Food for Free. Richard Mabey
they are sometimes canned for winter use.
A small, twisted deciduous tree, with long, untoothed and downy leaves. Large solitary white flowers appear in May. Fruits resemble large brown haws.
Medlar was, together with quince, mulberry and walnut, one of the quartet of trees that were usually planted singly in old herb gardens, often at the corners. They are now largely out of fashion in cultivation, and are probably not native in Britain. Yet the odd tree can still be found in old parkland and orchards, and, in the south of England, in hedgerows and woods near farms. These may be bird-sown, naturalised specimens; but fruit trees were occasionally planted out in these sites so as not to take up cultivated ground. Medlars are remarkable for their dark contorted trunks, their solitary white flowers which sit on the trees like camellias, and for the large brown fruits that start to fall from the tree in November. Although they were once recommended as a treatment for diarrhoea, they are wood-hard in this state and must be allowed to ‘blet’, or decay, before they are edible. Kept in a warm, dry place for a couple of weeks, the flesh browns, sweetens and softens to a consistency something like that of chestnut purée.
Medlar comfit
The bletted fruits make an intriguing confection served as they are. The slightly ‘high’, fruity flavour and granular texture make them ideal for serving with whisky. The flesh can easily be squeezed out of one end of the fruits if they are properly ripe. Alternatively, the tops can be cut off and the flesh scooped out with a spoon, then topped with cream and brown sugar to taste.
Medlar purée
Medlar purée makes a good filling for a flan or pie. Make a pulp by mixing three parts of medlar pulped through a sieve, one part double cream, a little sugar and the juice of two lemons, all whipped together until smooth.
© Derek Middleton/FLPA
© Roger Tidman/FLPA
Hawthorn, May-tree Crataegus monogyna
Widespread and abundant on heaths, downs, hedges, scrubland, light woods and all open land. Small tree or large shrub, up to 6 m (20 ft) high. Leaves glossy green and deeply lobed on spiny branches. Flowers: May to June, abundant umbels of white (sometimes pink) strongly scented blossoms. Fruit: small round dark red berries, in bunches.
The young April leaves – traditionally called bread and cheese by children in England – have a pleasantly nutty taste. Eat them straight from the tree or use them in sandwiches, or in any of the recipes for wild spring greens. They also blend well with potatoes and almost any kind of nuts. A sauce for spring lamb can be made by chopping the leaves with other early wild greens, such as garlic mustard and sorrel, and dressing with vinegar and brown sugar, as with a mint sauce. The leaf buds can be picked much earlier in the year, though it takes an age to gather any quantity, and they tend to fall apart. Dorothy Hartley has a splendid recipe for a spring pudding which makes use of the buds, for those with the patience to collect large numbers of them.
Hawthorn berries (haws) are perhaps the most abundant berry of all in the autumn. Almost every hawthorn bush is festooned with small bunches of the round, dark-red berries, looking rather like spherical rosehips. When fully ripe they taste a little like avocado pear. They make a moderate jelly, but being a dry fruit need long simmering with a few crab apples to bring out all the juices and provide the necessary pectin. Otherwise the jelly will be sticky or rubbery. It is a good accompaniment to cream cheese.
Hawthorn spring pudding (Dorothy Hartley)
Make a light suet crust, well seasoned, and roll it out thinly and as long in shape as possible. Cover the surface with the young leaf-buds, and push them slightly into the suet. Take some rashers of bacon, cut into fine strips and lay them across the leaves. Moisten the edges of the dough and roll it up tightly, sealing the edges as you go. Tie in a cloth and steam for at least an hour. Cut it in thick slices like a Swiss roll, and serve with gravy.
Widespread and common in woods, hedgerows and waste places. A tall, fast-growing shrub, up to 10 m (33 ft), with a corky bark, white pith in the heart of the branches, and a scaly surface to the young twigs. Leaves usually in groups of five; large, dark green and slightly toothed. Flowers are umbels of numerous tiny creamy-white flowers, June to July. Fruits are clusters of small, reddish-black berries, August to October.
To see the mangy, decaying skeletons of elders in the winter you would not think the bush was any use to man or beast. Nor would the acrid stench of the young leaves in spring change your opinion. But by the end of June the whole shrub is covered with great sprays of sweet-smelling flowers, for which there are probably more uses than any other single species of blossom. Even in orthodox medicine they have an acknowledged role as an ingredient in skin ointments and eye-lotions.
Elderflowers can be munched straight off the branch on a hot summer’s day, and taste as frothy as a glass of ice-cream soda. Something even closer to that drink can be made by putting a bunch of elderflowers in a jug with boiling water, straining the liquid off when cool, and sweetening. Cut the elderflower clusters whole, with about 5 cm (2 inches) of stem attached to them. Always check that they are free of insects, and discard any that are badly infested. The odd grub or two can be removed by hand. But never wash the flowers, as this will remove much of the fragrance. The young buds can be pickled or added to salads. The flowers themselves, separated from the stalks, make what is indisputably the best sparkling wine besides champagne. One of the most famous recipes for elderflowers is the preserve they make with gooseberries.
Elderberries are useful as additions to a number of cooked recipes, in which any unpleasant aftertaste completely disappears.
The berries are ripe when the clusters begin to turn upside down. Gather the clusters whole by cutting them from the stems, picking only those where the very juicy berries have not started to wrinkle or melt. Wash them well, and strip them from the stalks with a fork. They are good added whole to apple pies, or added as a make-weight to blackberry jelly. (Both berries are on the bush at the same time, so if you are making this they can be gathered straight into the same basket.)
My favourite elderberry recipe is for Pontack sauce, a relic from those days when every retired military gentleman carried his patent sauce as an indispensable part of his luggage. Finally, one elder enthusiast enjoys eating, so to speak, the flowers and the berries at the same time, by making a sorbet from the fresh flowers, and serving it with another sorbet, made with the last year’s autumn berries – a conceit impossible before the days of the deep freeze.
© Chris Mattison/FLPA
© David Hosking/FLPA
Elderflower and gooseberry preserve
To make the preserve, trim off as much of the rather bitter stalk as you can, and have ready four flower heads for each 500 g (1 lb) of gooseberries. Top, tail and wash the gooseberries, and put them into a pan with 500 ml (1 pint) of water for every 500 g of fruit. Simmer for half an hour, mashing the fruit to a pulp as you do. Add 500 g of sugar for