Proud Blackberry and Chilli Jam

Proud Blackberry and Chilli Jam

Oh yes there are lots of them about at the moment. Go and get an old shirt on and go blackberry picking before it's too late. These little unassuming beauties will knock your socks off for taste. The list is endless what you can do with these but I opted for a good old fashioned jam/jelly that I can have with butter and toast and in yogurts, granola, and puddings along with certain cheeses and meats...let your creativity flow. Hooray to the humble blackberry...your gorgeous.

This post is a little out of sync with the seasons...life is great it's just a bit busy at the moment but hey ho better late than never LOL.

© Fig 1.L .Moore Proud to be British...Blackberry and Chilli Jam 

Ingredients

1 large bowl of Blackberries
Sugar (same amount as extracted blackberry juice)
4 tbs lemon Juice
3 apples (any)
3 chillies (depending on stamina)

If you put your berries in the fridge for a while any crawlies tend to appear on the lid of your storage container so it is easier to get rid of any nasties. Put a saucer in your fridge for the plate test later on.

First give them a rinse gently so as not to take too much juice from them. Now add them to your pan with your chopped apples (keep peel on and cores) and cover with water about an inch from the berries and apples. Boil the berries and apples until soft simmering for about 15 minutes. Using a masher give them a mash and and then strain them. Collect the juice in a bowl and discard the pulp. Measure the same amount of sugar as your extracted juice. Now pour the juice into a clean pan and add the sugar. Heat up and dissolve the sugar. Keep stirring until it has dissolved. Then add your lemon juice and chillies.

Boil the juice rapidly for about half an hour and then do a plate test. The plate test is to see if the jam/jelly is ready. On your cold plate add a teaspoon of the boiling juice and pop back in the fridge until it cools down. Then take it out and push your finger through the jelly. If it crinkles up as you push your finger through it the jelly is done. If it is not done keep boiling a little longer and try again.

Now pour into your sterilized jars...Ta Dah. Just like that. Gorgeous...yummy. Great for present for xmas (why not make a hamper).

Enjoy x

Black Luxurious Elderberry Compote

Black Luxurious Elderberry Compote

OMG...so simple...so humble...amazing

Seasonally this post is a bit late...(Well err... about a month actually so apologies for not being seasonal and in real time...life is just taking over at the moment but it's all good).

This is heaven on a plate. The simplicity of this compote astounds me and it's great for you. Have this with a few dollops of natural Greek yogurt and fruit and it is enough to leave you truly satisfied. It's eye candy in a bowl so lush and rewarding. I tried this last year with just a few handfuls of elderberries and loved it. I was sad to see them go but they are back and here for a little while. Be quick if you want some the birds love them.

© Fig.1.L.Moore Black Luxury Elderberry Compote  

Ingredients

I pint of elderberries (more or less it does not matter) 

About a cup of sugar (taste as you go) 

Water to cover berries

Ok So to make your easy compote collect about a pint of elderberries (or a bowl). Using a folk comb through your berries and let them fall into a pan. Now just cover them with water and simmer in a pan for about 10 mins until soft. Use a masher and mash them just a little to get a little more juice out of them. Add sugar (about a cup) and stir until dissolved. Simmer for no more than 5 mins (otherwise you will get a syrup) and Ta dah... it's ready. I would recommend tasting your black luxury before you store it and add more sugar if you want to (or less...taste it as you are making it).

I normally put it in the fridge and use it over a week. I have it dolloped on top of some Greek yogurt and it's delicious...a great start to the day...and packed with lovely anti oxidants...and it's free YAY. You could of course add vanilla etc. to your compote to add a bit more flavor but experiment. 

The benefits of Elderberries is astounding. They have a high Vitamin A content, potassium, iron, B6, beta carotene, lots of flavanoids and they contain 87% of our daily vitamin C. 

Wild Elderberry & Chilli Vinegar

Wild Elderberry& Chilli Vinegar


You would have to be a nutter not to make this black beauty...it's fantastic.

© Fig 1. L.Moore Elderberries

This is a spectacular vinegar that goes well with lots of goodies. Any restaurateur should be gagging for this and willing to swap his/her granny for a bottle...a few splashes of this will enrich the dullest dish.  This is a stunning touch of class. It is rich in colour, deep and earthy and makes any meal blush with delight.

I was not expecting this to taste so good but believe me it's worth the effort and time. Since I have made it I have had it on my salad, my burger, my venison sausages, cold meats and cheeses...slurp! Hurry go and bag yourself some elderberries before it's too late. They are so versatile. So far I have made elderberry compote (yum), elderberry cordial (delicious) and now the vinegar. This is an incredible month for foraging I feel like a child in a sweetie shop full of delights. Next time you take a walk have a look for these incredible edibles.

Ingredients

Elderberries 350 g
white wine vinegar 500 ml
Sugar 250 g (add more if you like it very sweet I like mine tarty)
chillies (optional)


All I did was collect my elderberries and weigh them. Then I used a folk to scrape the berries off their branches. You can give them a rinse while still attached under a tap.  If you wash them in a bowl of water then you lose a lot of the juice. If you are worried about little nasties then leave them laid out on newspaper and let the little crawlies have time to leave. The best elderberries to pick are when the branches look droopy and too heavy for the branch...this means they are really full and ripe and hanging heavy on the tree.

OH yes back to the vinegar. Once you have gone through the time consuming bit of plucking your berries off their branches put them in a jar with your chopped chillies. Make sure your jar has enough room to take on 500ml of white wine or cider vinegar. Pour the vinegar over your berries and leave with a lid on for 4 days. After a day or two give them a mash and leave them until day 4. Now sieve them and pour the liquid into a clean pan. Discard the berries or recycle them. Heat up your vinegar and then pour in your sugar and once it dissolves stir for about 10 minutes. Do a taste test and if you want it sweeter add more sugar. Now bottle into sterilized jars or bottles...Ta Dah...you won't be disappointed.  

© Fig 2.L.Moore Elderberry vinegar..yum

© Fig.3. L.Moore What an incredible edible

...there is plenty of sites on the internet that will identify elderberries for you. Once your really sure HAVE A GO...slurp

enjoy xx

Vibrant Sumac, elderberry & blackberry juice

Vibrant Sumac Juice with Elderberries and Blackberries

Whoa...September already...

This is an amazing month/season for fruits , berries and nuts. This is a season for feasting on the goodies of the summer...yum...slurp. We have sumac berries, rowan berries, guelder rose berries, rose-hips, blackberries, plums, hazelnuts (the list is endless)

Fig 1.© L.Moore Vibrant Sumac Juice with blackberries and elderberries 

Now about the Stag horn Sumac. What a great name!

This is a garden escapee that comes from North America. Traditionally the native peoples of North America made a kind of lemonade with it (sometime known as the lemonade tree). The fruits taste of lemon and they are very tarty. You know when a sumac is ready to pick for such a wonderful drink when you touch it. When you press it with your fingers it feels rather sticky. If you lick your fingers you can taste the lemony bitterness of the fruits (be warned it is tarty).

Traditionally the fruits are soaked in water for several hours and then sieved and drank (my recipe uses a slightly different technique). The fruits have fine red hairs that can be dried and rubbed off as a dried herb called sumac. This is a red powder that comes from the dried fruits and it used a lot in Lebanese and Turkish Cuisine. You usually find Stag Horn's Sumac growing on roadsides, railways, embankments, and poor free-draining soils, and gardens. You need to gather the fruits at the beginning of autumn as the winter rain washes away the flavour.

The branch stems are really fuzzy and furry to touch and feel ever so gorgeous. They are supposed to resemble the antlers of a young stag. I have never felt the antlers of a stag but on first experience these velvety red branches feel really soothing. If I close my eyes I can imagine I am touching the antlers of an incerible stag (it's good to imagine...yay).


My Vibrant Sumac Juice with added blackberries and elderberries

5 - 6  sumac cones
sugar (amount depending on the stewed pulp)
Juice of l lemon (optional)
3 handfuls of blackberries
3 elderberry heads
1 liter of water

I placed my furry friends into a pan of water approximately about 1 liter of water and the juice of a lemon (optional). It is best to break up the cones with your hands before you begin to boil your Sumac. Once you have broken them up bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes adding your elderberries and blackberries for the last 5 minutes. Apparently if you boil the berries a lot the tannin's come out and it tastes quite bitter and strong. Now mash up your fruits and leave to seep in the pan for half an hour (with the heat off). Then strain your pulp through a strainer or cloth and collect the juice into a bowl. Make sure you have the same amount of sugar to juice ratio (i.e the same amount as your extracted juice). Pour your juice back into a clean pan and then add your sugar. Gently heat up until the sugar dissolves and stir for a minute or two. Now it is ready to bottle. I did not sterilize my bottles because I knew I would be drinking it straight away. If you want to store this lovely juice I suggest you sterilize your bottles.

This really is a strange tasting juice (but it is gorgeous). It reminded me a lot of cranberry as it has a little dry after taste. As it is tarty and and dry I recommend tasting it first before you bottle it and decide if it needs more sugar and/or honey.  I had mine with ice and sparkling water added and a sprig of mint...delicious. If this recipe is a little strong for your taste buds try just seeping the berries in boiled water (off the heat) for 15 mins to get a weaker version and add your sugar while it is hot. I added the blackberries and the elderberries to give it a rich vibrant colour and also to reap the benefits of these dark fruits.

© Fig 2.L.Moore Sumac fruit shrub

© Fig.3.L.Moore Sumac juice from the Sumac berries with elderberries & blackberries

© Fig.4.L.Moore Sumac berry with elderberries

© Fig.5. L.Moore Sumac shrub in my neighbors garden

How to recognize the stag horn sumac 

Known as Rhus Typhina.
It is an upright suckering deciduous shrub which stand up to 3 m tall and wide. It has velvety red branches that resemble stags' horns. Large pinnate leaves up to 60 cm long and have 2-31 lance-shaped dark green leaflets that turn bright orange and red in autumn. The yellow/green flowers are produced on upright, conical shoots, up to 20 cm long in mid summer. Followed by female plants of dense clusters which are spherical, hairy and a deep crimson fruit on the tips of the branches (see pics).

Be Careful
Beware of the Rhus Verniciflua which is known as the varnish tree because of it's glossy leaves. It is very toxic and causes painful blisters and aggravates the skin. However this is different because the fruits are YELLOW.  Sumac is crimson red.


'If in doubt leave it out'

What to eat
You can eat the red berries and make a fruit drink. Also you can dry out the fruits and use these as a lemonade substitute (steep in boiled water for an hour or lightly simmer then sieve, pour back into pan adding sugar and simmer for 5 mins until sugar has dissolved). To dry the berries just break them up and keep dark and dry for a few weeks. You can also use the dried berries for jam but make sure you sieve the berries out before bottling the jam.

Once your berries have been dried out rub them through a nylon sieve to remove the red hairs and this is how you get your sumac herb. This is lovely rubbed into chicken as a marinade, added as a topping to hummus and yogurts.Sumac is also on eo f the main ingredients in the spice Za'atar (used in  middle eastern cuisine). Below are some links that may be of interest to health and food and also source material.

Ta da...enjoy this lovely fruit freely

Source material

Fowler, Alys (2011) The Thrifty Forager, pp160-161

http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/sumac-spice-good-for-you.php

http://www.thekitchn.com/inside-the-spice-cabinet-sumac-67042