Busy cooks and foraged fare

With all the foraged food gathered over the last week, it was the perfect time to do a big cook-up with the Light Walks team!

We had the use of a big kitchen at a church hall in Rushden, so we set to work.

We had elderberries, damsons, apples, and other things homegrown:

rhubarb, onions, tomatoes, we were all very impressed with the lovely potatoes that Carole had grown...

 

 very soon, the kitchen was full of busy cooks chopping and peeling...

John striking his pose as he starts on the apples!

Ingredients for a chutney into the big pan...

 

wonderful flavours and fresh food started coming together...

once on the boil, the smell was amazing! Ginger filled the air, and damsons bubbled with a rich berry taste...

then for the straining...

...and finally bottling and spooning into jars.

We had around 40 jars and bottles of chutneys, jams and sauces, as well as a delicious soup.

The team were rewarded for their hard work with a feast prepared by Carolyn, 

and all sat together in the church hall to eat.

Tired but content, we had a little rest before we got stuck into the cleaning up! Which took longer than we thought, but we think it was worth the effort. In the spirit of Light Walks for Dark Days, we had taken flavours from the summer and stored them up for eating in the darker months. And there's nothing as satisfying as good, tasty food cooked by your own efforts!

The Light Walks team will be doing another walk on Monday, with a twist! So visit this blog again soon for more reports.