Friday 13 September 2013

Adventure 3 - Dandelion Marmelade (12.09.13)

Weather was poor yesterday, so I headed back to the island with my bucket. I'd read that dandelions are very edible and decided that this would be my focus for the afternoon to get enough to make Dandelion Marmelade (http://www.makeitandmendit.com/how-to-make-dandelion-marmalade/).

Dandelions were not that easy to find, but I did find an amount of clover (which is also apparently edible) and more haws and a single sad little sloe (which I ate so it wouldn't be lonely).

I began to appreciate the variety of hawthorn trees - I counted at least 12 different types on my walk and also discovered what I believe to be a Grey Dagger Moth caterpillar. Another early memory of walking with Grandad in Norfolk are spitting the hawthorn pips out - apparently they contain cyanide - just shows really, the first golden rule of not eating things you don't completely understand, is completely sensible!



I tried a dandelion leaf - it was pretty gross. Might look into things you can do with them another week as well as dock leaves which you can also make stuff with, apparently.

I tried to make the dandelion marmalade last night and as of this evening, it hasn't set, which has annoyed me a great deal (waste of peel, sugar, apples and the painstakingly picked dandelions), but I managed to freeze the haws for another day.

Jars are annoying me as well - I had a collection which was thrown when we moved to Devon, and now I can't find any on upcycle or gum tree for love nor money. And, I am categorically not paying Wilkos over a quid per jar!

On a more positive note, I made up my batch of sloe gin into two old glass bottles with sugar and sloes. Would like to have made it with slightly better gin but pennies are tight and hopefully it will still taste delicious in a few months time.

Here's the recipe I used

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sloegin_7722

Now, just to shake the bottle every day this week...

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