Norfolk, when I think about it, is probably my spiritual
home. It has:
Beautiful views…
Salthouse Marsh
Horses at Weybourne
Cliffs over to Overstrand
The Norfolk Broads
The Green Dragon, Wymondham
The George, Cley-next-the-Sea
The King's Arms, Blakeney
Good beer…
Moongazer Gold at the Red Lion
Asnacs drink at the Ship, Weybourne
Own beer at the Wellington, Cromer
And lots to forage...
Me on the common to Cromer
Bullace
Beautiful Norfolk Countryside
I went there the last week or so of August with Levi and not
to bore you, had a wonderful time, exploring the North Norfolk coast, catching
up with Cambridge friends and revisiting our old haunts in Norwich (we lived
the 2010-11).
Pubs and Beer
There is an enthusiastic ale scene in the county. This is
the home of Wolf Brewery and Humpty Dumpty after all. Particular highlights
were:
- The Red Lion Cromer - My dad used to work here as a teenager, it’s a
lovely Victorian interior, changed its beers several times while we were there,
mostly local beers, nice views over the pier
- The George, Cley – ugly modern inside, but lovely garden over the road, an enthusiastic landlord and several nice local beers including Bullards No.1 East Coast Pale Ale
- The Village Inn, West Runton – three pumps, all local, great big garden – had Oak Grain, Panther Red and Lacon’s Legacy when we were there
- The Albatros, Wells – boring beer selection (Wherry), but it’s a big frigate – drinking on a boat with harbour views is fun
- The Shed, Wroxham – literally a converted boat shed, 7+ ales
- The Eaton Cottage – our old local, still nice, well-kept Golden Jackal amongst others
- The Fat Cat, Norwich – award winning, zillions of beers, interesting interior, cheap and had a very cool beer they make themselves called ‘Cecil’s Revenge’
- The Norwich Tap House - new since we were there - excellent selection of craft beer particularly by Redwells
- The Green Dragon, Wymondham – 14th century pub, poky cute interior like something out of Lord of the Rings, nice food, nice beer garden, four ales
Foraging wise
Levi and I did lots of cliff walks while we
were there – plenty of common mallow and tansy about. Also saw some sad looking hedge mustard, mugwort, some water mint by the pond at East Runton and lots of sea buck thorn near Cromer and Wells (that tastes like tropical fruit - yummy - though I didn't pick any this blog here has an interesting jelly recipe for them)
Tansy
Water mint
Mugwort
Hedge Mustard
Sea Buckthorn berries
Wild Sea Buckthorn
Horseradish is abundant round and about – was tempted to
make horseradish sauce, but 1) didn’t think it would keep and 2) technically
digging up roots is illegal unless you have the permission of he land owner.
This root I found half dislodged already on the side of the road. Horseradish
leaves smell so good and the root is really pungent and strong.
Tonnes and tonnes of bullace all up the back paths to
Cromer. I know it’s a bit early, but I got a small box to take back with me. I
have made sloe gin this early with it before, and it tastes alright (but not as
rich, and slightly more astringent than if you wait until later when they’re
fully ripe and the first frost has been. I’m determined to make Norfolk sloe
gin later in the year. Also spotted lots of plums and got a small box of those
too to take back.
Brewing back in Exeter
And so I’m back in Exeter now. I’ve been busy busy, but as
always have foraging and making things on the mind.
I have been eager to try another beer after my success with
the Nettle Beer made from the Marks and Spencer’s book. I wanted to include
something foraged in the ingredients so I decided to flavour a beer with Wild
Cherries that I collected and froze in the middle of July before my wanderings. I
looked up several recipes of how to do this including these ones here and here.
This made me confident that this might work! I brewed my beer using a dark beer
kit from Wilkos. I thought a darker beer would go well with cherries. It was
easy to brew, once again not using complicated equipment, merely a sterilised bucket
and a tea towel in the corner of the room. It took a week – and that’s ok. It’s
best not to rush these things. I’ve left half of the beer to continue brewing
in the bucket and the other half I have dumped my frozen cherries into the
bottom of a sterilised demi john and have topped up with my beer with a bung
and an airlock in the top where I plan to leave it for a month or two before
bottling for secondary fermentation. Will keep you up to date in future posts.
I am now back at school (hence the poor quality of this post….
Yup, it’s hard to be witty and unique when you’re busy updating assessment
policies, dealing with bumped heads and already marking GCSE practice questions…) but I
have still got a couple of days off a week so decided to go out on Tuesday and
see if I could find some blackberries to make blackberry wine. It was quite a
sunny day, and though this time last year the brambles were covered in blackberries,
it was immediately clear I had left it too late. Most bushes were plucked bare
and I managed a measly 120g… certainly not enough to make blackberry wine. I
thought then I’d make elderberry and blackberry wine. But again, the birds and
other people had already got there first – so again, I only managed 120g.
Bullace, however, was plentiful and some of it is now ripe, so I managed a
decent 260g of those and a small amount of haws (which I’ve frozen to make
hawthorn jelly). I also spotted quite a bit of burdock but it was all decrepid
and manky. Disillusionment began to set in.
I got home with my meagre stash and pondered on what to do
next. I flicked through a new book, Boots Home Wine Making & Brewing
published in 1970 that I bought in a second hand book shop in Tomblands,
Norwich, and felt inspired. It is full of really interesting recipes to try and
as I have been so enamoured with the 1970s book from Marks and Spencer’s I am
all up for having a go. I think it is quite funny that Boots in the 1970s was
selling yeast and bungs and mashing bins in that era! I found a for Sloe, Blackberry and Apple I (p. 150).
And in the spirit of experimentalism I decided to make up an
investigational batch of Autumn Fruit wine using the following:
120 g blackberries
120 g elderberries
260 g bullace/sloes
500g plums(the ones frozen from Norfolk a few weeks ago)
800g sugar
3 ½ litres of water
220 ml of concentrated red grape juice
1/3 tsp Pectalose
Tsp citric acid
Universal Wine Yeast
Recipe adapted from the book:
- Stalk and wash the fruit and pour 3 litres of boiling water on them. Cover and leave to cool.
- Add the acid and pectalose and cover and leave for 24 hours
- Stir in the grape juice concentrate and yeast and ferment on the pulp for 7 days, stirring twice daily.
- Strain and press the fruit, stir in the sugar, pour into a fermentation jar, top up, fit an airlock and ferment to dryness.
Can I just say, sterilising all your equipment thoroughly
with baby steriliser is a given – to keep the nasty bacteria out. So far so
good, have followed the recipe with adapted ingredients (couldn’t find tannin
in the shops, have to order it online – I’m willing to give it a miss this
time). We’re currently on Day 3 and it smells very fruity and looks like this:
Again, will keep you updated on my progress in the next
couple of weeks.
If you can - do go to Norfolk sometime - its a lovely place - until then, as the days get shorter enjoy pumpkins, cold nights and cosy pubs!
