Asparagus, Strawberries, etc

[XmisterIS]

The asparagus season is starting now; the local farm is selling it for £1 per large bundle and my God it's good!

Next, it's Strawberry season and the ones from the local farms taste like nectar and are similarly cheap.


At about the same time, it'll be rhubarb season, the farm sells generous bundles of that for not a lot either, and it is an order of magnitude better than the insipid, overpriced supermarket stuff that was all one could get when I lived in central London.

Then, it's raspberry season - the ones from the farms are so sweet they need no sugar.

Oh, how I pity the inner-city folk who know not the pleasure of going for a big ride on a summer's day through the forest and stopping off for a cheap punnet of fresh strawberries in a cardboard box, sold by a buxom farmer's daughter!

Then in the late summer, it's time to head for the hedgerows and pick as many blackberries as you can carry ...

 

[Gareth]

If you like all that foraging and that kind of countryside stuff, why not take a look at what I and a few of my friends do,

www.overthegate.com Just look out for user name Gareth to see some of the stuff I do with what I have foraged, and some of my other projects.

 

[danphoto]

it'll be rhubarb season

It is the rhubarb season, at least here in sunny Sussex. We bottled our first 13lb of Hammonds Early in the middle of the month and I made jam with 6lb of the wonderful Brandycar Scarlet on Wednesday.

Roll on the elderflower blooming so we can replenish our stockpile of rhubarb and elderflower jam

 

[longers]

What does the bottling of rhubarb involve please? I've got plenty on the go at the minute and won't be able to give it all away/eat it all.

Haven't they had problems with the asparagus coming earlier than expected so the pickers haven't turned up yet?

 

[danphoto]

What does the bottling of rhubarb involve please?

The short answer is Kilner jars, a bag of sugar and an oven. Without Kilner jars, I have no idea what you do, but Google will no doubt know.

Come to think of it, I can't see why you can't chop it up, chuck it in a pan with a tiny bit of water and stew it until the lumps are tender but stop before it all turns into a mush, then cool it, freeze it and use it for yummy rhubarb crumbles all winter ...

 

[Red Light]

The short answer is Kilner jars, a bag of sugar and an oven. Without Kilner jars, I have no idea what you do, but Google will no doubt know. Come to think of it, I can't see why you can't chop it up, chuck it in a pan with a tiny bit of water and stew it until the lumps are tender but stop before it all turns into a mush, then cool it, freeze it and use it for yummy rhubarb crumbles all winter ...

Just be careful if you bottle asparagus or veggies though. Each year quite a few Americans die from Botox poisoning from bottled veg. Fruit tends to be OK because the fruit acid kills it but still be careful to do it properly with high temperature baking of the jars and cooking the fruit well.
Botulism.

 

[coffeejo]

Rhubarb... *shudder*

I'm a crap Brit

 

[david1701]

they don't grow much round here, but lots of animals so our little bits of foraging are the odd calf/sheep that won't all fit in the farmer freezer

 

[2PedalsTez]

I used to hate rhubarb, but have really grown to like it... crumble and custard!

On one of my ride routes I pass a house where the owner sells strawberries from a little cart, it has the nicest smell when I ride past it on a summers day

 

[danphoto]

Just be careful if you bottle asparagus or veggies though.

Better still, just don't do it. All our surplus veg gets either dried or frozen, apart from some root veg which are clamped.

 

[PBancroft]

<br />Just be careful if you bottle asparagus or veggies though.  Each year quite a few Americans die from Botox poisoning from bottled veg.  Fruit tends to be OK because the fruit acid kills it but still be careful to do it properly with high temperature baking of the jars and cooking the fruit well.<br /><a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism#Prevention' target='_blank' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>Botulism</a>.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I'm intending to have a go at bottling a few bits and bobs later this year (previously I've restricted myself to sauces, chutneys etc). There's an interesting article on how to avoid botulism here: http://www.tomatocasual.com/2007/09...oes-for-those-afraid-of-poisoning-themselves/

 

[longers]

Roll on the elderflower blooming so we can replenish our stockpile of rhubarb and elderflower jam

Any chance of the recipe for that please? I'll forgo the bottling and just freeze the rhubarb in readiness.

 

[Paulus]

I have several pounds of this years cooked rhubarb in the freezer as we speak, and the plants will soon be ready for picking again.

 

[Archie_tect]

Often had to walk the 4 miles home from school through the fields in the Rhubarb Triangle!

Can't beat Rhubarb Crumble and custard.... or a rhubarb and custard pasty!

 

[upsidedown]

Then in the late summer, it's time to head for the hedgerows and pick as many blackberries as you can carry ...

.....and get this year's batch of blackberry whisky going in time for Christmas.