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Hi All,

My 'ish seems to have returned, but too late for the majority of forage out there. Anyone in the South know whether I am likely to find any sloes/damsons still on the trees this late? I used the last of my damson chutney just yesterday, from two years ago.

B

Not sure about damsons, bu there are still sloes here in Wales, so there's a good chance you'll find some in the south. I think they just hang around and go wrinkly if they're not picked. Of course, that's a big 'if'.

My usual spots for sloes are bare. No help for chutney but there should be sweet chestnuts and rose hips, chickweed and nettles still. As oranges are less expensive at the moment you could try your hand at orange chutney
Ingredients Makes approx 10 jars
-- 16 oranges 8 apples, cored and finely diced 5 red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced 400g ginger, peeled and grated ½ cup currants 2 tbsp cloves 1 tbsp cardamom seeds 5 bay leaves 75g salt 1.4kg brown sugar 2 litres malt vinegar
Method-- 1. Peel the oranges with a peeler so that the pith is left behind. Slice the peel finely – I ended up with fine strips which looked as though they had been julienned. Peel the pith from the oranges, cut them in half then slice them finely. 2. Place all the ingredients into a large pot (I used two pots) and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for several hours until the mixture reduces and becomes thick. 3. Sterilise the jars in the oven at 100ºC for half and hour and pour boiling water over the lids. 4. Spoon the mixture into jars and seal. The longer you leave the chutney the more the flavours develop and mature. Leave it for at least a month before opening and store in the fridge once opened. source http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/reci ... e-chutney/

Oooh, thanks Marshlander, that looks gorgeous - will give it a try at the weekend. I did check out the woods on a dog walk at the weekend, and I have definitely missed the damsons, but I must say we have loads of sloes down here, and zillions of rosehips -although I am not a massive fan of jelly, so rosehip and apple jelly is out. I should say, I am not a fan of making jelly - far too fiddly for me - but I don't mind the eating so much!

I made rosehip syrup for the first time this year - as per my blog post -

http://veronicamarris.com/2013/11/04/roses-revisited/

I wasn't really sure if I was going to like it, but turns out I do!