Frozen Hawthorn Berries – With the wonderfully warm weather we’ve had in the UK this year all signs point to it being a bumper year for many wild fruits.
Freezing berries is the easiest, most convenient and least time-consuming method Properly frozen fruits will retain much of their fresh flavor and nutritional value
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Frozen Hawthorn Berries
Like many people, the kids and I love to eat Foraging is simply finding and gathering wild food There are many good reasons to eat
Christmas Winter Frozen Hawthorn Berries And Snow On Branch Stock Photo
Wild foods are more nutrient-dense than commercially grown crops, and the foods in our hedgerows are what our ancestors evolved to eat, which is essential to our health. Foraging allows us to learn, and pass on our knowledge, as well as an intimate connection with the natural world around us.
Common sense also says that if you completely strip an area of wild food, you will damage the habitat, so gather food where it is abundant, and only take reasonable amounts.
Only collect and eat a wild food that you are 100% sure you have identified correctly Be aware of what is happening in the area you are harvesting Plants near busy roads can absorb emissions from vehicles If nearby fields are sprayed with pesticides, some will also be passed on to wildlife And if the watercourse is polluted, your native plants will drink that water
We are very lucky because the owner of the field near our house is always happy for us to eat in his land I recommend popping the round with a jar or bottle of whatever you make – it’s a great way to build a good relationship!
Solaray Hawthorn Berry 525mg
I have learned over the years that if I wait until my two days to pick the fruit and process it, I will lose the crop entirely. So now I just pick fruit when the mood takes me, and then store it whole in the fridge until I’m ready to use it.
Freezing berries is the easiest, most convenient and least time-consuming method Properly frozen fruits will retain their fresh taste and nutritional value Their texture may be somewhat softer than fresh fruit, due to the freezing process damaging the cell wall structure.
This may seem like a negative factor until you consider the possibility of using it for your own fake fruit. If you look at recipes for ready-made wine, sloe gin or rose-hip liqueur, many of them will tell you to pick your fruit after the first frost.
They will tell you that you will get a sweeter, more flavorful result In other words, color and flavor will more easily enter the storage space due to damage to the cell wall This means you are getting more out of your fruit
Frozen Food. Climate Image & Photo (free Trial)
Freezing frozen fruits keeps them ready for use in cooking, making juice, jelly, hedgerow ketchup, fruit punch, fruit spirits, and wine. With sloes, this means you don’t have to worry about pinning them, and with rose hips, you don’t have to shrink them before making jelly or cordial. Freezing fruit gives you the luxury of being able to make your preserves when you’re ready to cook them. If blackberries are available, but you’re not… freeze them!
Another advantage of freezing frozen fruit is that you don’t have enough fruit to make a whole batch of what you plan to make. Not all fruits come in the same season Freezing fruit allows you to keep until you have enough to make a whole batch
For some great ideas on ways to use up your foraged fruit, please check out our recipes for Fruit Leather, Rose Hip and Crab Apple Jelly and our Fruit Liqueurs.