Recipes
More than a dozen wild fruits can be culinary utilised and enrich your conventional menu in a healthy matter. There are a lot of possibilities. Classic processing methods are the own production of jam, marmalade or jelly. The last one is mainly produced from juicy fruits like elder berries or mulberries. Of lingonberries or the fruits of the Service tree you can make a fine compote, furthermore many berries are suited mainly in combination with classic fruit for the production of sauces and chutneys.
There are also many ideas for a formulation in a liquid kind. The bandwith is here considerably too. You can produce just juice but also sirup or alcoholic liquids. You can ferment elder flowers to sparkling wine, furthermore it is possible to produce liqueur or hard liquor oneself. Furthermore many wild fruits are suited for the production of flavoured vinegar. I tested all here presented recipes.
spruce syrup
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In May the young, bright green buddings of spruces can be plucked very simply with the fingers. Give the tips in 1 l water and leave to draw overnight. The following day cook at a rolling boil for 15 min, remove the spruce tips, give the sugar in the water and boil down circa 45 min. The syrup is ready, when it is a little brighter as wild honey and shows the consistency of liquid honey. Bottle in still hot in glasses. |
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dandelion jelly
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Collect circa 40 dandelion blossoms and pluck the yellow petals (the green sepals and the receptacle make the jelly bitter). Boil up circa 50 g petals with the water for 5 minutes, after that let brew it overnight within the fridge. Then strain off, collect and measure water. Add 50 g gelling sugar each 100 ml water, boil up and cook at a rolling boil for 4 minutes. Make gelling trial. Finally add petals of circa 5 further blossoms as jelly addition and bottle the jelly hot in sterilised glasses. |
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raspberry vinegar
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There is an extended discussion about the adequate vinegar. After some experiments I prefer the cheapiest vinegar of a discounter because the difference of quality of the end product is marginal. Give the raspberries into a wide bottle and infuse them with the vinegar. You don’t must close the bottle. After a maturing on a warm place of approximately 4 weeks you can strain the vinegar and fill it into bottles. For example the vinegar tastes excellent on field salad. | Follows. |
elderflower syrup
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Merge all ingredients (except the sugar) and let rest the mixture covered for one day. Add the sugar the next day and let stay the mixture covered for further 24 hours. Stir several times until the sugar has dissolved completely. Sieve the solid ingredients the next day and bottle the syrup. Persits within the fridge up to one year. | Follows. |
woodruff syrup
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Tie the stalks at their ends, hang up and let wither them. Only during the withering process arises the for flavour relevant coumarin. Now boil up the water and sugar for 10 minutes. Add the withered woodruff stalks and let brew it 3 hours. Finally remove the woodruff and boil up the syrup again. Bottle it hot. |
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beery liqueur (blackberry liqueur, blueberry liqueur, raspberry liqueur, currant liqueur, ...)
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For the formulation of a berry liqueur you can use all kinds of berries. Juicy berries are more suitable. Weigh the berries and give them into a wide bottle. Add the candied sugar and a cinnamon stick for example. Infuse all with white rum. Close the bottle and give it to a dark place for 4 to 6 weeks. Shake the bottle periodical. At last strain the liqueur and fill it into closable bottles. | Follows. |
elderflower liqueur
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Merge all ingredients except the rum and let rest the mixture covered for one day. Add the rum the next day and give the closed pot at a cool and dark place. Then the liqueur can be bottled. | Follows. |
elderflower sparkling wine
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On the elderflower umbels are natural yeast cells located which ferment the added sugar to alcohol. The umbels should be collected during sunshine, thoroughly cleaned and not washed. Very important is a clean work. Give all ingredients into a great, clean pot and let stand the mixture closed overnight. Bottle the next morning (only the liquid, sieve the umbels/lemon slices), but fill the bottles only to circa 3/4. Close the bottles. Store them at least for 6 weeks within the cellar. Give the bottles within a watertight bowl, because the bottles could burst in the case of a to intense fermentation. Important is a very careful handling with the bottles, because these can burst in your hands too. Albeit it looks funny, only a handling with gloves and safety goggles is advisable. I use swing-top beer bottles and leave some beer yeast within the bottles. The sooner you open the sparkling wine, the sweeter it is, later is more sugar to alcohol fermented. The sparkling wine has a fine fresh flavour and a slight greenish coloration. |
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