Blackberry Ice Lollies

We love making popsicles /ice lollies. The kids get involved and it's a great way to get certain fruits into them that they might otherwise not try.

For a truly budget popsicle, try using the juice left over from tinned fruit. Or incorporating that in the mix! But if you are a good foragers, there's no reason to stop there. We get tons of brambles in the autumn and often have a few old bananas lying around that want using up!

Ingredients:

200g blackberries
banana
1 freshly pealed and chopped apple (or an orange, melon, whatever you have)

Method:

Place the food processor or a blender with a metal blade.

 Whizz.

Pour into molds and freeze overnight.

Layered Ice Lollies

We sometimes do it in 2 steps to get a layered effect!

Hot pink layer - was cranberry juice whizzed with raspberries and gooseberries
White layer - double cream beaten with mascarpone cheese and 100g icing sugar. Clearly not a budget choice but we had leftovers from Burns Night cranachan which needed using up! Any ice cream could be substituted.
Purple layer - see the above recipe with brambles

Three layers' origins

Heroic Brew

This is my husband's and sons' favorite foraging recipe. It is easy, cheap and delicious, as well as being extremely good use of the foraged items - the cooking of them ensures they are extra safe to eat.

Ingredients

• 300g of blackberries, apples, or any foraged fruits which are sweet not bitter and gamey (like certain rowan, red currants, etc. A few will add to the flavor, but don't go wild on these. Also do not do citrus fruits unless you like bitter. A few people will float slices of orange at the last min for flavor and cuz it's pinteresty.)
• 150g sugar, any kind
• a cinnamon stick or a star anise, or whatever you fancy - you'll be sieving the ingredients so you can go wild with bay leaves and cloves and whatever else, just remember it'll taste more like the spices than the fruit if you go too crazy

Directions

• Place ingredients in a pot and cover with an inch or two of water.
• Stew at a low simmer for at least 45 min, stirring occasionally till the sugar absorbs. Add more water as needed.
• The house fills with the perfume of it. Any children threatening to get croup gets clouds of medicinal steam up their noses. Sometimes we leave it bubbling for a whole afternoon, topped up with water of course.
• Sieve. Pour into cups. We put ice in our sons' because they enjoy it lukewarm and also to see the icecubes melt is fun.
• Then drink up!

It keeps for three days in the refrigerator. I warm it up for the husband's breakfast sometimes or use it as a base for a smoothie on other days.

Foraging in Edinburgh

Unlike many concrete jungles, Edinburgh has a plethora of parks, cycle paths and green spaces which are ideal for foraging.

If you enjoy hiking and fresh air, foraging might be your new hobby.

In Scotland fruits and vegetables develop about a month later than in England, with the exception of warmer pockets. Beware if what is warming your nice patch of nettles in February is decomposing dog poo, as you may want to skip on it.

Safety and environmental tips

• Is this an area exposed to runoff or any other contamination?
• If it looks like a certain plant but is blooming or fruiting out of season - and not a month late like is normal in Scotland compared to England - then proceed with caution.
• Is this public property?

• Be sure to leave enough for birds and wildlife to eat

My Edinburgh Foraging Calendar

• late Feb/early March
• nettles start appearing - try Holyrood Park for particularly happy nettles. Avoid verges where people let their dogs poo, and overly dense nettle patches in thin, poor soil where the nettles look weedy and ragged and full of holes. New nettles have fewer stings but we always wear rubber gloves whilst picking! See my nettle quiche recipe. You can also make tea, soup and anything that would normally take spinach.
  
• April
• nettles in full swing, no need to buy spinach. 
• Dandelions out! 

  

  nettles have sharp, jaggedy leaves

• May
• end of nettles - they become a bit tough and woody now
• comfrey begins
• June
• comfrey
• elderflowers
• nettles are definitely too tough
• The nettles are still good for making fertilizer though. 
• July
• A few shy raspberry canes overflowing from people's allotments might poke a few berries out.
• Wild strawberries
• Wild garlic
• August
• blackberries begin to be tartly ripe and these are best for jam-making
• September
• blackberries in full swing!
• See my recipe for Heroic Brew
• And Bramble Ice Lollies
• And apple and blackberrry crumble
• October
• apples ripen. There's an apple tree on Restalrig Rd cycle path with small, tart, green apples if you don't mind taking your life in your hands to pick them.
• The rowan berries, red currants and elderberries start to be ready. 
• Rose hips are best around the first frost. Rosehips can be found but are sad, wizened creatures in the wild - it is much better to have a friendly neighbor who has a whole hedge of healthy, happy rosehips which they will let you pick.
• See my recipe for rosehip cordial!
• Michaelmas - they say that to remember how Satan fell from heaven, the frost comes around 10 October which is the older date for Michaelmas, and after that Satan has ruined the fruits. There must be something to this because the fruits all looking rather wizened, sad, or moldy after this point.
• November
• Hawthorne berries or 'haws' are the exception to everything being no good. They ripen when everything else is 'on the out.' They are plentiful at Dunsapie Loch in Holyrood Park and even to be found on the Restalrig Cyle Path. The interior pip is not good to eat, so be careful with the kids - you can turn haws into a gamey jelly or homemade wine.
• December - only really dangerous plants are available at this time of year. 
• You can pull a sprig of holly to put on your Christmas pudding, but don't eat it as it's poisonous!
• ivy - also poisonous
• evergreen boughs - flammable 

Note: I have never to my great grief found horseradish or sweet chestnuts or edible fungus, though Hopetoun House does woodland informational walks on fungi in the autumn for those interested. I would never go for animals - even or maybe especially ones that were already dead like roadkill.

The Firth of Forth

The forth is so polluted, I wouldn't try eating any variety of seaweed or anything that touches the tide.

Mussels or clams are not really safe to try either, even if you aren't pregnant.

The seaweed is fine for using as mulch in your garden though.

Shop foraging

• November: frozen section foraging is when you check the shops every day the week before Thanksgiving and sometimes find last year's turkeys marked down to make way for the newer, bigger Christmas turkeys and geese
• December - the best time for coupons as ever shop is competing to get your Christmas shop. Sign up for every loyalty card before December and make sure you keep them up to date on your address! You may even receive a £10 off a £50 shop coupon if you're really blessed! I did not get any coupons this last year so I don't know if all the shops are giving up on coupons or if the shops have just cottoned on to me!

Other sources of free foods

• Keep an eye out for grant-run cooking classes for young families - sometimes they let you keep your 'healthy and budget' meals you've made and this is essentially free food.
• Church barbecues with general invitations are a fun way to meet more people - and get free food
• We do not go on holiday often but this year I booked a few nights stay at Lumley Castle in the North of England and got a deal where most of dinner at the castle restaurant and an English high tea for two were free!

Nettle quiche

Quiche is one of those meals which is so good for you - full of eggs, milk and dark green veg. Why not do it with nettles when you cannot really tell what the dark green veg is?

For the pie crust - this is my great grandma's recipe:

6 in double or 8 or 9 inch single:
1 1/3 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Crisco/Trex/hydrogenated sunflower oil in butter like form
3 tbsp Ice Water

10-inch single:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup crisco/trex
4 Tablespoons ice water

10-inch double:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup crisco/trex
6 Tablespoons ice water

Mix flour with salt. Cut 1/2 Crisco into flour mixture until it looks like cornmeal.  Cut in second half until mixture resembles size of peas. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Chill 30 min then roll out and line pie dish(es).

For the quiche's filling:
clove garlic
1/2 onion or green pepper
any mushrooms, courgettes or tomatoes that need using up - these make a nice moist topper
a few handfuls of nettles- try for mostly leaves rather than stems
a few handfuls of grated cheese - cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella, feta, or combination
2-4 eggs depending on whether you're doing a 6 inch, 8 inch or 9 inch quiche
250 ml of milk

Saute garlic and onion/pepper till soft. Add nettles and cook till a healthy green color. Add grated cheese. Place in pastry, leaving room for egg mixture.

Combine eggs and milk. Pour over and give a bit of a stir. Place any leftover cheese gratings then mushrooms/courgettes/tomato slices on top.

Bake at 180 C/350F for 40-65 min or till golden brown with a non-liquidy centre.

Note: I tend to make three or four small quiches in Pyrex lids or 6 inch crumble dishes and freeze any leftovers for other days!

Day Trip: Wallace Monument

Everyone always thinks they want to see Stirling Castle, but once they get to the castle they look across the valley to the monument and say, 'What is that? Can we go there?'

Fast Facts:

• Distance from Edinburgh: 42 miles

• Using public transport: 1 hour and 42 minutes plus walking to get up the hill 

• History: While the Americans were fighting their Civil War in 1861, the Scottish couldn't agree where to erect a monument to their national hero, William Wallace. Glasgow was picked originally but Edinburgh folk were upset, so a compromise was made to build it in Stirling. It took 8 years and stands 219 ft tall. 

The view from the hill on which the Wallace Monument sits

reenactors in August acting out a scene from William Wallace's life

Pros:

• This is a great hike - in the summer it can be fun to make a day of it and picnic on the way or on top of the hill.

• There are many nature trails and parks in the area to explore

• There is a sword on display and some interesting information inside the monument

• Sometimes in the summer reenactors will perform outside

Cons:

• This is not a good activity for wet day or a cold day

• You have to be able to walk up the hill or at least up the winding staircases - if you take the bus up to the monument

Day Trip: Linlithgow

Linlithgow has the most interesting church in terms of blending old and new. Within easy striking distance of Edinburgh, Linlithgow castle is a fun one to go to on a medieval tournament day! 

Fast facts:

• Distance from Edinburgh: 19 miles
• Using public transport: 20 minutes
• History: Mary Queen of Scots was born here
• What there is to do: visit the church and the castle

Pros:

• The castle is an easy walk from the train station
• The train is quite direct
• The castle is on the Historic Scotland pass
• It does not feel like an overwhelming amount to see and do - unlike Stirling Castle for example

Cons:

• The castle is so ruinous that it is hard to imagine it ever being a cozy home - it is freezing even in June!