Other than everything Dani has planted in the poly tunnel terrace, there is also plenty of food to be found on the land, growing naturally. We're having fun creating recipes to preserve them through the winter.
May; Elderflower; Great for making cordial & elderflower fritters.
June; White currants
August; Elderberries
I made some elderberry jelly last year (2015). Apart from it exploding and getting completely stuck to my cooker, and then not setting; it went well! This year I'm trying mixing it with apples and blackberries because elderberry alone isn't quite the taste sensation I was hoping for!
Plums
Gina is doing a great job making plum jam; we are trying to pick them before the wasps/wild boar and donkeys munch them!
Also in the summer we have hazelnuts, plenty of mint and some wild strawberries.
September; Blackberries & Sloes
Good for jams & Gina's fabulous sloe gin/vodca for Christmas!
September & October Chestnuts.
This all came from 1 tree in 1 day! Chestnuts are great roasted, in stuffing, and chestnut & sage soup is good too and freezes well. Nige tried making some kind of potent alcoholic drink from them too... It was a sort of pale alcoholic sludge... NOT popular!
Winter after rain; all kinds of mushrooms
So it seems that fungi fanatics come far and wide to pinch La Taillede mushrooms! At the local cafe, Chez Francoise, they sell 'omelette aux cepes', with mushrooms from La Taillede! However, we have never been offered a free omelette!
We think we can recognise girolle and cepes, but what we need is a local mushroom expert to show us where they grow to be sure we know which are poisonous and which aren't. The difference is subtle!
The locals don't part with their knowledge easily, and no La Taillede mushroom pickers have yet offered any of their loot to us!
I'd like to train the dogs to find truffles as we know they are on the land too. Delicious!