Food from the Wild

Berries

Apple Malus

Wild apples, either the indigenous crab apple or a self-seeded domestic apple are common over the whole of Britain with the exception of the north of Scotland. Though most frequently found in oak woods, the best and largest fruit comes from trees growing in hedgerows where there is more light.

Wild apples never grow as large or as sweet as domestic ones and need to be cooked with sugar in order to be palatable. Previously, every farmhouse had an orchard stocked with sweet apples for eating, acid ones for cooking and extremely acid ones for making cider and verjuice-an astringent vinegar used like lemon. Ways of cooking apples are numerous and every cook book has recipes.

Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus

Except in the very south of England any moor, heath or woodland with an acid soil should have masses of this low bushy plant, often growing amidst heather or boggy grass. The soft, blue, pungent-tasting fruit is ready for picking in August. The berries can be eaten with sugar and cream, or made into puddings and pies, jam or wine. In Switzerland they are distilled into 'schnapps'.

Blackberry Rubus fruticosus

The sweetest blackberries are those which ripen first, at the base of the cluster. After this they ripen progressively up the stalk decreasing in flavour until, in October, they are all seed and fit only for cooking with apples. Jams, puddings, wine, can all be made from blackberries, and recipes for these will be found in many cookery books. Here are two which might not has fruit which, though larger and more oval, resembles the sloe. Botanically, bullace is a relation of the domestic plum and the fruit may be used in the same ways as plums or sloes. Too sour to eat raw, they are best cooked and put in pies or made into jam or wine.

Bullace Prunus domestica

The tree, which looks like a blackthorn, has fruit which, though larger and more oval, resembles the sloe. Botanically, bullace is a relation of the domestic plum and the fruit may be used in the same ways as plums or sloes. Too sour to eat raw, they are best cooked and put in pies or made into jam or wine.

Elderberry Sambucus nigra

A tree which is regarded with great superstition from the belief that Christ was nailed to a cross made of elder. Stories of its associations with the devil and witchcraft would fill a book. Rather an unfair attitude to take about a tree of which every part has been used in some way. The berries are no exception. They should not be picked until the clusters have turned upside down; this shows that they are ripe. Inedible raw and, because of the sharp pip each berry contains, difficult to eat cooked, they are best made into jellies or drinks. Elderberry Rob is a time­honoured cure for colds.

Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna

The berries, though inedible raw, when cooked make a spicy jelly or wine and, if steeped in brandy for a few months, form a fine liquor.

Raspberry Rubus idaeus

Ripe, wild raspberries are so good that any intermediate stage between bush and mouth is really unnecessary. However, a glut may make the mind wander to variations on the theme. If so, the method of cooking should be simple in order not to spoil the flavour. Raspberries grow over a surprisingly wide latitude. They form large bushes in woods and heaths, producing fruit from as early as June in the South until the autumn in the North, from the Middlq East to Siberia.

Rose Hip Rosa

Rose hips contain more vitamin C than any other fruit or vegetable except walnuts, a source made use of by the government during World War II when voluntary collectors gathered an average of 450 tons during 1943-6 for conversion into rose hip syrup. This is a version of the recipe given by the Ministry of Food:

Rowanberry Sorbus aucuparia

In northern Europe the berries were dried and ground into flour and in Russia they were steeped in vodka to make rowanberry vodka, as this scene from Pasternak's DrZhivago shows 'Beyond the open doors of the ballroom the supper table gleamed, white and long as a winter road. The play of light on frosted bottles of red rowanberry vodka caught the eye.'

Sloe Prunus spinosa

Sloes, the fruit of the blackthorn tree, should be left until October before picking and have been softened and sweetened by a few frosts. Too sour to eat raw, they are best made into wine or added to gin for sloe gin.

Strawberry Fragaria vesca

How tastes change. The strawberry, dismissed by Pliny, who said that he knew of two kinds, one growing on the ground and one on a tree but that neither flavour was exciting, is today considered one of the choicest fruits. They should be eaten as soon after picking as possible when the flavour is at its height. Purists dip their strawberries in a little salt, but others prefer sugar and cream. A favourite of the seventeenth century was wine made from strawberries. Here is a recipe