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.