they still looked like this, definitely beginning to melt, but not yet disintegrated. There may be several reasons for this: Maybe I didn't let the sugar dissolve enough at the beginning. Or, maybe I didn't stir enough, (watching Sex and the City between stirs). Maybe my scaled down measurements were wrong or perhaps these were not the correct wild roses.
I decided to pour the jam into a jar anyway and see what would happen. Concerned about the thickness, I had already added another spoonful of boiling water. It looked pretty enough with swirls of both pale pastel and hot pink, but it seemed inordinately dense.
The next morning after a night sitting in the fridge, I found a jam as hard as boiled candy. Not just a little hard, but actually rock solid. The only way to prise it from the jar was to pour boiling water on it and leave it for a good 10 minutes to soften. I had a little taste as it was softening and could definitely taste rose, but threw the whole sorry mess away as a disastrous experiment. Neil, being an amateur jam maker when he was younger, suggested I probably boiled it too much. Whatever, I will go back later this week and try again. It seems we have to work for the freebies nature kindly provides and make some errors along the way.
2 comments:
That's a lovely post and the idea of finding your ingredients for free and at nature's disposal is so romantic.
Thank you. I think there's something really satisfying about growing your own vegetables or finding your own food. Elderflowers are my main concern, as they can be used to make cordial or even 'Champagne'. I can't find them in Vancouver though yet. I'm growing one on my tiny balcony, but it hasn't blossomed at all this Summer.
Post a Comment