Thursday 23 April 2015

The gifts of Spring - beauty, food & medicine

I spent Saturday 11th April at Springfield Herb Sanctuary on a work day.  I helped dig over a bed which will be used for planting herb plants.  I kept the Dandelions and Docks I dug up to take home to turn into Dandelion tincture and Dock tincture.  I also had a walk round with Sarah, my herbwife mentor, seeing all the herbs that are coming up in her herb beds at the sanctuary.  This is really helpful for learning to identify plants at different stages of growth, which is one of the things I am learning as an apprentice herbwife.  Sarah very kindly let me dig up a young Tansy plant to take home to plant in my own herb bed for future use. For future events at the Sanctuary see http://kitchenherbwife.blogspot.co.uk/p/springfield-sanctuary-workshop-dates.html

At Springfield Herb Sanctuary

 View from the Sanctuary over the Cotswolds

The herb beds I helped to dig


 Elecampane coming up



 Lady's Mantle 


Solomon's Seal

For more photos see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153255717357938.1073741890.657002937&type=1&l=6c20633d26


Back home in the kitchen I put Dandelion roots & leaves into a jar and filled the jar with vodka to make a another batch of tincture.  I have been taking 2 half teaspoons a day since decanting the first batch, it definitely seems to be helping with my digestion.  I washed and chopped up the Dock roots into a separate jar to make tincture, which should be helpful for poor absorption, anaemia, skin problems, sluggish bowels, constipation & liver congestion.  Any dock with yellow roots can be used as this indicates the presence of the medicinal compounds.

Last weekend I harvested a big bag of Nettles and a bag full of Cleavers at the allotment, plus a few Wild Garlic leaves.  Some of the Nettles were used for Nettle Aloo (see recipe on previous post) as part of a dinner for friends, accompanied by raita made with natural yoghurt and finely chopped Wild Garlic leaves.  I also made Nettle Pasties (see recipe below) to take to the woods for a New Moon picnic.  My husband got in the act and made Nettle Soup with onion, potato, celery and nettles, with some Miso added at the end to make a nice rich dark nourishing broth.  The Cleavers were roughly chopped and put in a jar with vodka to make Cleavers tincture, which should be useful for lymph congestion or swollen glands such as Tonsilitis.

I also paid a visit to the woods and picked Hawthorn leaves to make a tincture with brandy, which can be combined with tinctures of the flowers and berries as they appear, to get the maximum benefit.  Hawthorn is renowned as a tonic for the heart and circulatory system.  My husband dug up a patch of Lesser Celandine, also known as Pilewort, after the nodules on the roots which look like haemorrhoids.  This is an example of a traditional plant signature in which physical features of plants were thought to indicate what sort of conditions the plant would be beneficial for.  And indeed Pilewort is a remedy for piles, both as dried herb used to make an infusion for internal use and to make an ointment from fresh herb by making a double-infused oil and adding beeswax, to use externally.

Recipe for Nettle Pasties - makes 2 large pasties or 4 small pasties

Pastry:
8oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
4oz butter
3-4 tablespoons of cold water
- Sift the flour & salt into a bowl, add the butter chopped into lumps and stir to coat the butter in flour.
- Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Sprinkle the water over the mix and stir with a round-bladed knife till the mixture sticks together in large lumps, if it is a bit dry add a bit more water.
- Collect the dough together into a ball.
- Knead it lightly on a lightly floured surface to make a smooth dough.
- Wrap the dough in cling-film and leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

Filling:
Large colander of washed nettle tops with stalks removed
Medium onion finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves very finely chopped
1 medium mushroom finely chopped
Wedge of blue cheese crumbled
2 beaten eggs
Salt & pepper to taste
- Saute the onion to soften it, add the garlic & mushroom.
- Steam the nettle tops in a little water for a few minutes till well wilted.
- Squeeze out the liquid with a wooden spoon, drain the liquid into a jug to use in stock for soup.
- Mix the vegetables with the cheese & eggs, add seasoning.
- Roll out & cut the pastry to make rounds.
- Put filling in the middle of pastry rounds and top with another round, press the edges together all the way round to seal.
- Use any left over pastry to make pastry decorations, stick on with a little water.
- Bake in a medium oven for about 25 minutes.
- Eat hot or cold, they are perfect for taking out for a picnic.

Nettle Pastie

Dock roots being prepared for tincture

Dock Root Tincture

 Cleavers Tincture

Hawthorn Leaf Tincture

Lesser Celandine/Pilewort

Making Pilewort Double-infused Oil

References

'Hedgerow Medicine' Julie Bruton-Seal & Matthew Seal
'Letting in the Wild Edges' Glennie Kindred
'Wild Drugs' Zoe Hawes



Tuesday 7 April 2015

Food and medicine from the Wild Woods

On Sunday I went on the excellent Spring Foraging day course with Woodland Ways in Leicestershire http://www.woodland-ways.co.uk/buy-online-spring-forage-2.html It was a real treat of a day.  Our very knowledgeable instructor Adam took us on a walk through the woods, pointing out lots of plants with uses for food, medicine and practical tasks along the way.   He took care to make us aware of any potential risks of toxicity or confusion with similar looking poisonous plants, to help give us confidence in what we can pick and use safely.  He also briefed us on the legalities of foraging and showed us a selection of excellent reference books for identifying and using wild plants.

We picked supplies from the woodland larder as we walked along to incorporate into our lunch which was cooked back at the well constructed and equipped base-camp.  We filleted the breast meat from a brace of Pheasants, having been shown how to by Adam, this was surprisingly easy to do.  The breasts were pan-fried in a dash of oil.  We cooked up the Nettles, Bramble shoots and Hogweed shoots we had collected by boiling for a minute then tossing in butter and lemon juice.  We also had mashed potatoes with the addition of chopped Wild Garlic leaves and a salad of fresh leaves including Rosebay Willowherb, Dandelion and Hairy Bittercress.  The meal was absolutely delicious.  I left the day feeling inspired to get out into the woods to forage for wild food.

 Bramble shoots

Bramble shoots picked for lunch

Basket of Nettle tops

 Hogweed shoots


  Rosebay Willowherb 

  
Wild Garlic leaves & roots

Cooking the greens over an open fire

Pan-fried Pheasant breasts, Mashed potato & Wild Garlic, Spring Greens

My lunch - nom, nom, nom


Back home I made a Spring Green Pie with Nettles & other spring leaves picked in the allotment.   

Spring Green Pie Recipe

Pastry:
8oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
4oz butter
3-4 tablespoons of cold water
- Sift the flour & salt into a bowl, add the butter chopped into lumps and stir to coat the butter in flour.
- Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Sprinkle the water over the mix and stir with a round-bladed knife till the mixture sticks together in large lumps, if it is a bit dry add a bit more water.
- Collect the dough together into a ball.
- Knead it lightly on a lightly floured surface to make a smooth dough.
- Wrap the dough in cling-film and leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes before rolling it out.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to an even thickness about 2-3 inches larger than the pie dish you will be using.
- Line the pie dish with the pastry, keep some back to make a top for the pie.
- If you have some left-over pastry make some pastry shapes to decorate the pie top with.

Filling:
A colander full of washed & processed Spring leaves such as Nettles, Cleavers, Dandelion, Wild Garlic, Ground Elder, Sorrel
A medium onion finely chopped
2 large Garlic cloves very finely chopped
2 beaten eggs
100g grated strong cheddar
Salt & Pepper to taste
- Steam the Spring leaves for a few minutes.
- When the leaves have softened strain the liquid (keep it for stock or sauces) and squeeze the leaves with the back of a wooden spoon to leave a spinach like consistency.
- Roughly chop up the cooked greens.
- Add to a bowl and mix with the chopped onion & garlic, beaten egg, grated cheese and seasoning.
- Pour the mix into the lined pie dish and cover with the pastry top.  Brush the top with beaten egg and add any decorations, stick them on with beaten egg and brush the tops with egg to make a nice glaze.
- Bake in a medium oven (about gas mark 6) for about 25 minutes.
- Serve hot or cold.

Pastry recipe from the 'Good Housekeeping Cookery Book', filling recipe from 'Letting in the Wild Edges' by Glennie Kindred.

Spring Green Pie with decorations

Slice of Spring Green Pie

I also made Bramble Vinegar with Bramble roots & shoots harvested in the woods & home-made Crab Apple Cider Vinegar made from last Autumn's Crab Apples using the recipe in my Herbwife Apprenticeship mentor Sarah Head's blog at http://kitchenherbwife.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/developing-relationships.html This is a traditional remedy for diarrhoea and for relieving the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  It can be used in salad dressings or in boiling water with honey as a soothing drink.

Bramble roots

 Bramble shoots

 Bramble Vinegar

I also made Chestnut Bud flower essence with Horse Chestnut buds I cut in the woods during the foraging course as these were at the perfect stage for picking to make this flower essence.  I followed the instructions at http://www.herbs2000.com/h_menu/bfr_chestnut_bud.htm to make a Mother Tincture, then made a Stock bottle by putting 2 drops of this into a 30ml bottle of brandy, then a treatment bottle by putting 2 drops of the Stock into a 30ml bottle of spring water.  This is a subtle energy remedy for difficulties in learning lessons from experience, making the same mistakes repeatedly in life.  

 Horse Chestnut buds opening

Horse Chestnut buds being simmered in Spring water

Chestnut Bud Mother Essence, Stock bottle & Treatment bottle