Hedgerow Remedies and Recipes

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

A natural antibiotic, which was used up until the modern drug varieties came about, Colloidal Silver, expensive to buy, but cheap to make yourself. It's been revived for severe burn patients.

The old saying "Born With a Silver Spoon In His/Her Mouth" comes from the rich having silver cutlery and it being used to prevent tummy upsets..(bacterial infections)

Does it work??? I gashed my hand on a glass bottle, should have gone in for stitches, the wound was deep and large...Healed in less than a week using colloidal silver....

Oh and don't take notice of idiots saying it turns the skin blue..... IT DOESN'T...Mine is bronze due to working out in the sun.

[mercurydancer 1,104]

Yes silver works extremely well for burns. In fact it is one of the main treatments for burns.

Silver is also a main component in many surgical things, such as tracheostomy tubes and urinary catheters.

[MelissaJKelly 2,120]

I heard raw potato on a burn helps to ease the pain and aid healing. Tried it when I burnt my arms a few years back and it did the job for me!

[darkazana 1,736]

There is a maxim for life that if you can eat it you can put it on your skin, and this is certainly true for most plants and herbs. The healing properties of plants which you can find growing in your garden and in the hedgerows are amazing. But then again thousands of years of usage can't be wrong, and most modern medicines are prepared using constituents from plants. The problem with modern medicines is that they take bits out of the plants to treat a specific problem and then need something else to treat the side effects, whereas using the whole plant is usually a more balanced way.......but the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't make as much money.

[Compo 10,328]

Young tips of Ground Elder make a tangy addition to salads.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I know this isn't a natural remedy, but as a lifelong sufferer of catarrh, I have found that if they are resurfacing the road, the fumes from the black stuff clears my nose.

[The Pianoman 1,532]

One of my favourite natural pain reliefs is Willow Bark. It is also well know to be anti-cancer. It is otherwise known as Aspirin!

[mercurydancer 1,104]

A friend of mine is an expert in wound healing. He was recently trying out a new type of wound dressing for deep wounds. Its like a paste which you put into deep wounds and just leave it.

Its main component? Seaweed.

[mercurydancer 1,104]

I went to London recently with a colleague of mine who is a very accomplished plastic surgeon, not one of those who does cosmetic surgery but does the real hard core plastic surgery- burns, unhealing ulcers, skin cancer, etc, that the private sector wont touch with a bargepole.

We got into a discussion on the train back, (admittedly after a few pints in the Lamb and Flag in Covent Garden and a good curry) we talked about wound healing stuff. I mentioned Melissa's potato for burns. He said that it would act as a heat sink for the burn, and having lots of starch, would start to coagulate the serous fluid ( the colourless liquid which the skin gives off after a burn) to form a barrier over the burn. Ice would be a better heat sink, but a plain old spud afterwards would be a decent treatment.

We talked about silver, and he reckoned that enough atoms of silver could be deposited on the skin by a mere running of a pure silver spoon over a shallow skin wound to be effective. The problem came with keeping the silver in place, as it would be easily removed by almost any action, including the slightest movement. This led to a discussion about roses. Rose petals are high in oils, and a silver spoon rubbed over a shallow skin wound, then covered with rose petals would be a very good treatment.

[darkazana 1,736]

#33 Sphagnum moss has similar properties and was used for healing wounds as far back as the battle of Flodden, and probably for many years before then, and as recently as modern day Germany who make dressings out of it. Deer are known to have rolled on the moss when injured.

[darkazana 1,736]

Minted Gooseberry Jelly

3lb Gooseberries red or green or both

2 red skinned eating apples - chopped with skins and cores intact

1 large bunch fresh mint

1inch piece root ginger

1.25 pints cold water approx

3lb granulated sugar

3tbsp chopped mint

Put the fruit and ginger in a pan and pour over just enough water to cover the fruit. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the fruit has gone mushy.

Remove from the heat cool slightly then pour the fruit and juices into a jelly bag (or muslin in a plastic sieve) suspended over a non metallic bowl and leave to drain over night. Do not squeeze or press the fruit through or the jelly will be cloudy.

Measure the strained juice into a preserving pan, or large thick bottomed pan, and add 1lb sugar for every pint of juice. Add the bunch of mint (I usually tie the mint and then tie the end to the pan handle, for easy removal) stir over a low heat until the sugar had dissolved, then bring to the boil and cook to setting point, without stirring, (220f - or drop some onto a cold saucer, leave for a few minutes then push with the finger, it should wrinkle on top)

Remove the pan from the heat and take out the mint. Skim any scum from the surface using a slotted spoon and allow to cool for a few minutes until a skin forms.

Stir in the chopped mint.

Pour jelly into warmed sterilised jars, cover and seal. (I use the half pound jars for jellies)

Store and use within one year. Once opened store in the fridge and eat within 3 months.

Even using green gooseberries this jelly will have a pinkish tinge.

Enjoy.

[carni 10,094]

Thank you Darkazana,

I have just got to scrounge some mint from my Sister in Law and I will start cooking. I know what you mean about the Pink Tinge. When I have made plain Gooseberry Jam in the past, it has ended up Pink.

[darkazana 1,736]

Well it seems it's that time of year again, I've just been out getting some loverly blackberries from the hedgerow, and I also noticed some huge sloes that are already softening up, surely it's a bit early for picking them now, I thought October was the time. Has anyone else noticed the sloes? I took this picture today.

[darkazana 1,736]

Tis indeed time to pick the sloes this year. All the sun has ripened them early so anyone out there wanting to get their sloe gin on the go now is the time to start. I got 2lb this afternoon and have put them in the freezer to "frost" them. They will be ready for jelly making next time I'm home. Got some lovely eating apples off a tree on the nature reserve today too. Next stop elderberries in a week or two, time to make the flu remedy ready for winter.

[mercurydancer 1,104]

Just back off hols and the damsons on my tree have gone from almost raisin size to ping pong ball size. Time for damson wine to be made I thinks.

[darkazana 1,736]

Crab Apple and Rowan Jelly

This is a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe and serves as a template for any number of hedgerow jellies, and if you can't get hold of crab apples, good old bramleys do just as well, the recipe scales up well according to the success of your foraging.

If you are using juicy berries such as blackberries or elderberries you will need much less water to cook the fruit, just enough to start the juices running.

1kg rowan berries (or sloes, rosehips, haws, elderberries or a mixture)

1kg crab apples

1.5kg granulated sugar

jelly bag (or muslin/teatowel and large seive)

Remove the berries from the stalks and wash them well. Roughly chop the crab apples leaving in the cores.

Put all the fruit into a large heavy pan along with enough water (500ml) to come halfway up the fruit. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally and crushing the fruit against the side of the pan, until the whole mass is soft and pulpy.

Tipe the mixture into the jelly bag suspended over a bowl and leave to drain, preferably overnight. Allow to drip for a clear jelly. If you don't mind a cloudy jelly for maximum yield squeeze the pulp to extract every last drop of juice.

Measure the juice, then transfer to a clean pan and add 750 grams sugar for every litre of juice.

Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved then boil rapidly, skimming off any scum, until you reach setting point (220f...see mint jelly recipe above).

When setting point is reached remove pan from heat and pour jelly into warmed sterilised jars. Cover with a disc of waxed paper and lid.

Leave for a few weeks to mature, the jelly will keep up to a year or even longer.

I find the best time to pick rowan berries is about October, too early and they can be quite bitter, they need to be softening up and may even be starting to wrinkle a bit.

Enjoy

[carni 10,094]

Many Thanks for the recipe darkazana. I have copied it and look forward to trying it, when the berries are ripe for picking around October time.

[darkazana 1,736]

So it seems the Old Ways are the best

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-32117815

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Tip, if you want to pulp raw fruit easily, throw it in the freezer for a few hours, thaw out and it's easy to pulp, great way when wine making, saves hours of hard work.

[MargieH 7,599]

Thinking of hedgerows ... my mum always used to pick the new hawthorn shoots (leaves) and eat them when we were out for a walk. I never liked them much although I think my tastes have changed as I now do the same myself - they taste a little bitter but interesting

[sue B 48 1,226]

#43 That's very interesting darkazana the scientific brains were always there and

they only had the things they grew or found in the hedgerows.

#45 Margie we used to call that bread and cheese when we were kids. I don't no why.

[Graham 63]

I used to like Damsons collected from the Hills near to the old Lowes Roses Nursery but the bushes have become leggy and do not produce many fruit.

If you can find any finda recipe for Damson Cheese. It goes great with cold meats.

[Graham 63]

It would be good to find Hazelnuts in the hedgerows of today but where ??

[darkazana 1,736]

Just outside my house there are loads, Graham. Unfortunately they either get "trimmed" by the local farmer or the squirrels get there first.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

No hedgerows here, but we do have lots of black walnut, never tried to eat them, but they are used in baking, also loads of hickory, and I planted two rows of pecans about 14 years ago, supposed to have been 3 year old saplings. Not had any nuts yet, hopefully this year they will flower. Tons of wild cherry and wild grape vines. Trouble is, both have tiny fruits.