Challenge for the Weekend... Trees...

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Challenge for the Weekend... Trees...
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cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 11:11 am Post subject: Challenge for the Weekend... Trees...
This weekends challenge, for those willing to accept it... Many, many trees have got good edible leaves and/or flowers at the moment. Elder, hawthorn, beech, lime, etc. This weekend, use some! Make a wine, put some in salad, make flower fritters, etc. And let us all know next week how you got on! My own current plan includes elderflower and oak leaf wine and elderflower fritters.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 11:21 am Post subject:
We don't have to lick any, do we?

Daydreaming

Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 291

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 11:41 am Post subject:
I can imagine my OH face if I plased a bowl of leaves in a bowl in front of him at the table. Really? Beech tree leaves??

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 12:51 pm Post subject:

Judith wrote:

We don't have to lick any, do we?

Shhhh! I might yet use that gag here.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 12:52 pm Post subject:

Daydreaming wrote:

I can imagine my OH face if I plased a bowl of leaves in a bowl in front of him at the table. Really? Beech tree leaves??

If the beech leaves are still young and velvety soft, they're delicious, and they are the basis for what I rate as the best liquer you can make with wild ingredients here in the UK.

Get them older than that and they're a bit too tough.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 12:59 pm Post subject:

cab wrote:

If the beech leaves are still young and velvety soft, they're delicious, and they are the basis for what I rate as the best liquer you can make with wild ingredients here in the UK.

You can't stop there....

Peter.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 1:01 pm Post subject:

cab wrote:

If the beech leaves are still young and velvety soft, they're delicious, and they are the basis for what I rate as the best liquer you can make with wild ingredients here in the UK.

Now he tells us - we trimmed my Mum's beech hedge last week. All the trimmings went into the green bin

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 1:21 pm Post subject:
On last night's Ray Mears he was going to use lime leaves as the basis of a salad, unfortunately I had some shortbread to prick at the time so missed the other ingredients. I have tried hawthorn and am unimpressed..

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 1:23 pm Post subject:

Blue Peter wrote:

You can't stop there....

Peter.

I haven't got the quantities to hand; I'll look them up later.

bernie-woman

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 1:23 pm Post subject:
Ray Mears also used wild garlic leaves and crab apple blossom with his salami

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 2:10 pm Post subject: challenge for the week
i hve tried the hawthorn buds and they were quite nice actually, can't describe the flavour but very nice and cab on your suggestion i tried a salad with a bit of lettuce but also with dandelion leaves chick weed some chives parsley thyme yarrow and i have to say it wans't bad and all the better because it was free apart from the lettuce

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: challenge for the week
Nanny, that sounds like a most pleasant salad; I've never been entirely convinced by yarrow, though. Not a huge fan of it, except in very small portions. Which is a shame, because the 'wild' bit of my allotment is covered with it. What did you think of it?

Sally
Guest

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 2:33 pm Post subject:
The beech liqueur- Is that the beech leaves, cup of sugar, loads of alcohol one, or do you put in anything else? I've been meaning to make it myself and couldnt remember the specifics.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 3:17 pm Post subject:

Sally wrote:

The beech liqueur- Is that the beech leaves, cup of sugar, loads of alcohol one, or do you put in anything else? I've been meaning to make it myself and couldnt remember the specifics.

No, it's beech leaves in gin, left a couple of weeks then strained, then make a sugar syrup and mix it with the gin, add a glass of brandy, and bottle. Haven't got the recipe handy, but I'll dig it out later.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri May 20, 05 8:56 pm Post subject:

Here we go... Beech leaf noyau... Fill glass jars loosely with beech leaves and cover with gin. Seal the jars, shake them every day or three.

Strain it after 2 or 3 weeks. Per bottle of gin, you want half a pint of water and half a pound of sugar. Warm the sugar in the water to dissolve it, blend this with the gin and then add a good glass of brandy.

You can add an almond to the mix with the leaves. I do this if I've got one handy.

I make this every two years; two bottles of gin gives you best part of three and a half bottles of the liquer.

Best time to make it is when the leaves are young and velvety, but as long as they're youngish this will be really, really good. This is a tremendous liquer, right up there with my infamous blackberry whisky.

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