The Joy Of Foraging No. 3: Fergus Drennan and Hawthorn

Last night Fergus Drennan, otherwise known as Fergus the Forager came to take a group of 140 Bristol freeconomists around St Werburghs. Just along the first street, on our way to some more overgrown areas he found five or six edible plants – and the most promising was the humble hawthorn, in fruit right now. Here’s what you can do with it.

Here we are setting off.

And descending like locusts on the Hawthorn.

It seems that from the flowers and young leaves in spring – to the fruit and juice from the berries – to coffee made from the ground, dried seeds – it is a wonder plant. An authoritative website, Plants For A Future gives the Hawthorn five hearts out of five for it’s medicinal uses.

Fergus told us about his own serious angina that was treated solely with Hawthorn. You can read much more about its uses on the Plants For A Future site. Unfortunately the site doesn’t give any recipes away. Here is a picture of Fergus in the pub afterwards making Hawthorn jelly with wild honey and Birch sap wine.

The berries are so high in pectin (the substance that makes jams set) that you can process it cold. He mixed in some Birch sap wine and crushed the berries with it. The resulting pulp was pushed through a sieve and in 10 minutes had set solid.

Suggested Task: Learn about five simple edible plants and go out foraging with friends in your locality.

Use the Plants For A Future site to learn more about some plants you can find. We learned about Greater Burdock, Nettle, Land Cress, Japanese Knotweed, Rose Hips to name a few. Food For Free is also a great resource.

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