Look out for Mahonia aquifolium on your next walk, be it locomotion to get to work or for the sake of exercise. It is often used in municipal planting schemes but appears in gardens as well. The clusters of scented bright yellow flowers in spring are followed by blackish-blue berries that are edible but too sharp for many people's palates. Those in the picture are just … [Read more...]
Lime Time
I had intended to mention lime leaves as something to eat earlier in spring. When I first thought of it they were yet to emerge, then time whizzed by and it was only when I came across this tree with flower buds waiting to burst that I remembered. The heart-shaped leaves of lime trees are much nicer than most trees' leaves which are too full of tannin to be palatable to most … [Read more...]
Root Veg Sweet and Savoury
Having a weekly veg box has compelled me to get creative to use up what I have to avoid wasting food. Making soup is an easy way to bring the amount of produce to more manageable proportions. Baking is the other. Quite many vegetables can be smuggled into cakes to use them up, for instance, carrot, courgette, parsnip, beetroot and butternut squash. If I start to get seriously … [Read more...]
Ash Keys
I spotted these ash keys on the way to work yesterday. They are the perfect size for pickling. If they are left to grow much larger they will probably be a good source of fibre but unpleasantly woody. Pickled ash keys is an old recipe but I only found out about it a couple of years ago. I was planning a tree trail and needed one more tree to include. I typed in 'ash … [Read more...]
Chips, Kind Of
One of the changes to my diet has been an increase in vegetable consumption. This is mainly because all eating houses are closed since I usually had two meat-based meals out over the weekend, but also because I have started buying a weekly vegetable box from a local café, which has converted to selling provisions instead of cooked food. As with all food shopping, it is … [Read more...]