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Sloe Joys Of Berry Picking, Jam Making And Brisk Autumn Days

The Backgarden Survivalists, Chapter 4

By Saara TolvanenPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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Since the end of the nineteenth century, different kinds of exotic, colourful fruit, grown in the tropics, have been an increasingly important addition to the diet of people living in the Northern parts of the world, thanks to the new technology that made much faster and reliable grocery transportation possible. There’s no point in denying the health benefits of citrus fruits that are rich in vitamin C, or bananas that are a good source of potassium, or mangos, watermelons, pineapples and many other tropical fruits that are known to be packed with antioxidants, enzymes and various beneficial minerals. These bright-coloured health bombs also have a great taste and are able to spice up Northern cuisines. But what if one day you couldn’t buy oranges, bananas and other imported fruits in your local grocery store, for one reason or another?

For hundreds of thousands of years, people have turned to their forests in search of food. In the boreal zone the foragers' efforts have often been royally rewarded, especially if they have been after tasty, colourful and highly nutritious edibles. Different varieties of wild berries have provided our ancestors an excellent supplement to their nourishment as berries tend to be delicious and also very beneficial for human health. In my home country, Finland, picking berries is still today quite a common pastime and a way to obtain food, thanks to the country’s vast forest areas and an ancient custom called the Right to Roam that allows anyone to wander in open countryside, whether the land is privately or publicly owned. From July to October, bilberries, cloudberries, raspberries, lingonberries, cranberries and many others are waiting in the Finnish forests to be picked. A short hike in the woods can offer one a nice breath of fresh air, a wee bit of exercise in a relaxing environment, and often a good amount of very cheap, nutritious and flavourful food.

Here in Northern Ireland, on the other hand, berry picking seems to be a somewhat rare activity. Wandering in the wild is not terribly common over here these days, probably because of the scarcity of wilderness and lacking freedom to roam. Fortunately, this autumn, Ian and I have been lucky enough to do some berry picking in our garden. The blackberries ripened first, in August. The crop wasn’t huge, only a couple of litres, but still it was better than last year. We cooked these deep purple, juice-filled berries in a small amount of water plus some honey, and ate them with natural yoghurt. We also found out that blackberries make an excellent filling for a pie. Unfortunately, fresh blackberries don’t last very long (this is why you should make sure that you haven’t picked any mouldy or damaged ones). If you manage to get a large crop, it might be a good idea to freeze them or make a nice batch of jam. Blackberries are naturally high in pectin which means you can prepare your jam without commercial pectin - just add some sugar while cooking berries.

In our garden, we’ve also been able to pick sloe berries that are fruits of the blackthorn tree. This year the crop of these bluish-black, sharp sour berries has been excellent: so far, since the beginning of October, we’ve collected more than five litres of sloes and there are still plenty of berries covering the blackthorn branches like bunches of grapes, waiting for to be picked. As mentioned above, sloes have a really strong and bitter taste and they also contain stones. Nevertheless, they make a great jam. We’ve found that adding some apples in the batch cuts the intensely sharp flavour of sloes quite nicely. And again, extra pectin is not needed since both sloes and apples are naturally high in pectin. As a sweetener we’ve used honey.

The Back Garden Survivalists’ Sloe and Apple Jam

500 grams of sloes

500 grams of apples

5 - 7 tbsp of honey

Pop the sloes in a quite deep saucepan and add water to cover the berries. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer gently until all the berries are soft and squishy. Remove the stones (we used a potato ricer for this task, and it worked quite well!). Put the stoneless sloe pulp back into the saucepan and add peeled and chopped apples plus honey. Again, bring slowly to the boil and simmer gently until the apples are completely soft and cooked.

As sloes seem to keep very well, we’ve been cooking just a small batch of jam at one time, eating it (sloe and apple jam goes really nicely with yoghurt or toast) and then preparing a new batch. Last week we found some crab apples during our morning walk and we are intending to make some sloe and crab apple jam too - plenty of honey will probably be needed when cooking that batch.

All in all, berry picking is for many reasons a greatly satisfying hobby and a good way to acquire cheap and tasty food. When autumn days grow colder and winter comes closer, just the thought of cooking slowly a delicious batch of berry jam can make you feel nice and warm. However, in order to keep your berry foraging trips safe and sound, it’s exceedingly important to note that you should only harvest and consume plants that you know for sure to be edible. If you’re in doubt, always err on the side of caution.

- Ian and Saara

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