Free Ingredients from the Hedgerow

The best ingredients are the free ones! Below are some we find in the hedgerow on our smallholding and should be fairly plentiful. If in a more urban area canal towpaths are usually a good source for foraging.

The elderberry, or Sambucus nigra (also called Black Elder or Common Elder), is found throughout warmer parts of Europe and North America. The berries are black to dark blue, and it’s the type of elderberry most frequently used in recipes and retail extracts and syrups.

The flowers in the spring are used for Elderflower Cordial and wine.

Hawthorn (Crataegus) They are shrubs or small trees, mostly growing to 5-15 m tall, with small fruit and (usually) thorny branches.

The rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or small trees in genus Sorbus or family Rosaceae.

The rose hip and rose haw, is the pomaceous fruit of the rose plant, that typically is red-to-orange, but might be dark purple-to-black in some species. Rose hips begin to form in spring, and ripen in late summer through autumn.

Sloes Prunus spinosa (blackthorn or sloe) is a species of Prunus native to Europe.

The Bullace (Prunus domestica var. insititia) is a wild form of the Plum.

The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the Rubus genus of the rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true beery; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit.