Food available in the UK only - our seven day challenge

[Trinity]

Sugar beet - not cane! Plenty of that around...

Oh I see... I feel completely in the dark. I don't really know the first thing about it though. Is it commonly used here?

[mew]

I'd fail at this straight away because of my liking for red wine. Not much of that in the UK - is there any??

Hi Shirlz

Three Choirs Vineyard and Denbighs Vineyard are UK grown and i know Three Choirs def. sell red wine as well as white.

Im more of a white wine person and really enjoy both.

Thanks
MEW

[hedgewizard]

Don't forget Moniac Castle wines.

[SueSteve]

They were talking about Nettle pudding on Radio 4 earlier, but I'm afraid I missed the recipe (I am a delivery driver (organic veg., so had to jump out to deliver, and when I got back they were talking about something else!!)

Don't forget your herbs and spices!

[SueSteve]

http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancie ... dding.html
has a recipe for it!

[Stonehead]

Don't forget the seaweeds - dulse, carrageen moss, kelps and wracks. I believe a company started up in the last few years to market the stuff as it's very healthy addition to the diet. One of my old Scottish cookbooks has a recipe for dulse brose (seaweed and oatmeal porridge).

I'll dig out my list of fruit and vegetables that grow up this way and post it shortly.

[Stonehead]

Fruit, vegetables, fungi and herbs that we've managed to grow or forage for locally to us in Aberdeenshire:

Apples
Artichokes
Asparagus (problematic)
Beetroot
Blackberries
Blackcurrants
Blackthorn (sloes)
Blueberries
Borage
Broad beans
Broccoli
Brussel sprouts
Cabbage
Calabrese
Caraway
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery (problematic)
Chamomile
Cherries
Chives
Climbing beans
Courgettes
Cucumbers
Dandelion
Dill
Dog rose
Fennel
French beans (a bit problematic)
Garlic
Gooseberries
Hawthorn (haws and young tips)
Hazel
Horseradish
Jerusalem artichokes
Juniper (long wait for this one!)
Kale
Leafbeet
Leeks
Lettuce
Lovage
Marjoram
Mint
Mustard
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Peppermint
Potatoes
Radishes
Mangels
Marrows (have to be selective)
Mushrooms
Neeps/swedes
Oregano
Parsley
Plums
Pumpkins (have to be very selective with varieties)
Radish
Raspberries
Redcurrants
Rhubarb
Rocket
Rosemary
Rowan
Sage
Savory
Seakale
Shallots
Sorrel
Spinach
Squash
Strawberries
Tayberries
Texel greens (a brassica)
Thyme
Tomatoes
Turnips
Wurzels (yes, taste good mashed and can be made into beer)


And don't forget vegetable oil made from oilseed rape, which is grown in vast amounts up here along with barley, oats and tatties.

[red]

silver spoon sugar is made from sugar beets grown mainly in East Anglia.

[Trinity]

http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancie ... dding.html
has a recipe for it!

Thankyou for that. I am always looking for ideas of things to do with nettles. I couldn't get the link to work after trying twice. Will try again though.
Trinity
x

[Trinity]

Fruit, vegetables, fungi and herbs that we've managed to grow or forage for locally to us in Aberdeenshire:
.............

And don't forget vegetable oil made from oilseed rape, which is grown in vast amounts up here along with barley, oats and tatties.

Thanks for the extensive list it has given me some great ideas...

I am fully intending also on harnessing barley, oats and potatoes. Thankfully a lot of our meals here seem to include those things these days.

I also grew haricot beans this year (from 'green beans') much to my excitement and am thinking of making things like grilled bean and herb patties and a dip. I think that I am going to have to use a good degree of imagination.

I use sunflower seeds alot in various dishes and know that we can make sunflower oil in the UK if we want to, so I am going to make use of those too.

The idea is to see (and experience) what is possible with what we are able to grow and produce in the UK. I do believe that we have everything we need here. It's just a 'big' case of exploring possibilities. I am realising that we may have to process more of our own foods (such as oil).

Ordinarily I buy dried foods wholesale from Suma or Essentials. I have noticed that we import haricot beans and pumpkin seeds (from China) and sunflower seeds (from the USA).... these and many other things are entirely growable in the UK! Seems so out of balance that we have become so reliant on importing food that we can easily grow here!

Warm Regards
Trinity
x

[Trinity]

Don't forget the seaweeds - dulse, carrageen moss, kelps and wracks. I believe a company started up in the last few years to market the stuff as it's very healthy addition to the diet. One of my old Scottish cookbooks has a recipe for dulse brose (seaweed and oatmeal porridge).
.

Brill! These are jam packed with nutrients and can make a really interesting addition to a meal. Hadn't seriously considered seaweed as an option from the UK! Thank-you

x

[pskipper]

sweet Cicely as a native sweetener providing you like the aniseedy flavour!

[ina]

I am fully intending also on harnessing barley, oats and potatoes.

One of our favourite meals at home was a sweet barley bake. In Britain, this would probably be seen as a pudding, but for us it was a main meal. Basically, cook barley in milk, with sugar if you like (that in itself is a very good substitute for rice pudding!), mix in some eggs, layer in oven proof, greased bowl with dried apricots (probably not available from the UK, though), or alternatively other fruit, fresh or dried, dot with butter and sprinkle with dry breadcrumbs, and bake until set and crusty.

Mmmh, haven't had that for ages...

[Stonehead]

The idea is to see (and experience) what is possible with what we are able to grow and produce in the UK. I do believe that we have everything we need here. It's just a 'big' case of exploring possibilities. I am realising that we may have to process more of our own foods (such as oil).

We mostly live on UK produce as we grow most of it ourselves.

A few key exceptions to UK foodstuffs are:

• Strong bread flour (most wheat varieties grown in the UK are soft wheats, not the hard wheats needed for strong flour) for leavened bread
• Rye flour (if it grows in Scandinavia and Germany, why not the UK?)
• Rice (although some cereal grains, such as pearl barley, can be surprisingly good instead of rice)
• Lentils
• Tea
• Coffee
• Dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, apricots etc)

Soda breads and dampers made with soft wheat flour make a very good (and fast alternative) to leavened bread, although they are more difficult to slice.

There's no real substitute for rye flour - especially as we like it a lot.

In some cases there's no substitute for rice, but pearl barley, whole wheat (steamed), bulgar and couscous can be substituted in some recipes. The problem is that it can be hard, if not impossible, to find UK produced examples of these.

Lentils can be grown in the UK - and there are research articles that show it can grown successfully. But I've not yet found any for sale in the shops.

There are all sorts of herbal substitutes for tea, but I still prefer green tea so I'll continue buying that.

Roasted and ground dandelions or chicory are substitutes for coffee, but as I have just one cup of coffee a day - and enjoy it - I'm sticking to that. But I do have to say that the alternatives aren't bad at all if done properly.

There are few alternatives to most dried fruits, particuarly raisins, sultanas, currants and the like, but we treat them as a luxury so we buy them in small amounts. Obviously, you can dry apples, plums etc but there's nothing like a sprinkling of currants in a loaf of soda bread.

[ina]

Stoney - my list of exceptions is almost the same as yours... And as to rye, I think it's not grown here because so few people eat it. (Back to this lottery win that I've been waiting for for years - once I have a little farm myself, I'll grow rye! )

I agree with the pearl barley; in addition to the recipe I gave above for "sweet" barley (I call it sweet even if I don't put sugar or honey in, but I generally use a few sultanas), it is extremely nice cooked like risotto. The simplest recipe for that would be sweat off a few chopped onions, stir in barley, top up with veggie bouillon, cook slowly until done, but still moist, mix in fresh herbs as available. Serve with other cooked veg/salad/eggs/whatever you fancy.